Category: figure skating (Page 2 of 4)

I spent part of Sunday evening geeking out over a video of new Canadian pair Lubov Iliushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch. Moscovitch represented Canada in the 2014 Sochi Olympics with former partner Kirsten Moore-Towers, placing fifth. He teamed up with former Russian World Junior champion Iliushechkina three months later, and they haven’t let their lack of experience together become an obstacle. They won the final qualifying event for the Canadian National Championships this weekend with the free program I’ve embedded below.

Pairs skaters who are relatively young in their partnerships – and unfortunately, some several years in – lack the comfort with each other to work on aspects of skating outside of not falling on each other. In a new couple, that’s totally understandable. I, too, would not be focusing so much on pointing my toes, leg extension and hit positions if someone I just started working with was tossing me several feet above their head and then catching me.

The difference with Iliushechkina and Moscovitch is that the attention to detail is there even when the familiarity with each other isn’t, particularly on her part. She extends her limbs, points her toes and follows every arm movement with her eyes (which helps give it purpose instead of looking like you’re flailing about in rushing water.) Despite being together mere months, they have the confidence to perform intricate spins and lifts that would look messy if not hit precisely.

What sold me was their pairs spin halfway through their long program (approximately at the 2:15 mark). Her free leg placement on the camel part of the spin – wrapped around his leg – is so neat. Even between positions, they don’t rush to set up the next part of the spin and throw away the movement. They both extend their free legs.

Are they perfect? Oh, far from it. Those early side-by-side jumps are iffy, and there is a odd catch-foot lift in the program’s second half that made me cringe. But is this some of the most inspiring pairs skating I’ve watched since started watching figure skating hardcore again? Definitely.

Luba Illyusheshkina / Dylan Moscovitch – Senior… by skatecanada
 

Here are my random notes on the Olympic ladies figure skating event, which begins Wednesday.

– You may have already heard it mentioned that American Gracie Gold was born in Newton, Massachusetts. In reality, she spent a relatively short time in the Boston area, and was raised in Missouri. However, there is a skater with stronger Massachusetts ties in the ladies event.

Elene Gedevanishvili will represent the nation of Georgia for a third Olympic Games. Gedevanishvili, who finished 29th in last season’s World Championships, has spent a significant amount of time training at the Colonial Figure Skating Club in Boxborough, Massachusetts with coach Konstantin Kostin.

Gedevanishvili moved to New England last year to reportedly to spend time with family, as she has a brother who is a competitive skier and attends school in Maine. However, her International Skating Union biography says she recently moved to Toronto to train under the eye of two-time Olympic silver medalist (and one of the most successful coaches of late) Brian Orser.

If you watched the 2006 Torino Games, you may remember Gedevanishvili because her tumultuous training and living situation was the subject of NBC attention. She had been training in Russia, but her mother was deported back to Georgia, so young Elene moved to Canada on her own. She has trained in the United States or Canada for most of the years since. She has been up and down in competitions throughout the years, but continues to soldier on.

Although Gedevanishvili had earned an Olympic spot at the Sochi Games via September’s Nebelhorn Trophy, it was questionable for a bit if either herself or any other Georgian athletes would compete. Russia and Georgia have not been on the best terms, with the two being at war with one another in 2008. According to ESPN, the flight that brought the majority of Georgian athletes to Sochi was just the second flight from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi to Sochi since the war.

Gedevanishvili will skate 16th in Wednesday’s short program, at approximately 12:15pm Eastern time.

– I am interested in seeing an international judging panels take on Polina Edmunds’ short program layback spin. Those who have followed skating a while know that Dick Button would not approve of it, but that is not exactly the issue. If you watch her short program from US Nationals, I am not sure she holds the middle position eight times before switching into the Biellman position. A skater has to hold each position for eight rotations. I am most likely wrong, because the judging panel did not deduct on the element and awarded it a Level 4, but it might be interesting to watch what a senior international judging panel might do in regards to it. But that is just my opinion – I’ll just be interested to see her scores all around.

– I think this is the most wide open Olympic ladies competition in years. I usually am one to go out on a limb on Olympic predictions (my 10th grade English class can attest my Tara Lipinski prediction back in 1998), but I have no strong ones here. Gracie Gold is poised to be the leading American lady, and I could see her finish fourth if she hits everything she is capable of and others falter. Ashley Wagner will be in the top eight, and Edmunds is a dark horse – she skates so early in the short program that even if she completes all of the difficulty she is able to, I don’t know if it will hold up over the groups of skaters who come after her.

I do hope that somehow, one of the American ladies wins a medal. It would be a much needed boost of caffeine to a sport that desperately needs it in this country.