2022 Britannia Figure Cup, August 26-28, Sheffield GBR

[Sylvia]

ISU's event page with Annoucement: https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/...3377/33/britannia-figure-cup?templateParam=11

Starting orders are posted on the Results page (Time schedules as well):

Britannia Cup 2022

Event results for Britannia Cup 2022

www.iceresultsuk.org.uk

Senior Men - Short Program Starting Order
StN. Name Nation
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Elliott THOMPSON GBR
2 Graham NEWBERRY GBR
3 Charles Henry KATANOVIC CRO
4 Christian-Stephan NAINER ROU
Warm-Up Group 2
5 Brandon BAILEY GBR
6 Samuel McALLISTER IRL
7 Joseph Alexander ZAKIPOUR GBR
8 Chiu Hei CHEUNG HKG

Senior Women - Short Program Starting Order (minimum entries is 8 from 4 countries for ISU WS points)
StN. Name Nation
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Kristen SPOURS GBR
2 Jogaile AGLINSKYTE LTU
3 Rebecca GILLESPIE GBR
Warm-Up Group 2
4 Emily HAYWARD GBR
5 Nina POVEY GBR
6 Kristina SHKULETA-GROMOVA EST
7 Genevieve SOMERVILLE GBR

Senior Pairs - Short Program Starting Order
StN. Name Nation
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Lydia SMART / Harry MATTICK GBR

Senior Ice Dance - Rhythm Dance Starting Order
StN. Name Nation
Warm-Up Group 1
1 India NETTE / Eron WESTWOOD AUS
2 Charlotte MAN / Toby PALMER GBR
3 Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON GBR
4 Eleanor HIRST / Anthony CURRIE GBR
Warm-Up Group 2
5 Paulina RAMANAUSKAITE / Daniel KORABELNIK Deividas KIZALA LTU
6 Natacha LAGOUGE / Arnaud CAFFA FRA
7 Lucy HANCOCK / Ilias FOURATI HUN
8 Holly HARRIS / Jason CHAN AUS


Junior Men - Short Program Starting Order
StN. Name Nation
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Daniel KORABELNIK LTU
2 Jedidiah LINCOLN GBR
3 Freddie LEGGOTT GBR

Junior Women - Short Program Starting Order
StN. Name Nation
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Alana PANG GBR
2 Adela VALLOVA CZE
3 Sophia TKACHEVA IRL
Warm-Up Group 2
4 Alexa SEVERN GBR
5 Molly ROBOTHAM GBR
6 Angelica ALEXANDER GBR
7 Arabella SEAR-WATKINS GBR

Junior Pairs - Short Program Starting Order
StN. Name Nation
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Neamh DAVISON / Shailesh CALLER GBR
2 Lucy HAY / Kyle McLEOD GBR

Junior Ice Dance - Rhythm Dance Starting Order
StN. Name Nation
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Ashlie SLATTER / Atl ONGAY-PEREZ GBR
2 Molly HAIRSINE / Alessio SURENKOV-GULTCHEV GBR
3 Phebe BEKKER / James HERNANDEZ GBR

 

[Gris]

Ramanauskaite's partner is still Deividas Kizala - it has been confirmed to be a mistake.

(Daniel Korabelnik is a Lithuanian Junior Men's skater in this competition)

ETA: Paulina and Deividas' conversation about this on Twitter

 

[Belsornia]

Spectator tickets are on sale via the BIS events portal (and I'm sure will also be available on the door) - £5 per day, so not bad value for anyone local who fancies watching some skating.

 

[Sylvia]

Tweeted by BIS earlier today: https://twitter.com/BritishIceSkate/status/1562000939816460288
"The draw for the Senior and Junior Men categories for the Britannia Figure Cup will be redrawn this evening.
You will be able to find the full updated draw tomorrow morning"

A provisional timetable is linked on this page: https://www.iceskating.org.uk/events

Nothing yet on the BIS TV page about livestreaming/on demand viewing ("Britannia Cup" was in April 2022): https://tv.iceskating.org.uk/

 

[floskate]

Spectator tickets are on sale via the BIS events portal (and I'm sure will also be available on the door) - £5 per day, so not bad value for anyone local who fancies watching some skating.

I'm thinking of popping down for the weekend to watch this. Anyone else?

 

[gkelly]

Tweeted by BIS earlier today: https://twitter.com/BritishIceSkate/status/1562000939816460288
"The draw for the Senior and Junior Men categories for the Britannia Figure Cup will be redrawn this evening.
You will be able to find the full updated draw tomorrow morning"

A provisional timetable is linked on this page: https://www.iceskating.org.uk/events

Nothing yet on the BIS TV page about livestreaming/on demand viewing ("Britannia Cup" was in April 2022): https://tv.iceskating.org.uk/

What is the difference between Britannia Figure Cup and Britannia Cup?

 

[Sylvia]

What is the difference between Britannia Figure Cup and Britannia Cup?

"Britannia Cup" was a synchro comp. (had to look it up on the BIS website).

The results page for the Britannia Figure Cup (as listed on the ISU website and competition announcement) says "Britannia International": http://www.iceresultsuk.org.uk/BritanniaCupInternational/2022/index.htm

These are the redrawn starting orders:

Senior Men - Short Program Starting Order
StN. Name Nation
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Charles Henry KATANOVIC CRO
2 Joseph Alexander ZAKIPOUR GBR
3 Samuel McALLISTER IRL
4 Elliott THOMPSON GBR
5 Brandon BAILEY GBR
6 Graham NEWBERRY GBR

Junior Men - Short Program Starting Order
StN. Name Nation
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Jedidiah LINCOLN GBR
2 Christian-Stephan NAINER ROU
3 Freddie LEGGOTT GBR
4 Chiu Hei CHEUNG HKG
5 Daniel KORABELNIK LTU

 

[Sylvia]

Event info (no mention of a livestream or on demand video):

Britannia Figure Cup - all you need to know

Sheffield is set to host the three-day international competition, here's all you need to know.

www.iceskating.org.uk

I'm thinking of popping down for the weekend to watch this.

Please report back if you do go!

 

[floskate]

Senior RD practice currently. Lilah in tropical green with a shredded skirt, Lewis in low sheer black V and bedazzled within an inch of his life which we obviously approve of. Meanwhile I'm fanboying over seeing Diane Towler #icedanceicon.

 

[floskate]

Newberry the class of the field with 74.19 in the short.
3ax - a miracle was almost lateral in the air. 3r-3t (fall on the toe), 3z. Channelling Joubert all the way.

Nina Povey easily won the women's short, 3r-2t, 3f fall out, 2ax.

That's as good as my pbp gets

 

[floskate]

Junior RD - Bekker /Fernandez the easy winners with 55.03 (I think that's what I heard, not making notes), and that despite a botched twizzle from Phebe. Really loved Ashlie and Atl though...loads of potential there in second place.

 

[floskate]

Good performance from Lilah and Lewis. Crowd pleasing programme which plays to their strengths. Will try and upload a crappy video if anyone is interested.

78.31

 

[miffy]

Thanks Flo!

 

[Karen-W]

Good performance from Lilah and Lewis. Crowd pleasing programme which plays to their strengths. Will try and upload a crappy video if anyone is interested.

78.31

But of course we're interested!!!!! Who wants to wait 2.5 weeks more for US Classic (especially since there's nothing on USFS yet to indicate they plan on having it streamed).

 

[Frau Muller]

Wasn’t US Classic 2021 actually streamed on Peacock? Maybe that happened only because it was an Olympic season…

 

[Karen-W]

Wasn’t US Classic 2021 actually streamed on Peacock? Maybe that happened only because it was an Olympic season…

Yes, it was last year. But, there's no mention of it on either Peacock or USFS' "where to watch" page. I'd be surprised if it isn't streamed - they managed to stream it in prior years, before Peacock. It might wind up being on the USFS Fanzone site, like all the Novice & below NQS competitions last year, but who knows?

 

[floskate]

Apologies in advance for the woeful camera work and all around rubbish quality, (ye God's this is not one of my talents! ) but for anyone who wants a peak at Lilah and Lewis's new RD, here it is:

https://youtu.be/GNaNjNnOAMA

 

[Debbie S]

Thanks, floskate! Your camera work is great, definitely not woeful!

I like their RD. I wonder if Let's Get Loud is a little too fast for them, but I'm sure it will get more polished with more mileage. Should be a crowd-pleaser.

 

[floskate]

Nina Povey won senior women's with a 101.07 for the free. 3z(e), 3f, 3t, 3r. Music cuts are an outrage and poor Tchaikovsky no doubt has motion sickness from all that spinning he's doing in his grave!

 

[floskate]

118.23 for Lewis and Lilah in the free. I recorded it but from opposite the judges. Will upload when I get home.

 

[Sylvia]

Britannia Cup 2022

Event results for Britannia Cup 2022

www.iceresultsuk.org.uk

Senior Ice Dance
Result
FPl. Name Nation Points RD FD
1 Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON GBR 196.54 1 1
2 Natacha LAGOUGE / Arnaud CAFFA FRA 168.55 3 2
3 Holly HARRIS / Jason CHAN AUS 160.32 2 3
4 Paulina RAMANAUSKAITE / Deividas KIZALA LTU 144.06 4 4
5 Lucy HANCOCK / Ilias FOURATI HUN 136.61 5 5
6 India NETTE / Eron WESTWOOD AUS 122.18 6 6
7 Charlotte MAN / Toby PALMER GBR 106.75 7 7
WD Eleanor HIRST / Anthony CURRIE GBR

Pl.	Name	Nation	TSS =	TES +		PCS +	CO	PR	SK	Ded. -	StN.
1​	Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON	GBR	118.23​	66.57​		52.66​	8.83​	8.83​	8.67​	1.00​	#7​
2​	Natacha LAGOUGE / Arnaud CAFFA	FRA	102.67​	58.83​		43.84​	7.33​	7.42​	7.17​	0.00​	#5​
3​	Holly HARRIS / Jason CHAN	AUS	92.64​	54.80​		40.84​	6.92​	6.50​	7.00​	3.00​	#6​
4​	Paulina RAMANAUSKAITE / Deividas KIZALA	LTU	85.69​	46.85​		38.84​	6.33​	6.42​	6.67​	0.00​	#4​
5​	Lucy HANCOCK / Ilias FOURATI	HUN	81.58​	48.40​		33.18​	5.50​	5.42​	5.67​	0.00​	#3​
6​	India NETTE / Eron WESTWOOD	AUS	75.51​	44.17​		31.34​	5.17​	5.33​	5.17​	0.00​	#2​
7​	Charlotte MAN / Toby PALMER	GBR	63.32​	37.98​		25.34​	4.17​	4.33​	4.17​	0.00​	#1​

FD protocols: http://www.iceresultsuk.org.uk/Brit...----04FNL-000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf

​

Pl.	Name	Nation	TSS =	TES +		PCS +	CO	PR	SK	Ded. -	StN.
1​	Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON	GBR	78.31​	44.39​		33.92​	8.58​	8.50​	8.42​	0.00​	#3​
2​	Holly HARRIS / Jason CHAN	AUS	67.68​	39.09​		28.59​	7.08​	7.33​	7.08​	0.00​	#8​
3​	Natacha LAGOUGE / Arnaud CAFFA	FRA	65.88​	37.84​		28.04​	7.08​	7.00​	7.00​	0.00​	#6​
4​	Paulina RAMANAUSKAITE / Deividas KIZALA	LTU	58.37​	34.64​		23.73​	5.92​	5.75​	6.17​	0.00​	#5​
5​	Lucy HANCOCK / Ilias FOURATI	HUN	55.03​	33.19​		21.84​	5.42​	5.67​	5.33​	0.00​	#7​
6​	India NETTE / Eron WESTWOOD	AUS	46.67​	25.71​		20.96​	5.17​	5.50​	5.08​	0.00​	#1​
7​	Charlotte MAN / Toby PALMER	GBR	43.43​	25.68​		17.75​	4.42​	4.75​	4.17​	0.00​	#2​

RD protocols: http://www.iceresultsuk.org.uk/Brit...----04QUAL000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf

Senior Men
Result
FPl. Name Nation Points SP FS
1 Graham NEWBERRY GBR 211.07 1 (74.19 in SP) 1
2 Brandon BAILEY GBR 164.13 2 2
3 Samuel McALLISTER IRL 158.95 3 3
4 Charles Henry KATANOVIC CRO 139.80 5 4
5 Elliott THOMPSON GBR 135.92 4 5
6 Joseph Alexander ZAKIPOUR GBR 111.57 6 6

Pl.	Name	Nation	TSS =	TES +		PCS +	CO	PR	SK	Ded. -	StN.
1​	Graham NEWBERRY	GBR	136.88​	64.71​		72.17​	7.17​	7.08​	7.42​	0.00​	#6​
2​	Brandon BAILEY	GBR	106.20​	47.79​		59.41​	5.92​	5.75​	6.17​	1.00​	#5​
3​	Samuel McALLISTER	IRL	104.45​	45.24​		60.21​	6.00​	6.08​	6.00​	1.00​	#4​
4​	Charles Henry KATANOVIC	CRO	88.37​	40.22​		52.15​	5.08​	5.00​	5.58​	4.00​	#2​
5​	Elliott THOMPSON	GBR	81.77​	34.65​		49.12​	5.00​	4.67​	5.08​	2.00​	#3​
6​	Joseph Alexander ZAKIPOUR	GBR	65.17​	30.05​		44.12​	4.58​	3.92​	4.75​	9.00​	#1​

FS protcools: http://www.iceresultsuk.org.uk/Brit...----01FNL-000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf

Senior Women
Result
FPl. Name Nation Points SP FS
1 Nina POVEY GBR 153.52 1 1
2 Rebecca GILLESPIE GBR 117.48 2 3
3 Emily HAYWARD GBR 115.20 3 2
4 Genevieve SOMERVILLE GBR 102.50 5 4
WD Jogaile AGLINSKYTE LTU 41.76 4
WD Kristina SHKULETA-GROMOVA EST
WD Kristen SPOURS GBR

Senior Pairs
Result
FPl. Name Nation Points SP FS
1 Lydia SMART / Harry MATTICK GBR 119.92 1 1


Junior Ice Dance
Result
FPl. Name Nation Points RD FD
1 Phebe BEKKER / James HERNANDEZ GBR 141.46 1 (55.09) 1 (86.37)
2 Ashlie SLATTER / Atl ONGAY-PEREZ GBR 112.16 2 2
3 Molly HAIRSINE / Alessio SURENKOV-GULTCHEV GBR 97.03 3 3

Junior Men
Result
FPl. Name Nation Points SP FS
1 Freddie LEGGOTT GBR 134.50 1 1
2 Christian-Stephan NAINER ROU 124.35 3 2
3 Jedidiah LINCOLN GBR 123.58 2 3
4 Chiu Hei CHEUNG HKG 93.37 5 4
WD Daniel KORABELNIK LTU 40.22 4

Junior Women
Result
FPl. Name Nation Points SP FS
1 Arabella SEAR-WATKINS GBR 114.88 4 1
2 Alana PANG GBR 103.46 3 2
3 Adela VALLOVA CZE 102.58 1 3
4 Alexa SEVERN GBR 93.73 2 5
5 Molly ROBOTHAM GBR 87.99 5 4
6 Angelica ALEXANDER GBR 85.28 6 6
7 Sophia TKACHEVA IRL 79.03 7 7

Junior Pairs
Result
FPl. Name Nation Points SP FS
1 Lucy HAY / Kyle McLEOD GBR 87.64 1 1
2 Neamh DAVISON / Shailesh CALLER GBR83.17 2 2


Advanced Novice Ice Dance
Result
FPl. Name Nation Points PD1 PD2 FD
1 Mimi MARLER DAVIES / Joseph BLACK GBR 79.26 1 1 1

Advanced Novice Boys
Result
FPl. Name Nation Points SP FS
1 Lloyd THOMSON GBR 97.66 1 1
2 Edward SOLOVYOV GBR 74.09 2

Advanced Novice Girls
Result
FPl. Name Nation Points SP FS
1 Daria DALGICH GBR 97.82 1 1
2 Ava-Mae WILSON GBR 73.17 4 2
3 Nina ALEXANDROV GBR 69.28 3 4
4 Adrienne CASTON GBR 69.19 5 3
5 Tarren MAYER GBR 67.70 2 5

 

[Belsornia]

Now that I’m having to make occasional day trips to Yorkshire for work a quick visit to Sheffield to see skating doesn’t seem so unreasonable…

Lilah and Lewis are looking really fit and ready to hit the ground running this season. Other than one moment in the RD this didn’t feel like a first time out and I don’t think they’ll need to make any major changes - so expect they will be at US Classic. Both programmes I think should (unsurprisingly) be crowd pleasers when they get some bigger audiences.

FD music is really pounding and was much louder than everyone else - a bit much for a Sunday morning when people were drinking tea and admiring babies! A great music edit, mostly Born This Way with a bit of an orchestrated version of Bad Romance. Performance is already to the max and dance moves fast and sharp. I’d prefer a bit more skating and a bit leas hanging on the boards and posing on their knees in the choreo step, but I’m not the ISU. And I don’t think the choreography is doing much to make them look like a well-balanced team: the difficult features are relying a lot on Lewis’s strength. Lilah’s twizzles are still looking tight but she’s getting them done, unlike many of the British dancers this week. Costumes a bit underwhelming - not saying Lilah should turn up in a meat dress, but if you’re going to skate to Lady Gaga costumes should be a bit out there!

Other highlights: Graham Newberry is looking great, really strong and confident and his new SP is a good vehicle for him. Smart/Mattick’s new LP is a huge step up, much more sophisticated choreography and they’re really engaging with it (elements still messy, but they’ve made some upgrades). Emily Hayward was so happy to be competing here and I felt quite emotional about it after the rough times she’s had. International silver medal and a non-downgraded 2ax for my favourite Alana Pang!

 

[floskate]

Here's the Gaga FD
https://youtu.be/ZUiSEVAQIsw
I also recorded the French and Hungarians so will upload here.

Lagouge and Caffa FD
https://youtu.be/aSmd_lLNjFM

Haycock and Fourati FD
https://youtu.be/HR533CspwIQ

 

[Belsornia]

A few notes on the non-Lilah/Lewis ice dancers:

Man / Palmer - They are just...not good. RD was the better programme but questionably latin, FD was terrible: too many music cuts and dubious lyrics about Africa. Very messy twizzles. Yeah, that second spot is going to go unused.

Nette / Westwood - If you watched the first part of the RD on mute you would not guess this was latin, especially as she was dressed for a circus programme. You would know the second part is the Macarena because they do the arm movements. FD she is wearing a sparkly purple dress and he has a band tee with a skeleton on it. Meatloaf medley. If you can't be good at least you can be cheesy fun and they are really going for it. Lifts a bit less than last season. He biffs it on the twizzles, in case we've forgotten he's British. Choreo step with air guitar and barrel rolls. ISU bio says he is 5'6" and I say LEIS.

Hancock / Fourati - Lucy has improved in leaps and bounds since I last saw her in British juniors. This was a solid debut and they didn't really have a 'new team' feel, pretty amazing given it's her first competition in nearly three years. Kissing sound effect to end the RD and she's doing a back bend - I guess they don't know each other that well yet! FD music (strange love?) is mainly atmospheric so it's quite ambitious for a debut but mostly works. Admirable committment to costuming from Lucy too: in the RD she's wearing white trousers and crop top with a highlighter yellow stripe and fringe everywhere, and in the FD a white and gray dress with tons of appliques and flappy bits with white tights straight from the early 90s.

Ramanauskaite / Kizala - These two are really developing well; I think Maurizio Margaglio is doing a good job with his lower level teams. They have a nice connection between them and both programmes have decent flow and speed but need more mileage to push through to the end. RD is Sway and a piece I didn't recognise, he looks like he's enjoying it and she looks focused. FD is Highway to Hell and Still Got the Blues, both with low cut tops and faux leather jackets. He leapfrogs over her to open, riding a motorbike choreography, a moment in the blues when he runs after her and it's very Alexander Zhulin circa thirty years ago. Second air guitar / barrel rolls choreo step of the morning.

Harris / Chan - She is so sparkly that when I've seen them on TV I've always focused on her but seeing them live I appreciate what a good partner he is: nice knee bend and he can really move. Her RD dress is basically just sparkles and illusion with the somewhat odd choice of gray fringe. First time out feel to the RD and the FD wasn't really ready for competition: no costumes, reaching for each other, fall on lift exit. The music is a bit droning and they were so focused on the elements it's hard to tell what this will be like when they can commit to the presentation.

Lagouge / Caffa - I didn't realise they are now also with Margaglio. Nice speed, fluidity and togetherness in the RD and a fab low curve lift. Another choreo step to Let's Get Loud to finish - how many of those are we going to see this year? First part of the FD to Human has lots of interesting body positions and angst about the human condition, second part (What About Us) is a more standard contemporary FD. Interesting sliding move with her in a besti squat. I don't think people need to worry about French ice dance post Papadakis/Cizeron; even with P/C out and no sign of a new partner for Adelina Galyavieva ( ) these are the number 3? 4? French team and they're already scoring 100+ in August.

 

[Karen-W]

Lagouge / Caffa - I don't think people need to worry about French ice dance post Papadakis/Cizeron; even with P/C out and no sign of a new partner for Adelina Galyavieva ( ) these are the number 3? 4? French team and they're already scoring 100+ in August.

On paper, maybe #3 behind Lopareva/Brissaud and Demougeot/Le Mercier, but Fradji/Forneaux are developing very nicely down in juniors and could challenge them for #3. Plus, we have no idea what Annabelle Morozov & her new partner decided as far as trying to compete for Russia or France...

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

What's a 3r?

 

[Karen-W]

What's a 3r?

R is short for Rittberger, which is another name for Loop. Fairly common in Europe. So, 3r = triple loop.

 

[Belsornia]

Since I know Ash and Atl have fans here, junior dance:

I'm always impressed by Slatter / Ongay-Perez performance skills and versatility, which is really outstanding for such young skaters. Atl has grown quite a bit since the British Championships in December and maybe as a consequence they were struggling with the pattern but on the flip side their ice coverage is improving and the lifts seem strong and confident. Great to see Diane Towler-Green at the boards for them!

FD is Man in the Iron Mask and it reminded me a bit of Coomes / Buckland who skated to the same music when they were also very small first year juniors. The programme builds nicely and the lifts were the highlights, original acrobatic entry into the curve lift and a dramatic stationary lift to end. Some of the other elements (spin, twizzles) looked like hard work, but they got the levels. Choreo assisted jump both ways.

Having seen Bekker / Hernandez live I think they made the right call in staying junior. Phebe is still pretty young and although she has big performance energy she seems a nervy competitor. If they're in it for the long haul a strong junior season should set them up well and build confidence more than struggling with senior requirements. Overall, I think B/H are progressing but haven't made a step change over the off-season. They're continuing to build the connection between them and skating a bit faster and a bit closer together, and James in particular seems to have been working on his skating skills - there are moments when it feels like he's holding back a bit. They were doing a ballet warmup behind the stands and he also has really good extension now, which it would be nice to see more of in their programmes.

RD was a worse skate but I think is the better programme. There's good attention to detail in the choreography and I think the strong and clearly defined style of movement helps James to express more, while anything dramatic is a good fit for Phebe. Unfortunately she missed at least a third of the warm-up, then botched the second twizzle, then botched it in exactly the same way in the performance and crashed into James - lucky to avoid a double splat. The pattern didn't look particularly sharp but they hit more keypoints than not.

FD is Four Seasons and it's another one with too many music cuts giving a stop-start feel. They have clearly been working on their connection and expression but I think this is a bit too abstract for where they are now: another character piece would do more of the presentational heavy lifting for them. Opening with a combo lift, both parts I've seen other skaters use before - I preferred last year's lifts, but I am a rotational lift hater. Phebe looked very uncomfortable in the spin and James was doing all the work but they got it up to L3. James biffed it on the twizzles this time - equal opportunities! On the positive side, no sign of the old stamina issues, and nice fluidity in the choreo step, which they do in the oppositite direction to most teams. I feel like I always have lots to nitpick with these two, but it's because I think they have potential and want to see them do well!

Hirsine / Surenkov-Gultchev were a pleasant surprise in that they were not terrible. They've only been together for two months and it showed, so good for them for getting out and competing. RD was a very creditable debut, FD looked like they hadn't done many run throughs and he was very obviously guiding her through. As with his previous partnership, going for some eyecatching lifts, but H/SG already have more coherent programmes. Based on the screaming of the Sheffield skater girls, I guess I know where they're training. I'm looking forward to seeing how they've progressed by the British.

Marler Davies / Black (Advanced Novice) are very new and very young (I heard 10 and 13) and I am not sufficiently in teknik to tell if they have potential. FD is The Nightmare Before Christmas and it's age appropriate without being cutesy but mostly they just need time to get used to skating together. AFAIK they are not related, but they have a big brother / little sister vibe which is nice given how awkward many novice teams can be about interacting with each other.

 

[miffy]

FD is Man in the Iron Mask and it reminded me a bit of Coomes / Buckland who skated to the same music when they were also very small first year juniors.

Awwww the Baby Chait and Baby Buttle year! I was sitting with you - the 2005-06 Nationals? I was just thinking of that the other day as I think I filmed it and I want to see if it’s on my old PC, and what else I filmed as I only remember filming them. I was also trying to remember what they skated to and I thought maybe it was POTC but now I think you are right

Thank you for all your thoughts! Did you see Junior Pairs?

 

[Belsornia]

Awwww the Baby Chait and Baby Buttle year! I was sitting with you - the 2005-06 Nationals? I was just thinking of that the other day as I think I filmed it and I want to see if it’s on my old PC, and what else I filmed as I only remember filming them. I was also trying to remember what they skated to and I thought maybe it was POTC but now I think you are right

So tiny and cute! It doesn't seem long enough ago for Nick to be retired and back again as a coach. I think that was the year Lloyd Jones won juniors and now he is involved with British skating again as choreographer for Smart/Mattick.

Junior Pairs:

Davison / Caller have improved exponentially since the British. Only one invalid element! He is now letting go on the twist but their technique is very scary: he basically comes to a dead stop and chucks her on top of himself. Other elements are pretty messy but they're gritty competitors and are getting them done. He still has an OMFG WTF am I doing facial expression when he lifts her, but actually their lifts are fine; he's probably physically the strongest of the three pair guys here. They feel like two people skating at the same time rather than a pair and their unison was completely off in the SP but were more synchronised in the LP. SP is that string cover of Lovely that Kostornaia used last season, LP is Gershwin.

Hay / McLeod have much better skating skills and better qualty to their pairs elements but were having a hard time putting it together. Even though they feel more of a pair there were moments when they weren't sure where each other was and were having to reach for holds. Painful looking splat on the throw flip. They were having a lot of lift trouble in warmup but managed to get them all up in competition. She is another skater who has grown taller since the British and he is quite short for a pairs guy so I am a bit concerned about their long-term prospects and crossing my fingers that he also has some growing left to do. Music choices are rather Canadian: some mid tempo contemporary song for the SP and Waves for the LP.

Do you know if Hodgkinson / Appleby have split? I hope not, but signs are pointing in that directing.