Agreed. There is no sense in wasting the 4th spot and I think that RitMcL are comparable to DavBor at this point, so it seems fair for each of them to have 1 JGP assignment. WoodLap have 2 already and certainly showed that they warrant those assignments. I don't expect them to be competing for the podium at either of their JGPs but their throw 3S was really impressive.
but the 2022 Adv Nov champion (with Jessica Hennessy). Shenton is new to pairs but has been competing in Adv Nov singles, with some decent results but no 2ax. I think he's too old for novice internationally, but for the best that they don't try to compete elements they aren't ready for.
I guess the Spanish Fed jumped the gun with this announcement, because according to an IDC interview with Sophia Bushell and Antonio Pena they're going to be skating for GB. I'm not complaining!
Jamie Hammond already has a new partner, Kiah Whieldon:
Yup - confirmed on SK Ice Dance's IG -
www.instagram.com
Alas, I should have known better than to post this yesterday, because now Harrison/Dicks have split.ETA: Current stocktake: 2 Intermediate Novice teams, 3 Advanced Novice, 5 Junior and 5 Senior. Can we get another junior or senior team in the next few weeks and require a second group at the British Championships?
Yes, I was impressed by both V-L/D and Ed Appleby going clean in the SP and clean-ish in the LP at Nebelhorn; I don't recall that ever happening before for either of them. None of their programmes are particularly great, but if measured, comfortable programmes with room to breathe is what it takes to get more consistency this season, that's the right approach.
I also thought F/G's RD looked much sharper at Nebelhorn. From an enjoyment perspective, I think this is my favourite FD of theirs since Madonna, but as a high-scoring competitive programme, I don't think this is it. It wouldn't solve the fundamental issues, of course, but a costume change would help. Having Lilah in bright red and Lewis in all black draws all the attention to Lilah.
Layla Karnes is listed in senior solo dance for the British Qualifier in November (entries out on Sportity).
Oooh, Mathew Gates' daughter! Thanks for mentioning her/them. They were on 2024 U.S. National Development Team so maybe related to that? https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAUzMU4xyjP/
He shared a BIS certificate on his insta today so I guess they still had to take some tests! Hopefully it will all be sorted in advance of the British.
Now that the registration deadline has passed, BIS had published the confirmed list of entrants for the British Championships on Sportity.BIS have published a provisional list of skaters qualified for the British Championships on Sportity. Smart/Mattick are a notable absence; they would have been eligible for a bye based on being in the Performace Squad last season. So unfortunately it seems reasonable to conclude that they are done.
Other skaters who have not yet competed domestically or internationally this season but who have met the criteria for the Perfomance or Academy (BIS rebranding for juniors) squads have all got byes: Freddie Leggott, Joe Zakipour, Arin Yorke, Alexa Severn - I guess there are a lot of injuries in Nottingham at the moment.
Senior Women
Rebecca Gillespie (Sheffield)
Emma Lyons (Dundee)
Suzi Murray (Magnum)
Nina Povey (Sheffield)
Arabella Sear-Watkins (Dundee)
Genevieve Somerville (Dundee)
Kristen Spours (Swindon)
Saskia Zainchkovskaya (Nottingham)
Senior Men
Edward Appleby (Romford)
Brandon Bailey (Oxford)
Connor Bray (Lee Valley)
Ken Fitterer (BIS)
Freddie Leggott (Nottingham)
Tao MacRae (BIS)
Henry Privett-Mendoza (Sheffield)
Joseph Zakipour (Nottingham)
Senior Pairs
Anastasia Vaipan-Law / Luke Digby (Dundee)
Senior Ice Dance
Phebe Bekker / James Hernandez (Nottingham)
Lilah Fear / Lewis Gibson (Alexandra Palace)
Eleanor Hirst / Anthony Currie (Sheffield)
Charlotte Man / Toby Palmer *
Lucyna Okhrem / Jan Nordman *
* Conditional on competing at the November Qualifier
(Not listed: Sophia Bushell / Antonio Pena)
Junior Women
Alisa Biserova (Romford)
Darya Dalgich (BIS)
Jessica Hennessey (Sheffield)
Emma Lyons (Dundee)
Polly Morris (Dundee)
Lilian Musgrave (BIS)
Leilah Patten (BIS)
Gemma Ratcliffe (Nottingham)
Hannah Robertson (Kirkcaldy)
Arabella Sear-Watkins (Dundee)
Alexa Severn (Nottingham)
Alice Smith (Romford)
Holly Tighe (Sheffield)
Gailie Tsang (Peterborough)
Arina Vorobeva (Nottingham)
Ava Wilson (Basingstoke)
Zinia Wood (Swindon)
Saskia Zainchkovskaya (Nottingham)
If some or all of Lyons, Sear-Watkins and Zainchkovskaya choose to only compete senior, then Kira Khomenko (Alexandra Palace), Kim Carter (Coventry) and Isabel Barnes (Deeside) are next in line.
Junior Men
Rene Bektashi-Brown (Altrincham)
Jack Donovan (Nottingham)
Lucas Fitterer (BIS)
Jedidiah Lincoln (BIS)
Tao MacRae (BIS)
Edward Solovyov (Whitley Bay)
Lloyd Thomson (Auchenharvie)
Solomon Williamson (Nottingham)
Luke Woodthorpe-Smith (Nottingham)
Arin Yorke (Nottingham)
If Tao MacRae only competes seniors, Louis Gregory (Romford) will sub in.
Junior Pairs
Neamh Davison / Daniel Borisov (Sheffield)
Sophie Dracas / Pelham Wright (Slough)
Rebecca Ritchie / Kyle McLeod (Dundee)
Zarah Wood / Alex Lapsky (Swindon)
Junior Ice Dance
Molly Hairsine / Alessio Surenkov-Gultchev (Sheffield)
Isabel Harrison / Harvey Dicks (Sheffield) - but they've already split
Mimi Marler Davies / Joseph Black (Alexandra Palace)
Ashlie Slatter / Atl Ongay-Perez (Streatham)
Kiah Whieldon / Jamie Hammond *
* Conditional on competing at the November Qualifier.
I'm not copying over all the novice qualifiers but Macey Freeman, who was a very young Adv Nov champion last season is not included, and doesn't appear to have competed since winning the title. Sofia Gates and Nik Vayo in Int Nov dance are listed as pending, so potentially still some eligibility issues being worked out with USFS?
Sounds like Ashlie was blindsided and it was not her decision.
They were so promising and seemed really good friends.
Me too. I'm gutted, much as I knew the risks of ubering juniors.
Ashlie will be senior eligible in 2026-27. Though with the new rules she will be junior eligible throughout the next quad if she ends up starting over with a less experienced partner.Is he retiring from competing? The only other reason I could think of that would make a tiny bit of sense is to find an older partner who would be eligible for senior sooner than Ash will be - but they hadn’t reached the very top of juniors yet so that would seem premature
They registered for the British Championships and were still on the entry list on Monday, so signs are it was sudden.Atl seems very academic, so I wondered if he was retiring to focus on A-levels/university, but the hints of an acrimonious break make me wonder if it's something else.
All she said was that it wasn't her decision, so we don't know for sure it was his. In theory, could be, she was told by medics or parents that her head injury made it too risky to continue. But the sense of acrimony with Atl, unfollowing, etc... again, I think it's something else, but we just don't know yet.Wouldn’t be surprised if health challenges contributed to his decision. They wouldn’t be the first team to split after attempting to recover from a serious injury.
I posted about the 2025 Dancing on Ice pro skaters (but didn't' list the celebrities) in this thread: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...ours-skater-news-updates.110845/#post-6673695Am I the only person struggling to get my head around the fact that Janine from EastEnders (Charlie Brooks) will be skating with Eric Radford in Dancing on Ice?
"During this cruise Jayne and Chris will tell you about their careers as the world’s top ice dance skaters and there will also be an opportunity for you to ask them your burning questions about the world of ice dancing." There really needs to be at least one FSUer on this cruise! Oh the questions they could askI'm a bit disappointed Mark Hanretty was partnered with Michaela Strachan on DOI. I was hoping he'd a a chance to finally win in his last season.
In other lighter skating news, we've all missed our opportunity to go on a Saga Cruise with Torvill & Dean.
Aww, I didn’t watch DOI last year. As it’s Mark’s last year I probably will watch, so a thread would be nice if anyone else is watching?
I'm a bit disappointed Mark Hanretty was partnered with Michaela Strachan on DOI. I was hoping he'd a a chance to finally win in his last season.
In other lighter skating news, we've all missed our opportunity to go on a Saga Cruise with Torvill & Dean.
