1. Savchenko and Massot- great to finally see them at a major competition after waiting for so long. They show so much potential despite the few mistakes.
2. Volosozhar and Trankov- cementing their comebacks as favorites!
3. Javier Fernandez- extending his dominance in Europe and breaking 300!
4. Florent Amodio- great final competition
5. Elena Radionova- 2 nearly clean and emotional performances. Bonus- I liked her new lp dress.
Honorable mention- Astakhova and Rogonov- they gave 2 great performances despite a few mistakes (some of which were unnoticeable by me).
A really exciting high quality Europeans, with many memorable skates. My Top 5 are;
1 - B/S Free Dance. A beautiful, emotional skate. I found it very moving, wonderful audience reaction. Great to have them back and to see them improving with each skate.
2 - P/C Free Dance. Hard to believe this is their first international skate of the season, an outstanding couple
3 - A/R Free Skate. Wonderful committed performance. Marked harshly on PCS and have no idea why their lift was invalidated
4 - V/T Short Programme. They are back and mean business. Loved it.
5 - Medvedeva Free Skate. Despite the fall on the 2A this was a wonderful performance
Other performances I liked were C/L Free dance, Giada Russo Free Skate, DM/G Short Programme, Galustyan Short, Anna P Short, Bychenko Free, Hendricks Short. I could go on...
1. Florent Amodio - the spectacular skating and the reactions of him and his coach after the free skate.
2. Elena Radionova - amazing skating and great new FS dress, still my favourite lady.
3. Ivan Righini - did not know much about him before, but he was amazing.
4. V/T - great comeback as champions.
5. Javier Fernandez - joining the 300 club.
Honourable mentions: all the Titanic and You raise me up programs.
out of competition: Florent Amodio last skate was a truly special moment. I cried quite a bit and I never really cared for Florent that much. I am devastated though that we are not gonna get anymore of glorious FLOROZOV.
What does Morozov do these days? He needs to go back to coaching. I miss the voodoooo and the OTT k&c. Choreographing is nice and all but that is not enough!
1. Elena Radionova's FS
2. Angelina Kuchvalska's FS
3. Both of C/L's programs
4. S/B's SD
5. Evgenia Medvedeva's FS? IDK
Honorable mentions: S/K's FD, P/C's SD (I can't believe how much they've grown on me!), Morozov's reaction to Florent , Mae-Berenice and Evgenia's lounge antics
1. Florent's glorious FS and Florozov have to be #1, without question!
2. Daniel Samohin's SP
3. V/T's SP & FS
4. Deniss's SP & FS I know he fell 2x in the SP, but he still sold it & came back strong in the FS
5. Evgenia's FS - one fall that didn't affect the rest...just amazing
Honorable mentions:
Anna's SP
Angelina's FS - would put her higher but I hate the music
Giada's FS - I knew nothing about her but it was pretty wow
Mikhail & Javi both programs (not their best imo, but still great)
S/M SP
A/R both programs
T/M SP
The debut of S/M (SP and FS, even though the free had some big errors)
Florent Amodio's last performance (LP)
Marchei and Hotarek's LP (even though the result probably wasn't exactly what they wanted, I LOVE the program)
Javier's free
Bychenko's free since he won a medal for the first time
I would also like to give an honourable mention to Ivan Righini for delivering two very entertaining performances. The SP was especially great.
- Fernandez's SP
- Vasiljevs as a whole
- Russo's LP really, that CH mark just shows everything wrong with PCS evaluation
- James/Cipres' SP even with the big mistake
- Papadakis/Cizeron as a whole, not going crazy for the programs but to me that just underlines how special they are!
Honourable mentions to:
- Kuchvalska's LP (I'm so team Latvia )
- Amodio's LP 8and Morozov reaction :scard7
- Astakhova/Rogonov's LP
- Nikolaj Sorensen :luv17:
- Queen Radionova in the green room
1) Absolutely Kuchvalska, she was simply amazing!! Her energy and determination on the ice were the best moment of all the competitions for me!
2) Valentina and Ondrej's FS: by far the most exciting moment for an Italian fan!!
3) Florent's FS and his happiness. I've never been a big fan of his, but after the nightmare seasons he's had seeing him so satisfied was really heartwarming
4) Fleur Maxwell's FS: I highly recommend watching it to all those who missed the first groups of the Ladies FS, because it was truly amazing :luv17:
5) Papadakis and Cizeron, especially after the spin that program became superb!
My top 5 (in no particular order) after sitting through the competition in the arena:
Men:
Javi SP and LP
I've seen him skate live a few times (last in Barcelona a few weeks ago), but for the first time there was such an air of confidence about him that really took me by surprise. The few mistakes made absolutely no difference. He was magnetic. It's super exciting to see the heights to which Yuzu and Javi are pushing each other (and I must say, hopefully bringing others along).
Florent LP
WOW what a sendoff! It really was the standout emotional moment of the entire competition. It's the kind of dream final performance every athlete must be hoping to produce but can very rarely manage. It was such a wonderful moment that I was truly touched even though I've always liked him fine but was never a particular favorite of mine.
Nikolai Morozov during Florent's LP and K&C
I couldn't help myself glancing in his direction during Florent's LP and see all the agony of what a coach is going through behind the boards over the years, condensed into 4.5 mins. He really was living every second of that performance. And then the mixture of sadness and joy they were sharing in the K&C afterwards. The crowd really went nuts.
Pairs:
Tatiana & Maxim SP and LP
The confidence isn't quite there yet and they were slow at times, especially in the lifts (though that's somewhat understandable I guess after Maxim's operation), but it's just so great to see that their return is going well. Having seen Patrick Chan and Mao Asada in Barcelona, I totally get how incredibly difficult this is, and in hindsight I'm even more in awe of Gordeyeva & Grinkov and Shen & Zhao.
Ladies:
Angelina Kuchvalska LP
Hands down the most exciting performance of the entire ladies competition. She did great last year already, but this year she was on fire in the LP! Those few mins had a real star making feel about them. If she continues to upgrade her technical content and works on correcting those underrotation calls, she will be a legitimate challenger to the Russian ladies.
It's very hard to choose but what will stay in my memory for quite some time is:
1. Papadakis/Cizeron's free dance -oh, the smoothness! They're floating across the ice.
2. Medvedeva's FP - choreography, costume, presentation. I hope she won't fall into the puberty trap.
3. Savchenko/Massot's SP
4. Volosozhar/Trankov
5. Astakhova/Roganov's FP - not perfectly skated at all but entertaining.
P/C SD and FD
Aliona and Bruno competing
V/T comeback
Marchei/Hotarek fun LP
Funny moments Morozov's reaction at the boards.
Radionova on the phone unconcerned what's going on around her
.Classy moment of the week.Marie France disposing of her gum
1. Bobrova and Soloviev's free dance I absolutely love the power and passion that they skate with now! It was awesome.
2. Papadikis/Czerion free dance. I said this in the thread itself, but it was like watching the constellations.
3. Gianni Russo's short dance. Her technical content might be limited but GOSH is she fun.
4. Volsolozhar/Trankov's free dance. I honestly think that Dracula is the role Max was born to play. To me everything about this is perfection!
5. Amodio's free skate. My only wish is that he'd won a medal.