Italian skating/skaters news

[kwanfan1818]

"Catching up with ….Valentina Marchei" by Pj Kwong (includes video): http://pjkwong.com/?p=1366

Thank you so much for posting this -- she's delightful!

[Marco]

Looks like another world champion of roller skating will switch tothe ice and try to enter the national team. His name is Dario Betti, and the italian magazine Doppio Axel announced his decision today on its facebook page. He is now training in the Agorà ice rink in Milan with Civardi who also helped Guarise in his transition to ice skating. There's also a link to a video of one of his roller skating performances http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgfZHeqTP7Y. I assume that since he competed in the men's singles he will stick to this discipline. Apparently he has trained for a while already and the results are encouraging.

It will be interesting to see his edge quality and axel technique.

[Sk8swan]

I liked him too, very nice interpretation.

I was wondering about a couple of things when watching:

It seemed to me that he did a lot of cross overs before the jumps - is this because you need the bigger speed for jumping on surface with much more friction, or do some roller skaters do steps into jumps like figure skaters?
I assume there is no concept of edges in roller skating? Is this a challenge to learn for roller skaters transitioning to ice (for instance flip/lutz difference, variety of edges in footwork)

I can tell you there are EDGES in roller skating too! Rollers are fixed in a way that when you push on the outside, the outside rollers get closer together therefore you can "curve" same if you push on the inside part of the skate (dunno how to explain it better!). They need much more effort to achieve than with ice skates though!

[maatTheViking]

I can tell you there are EDGES in roller skating too! Rollers are fixed in a way that when you push on the outside, the outside rollers get closer together therefore you can "curve" same if you push on the inside part of the skate (dunno how to explain it better!). They need much more effort to achieve than with ice skates though!

interesting! I am so impressed with roller skates at that level, I don't understand how they keep up the speed like this guy did in his foot work sequence.

[Ziggy]

Wow, he is awesome!

Great posture and lines, skated to the music very well and his timing on the jumps is great.

I hope he can transition to the ice successfully.

[amesic]

Wow, he is awesome!

Great posture and lines, skated to the music very well and his timing on the jumps is great.

I hope he can transition to the ice successfully.

great tripple axel
http://www.momentumrollers.co.uk/dar...i-triple-axel/

[skatak]

I can tell you there are EDGES in roller skating too! Rollers are fixed in a way that when you push on the outside, the outside rollers get closer together therefore you can "curve" same if you push on the inside part of the skate (dunno how to explain it better!). They need much more effort to achieve than with ice skates though!

i.e., when you go for an right forward inside edge, the axis of the two pairs of wheel do not stay parallel (||) but bend (/\) so 'your skate goes left'. it amplifies the motion, which is quite tricky when coming from inline skates (and having forgotten the roller skating from many years ago ^^)

[Marco]

Now that Contesti has retired, is there another competitive man that can help form the Italian team to contend for the Olympic Team Event? Perhaps they can count on this roller guy?

[pingu]

http://www.figureskating-online.com/berton-hotarek.html

Interview with Stefania Berton and Ondrej Hotarek on Figure Skating Online

[barbk]

Wow, he is awesome!

Great posture and lines, skated to the music very well and his timing on the jumps is great.

I hope he can transition to the ice successfully.

That was fun to watch. He gets some great height on those jumps. I hope there will be some articles or interviews talking about transition to the ice for him. Cool!

[Ziggy]

Now that Contesti has retired, is there another competitive man that can help form the Italian team to contend for the Olympic Team Event? Perhaps they can count on this roller guy?

They have two hopelessly inconsistent skaters at the moment with very slim chances of qualifying to the Olympics.

[jiggs]

^ They have Paul Parkinson Bonifacio who is Italian Champion and who has a pretty decent 3a but he totally bombed at Europeans and as far as I remember didn't qualify for the FP there. And then there is Paolo Bacchini who just makes me whenever I see his horizontal jumps. I don't think there is anyone else and the chances of one of them qualifying for the Olympics are very slim, as Ziggy already said. It is a shame because the Italian Team is really strong in all other disciplines right now ...

[Ziggy]

They both have jumps up to 3axel, just fall apart totally in competition most of the time.

Their SPs are Euros were just .

[pingu]

http://www.artonice.it/?q=en/node/13434
This is the interview Eleonorad and I made in Zagreb with Marchei, Della Monica/Guarise and Parkinson.

Yes, both Bacchini and Parkinson didn't qualify for the LP in Zagreb.

The FISG has designated the Team for the World Championships, but some of the skaters don't have the minimum score yet so it may change after the Challenge Cup:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.n...17818255_n.jpg

[SamuraiK]

Interesting that they are giving Francesca Rio a chance. She's a lovely skater and strong in the SP and actually hast got the Min Score multiple times in that portion but tends to completely fall apart in the LP. Challenge Cup is her last chance.

[npavel]

it's maybe why she got the spot. being able to get to the free is more important than doing great fs when you don't get the chance to get there

[pingu]

Unfortunately Francesca Rio's TES at the Challenge Cup was 37.99, she hasn't achieved the 46 points required as a minimum score and therefore Carol Bressanutti will go to Fake London.

[Tony Wheeler]

Unfortunately Francesca Rio's TES at the Challenge Cup was 37.99, she hasn't achieved the 46 points required as a minimum score and therefore Carol Bressanutti will go to Fake London.

Bressanutti for sure, or is it between her and Roberta Rodeghiero, who also has the minimum and is listed as another substitute?

[pingu]

Bressanutti for sure, or is it between her and Roberta Rodeghiero, who also has the minimum and is listed as another substitute?

Carol is listed as the first substitute so I guess she will go to Worlds.

[drfj]

I think all the substitutes are listed in alphabetical order