LAKE PLACID 2023 FISU WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES

I'm watching the Opening ceremony on my computer with VPN set to Netherlands. When I tried to watch on my TV through Roku I got the geoblocked warning.
 
Haiti has one athlete (first time) - didn't catch which sport.

Ireland has 3 athletes - all alpine skiers.
 
Nikolaj Memola is Italy's flag bearer. :) "He's the youngest athlete here for Italy" - attends the University of Milan and the British commentator mentioned his JGP Final gold medal.

ETA: Is that a masked Kaori Sakamoto holding the flag??
 
Haiti has one athlete (first time) - didn't catch which sport.
Alpine skiing. :)

Had to download a (free) VPN browser extension for Chrome. It seems to be working for the moment. I've joined maureenfarone in The Netherlands.

Is Team USA marching last?
 
2022 Olympian Sihyeong Lee is the male representative of the 2 flag bearers for South Korea.

ETA:
I do not think so
She looked short enough. ;)

Haiti's lone athlete is a cross-country skier: https://twitter.com/insidethegames/status/1613698744150626304
 
TING CUI just recited the oath for all the athletes!!! :cheer2:

ETA: She spoke clearly and confidently (unlike the poor official after her...).


Thank you for the clip of Ting. ❤️
FISU's YouTube channel has a short video package on the Opening Ceremony, and Ting's oath starts at approx. 2:10.


Also: At approx. 0:38, nice footage of the Ukrainian athletes marching -- including a great shot of Mariia Holubtsova and Kyryl Bielobrov smiling and waving! ??
 
I have a ROKU streaming tv and I downloaded the ESPN app. I went to the search and typed in fisu. Then the skating broadcasts popped up. I was able to watch all of them so far. I am not logged in or pay for ESPN+.

Hope this works for others.
 
Exhibition Gala is streaming now (Monday 2 pm Eastern start) on ESPN+ and Paul Wylie will be the on ice host (he is the ORDA Director of Sport). Can someone post the FISU TV link?

Karen Chen, Oona & Gage Brown, Ice Theatre of NY, FS in Harlem and more:

ETA: First up is USA's Nathan Chapple, invited to perform on Martin Luther King Day in the U.S.! :)
He seemed more relaxed today and skated well.
 
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The very tall Nikolaj Memola is the first medalist (bronze) to perform - think he performed his classical/ballet(?) exhibition from the JGP/GP Final?

Bronze medalists Lagouge/Caffa are skating to a French song (male vocalist) in matching black (shows off their lines nicely) with some chair-o-graphy! :D

ETA: Yelim Kim (bronze) is wearing a white "USA LP" tee-shirt & black leggings. Her song is AJR's "The Good Part" - included 2 double Axels & her beautiful Ina Bauer.
 
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Silver medalist Tatsuya Tsuboi skated to the lovely “Johanna” song plus other music from Sweeney Todd: nice 3Lo and showcased wonderful flow across the ice.

Ekaterina Kurakova (5th place): her fun Pirates of the Caribbean EX that is always a crowd pleaser!

Special guests Oona & Gage Brown performed their free dance (looked good to me but I’m “no technik” ;)) - audience gave them loud applause.

Ice Theatre of New York closes the first half with “Of Water and Ice” (choreographed by Jody Sperling) duet performed by Sarah France & Valerie Levine - photo of them here: https://thecitylife.org/2023/01/10/...s-as-part-of-wollman-rinks-second-ice-season/
 
5 women from Figure Skating in Harlem skated a group number and were warmly received.

Special guest Karen Chen performed to a remix of "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" that started slowly (like Kaiya Ruiter's SP cover version but not the same) and ended with Whitney Houston's original that really revved up the crowd! :)

Silver medalists McNamara/Spiridonov performed a fun number to "Hey Ya!" by OutKast.

Kaori Sakamoto (silver) skated her new, energetic "Love Shack" exhibition number with a big smile on her face!

2023 World University Games gold medalists:

Marie Dupayage/Thomas Nabais - she's dressed like Jenna Ortega's Wednesday character and their music ends with the TikTok dance challenge remix of "Bloody Mary."

Sota Yamamoto skated intensely to "Poeta" - new EX choreo. by Kenji Miayamoto - and led off with an easy-looking 4T!

Mai Mihara skated out wearing her flower crown (fan gift last night), took it off to perform her beautuful "Amazing Grace" EX and put it back on at the end. Sustained applause!

Canada's World synchro champions from Montreal, Les Suprêmes, closed out the show (Wylie plugged that Lake Placid is hosting the World Synchro Championships , March 31-April 1, 2023).

Pj Kwong had minimal commentary today - I thought she did an excellent job during the competition! She was informative on technical aspects and highlighted positive aspects of all the skaters who competed.
 
This weekend was the first time I saw Dupayage/Nabais and I am enthralled by them.
Their team Instagram account has shared their 1st place FD (jointly with FF Sport Universitaire's account): https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cnc9ajvoiJN/

FISU Igloo Talk Show 3 - Figure Skating - Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games.
"Gold medalists Marie Dupayage and Thomas Nabais from France talk about their win during the Ice Dance, Free Dance competition with Commentator PJ Kwong":

Article written by Diana Hong, FISU YOUNG REPORTER (Jan. 17):
“I’m very happy to skate my second University Games and I got a gold medal for the second time. It’s my treasure,” she [Mai Mihara] said.
For Mihara, it’s a regular thing for her to sleep four hours per day, but she is still able to maintain both academics and athletics at an elite level because being a student and an athlete is very important to her.
“Usually, I wake up to get to practice and then go to school to study and come back home to practice. And repeat,” she said.
Bronze medallist Kim agrees balancing both school and training is difficult, but she enjoys having the title of student-athlete because she believes it’s something special that not everyone gets to experience.
“There are more things to consider when being a university student because I have to focus more on my studies. However, I didn’t get to experience school life as much as others when I was young, so there certainly are aspects of university that I cherish and enjoy.”
 
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4 Gala videos from the livestream:
The very tall Nikolaj Memola is the first medalist (bronze) to perform
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwwmEAYmqk4

Oona & Gage Brown's FD in EX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymCqp1MuN6o

Bronze medalists Lagouge/Caffa are skating to a French song (male vocalist) in matching black (shows off their lines nicely) with some chair-o-graphy! :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eovgu8fy1G8

Sota Yamamoto skated intensely to "Poeta" - new EX choreo. by Kenji Miayamoto - and led off with an easy-looking 4T!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-ljITEdgOk

And here is Sota attempting quad toes on a frozen Mirror Lake !:wideeyes: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cnfo3MeO1Bb/
 
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Ekaterina Kurakova (5th place): her fun Pirates of the Caribbean EX that is always a crowd pleaser!
Kurakova: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlWGwo_G18s

Kaori Sakamoto (silver) skated her new, energetic "Love Shack" exhibition number with a big smile on her face!
Kaori: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7TBIKiiAO4

Mai Mihara skated out wearing her flower crown (fan gift last night), took it off to perform her beautuful "Amazing Grace" EX and put it back on at the end. Sustained applause!
Mai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkN7fAQfAlM

ETA that Rion Sumiyoshi got some very nice pics with Kaori & Mai, plus Nathan, Karen, Yelim: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cnf9j71Ohg0/

A little behind-the-scenes video of Monday's Gala: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnhtB6hsrwo/
 
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another press release for figure skating: https://lakeplacid2023-news.microplustimingservices.com/pressReleases.html
filter by figure skating...

2023-01-16

Figure Skating​


EXHIBITION GALA ON MONDAY, JAN. 16 CONCLUDES FIGURE SKATING AT LAKE PLACID 2023 FISU WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES

Medalists, Finalists and Special Guests Skate on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena at the Olympic Center


LAKE PLACID, N.Y.--- Capping off three days and evenings of figure skating competition and in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States, Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games figure skating medalists and special guests performed in exhibition. Paul Wylie, 1992 Winter Olympics silver medalist and current Director of Sport for the Olympic Regional Development Agency (ORDA), served as host of the well-attended program that will also be available for later viewing.

Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded in Ice Dance, Men’s Figure Skating and Women’s Figure Skating. Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games winners included Ice Dance couples Marie Dupayage and Thomas Nabais of France (gold), Lorraine McNamara and Anton Spiridonov of the United States (silver) and Natacha Lagouge and Arnaud Caffa of France (bronze) after Rhythm Dance and Free Dance events. Sota Yanamoto of Japan (gold), Tatsuya Tsuboi of Japan (silver) and Nikolay Memola of Italy (bronze) were on top the field of 32 after Men’s Short Program and Free Skate. Mai Mihara of Japan (gold), Kaori Sakamoto of Japan (silver) and Yelim Kim of Republic of Korea (bronze) received the highest marks in Women’s Short Program and Free Skate.

The first Exhibition Gala skater was Nathaniel Chapple, Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio student who is a Diversify Ice Foundation (DIF) Ambassador. “Figure skating is not overly represented by black skaters and it is important to me to encourage more black and brown people to get involved in figure skating,” remarked Chapple. His mother Angie was in attendance at the competition and exhibition. She shared that he “wants to keep going and continue to represent Team USA and continue to compete internationally, having as many opportunities as he can, and seeing as many venues as he can.”

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics silver medalist and current Cornell University student Karen Chen was a featured exhibition skater. She is studying Human Biology, Health and Society and is considering a career in medicine. Other guest skaters included World Junior Ice Dance Champions Oona and Gage Brown, and the Les Supremes, reigning world champion synchronized skating team from Montreal. Ukrainian ice dancers Mariia and Kyryl Bielobrov, and Polish figure skater Ekaterina Kurakova were especially invited because they were crowd favorites during the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games.

Ice Theatre of New York skaters Sarah France and Valerie Levine performed a piece that focused on issues of climate change and sustainability connecting with the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World Conference: Save Winter occurring in conjunction with the Games. “It was developed and choreographed to show the interplay between us; she was water and I was ice. We hoped to show the relationship as the ice cap is melting,” explained France. Ice Theatre of New York's mission is to celebrate and advance dance on ice as a performance art.

Five high school age skaters from Figure Skating in Harlem (FSH) performed in honor of MLK Day. FSH helps girls transform their lives and grow in confidence, leadership and academic achievement. It is only organization in the world for girls of color that combines the power of education with access to the artistic discipline of figure skating to build champions in life. It is celebrating its 25th anniversary and its recognition in 2022 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as a gender equality advocate and as the winner for the Americas of the Women and Sports Award. Lake Placid 2023 medalists Memola, Lagouge, Caffa, Kim, Tsuboi, McNamara, Spiridonov, Sakamoto, Dupayage, Nabais, Yamamoto, and Mihara performed, and joined the finale skated to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”.

Spectator Heidi Andolina was visiting from the Capital District area of New York. She skated competitively in Lake Placid in 1979 and visits the area regularly. She commented on the “amazing upgrades to the facilities” with support from the state. Laura Andolina has been volunteering at many venues and in numerous roles, and attended most figure skating events: “Holding the games here this year has been a real boost to the community. The village is so alive with the competitors and their coaches and families.”

The Jan. 12-22 Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games will feature competition in 12 winter sports and 85 events in venues throughout New York State’s north country region to include Lake Placid, Wilmington, Saranac Lake, Potsdam, Canton and North Creek.

The 2023 FISU World University Games will conclude on the evening of Jan. 22 with a Closing Ceremony and the extinguishing of the cauldron, after the men’s gold medal ice hockey game in the Herb Brooks Arena.

Fans can follow the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with @LakePlacid2023, @SaveWinterHQ, #lakeplacid2023, #savewinter.

For more information about the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games or to purchase tickets, visit www.lakeplacid2023.com.
 
ICYMI, I enjoyed watching this video:
A little behind-the-scenes video of Monday's Gala: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnhtB6hsrwo/
Mai Mihara shared photos via her sysmex_figureskatingteam account: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnltradtcFP/

Ting Cui's message ("thank you all so much for the support on my last post [re. her withdrawal before FS]. your kind words meant a lot to me ? here’s a lil dump of some crazy cool moments from the last week. looking forward to nationals next week!") & some photo/video highlights, including a clip of her reciting the athletes' oath in the opening ceremony: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnnxwWmrX-t/

Finley Hawk posted her highlights today: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnpKTFyuLXF/

This 1.5 minute clip from the opening ceremony shows the audiece and fellow athletes' warm support of Team Ukraine as they walked in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL_HRMbgD0M
 
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Exhibition Gala is streaming now (Monday 2 pm Eastern start) on ESPN+ and Paul Wylie will be the on ice host (he is the ORDA Director of Sport). Can someone post the FISU TV link?

Karen Chen, Oona & Gage Brown, Ice Theatre of NY, FS in Harlem and more:

ETA: First up is USA's Nathan Chapple, invited to perform on Martin Luther King Day in the U.S.! :)
He seemed more relaxed today and skated well.
video of Paul's intro and Nathan's performance
 

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