British Skating News, 2022 and beyond

[Belsornia]

I'm surprised to see Solomon Williamson in the mix, since at least as of the British Championships he didn't appear to have triples beyond loop. But he does have a lot of TikTok followers...

It will be interesting to see who gets the men's assignments, especially now we're down to three spots. All the boys are wildly inconsistent, even by the standards of junior men. Women/pairs/dance I think are more straightforward, unless there are some new teams we don't yet know about ready to compete internationally.

 

[Belsornia]

But we still have three or four junior teams - Marler-Davies/Black, Mann/Hammond, Slatter/Gregory and maybe Tallulah Neary / American partner - which is more than enough teams to use all the JGP spots.

Neary’s partner is Jonathan Young. Skating Scores tells me that he competed in juniors at US nationals three seasons ago, and I think he had a Swedish partner last season but don’t recall them making it to competition.

Neary/Young competed at the Dallas Classic this weekend so they’re already doing better than her previous partnerships. First time out skates at usually a bit rough but based on their scores I don’t expect them to be on the JGP.

Not listed on their website, but BIS is holding their JGP Selection Camp this week. They've shared a few IG stories on their own IG acct -

No formal announcement, but thanks to coaches on instagram we know that Wood/Lapsky have two JGP assignments again, Arina Vorobeva has one, and Jack Donovan is a substitute.

Entries for the August singles and pairs qualifier are out on Sportity, and we have a new junior pair, Wakana Katayama and Elliot Appleby. She had some decent singles results at the lower levels but stalled a bit the last couple of seasons. He was junior pairs champion in 2021-22 with Charlotte Hodgkinson, but a weaker field than now.

Also a new basic novice pair, Ellie-May Coley (Leah’s sister?) and William Sandelands.

The qualifier is running in tandem with the Robin Cousins international, and the JGP will be underway so I don’t think we can draw any conclusions from who isn’t on the list (but I wouldn’t be surprised if Coley/Casey are done).

 

[Karen-W]

No formal announcement, but thanks to coaches on instagram we know that Wood/Lapsky have two JGP assignments again, Arina Vorobeva has one, and Jack Donovan is a substitute.

I'd guess that Davison/Borisov have 1 assignment since we know they're still together. GBR has 1 entry in each of the 4 pairs JGPs, so BIS may be saving the last assignment until they see how Katayama/Appleby do at the August qualifier.

 

[miffy]

Yay for new pairs!

 

[Belsornia]

I'd guess that Davison/Borisov have 1 assignment since we know they're still together. GBR has 1 entry in each of the 4 pairs JGPs, so BIS may be saving the last assignment until they see how Katayama/Appleby do at the August qualifier.

Ritchie/McLeod are also still together so I think they’re a good shout for a JGP spot too, given his experience.

We actually have 6 junior pairs at the moment. But Dracas/Wright would have to have progressed substantively in the last 6 months to be at JGP level. And novice champs Shenton/Kirby have nice quality pairs elements and were at the ISU pairs seminar in Berlin in April, but I think will be limited by their (lack of) side by side jumps.

I also wonder if Wood/Lapsky and/or Davison/Borisov will try to enter a senior B or two this season, since the second Euros spot is there for the taking if anyone can manage to finangle the CTES.

 

[Karen-W]

Looks like Atl may have found a partner and be in the process of switching to Germany.

https://bev-eissport.de/wp-content/uploads/BEV-Kader-2025_26-Eistanz-Stand-Juli-25.pdf

 

[Belsornia]

I'm sorry to lose Atl, but I think this was the likely outcome since the split with Ashlie, and probably a good move for him. IIRC he may have some German background through his mother. I don't really recall Mia Lee Mayer with her previous partners, but hopefully she's up for some interesting programmes.

And tbh I feel a bit relieved to not have the stress of Ash/Atl face-offs for international assignments over the next decade plus.


In other news, Edward Solovyov got assigned to JGP Riga.

And Torvill and Dean may have retired from skating but they're doing another Saga Cruise. I love T&D, but I can't imagine a much worse holiday than being stuck on a boat with Chris Dean for 2 weeks!