Do we have a Team GB fan thread? "Skating notes from a small island"

[RoseRed]

Rose Brown & Hernandez earned 151.58 in the junior dance event at Golden Spin. Am I correct that this score counts?

And if yes, can anyone confirm whether it is the highest international score earned in junior dance for Great Britain this season?

Fear & Waddell had 138.51 at the Baltic Cup, which is @10 points higher than Rose Brown & Hernandez's PB on the JGP. However, if non-JGP events count, I've not been keeping track of other late-season junior dance events/scores this year.

It should count. F/W's best score at a junior B was 148.99.

 

[Maofan7]

A bit of belated sad news, and I don’t know whether this was reported on FSU at the time, but I just learned that former 2 time British champion, Karen Wood, passed away back in December 2014. She was the British Champion back in 1980/81 and 1981/82, and went on to finish 15th at the 1981 World Championships and 17th the following year.. The following is her short program from 1981 Worlds

Karen Wood GRB 1981 World Figure Skating Championships

Karen Wood was Britain's No. 2 skater behind Debbie Cottrill. Was a good jumper, and never got the credit she deserved. Finished 14th in SP, 15th overall

m.youtube.com

 

[Maofan7]

RIP Bridget Adams, who finished 7th at the 1948 Olympics. She passed away on the 18th November 2019. In British figure skating, she was always a runner up to the great Jeannette Altwegg (winner of the 1952 Olympic title, who also won Bronze at the 1948 Olympics).

The following footage of Bridget is from the British Championships that took place during the 1947/48 season

British Amateur Figure Skating (1947)

British Amateur figure skating championships at Wembley, London. LS elevated shot of the Wembley rink. MS CU Bridget Shirley Adams, a runner up in action. MS...

www.youtube.com

Bridget was coached by the legendary Jacques Gerschwiler. After retiring, she married into the aristocracy (marrying Sir Piers Bengough in 1952). As a result, she became known as Lady Bengough. This is a photo of the couple taken back in July 2001 at the Ascot Races, where Sir Piers was Her Majesties representative for 15 years.

The following is a brief obituary

Death of Lady Bengough, widow of courtier

peeragenews.blogspot.com

 

[Blossom on Ice]

Zoe Jones/Christopher Boyadji: “We first met at the ISU Adult Competition”

Zoe Jones/Christopher Boyadji: “We first met at the ISU Adult Competition”

Photo from @chris_boyadji Zoe Jones and Christopher Boyadji paired up in April 2016 and have since won three national titles in a row. Last week, they took 4th place at the Bavarian Open, which too…

www.blossomonice.com

 

[Seerek]

Kind of a shame Zoe/Chris' 114 FS from Bavarian Open won't count towards a season's best.

 

[Sylvia]

Ice Dundee's Simon Briggs had an informative & enjoyable Q&A today - it's archived here:

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

 

[Sylvia]

Re-posting @aftershocks... "here are Fear/Gibson, interviewed by Jordan Cowan of OnIcePerspectives. Jordan has a new YouTube channel, and this is Episode 13 (streamed live on June 9, 2020":

Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson (Episode 13)

Join us for a live chat with three-time British Ice Dance champions Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson. Lilah Fear's podcast "The Lilah Jo Show": https://podcasts.a...

www.youtube.com

July 29, 2019:

Kristen Spours has moved to France to train with Florent Amodio

Sept. 19, 2019:

Kristen has now announced she has a lower back injury and won’t be able to compete this season

Kristen Spours is back on the ice in Vaujany and here's a clip of her Moulin Rouge program choreographed by Amodio earlier this month: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCIvZG1oODs/

Ice Dundee posted this photo today of Natasha McKay and Danielle Harrison celebrating their return to the ice there ("The Scottish government only allows Elite skaters back on the ice just now..."): https://www.instagram.com/p/CDMW2b2J3xr/

 

[Sylvia]

Unfortunate news posted by BIS last week - the British Figure Skating Championships at the end of this year have been cancelled due to the delayed opening of ice rinks :

Update from British Ice Skating Board - 07.08.2020

www.iceskating.org.uk

ETA this BBC article:

Figure skating & short track British Championships cancelled as ice rinks stay shut

British Ice Skating has taken the "extremely hard" decision to cancel this winter's figure skating and short track speed skating British Championships with UK ice rinks still closed.

www.bbc.com

 

[miffy]

I have to say I am getting way too excited by Anastasia and Luke’s potential. They are trying throw quads already They should have no problem with SBS triples either, I am thinking lifts could be the biggest challenge. I really hope they get some opportunities to compete this year now the British Championships are cancelled

From their posts and videos Ice Dundee seems like such a nice place to train! They have several of the top British ladies, and the lovely Conor Stakelum I only discovered their FB page recently but I’m really enjoying their posts and videos.

 

[Sylvia]

Here's the overrotated throw 3S by Anastasia Vaipan Law and Luke Digby (same clip also was posted on Ice Dundee's IG account): https://www.instagram.com/p/CEt9PoNjLA7/

New pair team Lydia Smart and Harry Mattick are training off ice with Skate Oakville via Zoom (2 clips): https://www.instagram.com/p/CErT0XCjIJ2/

ETA:

Graham Newberry and Kristen Spours are the 2 GBR skaters scheduled to compete at Nebelhorn Trophy later this month.

 

[miffy]

Here's the overrotated throw 3S by Anastasia Vaipan Law and Luke Digby (same clip also was posted on Ice Dundee's IG account): https://www.instagram.com/p/CEt9PoNjLA7/

New pair team Lydia Smart and Harry Mattick are training off ice with Skate Oakville via Zoom (2 clips): https://www.instagram.com/p/CErT0XCjIJ2/

Such a shame we have no Nationals, might have actually had a full pairs podium!

 

[miffy]

I was sad to see that Emily Rose Brown and James Hernandez (Jr Dance Champs) have split as Emily is retiring from competitive skating I thought they were promising and they had some good results last season.

 

[Sylvia]

Thanks for the heads up, @miffy. I missed seeing Emily Rose Brown's retirement announcement on her Insta one week ago: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEZ15KvpN1t/

 

[miffy]

ETA:

Graham Newberry and Kristen Spours are the 2 GBR skaters scheduled to compete at Nebelhorn Trophy later this month.

We have a dance entry too Fear and Waddell, I think this is their senior debut?

 

[Colonel Green]

Smart/Mattick, the new pairs team, are going online classes with Marcotte & Duhamel's Oakville pairs school:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CErT0XCjIJ2/?igshid=1wmydt6ewpbx4

 

[Gris]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHAwXS9LSqZ/?igshid=41bpc7kn63lk

 

[miffy]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHAwXS9LSqZ/?igshid=41bpc7kn63lk

That is amazing!

 

[miffy]

The British team for Euros has been announced which feels a bit optimistic
Barely anyone has competed this season, George and Sasha did a couple of events (senior debut and got the minimum score for Euros).

Ladies - Natasha McKay (1st reserve, Karly Robertson & 2nd reserve, Nina Povey)
Men - Peter James Hallam (reserve, Graham Newberry)
Ice Dance - Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson & Sasha Fear and George Waddell

(No pair listed).

 

[alchemy void]

Karly robbed yet again

 

[miffy]

Karly robbed yet again

They announced months ago it was going to be based on scores, so Natasha must have the higher one?

ETA: I do feel bad for Karly. She was 2nd behind Jenna for so many years and seemed a lot more consistent then and had pretty good content. I think she has only won Nationals once? It always seems very close between Karly, Tash, Dani, Nina and possibly Kristen too, shame not to have a chance for them to compete against each other but hopefully they will all stay in for next year!

 

[alchemy void]

Oh I know, just some routine melodrama.

Have McKay and Robertson even been training?

 

[miffy]

Oh I know, just some routine melodrama.

Have McKay and Robertson even been training?

Yes! Actually the Dundee elite skaters made it back on the ice quite early on compared to the majority of British skaters. They had a bit of time at Bradford, then they were at Dundee in late July IIRC. English rinks re-opened the first time in mid August and Scottish rinks end of August, but the top skaters had a good few weeks on already by then.
There are always nice clips of them on the Ice Dundee social media pages.

 

[Jeschke]

Have McKay and Robertson even been training?

With Harley Windsor at McKay's rink I expected a switch to pairs announcement and now this!

 

[miffy]

With Harley Windsor at McKay's rink I expected a switch to pairs announcement and now this!

One of the other ladies skaters at Dundee (Anastasia) recently switched to pairs so maybe another will be tempted too!

 

[miffy]

World team announced - no idea how to link to a Facebook post from my phone, but here are the names:

Ladies - Natasha McKay
Reserve - Karly Robertson

Men - Peter James Hallam
Reserve (Pending) - Graham Newberry

Ice Dance - Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson
Reserve - Sasha Fear and George Waddell

Pairs - (Pending) Zoe Jones and Christopher Boyadji
(Pending) Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby


I am thrilled Ana and Luke are being considered.

 

[Sylvia]

GBR's 2021 Worlds entries as published by the ISU on March 2:

Ladies - Natasha McKay (Reserve - Karly Robertson)

Men - Peter James Hallam

Ice Dance - Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (Reserve - Sasha Fear and George Waddell)

Pairs - Zoe Jones and Christopher Boyadji

BBC Three is planning to stream an 8-episode documentary series titled Freeze:

BBC Three to reveal the fiercely competitive world of figure skating in new series

Eight-parter Freeze coming soon

tellymix.co.uk

"We will be following some of the UK’s best skaters over the course of a year as they compete on the national and international circuit, aiming to prove to the judges that they are the cream of the crop.
"Through individual narratives the series will forensically examine what it takes to pull off the most complex moves, and discover the brutal physical limits each skater must push their bodies towards.
"We’ll see their personal highs and lows both on and off the rink; from struggling with finances to nailing the trickiest moves, this will be a punchy, entertaining and no holds barred observational series."

(BBC Two aired a documentary back in 2016 that followed several young female singles skaters as they prepared for the 2015 British Championships.)

 

[Sylvia]

The new pair team of Anastasia VAIPAN-LAW / Luke DIGBY (ISU bio: http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00110731.htm) did not make the 2021 Worlds minimums (27 / 44) in their ISU TES Video Evaluation, scoring 22.91 (SP) and 40.81 (FS), so could not be listed as alternates.

They did an upbeat Instagram Live with their coach, Simon Briggs, last week: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CLxEWbFpH7n/

 

[Sylvia]

Simon Briggs & Natasha McKay held an IG Live earlier today: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CMVHuRwgjue/

 

[Sylvia]

Simon Briggs' and Natasha McKay's post-Stockholm Worlds IG Live earlier today: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CNvFtYkJqft/

After the ISU officially confirmed that GBR had earned one Olympic ladies' spot thanks to McKay's 23rd place finish at Worlds: https://twitter.com/s1briggs/status/1377695502477709320

Dundee's own @NatashaaMckay has now officially qualified an @ISU_Figure spot for TeamGB at the 2022 Winter Olympics. (BOA enhanced criteria still to meet). Amazing achievement by a tremendous athlete.

His April 8th reply to someone asking about British Olympic Association's enhanced criteria: https://twitter.com/s1briggs/status/1380094317465899008

Discussions are currently ongoing due to a number of issues. Just hoping that some leeway is given due to the current pandemic. Surely that's a must!

Article in The Scotsman by Jane Bradley (March 27):

World Figure Skating Championships: Fear and Gibson smash expectations with seventh place finish

Scottish skater Lewis Gibson and partner Lilah Fear smashed expectations to finish seventh in the World Figure Skating Championships – winning two Olympics spots for British ice dancers.

www.scotsman.com

Although Olympic places need to be confirmed, 80 per cent of places are allocated at the World Figure Skating Championships before an Olympic year, with a couple who place in the top ten allocated two places for their country. Fear’s sister, Sasha and her partner – who also train in Montreal - were the reserve skaters for the World championships and look likely to win the second place.
Fear said she was happy to give her younger sister a chance to compete in the Winter Olympics.
She said: "She’ll have the chance to qualify for the second spot now, so I’m really happy to give her that opportunity in any way possible and I know she works very hard, so I’m excited for her.”
Gibson said: “It will be great for Great Britain as a country to have as many athletes given a chance to compete at the Olympics.”

Peter James Hallam placed 30th in the Men's SP and Zoe Jones/Christopher Boyadji 24th in the Pairs SP so GBR will have a final chance to qualify for the Olympics at Nebelhorn Trophy, along with the 2nd dance spot.

 

[Sylvia]

Smokies & Wine Instagram post yesterday: https://www.instagram.com/p/COPi5NIs-Rn/

4 x British Figure skating champ @natashamckay_ and Olympic coach @si_briggs [Simon Briggs] were great company and gave us a fantastic insight to life on ice! Catch the podcast here but more importantly make sure you support Natasha at the Winter Olympics in 2022!

Smokies & Wine [podcast] with Natasha McKay (April 28):

Smokies & Wine with Natasha McKay (Ep07)

Natasha is 4-time British Figure skating champion and a potential Olympic medallist. We are looking forward to catching up with Natasha to find out what make...

www.youtube.com

Natasha McKay - Spins for Smokies & Wine! (it's a 3S clip ): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9j6PbzJzdw