2021-22 ISU Challenger Series announced

Except Japan just announced they won't send any skaters to ACI, Lombardia, or Finlandia so shouldn't we expect to see Miura/Kihara withdrawn? Or is it just for the singles disciplines that they're going to force all of their skaters to remain in Japan? :rolleyes:
 
Except Japan just announced they won't send any skaters to ACI, Lombardia, or Finlandia so shouldn't we expect to see Miura/Kihara withdrawn?
M/K train in Oakville, ON and may be there now? ETA: I've heard Miura/Kihara are in the U.S. right now and hoping to be able to cross the border to Canada for ACI.
 
Last edited:
Oh, I know. I'm just being salty over the fact that they made Satoko withdraw from the women's event.
Maybe she still has trouble entering Canada and/or there are quarantine requirements? I'm not familiar with that though.

Also, upon re-reading the (machine translated) news posted by @Sylvia, I found my post yesterday is not accurate - it doesn't say they won't assign anyone to Autumn Classic, it's just Satoko who will withdraw. Sorry for the confusion!

The Challenger Series Lombardia Trophy (September, Bergamo, Italy) was also canceled. Satoko Miyahara (Kinoshita Group), who had entered the Autumn Classic, also declined the tournament in order to concentrate on coordination in Japan.
 
The NEBELHORN entries are up. Question: what does the N next to an entry signify?
Oh: it means the skater isn't trying to qualify an Olympic spot.
 
Last edited:
Nebelhorn Trophy (N - not for Olympic Qualifying) entries:

Men (4):
Luc MAIERHOFER AUT 3 N
Maurizio ZANDRON AUT 3 (he will skate-off at Lombardia Trophy with Maierhofer for the Nebelhorn OQ spot according to Skate Austria's Instagram post)
Gabriele FRANGIPANI ITA 16 N
Nicola TODESCHINI SUI 24 N
Basar OKTAR TUR 27 N

Women (5):
Nikola RYCHTARIKOVA CZE 8 N
Gerli LIINAMAE EST 10 N
Oona OUNASVUORI FIN 11 N
Nathalie WEINZIERL GER 13 N
Josefin TALJEGARD SWE 34 N

Pairs (3):
Minerva Fabienne HASE / Nolan SEEGERT GER 9 N
Annika HOCKE / Robert KUNKEL GER 9 N
Nicole DELLA MONICA / Matteo GUARISE ITA 11 N

Ice Dance (4):
Viktoriia LOPUSOVA / Asaf KAZIMOV GER 10 N
Lara LUFT / Maximilian PFISTERER GER 10 N
Katharina MUELLER / Tim DIECK GER 10 N
Anne-Marie WOLF / Max LIEBERS GER 10 N
 
I feel sorry for MBM. She's just now back on the ice and I fear for France getting an Olympic spot. :(
Her best bet is probably that the pair can make it and qualify them for the team event. The individual seems like a big reach for Mazzara at this point, at least based on what she looked like at WTT.

But who knows, Nebelhorn could be a splatfest.
 
I feel sorry for MBM. She's just now back on the ice and I fear for France getting an Olympic spot. :(
I don't have much confidence that France will earn an Olympic spot in the women's event.
Her best bet is probably that the pair can make it and qualify them for the team event. The individual seems like a big reach for Mazzara at this point, at least based on what she looked like at WTT.

But who knows, Nebelhorn could be a splatfest.
I don't even think it's possible to handicap the pairs field at Nebelhorn trying for those 3 precious spots. There are way too many unknowns in that field - only one full team that finished ahead of Hamon/Strekalin are currently listed for Nebelhorn (another team is listed as a sub), then we have the Ukrainians (8th at Jr Worlds 3 years ago) who had to withdraw from Worlds due to a positive C19 test right before they left Kiev, the Chinese team (8th at Jr Worlds 2 years ago) who weren't sent to Stockholm, Jones/Boyadji who had less than a month of ice time prior to Worlds and have skated far better in the past, Barquero/Zandron who were too new to be ready for Worlds last season, etc.
 
Regarding Nebelhorn Olympic Qualifying

The biggest eyebrow raise for me is no Tursy, which likely means no spot for KAZ and that she is obviously not seeking to compete in the Olympics. For the US, I think it does make Alysa Liu's task a bit easier. Tursy could have easily won this competition. For the ladies. Safonova, Kurakova and Paganini stand out. I think the former 2 skaters have scored over 200 points at some point in their careers. Liu should be in the mix but I think there a 6 ladies spots for the Olympics? Liu just needs to be competent to get the spot.

All the players are there for the men, although interesting to see RUS select Aliev, when there are other RUS men that could grab the spot. I suppose he is doing better this year because the RUS Fed. trusts him with the task, and SC selected Sadovsky over Nam Nguyen. Is that a smart move? Otherwise, it looks like Kerry, Siao Him Fa, Fentz, Litvintsev, Lee and of course Zhou. There is a possibility Zhou or Aliev (if in good shape) could win, whoever skates better. I think the aforementioned are those men with the shot and should secure their spots. IDK of any others that are close to them score-wise. Kerry worries me with all his popping, though.
 
Regarding Nebelhorn Olympic Qualifying

The biggest eyebrow raise for me is no Tursy, which likely means no spot for KAZ and that she is obviously not seeking to compete in the Olympics. For the US, I think it does make Alysa Liu's task a bit easier. Tursy could have easily won this competition. For the ladies. Safonova, Kurakova and Paganini stand out. I think the former 2 skaters have scored over 200 points at some point in their careers. Liu should be in the mix but I think there a 6 ladies spots for the Olympics? Liu just needs to be competent to get the spot.

All the players are there for the men, although interesting to see RUS select Aliev, when there are other RUS men that could grab the spot. I suppose he is doing better this year because the RUS Fed. trusts him with the task, and SC selected Sadovsky over Nam Nguyen. Is that a smart move? Otherwise, it looks like Kerry, Siao Him Fa, Fentz, Litvintsev, Lee and of course Zhou. There is a possibility Zhou or Aliev (if in good shape) could win, whoever skates better. I think the aforementioned are those men with the shot and should secure their spots. IDK of any others that are close to them score-wise. Kerry worries me with all his popping, though.
If Liu doesn't win Nebelhorn running away, then there's something very wrong in the world. I don't know why anyone really believed Tursy was coming back, even if she was given an initial GP assignment to Rostelecom Cup. I said it when the GP assignments came out and it bears repeating - she'll withdraw and Russia will then toss the assignment out to some random skater who won't challenge their ladies - maybe Gubanova since Urushadze is on the JGP this season.

Regarding the men - word is that Nguyen is injured so Romsky got the assignment by default. My take is that Aliev is merely a placeholder until after the Russian Test Skates. If he skates well then he'll be entrusted with the Nebelhorn spot, but since they listed all of the potential guys as substitutes, it's going to come down to who skates best next weekend.
 
Ease up. It's a lot of pressure and a fully new experience at a new level of international competition. She'll do her best. As I'm sure will all those very reliable men;).
 
If Liu doesn't win Nebelhorn running away, then there's something very wrong in the world. I don't know why anyone really believed Tursy was coming back, even if she was given an initial GP assignment to Rostelecom Cup. I said it when the GP assignments came out and it bears repeating - she'll withdraw and Russia will then toss the assignment out to some random skater who won't challenge their ladies - maybe Gubanova since Urushadze is on the JGP this season.

Regarding the men - word is that Nguyen is injured so Romsky got the assignment by default. My take is that Aliev is merely a placeholder until after the Russian Test Skates. If he skates well then he'll be entrusted with the Nebelhorn spot, but since they listed all of the potential guys as substitutes, it's going to come down to who skates best next weekend.
Still, Kurakova and Safonova are established Senior Women, and while it would be nice to see Liu win, I wouldn't be wrecked if she didn't. I just want an Olympic qualifying result - think preliminaries of Track & Field at the Olympics (but of course a set of great performances would be most welcome). Then again, there is no evidence that either one of them or Paganini for that matter are any more / less consistent. Liu could win. Besides these 4 ladies, are there any other Olympic Q participants who might be a threat? I honestly don't see any ...

Thank for the info on the men. I didn't know Nam was injured. Is Roman strong enough to be top 7 here? Are you saying Aliev could be pulled by the RUS Fed after the test skates? I just assumed he was doing well because he got the assignment. Who are the substitutes?
 
Thanks. Used my brain and found it in the meantime.

I see that RUS practically listed all their men sans Kolyada as substitutes. LOL. Yeah, so it would seem they will use whomever is best based on the Test Skates.

I also see that SC is keeping Nam as 1st substitute, though.
Kolyada and Semenenko aren't eligible since they made the FS at Worlds. So, yeah, they listed all of their men who can go as substitutes.
 
Regarding the men - word is that Nguyen is injured so Romsky got the assignment by default. My take is that Aliev is merely a placeholder until after the Russian Test Skates. If he skates well then he'll be entrusted with the Nebelhorn spot, but since they listed all of the potential guys as substitutes, it's going to come down to who skates best next weekend.
Sadovsky did not get the assignment by default. He has been skating well in training, at his monitoring sessions and also at camp, which is why he was selected. Nam is injured? I asked someone who was at camp and they said he was fine there but unfortunately he did not skate well.
 
Sadovsky did not get the assignment by default. He has been skating well in training, at his monitoring sessions and also at camp, which is why he was selected. Nam is injured? I asked someone who was at camp and they said he was fine there but unfortunately he did not skate well.
I said "word is" - that was the rumor floating around the Canadian men's thread prior to the HPC. It was all based on speculations from people monitoring his social media (ridiculous as the Nathan Chen spec has been, TBH).
 
My take is that Aliev is merely a placeholder until after the Russian Test Skates. If he skates well then he'll be entrusted with the Nebelhorn spot, but since they listed all of the potential guys as substitutes, it's going to come down to who skates best next weekend.
Damn. I was so stoked after reading in another thread that Aliev got the assignment, thinking he must be doing really well so far this season and he's getting some love from the RUS fed, but I think you're right.
 
Roman skated fairly well at the two Ontario performance opportunities ( for the time of year) . Nam didn”t skate at either one.
 
Maybe there’s a self-isolation period once one gets to France? It used to be two weeks. It would be cutting it close, as the ACI dance event ends on Sept 18. Or maybe they just need more time before showing their programs in full bloom.
France does not have one if you are vaccinated or can show a negative test.
 
Damn. I was so stoked after reading in another thread that Aliev got the assignment, thinking he must be doing really well so far this season and he's getting some love from the RUS fed, but I think you're right.
he might very well be. St. Petersburg has had their own mini test skate. We'll see this weekend.

And, I wouldn't predict which of the Russian men are going to end up being the ones on the Olympic team this early. None of them are particularly consistent even though both Aliev and Kolyada are capable of being on the podium if they skated clean. If being the operative word.
 
he might very well be. St. Petersburg has had their own mini test skate. We'll see this weekend.

Aliev and Ignatov were at camp in another country with Samarin and Kondratiuk. Therefore neither were at those test skates.

But we'll see soon enough.
 
So dear organizers, can you finally give some details about audience? :drama:

ETA: Small audience contingent allowed - whatever that means :drama:
I don't think, they will change their approach:

"Tickets will not be available in advance in 2021 and of course Corona plays a role! The spectator capacity is limited to 50% and since only at very short notice is determined how many seats are needed for coaches, trainers and officials, (remaining) tickets can be purchased exclusively at the day - evening box office." (maschine translated)

Source: https://www.oberallgaeu.info/veranstaltung/nebelhorn-trophy-2021-oberstdorf

All we can hope, coaches and officials will only be there, when needed.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top
Do Not Sell My Personal Information