British Skating News 2021-2022

[Belsornia]

It’s the end of an era: Karly Robertson has announced her retirement.

Who will win the silver medal at the British Championship now?

 

[kwanfan1818]

It used to be said that all the best ones were married or gay. Now it seems that they are both!

When I lived with my first Vancouver roommates, people would ask me for status. I would say that I had two husbands, who were married to each other.

 

[Belsornia]

Competitor list for the first qualifier of the new season. It seems odd to me that they hold this before the old season is over.

I'm happy to see that both the junior pairs are continuing, and also that Connor Bray is back in junior men. Christie Shannon, Genevieve Somerville, Brandon Bailey, Henry Privett-Mendoza and Joseph Zakipour are all moving up to seniors - mostly aging up, though I'm not sure about Privett-Mendoza. I was hoping he'd have another year of junior eligibility and could be considered for a JGP spot.

No dance. Hopefully it's because of the weird timing and they're not still struggling to get dance officials.

 

[miffy]

That’s great to see Connor is back! His brother and sister aren’t listed, I wonder if they still plan to compete.

 

[Frau Muller]

Congratulations to Zoe Jones & Christopher Boyadji for their 10th-place finish at Worlds 2022!

With this top-10 finish, have they qualified two GB pairs for Worlds 2023?

 

[Frau Muller]

p.s. I’m assuming that the two GB pairs in contention would be Vaipan-Law/Digby (#1 at Natls) and Smart/Mattick (#3 Natls), upon J/B retirement. Hope that all achieve the necessary minimum scores to allow competition at next Worlds.

A propós…
Smart & Mattick are among the young skaters featured in the recent BBC series Freeze: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/60260446

 

[Belsornia]

I know I’ve moaned before about this being an underwhelming quad for British skating, but 2022 is the first year since 1996 that British skaters have qualified for the free skate in all disciplines at the world championship!

 

[miffy]

I know I’ve moaned before about this being an underwhelming quad for British skating, but 2022 is the first year since 1996 that British skaters have qualified for the free skate in all disciplines at the world championship!

I was just thinking it had been really good and best overall through all 4 disciplines in ages I think everyone has met or exceeded expectations so far!

Is Natasha carrying on? I know Karly has retired but I haven’t read anything about Natasha.

 

[Frau Muller]

Congratulations to Zoe Jones & Christopher Boyadji for their 10th-place finish at Worlds 2022!

With this top-10 finish, have they qualified two GB pairs for Worlds 2023?

Jackie Wong answers my Q - YES, two pairs for Britain next year!!!

https://twitter.com/rockerskating/status/1507109643298000909

I’m also excited that so many other countries have qualified multiple pairs next year. I wonder if many skaters will be seeking new nationalities? Subject for another thread, I suppose.

 

[Belsornia]

Is Natasha carrying on? I know Karly has retired but I haven’t read anything about Natasha.

If she's said anything either way, I've missed it. I am also wondering if Nina Povey and Danni Harrison are planning to continue. In Freeze Nina talked about the difficulties of continuing to train without funding, but I don't know if she's reached a decision point (I haven't seen the second batch of episodes yet). The women's competition could look very different next season.

 

[Artistic Skaters]

An article about Christopher Dean's coaching plans:

Olympic champion Christopher Dean joins iceSheffield coaching team

Dean, who won gold at the 1984 Winter Olympics, says he hopes to inspire Sheffield's young skaters.

www.bbc.com

Olympic champion figure skater and Dancing on Ice judge Christopher Dean has taken up a coaching role at a South Yorkshire ice arena.

Dean, who won gold at the 1984 Winter Olympics with Jayne Torvill, has joined the coaching team at iceSheffield.
He told the BBC he hoped to help young ice dancers become world champions. British ice skating champion Billy Wilson French, who will be trained by Dean in Sheffield, said it was "a real accolade" to bring him to the city.

 

[clairecloutier]

It's too bad that the Broadmoor group in Colorado will lose the chance to work with Dean, but no doubt this will be good for British skating.

 

[Belsornia]

Has Dancing on Ice been renewed again?

It’s great that Mr. Void himself will be working with young and developing British skaters - and hoping to see some of his choreo at the British next season - but I guess that’s the level they have to pitch it for now if Chris (and Mark Hanretty etc) will be busy with reality TV for five months during the competitive season.

 

[miffy]

Has anyone seen Billy and Katarina skate, do they look promising?

 

[millyskate]

Has anyone seen Billy and Katarina skate, do they look promising?

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb4eIxSKK0C/ This was posted on instagram.

 

[ostile17]

Chris on BBC

Christopher Dean on Look North 12.04.2022

Chris has moved back to Britain after 2 decades in America and is Choreographer in Residence at Sheffield, he is seen in this local news report working with ...

youtu.be

 

[litenkyckling]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb4eIxSKK0C/ This was posted on instagram.

I’m really excited about this partnership!

 

[miffy]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb4eIxSKK0C/ This was posted on instagram.

Thanks milly!

I look forward to seeing how they progress, they have a good look.

I saw a video of her doing one of the Kerrs’ old lifts with JK and he still looks so good… he could make a comeback!

 

[antmanb]

I finished watching the second part of Freeze and I was really disappointed that they didn't go back to update on Billy and Kat. They included footage in the first part of series with the pair of them in costumes, and him with a hair colour he didn't have in any other parts of the programme so i assumed we'd get an update on them but then nothing? Also will they skate for the UK or the US? I imagine citizenship will be a huge issue for the Olympics if that's what they're setting their sights on.

I really did enjoy the series and it was great to see some of the behind the scenes stuff but I thought it was odd that they never really explained the SP and LP differences and that they just sort of ignored anyone that didn't take full part in the documentary. They finally brought Natasha Mckay into it having almost made it seem like Nina and Kristen were really fighting for spots at the Olympics between themselves.

They also totally skipped dance in the final episode at the British which is really weird since Eleanor and Anthony won the bronze in senior dance and they'd been heavily featured in the first part of the series.

 

[miffy]

If she's said anything either way, I've missed it. I am also wondering if Nina Povey and Danni Harrison are planning to continue. In Freeze Nina talked about the difficulties of continuing to train without funding, but I don't know if she's reached a decision point (I haven't seen the second batch of episodes yet). The women's competition could look very different next season.

Danni has announced her retirement.

So retirements so far: Karly, Danni, PJ, Zoe & Chris - am I forgetting anyone?!

 

[Karen-W]

Sasha Fear just announced on IG that she and George Waddell are ending their partnership. She is "looking ahead for new adventures in ice dance".

https://www.instagram.com/p/CcyrxkWrG2j/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

[Belsornia]

That's unexpected! I thought they had made nice progress since moving up to senior, although they were still looking for their own style.

I hope Sasha is able to find a new partner who is a good match for her (and George too, if he's planning to continue). The partner market is always unbalanced but currently it seems even more so than usual in senior dance.

I wonder if this will change the decisions any of the younger teams are making now. GB junior dance is looking quite competitive next season - though the second spot at junior worlds helps - but unless Sasha finds a new partner quickly seniors is looking like Fear/Gibson, an empty spot for Euros and Worlds, and teams who are unlikely to hit a tech minimum.

 

[morqet]

Does anyone know if Delcamp/French are planning on skating as Juniors or Seniors?

 

[Belsornia]

Does anyone know if Delcamp/French are planning on skating as Juniors or Seniors?

As of late January they were planning on Juniors with the goal of winning a medal at Junior Worlds. (Link is to local news, so there are some unfortunate ads in the middle of the article.) They have one season of junior eligibility.

Though the article also says they're aiming for Milano Cortina 2026, which I think is not possible unless Kat has a route to citizenship independent of moving to Sheffield to skate with Billy. I mean, I'm no immigration law expert but we've been here before with Chrissy Chitwood....

 

[miffy]

I think a couple of teams should try to do the JGP plus a senior B to get minimums, and senior for the Nationals qualifier… they would definitely have a chance.

Can they do junior and senior dance at Nationals if they qualify for both? I know they’ve let singles skaters do it in recent years.

 

[morqet]

I wonder if George and Sasha splitting, opening up the possibility of Euros & Worlds if they can get the minimums, might change things. Annoying that it's almost impossible to do both with the different RD requirements!

 

[Karen-W]

I think a couple of teams should try to do the JGP plus a senior B to get minimums, and senior for the Nationals qualifier… they would definitely have a chance.

Can they do junior and senior dance at Nationals if they qualify for both? I know they’ve let singles skaters do it in recent years.

I think it will be almost impossible this coming season with the junior and senior RD rhythms and requirements being completely different.

 

[miffy]

I saw they were very different, just thought a rare 2 spots at JW, Euros and Worlds might make it worth doing an extra programme for - I guess it’s a lot of extra expense though.

 

[Belsornia]

Lots of things to gripe about with the new requirements but the end to split seasons is certainly one of them. Particularly frustrating that teams have to make the call now when they're starting to prepare their programmes rather than deciding later in the off-season. They're at that stage where 3-4 months of solid training might make a big difference in their level.

I saw they were very different, just thought a rare 2 spots at JW, Euros and Worlds might make it worth doing an extra programme for - I guess it’s a lot of extra expense though.

I just hope it's a better season for British ice dance than the last time we were in this situation.