OES News 2020/2021 Season

Sylvia

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The Spanish federation announced today that their Nationals will be delayed to February 2021:
Machine translated excerpt:
This measure has been taken in the face of the p*ndemic situation, after analyzing the current situation of preparation of athletes and assessing that this postponement will allow them to expand their preparation for the most important event on the national calendar. Likewise, the implications that this decision could have when selecting the athletes who will represent Spain in the Senior and Junior European [Jan. 25-31] and World Championships have been taken into account.

The RFEDH is working on the format that the competition will have, and following the experience of other national sports federations and to ensure its celebration, the possibility of holding it electronically, in different venues, is also being valued. Details of the competition format and final dates will be announced in the coming days.
 

Sylvia

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GS article on Estonia’s Eva-Lotta Kiibus by @Eislauffan:
Excerpt:
It is in the plans of coach and student to go with the newest developments of Ladies’ skating and they are now working on the triple Axel and quad Salchow.
“So far, we train with the harness,” Levandi revealed. “I cannot let her get injured. I have been bringing her up for 12 years.” Nevertheless, they are working on making the programs harder. “The goal for this season is the same as in the past and in the future years—to give 100 percent in both programs at the major events of the season.”
Thus far, the season is full of uncertainty due to the p*ndemic. Nobody knows which competitions will actually happen or which ones will be cancelled at any given moment. Kiibus tries not to let herself be affected too much by this situation.
“There’s nothing I nor we can change, so I just continue to train and to get better, hoping to be able to compete,” she said.
 

Sylvia

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2 recent Facetime interviews via the Czech Figure Skating Instagram account:

Eliska Brezinova (4 mins.): https://www.instagram.com/p/CHi9M9VCsuY/
We interviewed Eliška Březinova, as well as Jiri Bělohradský, at the beginning of the week at a time when the race was to take place in Warsaw.
Like other Czech figure skaters, Eliška went to train and prepare for competitions abroad - specifically in Italy. Eliška was already preparing for the race directly in Bergamo, which was canceled thanks to current measures. Another race where Eliška was to start, in Sofia, Bulgaria, was also canceled. And today we know that Warsaw also met the same fate as other races and was also canceled.


Jiri Belohradsky (3 mins.) also was planning to compete at Warsaw Cup before it was canceled: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CHgHgjIq_FK/
His monthly training on the ice gave him time to improve his programs, he worked on a triple axel and also fitness.
 

Sylvia

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Hungarian federation's article on Ioulia Chtchetinina/Márk Magyar (will debut their SP to "Renaissance" from Medici: Masters of Florence OST by Paolo Buonvino & Skin; they've been based in Sochi before traveling to Moscow) and Anna Yanovskaya/Adam Lukács (debuted out of competition a RD to Grease and Patricia Kaas' "L’hymne à l’amour" at the Russian Cup in Kazan) who are competing at Rostelecom Cup this week after missing last season:
 
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Sylvia

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Sylvia

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At the meeting of the [Polish figure skating union] Board, issues related to the organization of the Four Nations Championship in Cieszyn [ETA: annual combined Nationals for CZE SVK HUN POL], the organization of competitions as part of the national calendar of events and the implementation of the Chodz na skates program were also discussed. PZŁF wants to organize the Polish Championships in Cieszyn even if it turns out that due to the restrictions introduced in connection with the epidemic, it will not be possible to conduct 4 Nationals in the current formula.
According to the Czech federation's Instagram post earlier today, plans are going ahead to hold an in person Four Nations Championships, Dec. 10-13, in Cieszyn, Poland.
 

Sylvia

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Yes, they are going ahead but unfortunately without Hungarians who are not abel to travel to Poland and have to withdraw the whole team. :(
So it's "Three Nationals" Championships this year. Hungary has scheduled their own Nationals for Dec. 18-19, 2020: http://hunskate.hu/events/magyar-bajnoksag
ETA from the linked Announcement: "Unfortunately, due to the p*ndemic situation, Hungary will not be able to participate in the
Four Nationals Championships in Poland."

This list of qualified Czech competitors includes all withdrawals through Nov. 30:

I haven't found any info on the POL or SVK competitors yet (ETA - see post below; I didn't look hard enough ;)).
 
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hanca

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Well, I know my opinion on this won’t be very popular, but I think Bidar should find a new partner. This is clearly not working. He is not a big guy, so someone like Labazina or Kudriavtseva would do... I am not blaming these bad skates on Zhuk, Bidar definitely made more than his share of the mistakes, but it seems that he struggles with anything where he has to lift her. Their twists look unsafe, lifts are dangerous, he also doesn’t seem to be able to land 3T (in both programs)... Maybe the solution isn’t to find a lighter partner for him, but to import a completely new pair from Russia, the way Belarus have done it?


 
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Sylvia

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ISU's feature on Estonia's Eva-Lotta Kiibus (Jan. 15, 2021):
Excerpt:
“I felt so many emotions (at the 2020 Russia Grand Prix), I was happy that I was able to bring myself back together after the Short Program (she ranked 9th) and I felt that the crowd was enjoying my skate and the music. It was wonderful,” Eva-Lotta said about the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Moscow. Kiibus’ Free Skating is set to famous Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2. “My coach (Anna Levandi) was also really pleased and happy that I had decided to fight and do my job, not to give up. Her smile was as big as mine,” she continued.
The Grand Prix was an important step for the 17-year-old skater. “It was a really important competition, because it was at such a high level and this season there are less competitions so every one counts and matters. I learned a bit how to deal with my inner self,” she shared. “It motivates me a lot, I proved to myself what I am capable of doing.”
By the way, Eva-Lotta’s brother is a famous rapper in Estonia who performs under the name Nublu. However, she is not planning to skate to his music. “I like his songs a lot, but I think I'd rather skate to music that has more flow and it's more suitable for Figure Skating. I use my brother’s music just to dance on the floor,” she said.
 

Sylvia

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Based on 'new' IG name and removal of all skating related stuff, it feels like Ivan Pavlov has moved on from skating.
He stated before in a Q&A, that he has no partner anymore.
Sad (figure skating) end for such a promising kid once :(
Pavlov has an Instagram for coaching: https://www.instagram.com/ivan_pavlov_fs/

He posted his retirement announcement on Jan. 2, 2021: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJjtFzKnpWh/
Machine translation:
World Championship among juniors. March 2020. Tallinn, Estonia. The last competition in my career where I took part as an athlete. Thanks to all the trainers who gave me invaluable knowledge and experience. Now the time has come for me to try my hand at such a difficult profession as a coach.
I will be happy to start working with young athletes and share my knowledge and skills accumulated over a 17-year sports career.
I am recruiting children from 8 years old to the group.
For all questions, please contact Direct!
 
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Vagabond

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What happened to Niki Wories? She had the TES minimums for Worlds, but I don't think she competed this season. She apparently withdrew from Winter Star and maybe Challenge Cup too. The Netherlands has sent Lindsay van Zundert to Stockholm.
 

AngieNikodinovLove

Frangi & Piazza & Paul & Hektor & Theo. Oh My! 😝
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What happened to Niki Wories? She had the TES minimums for Worlds, but I don't think she competed this season. She apparently withdrew from Winter Star and maybe Challenge Cup too. The Netherlands has sent Lindsay van Zundert to Stockholm.

Isn’t Lindsay the woman from the Netherlands that did rather well two weeks ago at that competition that was in the Netherlands?
 

Sylvia

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Niki Wories reportedly is injured and has not competed this season; Lindsay van Zundert got the Worlds SP minimum score she needed at Challenge Cup in The Hague (she trains with Loena Hendrickx).

Re-posting here from the Worlds subforum in Kiss & Cry... I came across this feature on Team NED from earlier this month:
Google translated intro:
UTRECHT - For the first time in history, the Netherlands will be represented in three different disciplines of figure skating at the World Championships which are scheduled from 22 to 28 March 2021 in Stockholm, Sweden. Extra special is that this succeeds after a lousy ********* year for this artistic sport. 16-year-old Lindsay van Zundert has qualified as first-year senior in the solo ladies, the duo Daria Danilova & Michel Tsiba in the pair riding and the duo Chelsea Verhaegh and Sherim van Geffen in the ice dancing. The selection committee of the KNSB skating association made its choice after the Challenge Cup in The Hague. GymPOWER spoke to all three World Cup goers about the qualification, their preparation and plans for the world title fight, but also with Joan Haanappel of the Netherlands Figure Skating Foundation, who has been fighting for a return to the international top for years.
 

alexikeguchi

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I watched most of Europeans 2020 and don't remember Mikutina at all, but I love what she showed at Worlds. She has a very ethereal style and great ease of movement. She seems like one to watch in the OES category. Apologies if she was nominated earlier in this thread and I missed it.
 

Stephanie

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I watched most of Europeans 2020 and don't remember Mikutina at all, but I love what she showed at Worlds. She has a very ethereal style and great ease of movement. She seems like one to watch in the OES category. Apologies if she was nominated earlier in this thread and I missed it.
I was also really impressed. What are her chances of becoming an Austrian citizen by next February (assuming she's not already), as I believe she only moved to Austria in 2016 or 2017?
 

text_skate

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Austrian public broadcaster orf "Mikutina surprises with top place on debut"
excerpts, machine translated:
Olga Mikutina from Vorarlberg achieved Austria's best world championship performance in figure skating in 24 years with eighth place on Friday. The 17-year-old made up three ranks from her position after the short program in Stockholm and equaled the placing of Yulia Lautova from 1997. "I can still hardly believe it and am overjoyed about this success," Mikutina said.
With the seventh-best free skate in the field, Mikutina secured Austria a quota place for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and a second starting place for the 2022 World Championships. After Mikutina had exceeded her personal best score from the home European Championships 2020 by almost 14 points in the short program, she pulverized her best free skate to date with 131.59 points by no less than exactly 35 points.
The protégé of coach Elena Romanova came through as in the short program safely and without falling, to the music of "Primavera" and "Experience" - respectively by the Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi - merely a twice thought Axel turned out merely simple. "I was of course motivated after eleventh place in the short program on Wednesday to give everything again today. But I would never have dreamed that the free skate would be such a precision landing and that I would be able to make up a few more places," said Mikutina.

quote from last year's article:
Like Maurizio Zandron in the men's singles, Mikutina is working towards the 2022 Olympics, but unlike him she has Austrian citizenship practically in her pocket.
I don't know, if she already has it, but it seems, there will be no problem

EDIT:
I've listened to the orf news clip. They say: She is on her best was to Beijing. This implies, she has her citizenship or it is expected to be given.
 
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text_skate

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Maurizio Zandron has Austrian citizenship. Source Facebook site of his skating school:

the quote in the post above is from last year (which was to highlight the probability that Mikutina is considered to have citizenship)
 

MsZem

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Loena doesn't really feel like an OES to me, but I don't think there's a more relevant thread, so here's her recent interview with Absolute Skating (conducted before Worlds, so no discussion of that).
 

alexikeguchi

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Loena doesn't really feel like an OES to me, but I don't think there's a more relevant thread, so here's her recent interview with Absolute Skating (conducted before Worlds, so no discussion of that).
I've enjoyed her skating but haven't read through any interviews before, so thanks for posting! I love this quote from the end:

Do you have any plans for after your competitive career, which hopefully isn't over any time soon?

"Yes, I want to become a kindergarten teacher. It's been my dream since I was 8 years old."

What a cool kindergarten teacher she will make! I love that Jorik is coaching her now along with Lindsay Van Zundert who also had a really good World Championships. I hope Loena and Lindsay arrive at the Olympics in good health and have a great time.
 

alchemy void

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Not sure if this is the right thread but Lana Petranovic is Ice Partner Search for Croatia. So her and Souza-Kordeiru must have split
That's too bad. I figured something may have been up, when I saw this Instagram post last week from Souza-Kordeiru, with Petranovic neither mentioned nor in sight: :shuffle:

 

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