I’ve been a casual fan of skating for years. This Europeans reminded me of why I love this sport and it was summed up in Selevko’s short program. It was just so alive and seemed so authentic and full of passion/joy. We need more of this! Also, when Adam did his backflip my 10 year old son said “Wow, that’s so cool!” and started watching it with me. I want this sport to expand its fan base and I see this event and these skaters as a great start towards that. Finally, Alissa- So great to have your perspectives! You’ve always been one of my favs! Thank you!
As a Lithuanian I could say that they didn't gave away tickets for free, however, tickets were very affordable, for 30 euros you could get very good seats. I know it was two sold outs for sure. People seemed excited about this event
This is opposite from Espoo. Crappy uncomfortable seats for 100 euros for each event. And the Karen’s at the Finnish federation keeps their phones on and let’s them ring loud during the performance. EW.
GPF in Italy was 160€ per seat. A ROBBERY! they prefers to have empty seats instead of giving something for free of with a discount. Two days of competition was half a salary! I don’t think they understand! My boyfriend was laughing at me because with that price you get ticket for three concerts! Front seat to Green Day cost less 1/3 of one GP ticket!
@@TheFlowMind I totally agree with you. I have high anxiety talking about this bc I want to support and go to competitions. I am literally there all week. But the stadiums in Finland that host them are not the ones pre-war in Ukraine bc the Hartwell Arena is still closed due to the dispute of Russians owning it. The chairs in Espoo are so uncomfortable that I have to bring a pillow to sit on them and I am not even 40 yet. lol
i firmly believe a packed arena makes the skaters skate better. its adds stakes, energy and take the pairs event for the euros the SP crowd out numbered each of the mens and the womens and the pairs skated lights out when normally theyre used to nobody rocking up and taking them seriously! such a great crowd
I agree. This particular program was less about Europeans and more about a whole lot of other things. Which was rather interesting but not for 2 hours. Back to Europeans, please.
The reason why it felt like a home crowd with Selevko is because the Baltics have a sense of camaraderie with each other and would root for each other’s skaters (also pressure for Deniss!) Other than that, just here to add to the fact that Lithuania were spectacular hosts!
Timestamps (in progress,update in random) 0:51 Alissa and rocky - 1:25 Alissa and her wood/nature project 3:01 European at Lithuania - 3:07 Lithuania arena, crowd, camera work - 3:54 huge crowd (how?) - 4:22 vs Canadian nationals with empty arena (Side topics) 5:54 Dave calling @skatingscores yesterday and more conversation with skating scores 7:01 Dave’s episode on “Meet the Olympic Press”: Christine, Phil Hersh, and Maya 10:51 ice dance at Europeans - 10:59 Finnish team that finish third last year (Turkkila/Versluis) - 15:26 the other Finnish team (Orihana/Pirinen) - 19:25 Lithuanian ice dance team (Reed/Ambrulevičius) and home crowd advantage Side topic - 22:32 world spots burden/stress - 24:29 peaking for the season (Mirai and others) - 26:01 Alissa explaining peaking Men - 28:06 Adam Siao Him Fa - 30:51 Adam’s back flip - 35:46 Kevin Aymoz --44:10 support from federation (medals, money, support) - 49:36 Estonia man (Selevko) - 50:38/50:54 Alissa said “eh” :) - 51:33 did the new system kill skating (calculating points) - 55:54 Gymnastic ROV (Risk, Originality, Virtuosity) Ice dance - 1:06:56 Czech team (Mrázková/Mrázek) - 1:08:29 Advance novice to do JGP (then and now) - 1:11:18 Ireland ice dance (Caroline Soucisse/Shane Firus) - 1:11:43 IAM bonus/politics - 1:12:52 Diana/Gleb - 1:15:31 Fear Gibson -1:16:11 vs French ice team (Lopareva/Brissaud) trying to be Papadakis/Cizeron - 1:19:17 Papadakis/Cizeron comeback(?) - 1:22:17 skater inspiration Women 1:31:07 Loena Hendrix 1:32:22 Gubanova 1:32:32 Back to Loena 1:33:51 back to Gubanova 1:35:11 Nina
I was at European in Tallinn in 2022 and it was the same. Filled arena - and it felt like being at a rock concert, so much engagement from the audience. It was great. The tickets were not too expensive - but all is relative of course. A skating fan will pay 😊
My moments from Europeans. 1.The camera works of the events. They just knew who to show from the audience and when. 2. Selevko winning the silver here. I just enjoy watching him skate, and that 4T was amazing in the short and in the long. Stsq also was very good. 3. Gala event, it was probably one of the best galas I've seen in recent years.
There was just one time they messed up and showed orchestra during Papadakis Cizeron at Gala right as they were going into a nifty lift lol That was bad timing
Selevko the elder was the highlight of the event! He appears to have been the only man with all + GOEs, and stunning interpretation and performance. Vs Adam's somewhat messy skates.
It was really great hearing you all talk for two hours. I felt like I was listening in on a private conversation. The only issue was that it was hard to hear everyone, perhaps because of the zoom connection having the slightest delay? There was a lot of one person talking over another person and it was especially hard to hear Alissa at times. I noticed with the three reporters, everybody was really conscious to allow some gap between one person ending conversation and another person starting, and a multi person zoom call is probably right in their wheelhouse. I think if we just had another second or two of silence between one person and another, this fabulous program would be even more so. My moment of the week was Matteo Rizzo's free skate. I never paid that much attention to him before, mostly focusing on Nathan and the Japanese men, but I felt his heart in his skating so much and was rooting hard for him. Wishing him all the best in his recovery from surgery.
Haven’t watched yet, but looking at the time stamps: seriously, Dave? Only a couple of minutes for Selevko?!That guy is stunning, he made the whole men‘s event! That was such ‚a star is born‘ moment 😍
This looked so good on camera, they did it so well. Whomever was the director did an excellent job of getting B roll, audience cut aways, making the jumps look bigger from different camera angles. The purple Motif without all the crap around it like we usually see was so attractive and appealing. I never thought of Lithuania as a tourist destination but I forget that it's a very old area that has wonderful architecture to see, it looked so beautiful covered in snow, I bet it's great in the summer time as well, not too hot and ppl seemed very friendly. Forget Spain and Italy, I'm gon head to Lithuania and Czech Republic!
What a spectacular event Lithuania held it was so amazing from the DJ, Live Orchestra, Fire Display at the Gala just everything they were superb hosts!
Finally watched Euros 2024, and wow, the event organizers of Kaunas, Lithuania did a fantastic job!! The stadium was filled, the crowd was warm and enthusiastic, and the skaters did wonderfully. Loena winning was expected, though, it's clear that some of her edges (especially the lutz) needs to be reviewed and scored correctly. Nina Pinzarrone, the younger Belgium girl, did a great job getting on the podium in her first Europeans competition. The men's competition was the most interesting to me. Adam did great despite his mistakes, his Free program was a lot of fun. That back-flip in his choreo sequences...utterly daring, though, Surya Bonaly is queen of the back-flip since she can land with one foot instead of two. Selevko of Estonia, the silver medallist, was the biggest surprise! What a delight he turned out to be; too bad about his brother. Hope to see more of these two in the future. Matteo Rizzo winning the bronze medal despite his injury was the best! He skated beautifully, with great technique and artistry, I'm sure Dick Button would have appreciated his moxy. More, because of his effort, Italy has won three spots for next year's Europeans. I can see that Italy is gearing up for Milano-Cortina 2026. Haven't watched the pairs or ice-dance.
i’d also love to see more episodes with reporters, the one with the olympic press was very interesting. also alissa is a perfect guest and she brings positivity to all these episodes
Jonathan I agree - I loved Dave’s meet the press. Thank you for that! I also second Alyssa’s comment on Jonathan’s painting! I need to know more about it
As a fan I totally agree with you about skaters needing to harness social media. There is so much untapped potential there. Fans want to follow the adventure but they can't if skaters are posting only a couple times a month. Isabella Flores is the gold standard here and other skaters should learn from her. In the last six weeks she's accumulated over 50k new followers on Instagram without having won a single skating competition. She has more followers than Ilia Malinin, Isabeau Levito, and Chock/Bates. She is now promoting US Nationals and fans are going to see her and her partner Ivan. I wish you would interview her!
I don’t coach my own kids. Two of my kids decided to figure skate. One also does hockey. I have one very clingy kid who just didn’t want another coach. I made her. I told her it was better for our relationship (she’s a teen). I love helping out here and there for jumps, program ideas, nothing I didn’t do when they did other sports. But my most important role is to be a good mother to them. I need to be able to support them when they compete as a mom and not as a coach. It’s a different relationship that is not healthy to mix.
Agree with Jonathan regarding Turkkila / Versluis but let’s not forget that they too had a home nation boost last year in Espoo. And next year in Zagreb I am sure a way will be found for the sublime Jari Kessler to reach the men's final, at last. I also thought the back flip was odd, and also unsporting. Adam was only 2.96 points ahead of Lukas with Lukas still to skate. So he was basically saying "I'm so much better than you I can afford to give away two points and still win". I might be wrong, but we all saw the effect this had on the Swiss.
As a Georgian closely engaged with the activities of the federation, I must say that the GeoFed is interested in becoming more relevant both domestically and internationally. It is headed by wonderful Mariam Giorgobiani, who has been working really hard since the times of Gedevanishvili. The main reason of course is the popularisation of sport, domestic competition and construction of new infrastructure. Georgia wants to host winter olympics in future too.
On Kevin Aymoz: even on Eurosport France, the commentators said they didn’t understand, and that if he didn’t want to be there or doesn’t have the energy to fight he shouldn’t have come, Francois Pitot fought to improve and place well at French nats and would have taken the opportunity if he was selected over Aymoz for the Euros
Regarding Canadian Nationals … it was -45° in Calgary this weekend and tickets were close to the $100 mark (Celsius and CAD). They were held at Winsport where there’s hardly any parking or public transit access and there was NO MEDIA COVERAGE regarding the event this weekend (same as for Junior Worlds). I live in Calgary and didn’t know we were hosting either event ….
I actually really enjoy the Lithuanians, they bring something different and a little ‘cooler’ than most teams, in the world of ice dance that is 😊. The faithless music last year and the guns n roses rhythm dance and the electronic music dance towards end in free (I’ve forgotten the song!) is actually refreshing. They don’t do scmaltzy, cheesy or overwrought. Which is ten a penny in skating and gets very boring. I find them fun, stylish and interesting. They aren’t breaking new ground or jaw dropping but they stand out and deliver something different against a lot of blah. On ice they seem the types who would actually be cool to hang out with and go to a bar or club (again, compared to the other teams. Not real world!). They are contemporary-ish 😂 without it seeming forced.
Although I agree that I would have preferred to have seen the Finnish team for the Bronze, to be fair... the Lithuanian team did finish 4th at last years Euros, so I don't think its that far of a stretch to think that they would finish with a Bronze this year... Also they medaled at both their GP events, whereas the Finnish team only medaled at one of their events.
Surya undoubtedly faced racism in the sport, but I don't think the backflip was negatively received at the time? Scott and Verne loved it, the reaction online back in the day was positive, and the marks reflected the poor skate...she had three clean triples at most. And in retrospect, it was a very shrewd move to launch a wonderful pro career and is still iconic today.
I don't know if he's exactly a star, but Saulus Ambrulevicius, who is Allison Reed's ice dance partner, is from Kaunas, Lithuania. A lot of the excitement in the crowd was certainly about their chances of winning a bronze medal, and they did! 🎉 ✨️
He clearly loves doing back flips both on and off the ice. He did one at the banquet (off ice). He seems to really relish combining the athleticism of figure skating with performance. He's one of the few figure skaters who seems to exude a real love figure skating, that he does it because he loves doing it rather than because he is just good at it, or that the drive is only about winning or wanting to be famous. I think that is why the public really warm to him.
Europeans in Kaunas showed our sport isn’t dead, inspite of attempts to kill it off. PapCiz may say they've never watched other icedancers from the past, but their Gala performance to Bach Cello was pure TorvillandDean Six Gestures circa 97, minus the T&D classy costumes. I don’t know what PapCiz were wearing, but it looked llumpy like they had real costumes to reveal underneath those beige overalls. Personally I hope they don’t return to competition as I like seeing new couples coming through and not knowing who will win.
Sadly, the current dance field doesn't have any great talents. The next generation needs more time to develop. I think Papadakis and Cizeron would underscore the need for well-matched teams and massive development.
Shorter free program lengths, combined with trying to capitalize on points seems to have stifled the creativity of the skating we all long for. No one has time for a long spiral when the music calls for one. Instead we see a quick arm wave and that’s all there’s time for.
I love Loena but ISU’s favoritism towards her has become unpleasant. In her Europeans SP, both her jumps in her 3Lz+3T combo were underrotated and she had a very obvious edge problem on her Lz. But she only got q for her Lz and her other mistakes weren’t called. In the FP, her Lz edge was not called again and she had several rotation problems that were ignored by the juries. She got minimal deductions for her visible bad landings. Her face looked extremely nervous until she finished all her jumps and she couldn’t connect to the music at all until the last minute of her program. But she still got extremely generous GOEs and Presentation scores (I agree that she deserves high scores for SS). Meanwhile other girls, especially Nina, were judged too harshly. Everyone was rightfully calling out ISU when the juries were ignoring the technical errors of Shcherbakova and other Eteri girls, but I find it strange that nobody is calling out ISU for doing the exact same thing for Loena. Another strange thing happened a few weeks ago. ISU announced the candidates for Figure Skating Awards. The Most Valuable Skater award aims to reward the most successful skater of the previous season. ISU nominated Shoma, Kaori, Chock/Bates, Miura/Kihara (all of whom are last year’s World Champions,) Adam (last year’s European Champion), Ilia and Loena (last year’s Champions of nothing, lol). I really don’t understand why Ilia and Loena were nominated instead of Haein Lee and Guignard/Fabbri... Haein became Four Continents Champion and World Silver Medalist (she surpassed even Kaori and became first in World Team Trophy), Guignard/Fabbri became European Champions and World Silver Medalists. Last season, Ilia and Loena didn’t win anything, they didn’t even get Silver Medal at Worlds... (Now don’t tell me about Ilia’s Quad Axel because he already got the Special Achievement Award for Quad Axel in the previous year.) ISU is just extremely biased and needs to go through a serious revolution. As much as I love Loena and usually enjoy her performances, this type of favoritism and injustice leaves a very bad taste in my mouth
unfortunately figure skating has always been about overlooking certain skaters' flaws in order to promote certain people/pairs/couples in order to sustain interest in the sport
You are completely right. But now that 🇷🇺 is banned, it is all about propping up a Western European woman even if she underrotates her jumps and has tacky programs and also propping up the next quad machine with the 🇺🇲 flag next to his name. Everything else - be it fantastic 🇰🇷🇯🇵 singles skaters or very accomplished 🇮🇹 ice dancers - are secondary.
Because Loena is underscored in PCS compared to her competitors. Look at the transitions, skating skills, speed, and performance quality of those other medalists - very lacking. They also stand around a lot, especially Gubanova. Loena is always moving, and if she isn’t, she is striking that damn pose! Nina and Anastasia are different tiers of skaters than Loena, and should continue to be judged as so.
@@MrChaseBlue Loena’s PCS was not underscored at all. When skaters make technical mistakes in their programs, juries normally give them much lower PCS scores. But Loena got 71.13 PCS in the FP even though her base value for technical elements was very low and she wasn’t clean. That is far from being underscored. In comparison, Aliona Kostornaia is commonly regarded as one of the best female skaters in terms of artistry and skating skills. And Aliona’s personal best PCS score was 73.27, which she achieved in 2019 GPF where she skated cleanly with a very difficult technical content unlike Loena
I would want to go to Estonia! Maybe not quite as much as Vienna because of all of the art and palaces there, but Tallinn is supposed to have one of the best medieval old towns in all of Europe and the people seem really cool and down to Earth, not as snobby as I've heard people in Vienna are.
I feel bad for Kevin and I know that he wants to go to the 2026 Olympics; however, if he goes to Worlds in March, he will burnout of figure skating. I don't think that Kevin should go to Worlds.
One thing I noticed on the detailed scores - Fear/Gibson outscored the Italian team on EVERY lift. Lewis is turning into one of the finest ice dance men.
I completely agree with Dave about showcasing the best of what a skater can do, verses contorting your body for every last level. We, as viewers, are craving it. Give me that gorgeous layback and let it be. Also, please give us a senior lady that can do a traditional layback. Alissa, Sarah, Sasha, Angela, Mirai, Caroline, Karen... feel free to set up a layback clinic.
I would be delighted to see more quality "simple" spins. I am a Scot but I thought the junior Czechs and Finns should have been higher. Chris said D&S's free was a masterpiece. I didn't see that. My moment of the week was the Estonian silver medal. Tallin is very beautiful btw 😊 Great show!
I Love that you bring up ballet training and how important it is. It is well known that Russian ballerinas are the best in the world. They have incredible control of their whole body and extensive training is put not only into the legs and feet but also into the core hands and arms! Any figure skater that is highly competitive should have ballet lines without a doubt. This is why I'm such a big fan of Valieva and probably also the reason that Eteri the most talented skater she's ever trained. Shame that she does not have the same expectations of her daughter Diana
You should wanna go to Estonia - Tallinns old city is a marvel. A not well known one. The old city is on the UNESCO world heritage list I think. In the winter it is beautiful and lights everywhere and in the summer the day is endless. The main arena is of really good quality.
@@JoshuaFazeliI assumed the judges were pro-russia. But it seems they're pro-eteri. So no matter which country the skater represents, having eteri as a coach is a bonus.
@@Jeremy-wp4yhThis isn't new unfortunately. What caught me off guard is that many of the commentators seem to have the same pro-Eteri bias. Chris was absolutely raving about Diana and Gleb and kept saying how all the "Georgians" are so incredible and amazing. I wasn't sure whether I was seeing the same skaters. I guess the lip service pays extra well
Hi you guys, Dave when you were talking about beautiful lay back spins I love them, but I also miss the spiral sequence. Alissa had a beautiful one. It was one of my favorites. Diane
How many skaters representing Georgia are actually Georgian, and not Russians masquerading as Georgians (i.e. Diana & Gleb). Most are Russian aren't they?
Surya didn't get bad scores in 98 because she was black. Her program (post injuries) was indeed tanking (thanks Jonathan). Her skating skills were sloppy as always (running edge quality and unpleasing jump telegraphing of a novice). She missed several jumps. The discrimination minorities face in society are very real, but it is not applicable with Surya in 98 and has been completely misrepresented. To watch some of these Tik Toks, youd think she deserved the gold in 98 but lost due to race. Ive had multiple people tell me that.
For real, and a decade before that, Debi Thomas earned the gold medal beating one of the most unbeatable skaters of the 1980s, Katarina Witt. Did Debi all of a sudden turn caucasian that we should know about? Debi was athletic and had great skating skills and was rewarded for them where Surya was the queen of underrotated jump combos and could barely hold an edge and look sexy
Yes! The idea about emotions and how they are connected to performance is on point. I dislike how they criticize him his emotions when the reason people like him is due to his emotional presence. It’s a different side of the same coin. It’s surprising to me how people don’t see this connection.
@hb-ry2iq although there are correct parts of what you are saying, the principle is applied incorrectly in this scenario. Yes, there’s a spectrum. Just as most people can display the trait of narcissism at times, there is a small amount of people who suffer from the diagnosable personality disorder of NPD. What I think you are missing is the fact that people adore Kevin for his emotions, but fault him for his poor performances and lack of media presence when he skates poorly. He is having very clear mental health issues that he’s fighting through on a large stage. If it’s not a visible injury, people don’t think it exists or matters much. He needs to take care of himself and not have the works berate him for what’s happening. If more people understood mental health, they would know that showing deep emotions often comes from within (whether it be from experience, trauma, etc.). Are their people really great at acting? Yes. But that’s far less the experience in skating. This all means that is people could put two and two together, they’d understand better what’s happening with Kevin. Instead of calling out his actions and acting like he’s being disrespectful, they should recognize he’s suffering right now. The system needs to be changed to allow athletes to withdraw from competition without penalty for mental health reasons. That’s why I’m stating that people love him for his emotions, which is a different side of the emotional coin for many people. Not all people, but a good chunk of people. With anxiety and depression being so common, it’s hard that non psychologists have such a hard time thinking in this way. And yes, I have a PhD in psychology as well as an MS.
The step or choreo sequence in which Adam did his two backflips was only worth about 3 points base, and he still came out on the positive side. I was surprised to say the least.
35:00 Adam's backflip is his answer to Ilia's quad axle. He is more exciting by throwing in an illegal element in a competition! I think he got in Ilia's head during Grand Prix France with the home crowd and that backflip, albeit after his free skate. Ilia might have the quad axle, but here is another person of color doing an illegal element to satisfy the crowd
I think there was/is a reason why backflips are not allowed in figure skating - they are simply too dangerous. Even in gymnastics, where the speed on the take-off is much lower than in figure skating and there are mats to soften the landing, or in diving, there have been really severe- even lethal- accidents. Adam`s backflip was so scary that he could have easily ended up in a wheel chair or worse, had he missed the toepick. He also gave the wrong sign, being like: "Hey, guys, I can easily give away 2 points and become European champion though". This WRONG. I like Adam - but this move was unsuitable in any kind of way.
I was actually glad Adam did the backflip IN the program instead of afterwards like he did at his two Grand Prix events. At least he could take his deduction, then, and we didn't have to fear for the flower girls.
We went from Riga and they didn't give us free tickets. Affordable but not free. Latvian and Lithuania are generally very winter sports adjacent. Event was well advertised. Estonia not so much, btw. Those crazy French skaters, right? Is Kevin retiring?
Something tells me it’s sunshine and rainbows and unicorn essence😂 I could see birds singing to her a la Snow White, too - she really has a lovely presence and I agree, her skin is incredible.
Alissa does look great!! I’d love a Dave Lease time management routine. I have no idea how you balance putting out all of this great content for us in addition to your own skating & a full-time job. Major props to you!! Thank you!
I understand the push behind Lithuanians was also political, but I genuinely liked their urban theme dance to faithless, and I swear Lithuanians as a nation have a love affair with rock, so guns'n'roses and AC/DC music is their second anthem - therefore this year's rythm dance was a perfect pick. And maybe I am a simple non sophisticated person, but their free dance message came across clearly to me this year, while the Finns had yet another lyrical classical piece. Which ok - it is their strength, but didn't they have a similar lyrical piece with light blue costumes already two years ago? And I liked the Finn's rythm dance un the beginning of the season much more. Her previous costume was more appropriate and catchy. All this to say- I thing Lithuanians being third is not that far of a stretch and possibly even objective this year. Agree with the opinion that Saulius was eeecxxtra becaus at home even the walls help you skate better.
I actually really enjoy the Lithuanians, they bring something different and a little ‘cooler’ than most teams, in the buttoned up world of ice dance that is 😊. The faithless music last year and the guns and roses rhythm dance and the dance music towards the end in current free (I’ve forgotten the song!) is actually refreshing. They don’t do scmaltzy, cheesy or overwrought. Which is ten a penny in skating and gets very boring. I find them fun, stylish and interesting. They aren’t breaking new ground or jaw dropping but they stand out and deliver something different against a lot of blah. On ice they seem the types who would actually be cool to hang out with and go to bar with 😊 (again, compared to the other teams. Not real world!)
There was just one time they messed up camera work and showed orchestra during Papadakis Cizeron at Gala right as they were going into a nifty lift lol That was bad timing
57:10 I prefer a slow layback instead of a fast one. It gives more of a delicate look. Peggys layback looks more like a music box ballerina. Karens layback looks too much like a tornado top.
Fantastic analysis at the 55 minute mark on the new judging system. Yes yes yes, revamp the spins! One (or 2) of the three spins should be "free" - show us something beautiful and well done versus levels levels levels. And agree, make the short and long programs different in requirements (we see every skater perform the same 3 spins in both their programs, ignoring the music.) Alissa is right, skating lacks personality mostly, it isnt rewarded. In the quest to be a fair sport, the skating is robotic.
I appreciate the point about how skating with performance is harder. It's literally harder physically, so I don't buy that because this is a sport, the PCS skaters shouldn't get rewarded as much. I've always maintained that the jump-focused skaters literally can't physically skate a Jason Brown program. They literally physically aren't capable of doing it. So why are they being rewarded more?
@davelease what do you think of Yuma being coached by his dad or Jade Carey. At least with Jade's dad, he was strategic with composition and peaking and seemed to ground her well without placing exorbitant amounts of pressure on here
Honestly wondering about the quality of the coaching in skating these days. Just because someone was a skater, it doesn't make them a good coach.They need additional training, not just experience "coaching" skaters. Since skaters are being sent out on the ice at top level competitions with poor jump technique and not having done proper run throughs of programs, then it seems the skating federations need to start centralizing the process by bringing in experts in the field to help their coaches coach. Bring in experts in physics, exercise physiology, pilates, etc. If you look at what the Ice Academy of Montreal did, they brought in experts from various fields (music, dance, Cirque du Soleil, etc.) to help with their coaching and they've achieved tremendous results with that model... and other factors in addition to that. Why aren't federations with elite level skaters doing the same? Skaters shouldn't be placing on the podium of Europeans and nationals with poor skating technique.
For all your talk about skating skills, I'm surprised you said that Surya's skating marks were about race. I'm not saying racism doesn't/didn't exist in the sport. but c'mon....Surya was not a particularly smooth or artistic skater and even her jumps, her bread and butter, were not always on point. People love a good racism story so they're rewriting history. (Again, not saying real racial discrimination doesn't exist. But we shouldn't make *every* story retroactively be about that - it detracts from the actual instances of it.)
Jonathan, please, we're talking about an ice dance duo skating to Ed Sheeran at the Olympics, coooome on! What "outside influences"? I'm with Dave on that one, it just make them seem unnecessarily cocky and snobs - ok, later they made some better musical choices, but still. Pretentious to the bone is the vibe most times. I said what I said (don't block me) :D ;)
My concern about a skate off: It could mess up peaking for worlds, unless its like USA gymnastic world selection where its literally right before that you can maintain the peak through worlds.
Her new short program looked like parts of her previous programs, tacked together. It was slow, and you could tell she was thinking her way through it. It was totally uninspired.
@@suzannewint3813 Interesting. But now I'm wondering what good it is to see the ice right before your head smashes into it in a botched aerial. Forgive me. LOL
@@suzannewint3813 thanks for the information but it’s still a dumb reason in my humble opinion. It’s hard to believe they can see anything in a split second even for a regular jump. lol.
Regardless about Adam Siao's backflip whether you like it or not, I have to say that the non-FS fans/casual viewers receive this news very well which it went viral particularly in reddit while certain non-FS Twitter users used his as an example as motivation. Not to mention that the thirst comments as well.
Tickets in Europeans wasn't free. All theese people came to see and support our skaters especially Allison and Saulius. They where announced as bronze medal contenders. This fact helped to atrract audience. It is first European medal for Lithuania in skating after 18 years. Support from the audience was huge and deffinetly helped them to achieve their goal. Lithuania is a very small country, so we are always very proud about our athletes in any sport. That's why arena was full. Amazing event. Best five days in my life. 💛💚❤
I think you and your country have every right to be proud of this event and of your first medal. Every athlete of the Italian team said in interviews that the cheers of the crowd were amazing, so warming and unexpected! So thanks Lithuania for all that joy and enthusiasm. 💕
The Reading, PA mention was soooooo relatable. They had a holiday on ice show there in 2019 right before the pandemic hit and there was like. maybe 100 people total in the seats? It was the first ice show I saw and it was certainly a time LOL
I always get the feeling that they’re a snob. Like the reason interview in euros when they were asked about the condition of current ice dance, they were like slyly saying it’s underwhelming . I love that they couldn’t hide their arrogance.
@@TheSkatingLesson yes. but that whole discussion really resonated with me esp when I deal with my own students who seem passionate about the work but don't have fan interest for those who came before!
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I’ve been a casual fan of skating for years. This Europeans reminded me of why I love this sport and it was summed up in Selevko’s short program. It was just so alive and seemed so authentic and full of passion/joy. We need more of this! Also, when Adam did his backflip my 10 year old son said “Wow, that’s so cool!” and started watching it with me. I want this sport to expand its fan base and I see this event and these skaters as a great start towards that. Finally, Alissa- So great to have your perspectives! You’ve always been one of my favs! Thank you!
As a Lithuanian I could say that they didn't gave away tickets for free, however, tickets were very affordable, for 30 euros you could get very good seats. I know it was two sold outs for sure. People seemed excited about this event
This is opposite from Espoo. Crappy uncomfortable seats for 100 euros for each event. And the Karen’s at the Finnish federation keeps their phones on and let’s them ring loud during the performance. EW.
@@JoshuaFazeliLithuania again showing that it is the superior Baltic country, Estonian and Finnish events could never
Affordable to the public. Key 🔑
GPF in Italy was 160€ per seat. A ROBBERY! they prefers to have empty seats instead of giving something for free of with a discount. Two days of competition was half a salary! I don’t think they understand! My boyfriend was laughing at me because with that price you get ticket for three concerts! Front seat to Green Day cost less 1/3 of one GP ticket!
@@TheFlowMind I totally agree with you. I have high anxiety talking about this bc I want to support and go to competitions. I am literally there all week. But the stadiums in Finland that host them are not the ones pre-war in Ukraine bc the Hartwell Arena is still closed due to the dispute of Russians owning it.
The chairs in Espoo are so uncomfortable that I have to bring a pillow to sit on them and I am not even 40 yet. lol
i firmly believe a packed arena makes the skaters skate better. its adds stakes, energy and take the pairs event for the euros the SP crowd out numbered each of the mens and the womens and the pairs skated lights out when normally theyre used to nobody rocking up and taking them seriously! such a great crowd
I don’t know if it necessarily makes the skaters skate better, but it makes the event more exciting to watch and for skaters to be in
Alissa getting the conversation back on track at the beginning when Dave was going on abt Navka. Thank you Alissa! 🤣😁
I agree. This particular program was less about Europeans and more about a whole lot of other things. Which was rather interesting but not for 2 hours. Back to Europeans, please.
Haha agreed, someone needs to cut off Dave’s tangents and Johnathan is too nice to accomplish that😂
The reason why it felt like a home crowd with Selevko is because the Baltics have a sense of camaraderie with each other and would root for each other’s skaters (also pressure for Deniss!)
Other than that, just here to add to the fact that Lithuania were spectacular hosts!
Yay! Your efforts in providing so much coverage of these events are SO appreciated!
Glad you think so!
Timestamps (in progress,update in random)
0:51 Alissa and rocky
- 1:25 Alissa and her wood/nature project
3:01 European at Lithuania
- 3:07 Lithuania arena, crowd, camera work
- 3:54 huge crowd (how?)
- 4:22 vs Canadian nationals with empty arena
(Side topics)
5:54 Dave calling @skatingscores yesterday and more conversation with skating scores
7:01 Dave’s episode on “Meet the Olympic Press”: Christine, Phil Hersh, and Maya
10:51 ice dance at Europeans
- 10:59 Finnish team that finish third last year (Turkkila/Versluis)
- 15:26 the other Finnish team (Orihana/Pirinen)
- 19:25 Lithuanian ice dance team (Reed/Ambrulevičius) and home crowd advantage
Side topic
- 22:32 world spots burden/stress
- 24:29 peaking for the season (Mirai and others)
- 26:01 Alissa explaining peaking
Men
- 28:06 Adam Siao Him Fa
- 30:51 Adam’s back flip
- 35:46 Kevin Aymoz
--44:10 support from federation (medals, money, support)
- 49:36 Estonia man (Selevko)
- 50:38/50:54 Alissa said “eh” :)
- 51:33 did the new system kill skating (calculating points)
- 55:54 Gymnastic ROV (Risk, Originality, Virtuosity)
Ice dance
- 1:06:56 Czech team (Mrázková/Mrázek)
- 1:08:29 Advance novice to do JGP (then and now)
- 1:11:18 Ireland ice dance (Caroline Soucisse/Shane Firus)
- 1:11:43 IAM bonus/politics
- 1:12:52 Diana/Gleb
- 1:15:31 Fear Gibson
-1:16:11 vs French ice team (Lopareva/Brissaud) trying to be Papadakis/Cizeron
- 1:19:17 Papadakis/Cizeron comeback(?)
- 1:22:17 skater inspiration
Women
1:31:07 Loena Hendrix
1:32:22 Gubanova
1:32:32 Back to Loena
1:33:51 back to Gubanova
1:35:11 Nina
thank you for these, really helpful
I was at European in Tallinn in 2022 and it was the same. Filled arena - and it felt like being at a rock concert, so much engagement from the audience. It was great. The tickets were not too expensive - but all is relative of course. A skating fan will pay 😊
My moments from Europeans.
1.The camera works of the events. They just knew who to show from the audience and when.
2. Selevko winning the silver here. I just enjoy watching him skate, and that 4T was amazing in the short and in the long. Stsq also was very good.
3. Gala event, it was probably one of the best galas I've seen in recent years.
Selevko was such a highlight for me too!
I'll have to watch the Gala event, too!
There was just one time they messed up and showed orchestra during Papadakis Cizeron at Gala right as they were going into a nifty lift lol
That was bad timing
Selevko is beautiful to look at and a great skater!
Selevko the elder was the highlight of the event! He appears to have been the only man with all + GOEs, and stunning interpretation and performance. Vs Adam's somewhat messy skates.
It was really great hearing you all talk for two hours. I felt like I was listening in on a private conversation. The only issue was that it was hard to hear everyone, perhaps because of the zoom connection having the slightest delay? There was a lot of one person talking over another person and it was especially hard to hear Alissa at times. I noticed with the three reporters, everybody was really conscious to allow some gap between one person ending conversation and another person starting, and a multi person zoom call is probably right in their wheelhouse. I think if we just had another second or two of silence between one person and another, this fabulous program would be even more so. My moment of the week was Matteo Rizzo's free skate. I never paid that much attention to him before, mostly focusing on Nathan and the Japanese men, but I felt his heart in his skating so much and was rooting hard for him. Wishing him all the best in his recovery from surgery.
Haven’t watched yet, but looking at the time stamps: seriously, Dave? Only a couple of minutes for Selevko?!That guy is stunning, he made the whole men‘s event! That was such ‚a star is born‘ moment 😍
That Selevko kid was sizzling!
This looked so good on camera, they did it so well. Whomever was the director did an excellent job of getting B roll, audience cut aways, making the jumps look bigger from different camera angles. The purple Motif without all the crap around it like we usually see was so attractive and appealing. I never thought of Lithuania as a tourist destination but I forget that it's a very old area that has wonderful architecture to see, it looked so beautiful covered in snow, I bet it's great in the summer time as well, not too hot and ppl seemed very friendly. Forget Spain and Italy, I'm gon head to Lithuania and Czech Republic!
What a spectacular event Lithuania held it was so amazing from the DJ, Live Orchestra, Fire Display at the Gala just everything they were superb hosts!
Finally watched Euros 2024, and wow, the event organizers of Kaunas, Lithuania did a fantastic job!! The stadium was filled, the crowd was warm and enthusiastic, and the skaters did wonderfully. Loena winning was expected, though, it's clear that some of her edges (especially the lutz) needs to be reviewed and scored correctly. Nina Pinzarrone, the younger Belgium girl, did a great job getting on the podium in her first Europeans competition. The men's competition was the most interesting to me. Adam did great despite his mistakes, his Free program was a lot of fun. That back-flip in his choreo sequences...utterly daring, though, Surya Bonaly is queen of the back-flip since she can land with one foot instead of two. Selevko of Estonia, the silver medallist, was the biggest surprise! What a delight he turned out to be; too bad about his brother. Hope to see more of these two in the future. Matteo Rizzo winning the bronze medal despite his injury was the best! He skated beautifully, with great technique and artistry, I'm sure Dick Button would have appreciated his moxy. More, because of his effort, Italy has won three spots for next year's Europeans. I can see that Italy is gearing up for Milano-Cortina 2026. Haven't watched the pairs or ice-dance.
Actually, this wasn’t Nina’s first time at the Europeans. She participated last year too and became 5th 😊
i’d also love to see more episodes with reporters, the one with the olympic press was very interesting. also alissa is a perfect guest and she brings positivity to all these episodes
🙏
Jonathan I agree - I loved Dave’s meet the press. Thank you for that!
I also second Alyssa’s comment on Jonathan’s painting! I need to know more about it
As a fan I totally agree with you about skaters needing to harness social media. There is so much untapped potential there. Fans want to follow the adventure but they can't if skaters are posting only a couple times a month. Isabella Flores is the gold standard here and other skaters should learn from her. In the last six weeks she's accumulated over 50k new followers on Instagram without having won a single skating competition. She has more followers than Ilia Malinin, Isabeau Levito, and Chock/Bates. She is now promoting US Nationals and fans are going to see her and her partner Ivan. I wish you would interview her!
I don’t coach my own kids. Two of my kids decided to figure skate. One also does hockey. I have one very clingy kid who just didn’t want another coach. I made her. I told her it was better for our relationship (she’s a teen). I love helping out here and there for jumps, program ideas, nothing I didn’t do when they did other sports. But my most important role is to be a good mother to them. I need to be able to support them when they compete as a mom and not as a coach. It’s a different relationship that is not healthy to mix.
Agree with Jonathan regarding Turkkila / Versluis but let’s not forget that they too had a home nation boost last year in Espoo. And next year in Zagreb I am sure a way will be found for the sublime Jari Kessler to reach the men's final, at last.
I also thought the back flip was odd, and also unsporting. Adam was only 2.96 points ahead of Lukas with Lukas still to skate. So he was basically saying "I'm so much better than you I can afford to give away two points and still win". I might be wrong, but we all saw the effect this had on the Swiss.
As a Georgian closely engaged with the activities of the federation, I must say that the GeoFed is interested in becoming more relevant both domestically and internationally. It is headed by wonderful Mariam Giorgobiani, who has been working really hard since the times of Gedevanishvili. The main reason of course is the popularisation of sport, domestic competition and construction of new infrastructure. Georgia wants to host winter olympics in future too.
On Kevin Aymoz: even on Eurosport France, the commentators said they didn’t understand, and that if he didn’t want to be there or doesn’t have the energy to fight he shouldn’t have come, Francois Pitot fought to improve and place well at French nats and would have taken the opportunity if he was selected over Aymoz for the Euros
Francois Pitot is definitely going to world's I think the French Federation will yank Kevin from his World's assignment.
France only has 2 spots for worlds so it really should go to Luc
What a weekend! Thank you for all the content, TSL! Really enjoyed the lives as well as this episode of TnT.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Regarding Canadian Nationals … it was -45° in Calgary this weekend and tickets were close to the $100 mark (Celsius and CAD).
They were held at Winsport where there’s hardly any parking or public transit access and there was NO MEDIA COVERAGE regarding the event this weekend (same as for Junior Worlds).
I live in Calgary and didn’t know we were hosting either event ….
That’s cheap compared to US nationals I was looking on the website they want like 300 dollars just for one day! No thanks lol
I actually really enjoy the Lithuanians, they bring something different and a little ‘cooler’ than most teams, in the world of ice dance that is 😊. The faithless music last year and the guns n roses rhythm dance and the electronic music dance towards end in free (I’ve forgotten the song!) is actually refreshing. They don’t do scmaltzy, cheesy or overwrought. Which is ten a penny in skating and gets very boring. I find them fun, stylish and interesting. They aren’t breaking new ground or jaw dropping but they stand out and deliver something different against a lot of blah. On ice they seem the types who would actually be cool to hang out with and go to a bar or club (again, compared to the other teams. Not real world!). They are contemporary-ish 😂 without it seeming forced.
Loena's skating skills aren't great, but I wouldn't say they're lacking. Her speed and edges during her step sequences are actually quite good!
Although I agree that I would have preferred to have seen the Finnish team for the Bronze, to be fair... the Lithuanian team did finish 4th at last years Euros, so I don't think its that far of a stretch to think that they would finish with a Bronze this year... Also they medaled at both their GP events, whereas the Finnish team only medaled at one of their events.
What surprised me about Adam’s backflip here is that he didn’t have the cleanest free skate so the flex was a bit weird
Right? I wasn’t even 100 percent sure he had the gold.
Even if he had skated clean it would be weirdly self congratulating in a field with an especially weak event
Surya undoubtedly faced racism in the sport, but I don't think the backflip was negatively received at the time? Scott and Verne loved it, the reaction online back in the day was positive, and the marks reflected the poor skate...she had three clean triples at most. And in retrospect, it was a very shrewd move to launch a wonderful pro career and is still iconic today.
I don't know if he's exactly a star, but Saulus Ambrulevicius, who is Allison Reed's ice dance partner, is from Kaunas, Lithuania. A lot of the excitement in the crowd was certainly about their chances of winning a bronze medal, and they did! 🎉 ✨️
Correction: Allison's partner's first name is spelled, 'Saulius' 🥉
Surya’s backflip was way, way better than Adam’s. His is on the messier side & looks a bit scary.
💯
Surya did gymnastics before she became a skater, that's why her jump was better
He clearly loves doing back flips both on and off the ice. He did one at the banquet (off ice). He seems to really relish combining the athleticism of figure skating with performance. He's one of the few figure skaters who seems to exude a real love figure skating, that he does it because he loves doing it rather than because he is just good at it, or that the drive is only about winning or wanting to be famous. I think that is why the public really warm to him.
Europeans in Kaunas showed our sport isn’t dead, inspite of attempts to kill it off. PapCiz may say they've never watched other icedancers from the past, but their Gala performance to Bach Cello was pure TorvillandDean Six Gestures circa 97, minus the T&D classy costumes. I don’t know what PapCiz were wearing, but it looked llumpy like they had real costumes to reveal underneath those beige overalls. Personally I hope they don’t return to competition as I like seeing new couples coming through and not knowing who will win.
Sadly, the current dance field doesn't have any great talents. The next generation needs more time to develop. I think Papadakis and Cizeron would underscore the need for well-matched teams and massive development.
Shorter free program lengths, combined with trying to capitalize on points seems to have stifled the creativity of the skating we all long for. No one has time for a long spiral when the music calls for one. Instead we see a quick arm wave and that’s all there’s time for.
Great episode gang. Very interesting discussion and everyone contributing! Parabens!
Dave, you need to interview the Skating Scores guy. I wanna hear the accent!!!
I love Loena but ISU’s favoritism towards her has become unpleasant. In her Europeans SP, both her jumps in her 3Lz+3T combo were underrotated and she had a very obvious edge problem on her Lz. But she only got q for her Lz and her other mistakes weren’t called. In the FP, her Lz edge was not called again and she had several rotation problems that were ignored by the juries. She got minimal deductions for her visible bad landings. Her face looked extremely nervous until she finished all her jumps and she couldn’t connect to the music at all until the last minute of her program. But she still got extremely generous GOEs and Presentation scores (I agree that she deserves high scores for SS). Meanwhile other girls, especially Nina, were judged too harshly. Everyone was rightfully calling out ISU when the juries were ignoring the technical errors of Shcherbakova and other Eteri girls, but I find it strange that nobody is calling out ISU for doing the exact same thing for Loena.
Another strange thing happened a few weeks ago. ISU announced the candidates for Figure Skating Awards. The Most Valuable Skater award aims to reward the most successful skater of the previous season. ISU nominated Shoma, Kaori, Chock/Bates, Miura/Kihara (all of whom are last year’s World Champions,) Adam (last year’s European Champion), Ilia and Loena (last year’s Champions of nothing, lol). I really don’t understand why Ilia and Loena were nominated instead of Haein Lee and Guignard/Fabbri... Haein became Four Continents Champion and World Silver Medalist (she surpassed even Kaori and became first in World Team Trophy), Guignard/Fabbri became European Champions and World Silver Medalists. Last season, Ilia and Loena didn’t win anything, they didn’t even get Silver Medal at Worlds... (Now don’t tell me about Ilia’s Quad Axel because he already got the Special Achievement Award for Quad Axel in the previous year.) ISU is just extremely biased and needs to go through a serious revolution. As much as I love Loena and usually enjoy her performances, this type of favoritism and injustice leaves a very bad taste in my mouth
unfortunately figure skating has always been about overlooking certain skaters' flaws in order to promote certain people/pairs/couples in order to sustain interest in the sport
You are completely right. But now that 🇷🇺 is banned, it is all about propping up a Western European woman even if she underrotates her jumps and has tacky programs and also propping up the next quad machine with the 🇺🇲 flag next to his name. Everything else - be it fantastic 🇰🇷🇯🇵 singles skaters or very accomplished 🇮🇹 ice dancers - are secondary.
Because Loena is underscored in PCS compared to her competitors. Look at the transitions, skating skills, speed, and performance quality of those other medalists - very lacking. They also stand around a lot, especially Gubanova. Loena is always moving, and if she isn’t, she is striking that damn pose! Nina and Anastasia are different tiers of skaters than Loena, and should continue to be judged as so.
@@MrChaseBlue Loena’s PCS was not underscored at all. When skaters make technical mistakes in their programs, juries normally give them much lower PCS scores. But Loena got 71.13 PCS in the FP even though her base value for technical elements was very low and she wasn’t clean. That is far from being underscored. In comparison, Aliona Kostornaia is commonly regarded as one of the best female skaters in terms of artistry and skating skills. And Aliona’s personal best PCS score was 73.27, which she achieved in 2019 GPF where she skated cleanly with a very difficult technical content unlike Loena
@@MrChaseBlue Leona underscored in PCS??? Seriously? 😆
Turkkila & Versluis were ROBBED. Judges really placed them down to prop up other teams. Ice dance politics is so nasty.
Loved the episode with reporters as well!
And boy do I miss a glorious spiral sequence!
💯
I come from estonia and I tots clutched my pearls when Dave said he didn't want to come here! 😂
I want to go to Vienna more. It is a complete bucket list item.
@TheSkatingLesson still not unclutching pearls. Scandalised!
I'd like to go to Vienna too though...
I would want to go to Estonia! Maybe not quite as much as Vienna because of all of the art and palaces there, but Tallinn is supposed to have one of the best medieval old towns in all of Europe and the people seem really cool and down to Earth, not as snobby as I've heard people in Vienna are.
I feel bad for Kevin and I know that he wants to go to the 2026 Olympics; however, if he goes to Worlds in March, he will burnout of figure skating. I don't think that Kevin should go to Worlds.
I have to agree that the Finn's Phoria FD this season is my absolute favorite. It's such a work of art -- very unique and avant garde.
I just appreciate and love your comments, insights, and predictions!
One thing I noticed on the detailed scores - Fear/Gibson outscored the Italian team on EVERY lift. Lewis is turning into one of the finest ice dance men.
And got 3 Judges' 1st in both RD and FD. They are chipping away for gold.
I completely agree with Dave about showcasing the best of what a skater can do, verses contorting your body for every last level. We, as viewers, are craving it. Give me that gorgeous layback and let it be. Also, please give us a senior lady that can do a traditional layback. Alissa, Sarah, Sasha, Angela, Mirai, Caroline, Karen... feel free to set up a layback clinic.
Even with heavy homecrowd support I couldnot connect with R/A🇱🇹.. I felt T/V🇫🇮 were much better and would have given them better points.
“Three strong women and Phil Hersh”😂❤
I would be delighted to see more quality "simple" spins. I am a Scot but I thought the junior Czechs and Finns should have been higher. Chris said D&S's free was a masterpiece. I didn't see that. My moment of the week was the Estonian silver medal. Tallin is very beautiful btw 😊 Great show!
Meant to add yes big improvement from Kimmy. Potential star there.
Thank you, Dave, for what you said during the Kimmy Respond discussion. It needed to be said.
It wasn’t specific to anyone.
I'll edit my comment to say during the KR discussion.
I Love that you bring up ballet training and how important it is. It is well known that Russian ballerinas are the best in the world. They have incredible control of their whole body and extensive training is put not only into the legs and feet but also into the core hands and arms! Any figure skater that is highly competitive should have ballet lines without a doubt. This is why I'm such a big fan of Valieva and probably also the reason that Eteri the most talented skater she's ever trained. Shame that she does not have the same expectations of her daughter Diana
You should wanna go to Estonia - Tallinns old city is a marvel. A not well known one. The old city is on the UNESCO world heritage list I think. In the winter it is beautiful and lights everywhere and in the summer the day is endless. The main arena is of really good quality.
I just have a thing about wanting to visit Austria due to the Sound of Music!
@@TheSkatingLesson you should go - it is a very beautiful city with lots of culture and Apfel Strudel 😉
Dave, your laugh makes my day!!
I was shocked to see that the eteri bonus still exists, no matter which country she's in.
Shocked? Really?
@@TheSkatingLessonI am not shocked. The judges from the 90’s are still judging today.
@@JoshuaFazeliI assumed the judges were pro-russia. But it seems they're pro-eteri. So no matter which country the skater represents, having eteri as a coach is a bonus.
@@Jeremy-wp4yhThis isn't new unfortunately. What caught me off guard is that many of the commentators seem to have the same pro-Eteri bias. Chris was absolutely raving about Diana and Gleb and kept saying how all the "Georgians" are so incredible and amazing. I wasn't sure whether I was seeing the same skaters. I guess the lip service pays extra well
@@Edward-W well Chris has done the Russian test skates for channel-1. So I guess money talks.
So happy to hear Alissa's thoughts again!
Hi you guys, Dave when you were talking about beautiful lay back spins I love them, but I also miss the spiral sequence. Alissa had a beautiful one. It was one of my favorites. Diane
I agree!
Just wanted to say Alissa might be my favorite guest you've ever had. I enjoyed her honesty and insights. And I want to pet her cute little dog!
How many skaters representing Georgia are actually Georgian, and not Russians masquerading as Georgians (i.e. Diana & Gleb). Most are Russian aren't they?
Diana’s mother is Georgian
@@bamboozlea8347 I thought Eteri was born in Moscow? At least that's what her bio says...who knows LOL
Eteri’s father was Georgian
Surya didn't get bad scores in 98 because she was black. Her program (post injuries) was indeed tanking (thanks Jonathan). Her skating skills were sloppy as always (running edge quality and unpleasing jump telegraphing of a novice). She missed several jumps. The discrimination minorities face in society are very real, but it is not applicable with Surya in 98 and has been completely misrepresented. To watch some of these Tik Toks, youd think she deserved the gold in 98 but lost due to race. Ive had multiple people tell me that.
The usual Netflix rewriting of history that bears no reality to the truth. Surya was a tumbler who was put on ice but not a natural skater.
For real, and a decade before that, Debi Thomas earned the gold medal beating one of the most unbeatable skaters of the 1980s, Katarina Witt. Did Debi all of a sudden turn caucasian that we should know about? Debi was athletic and had great skating skills and was rewarded for them where Surya was the queen of underrotated jump combos and could barely hold an edge and look sexy
Rebecca's 3S was indeed surprisingly much improved
About Gubanova's upper back - I think it's so tight because she's had an injury. She hasn't done a Bielmann in competition in years either.
Yes! The idea about emotions and how they are connected to performance is on point. I dislike how they criticize him his emotions when the reason people like him is due to his emotional presence. It’s a different side of the same coin. It’s surprising to me how people don’t see this connection.
@hb-ry2iq how did you acquire your knowledge?
@hb-ry2iq although there are correct parts of what you are saying, the principle is applied incorrectly in this scenario.
Yes, there’s a spectrum. Just as most people can display the trait of narcissism at times, there is a small amount of people who suffer from the diagnosable personality disorder of NPD.
What I think you are missing is the fact that people adore Kevin for his emotions, but fault him for his poor performances and lack of media presence when he skates poorly. He is having very clear mental health issues that he’s fighting through on a large stage. If it’s not a visible injury, people don’t think it exists or matters much. He needs to take care of himself and not have the works berate him for what’s happening.
If more people understood mental health, they would know that showing deep emotions often comes from within (whether it be from experience, trauma, etc.). Are their people really great at acting? Yes. But that’s far less the experience in skating. This all means that is people could put two and two together, they’d understand better what’s happening with Kevin. Instead of calling out his actions and acting like he’s being disrespectful, they should recognize he’s suffering right now. The system needs to be changed to allow athletes to withdraw from competition without penalty for mental health reasons.
That’s why I’m stating that people love him for his emotions, which is a different side of the emotional coin for many people. Not all people, but a good chunk of people. With anxiety and depression being so common, it’s hard that non psychologists have such a hard time thinking in this way.
And yes, I have a PhD in psychology as well as an MS.
Maybe singles need to incorporate a dance step sequence somewhere in the step sequence. The more difficult the dance sequence the higher the GOE
The step or choreo sequence in which Adam did his two backflips was only worth about 3 points base, and he still came out on the positive side. I was surprised to say the least.
35:00 Adam's backflip is his answer to Ilia's quad axle. He is more exciting by throwing in an illegal element in a competition! I think he got in Ilia's head during Grand Prix France with the home crowd and that backflip, albeit after his free skate. Ilia might have the quad axle, but here is another person of color doing an illegal element to satisfy the crowd
I think there was/is a reason why backflips are not allowed in figure skating - they are simply too dangerous. Even in gymnastics, where the speed on the take-off is much lower than in figure skating and there are mats to soften the landing, or in diving, there have been really severe- even lethal- accidents. Adam`s backflip was so scary that he could have easily ended up in a wheel chair or worse, had he missed the toepick.
He also gave the wrong sign, being like: "Hey, guys, I can easily give away 2 points and become European champion though". This WRONG.
I like Adam - but this move was unsuitable in any kind of way.
I was actually glad Adam did the backflip IN the program instead of afterwards like he did at his two Grand Prix events. At least he could take his deduction, then, and we didn't have to fear for the flower girls.
@@christinethorp3684 Haha, yes! I still think that this is the wrong way of making this sport more popular.
If I aspire to one thing in this life, it is to reach Alissa’s heights of elegance and aplomb while delivering shade. 🤌🏾
Dave and Jonathan back. YEAH!
❤️
AHHHH YASSSS PLEASE HAVE HER FOR US NATIONALS TSL INTERVIEW
We went from Riga and they didn't give us free tickets. Affordable but not free.
Latvian and Lithuania are generally very winter sports adjacent. Event was well advertised. Estonia not so much, btw.
Those crazy French skaters, right?
Is Kevin retiring?
Side note, but can Alyssa drop a skincare routine please…?! Ps. Amazing episode as always, thank u for your service!
Something tells me it’s sunshine and rainbows and unicorn essence😂 I could see birds singing to her a la Snow White, too - she really has a lovely presence and I agree, her skin is incredible.
Alissa does look great!! I’d love a Dave Lease time management routine. I have no idea how you balance putting out all of this great content for us in addition to your own skating & a full-time job. Major props to you!! Thank you!
my moment of the competition: Aleksandr Selevko
I understand the push behind Lithuanians was also political, but I genuinely liked their urban theme dance to faithless, and I swear Lithuanians as a nation have a love affair with rock, so guns'n'roses and AC/DC music is their second anthem - therefore this year's rythm dance was a perfect pick. And maybe I am a simple non sophisticated person, but their free dance message came across clearly to me this year, while the Finns had yet another lyrical classical piece. Which ok - it is their strength, but didn't they have a similar lyrical piece with light blue costumes already two years ago? And I liked the Finn's rythm dance un the beginning of the season much more. Her previous costume was more appropriate and catchy. All this to say- I thing Lithuanians being third is not that far of a stretch and possibly even objective this year. Agree with the opinion that Saulius was eeecxxtra becaus at home even the walls help you skate better.
I co-sign on everything you just said. 💯 😂
I actually really enjoy the Lithuanians, they bring something different and a little ‘cooler’ than most teams, in the buttoned up world of ice dance that is 😊. The faithless music last year and the guns and roses rhythm dance and the dance music towards the end in current free (I’ve forgotten the song!) is actually refreshing. They don’t do scmaltzy, cheesy or overwrought. Which is ten a penny in skating and gets very boring. I find them fun, stylish and interesting. They aren’t breaking new ground or jaw dropping but they stand out and deliver something different against a lot of blah. On ice they seem the types who would actually be cool to hang out with and go to bar with 😊 (again, compared to the other teams. Not real world!)
"element matches the music" is bullet nr. 6 for spins ;-)
There was just one time they messed up camera work and showed orchestra during Papadakis Cizeron at Gala right as they were going into a nifty lift lol
That was bad timing
57:10 I prefer a slow layback instead of a fast one. It gives more of a delicate look. Peggys layback looks more like a music box ballerina. Karens layback looks too much like a tornado top.
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Fantastic analysis at the 55 minute mark on the new judging system. Yes yes yes, revamp the spins! One (or 2) of the three spins should be "free" - show us something beautiful and well done versus levels levels levels. And agree, make the short and long programs different in requirements (we see every skater perform the same 3 spins in both their programs, ignoring the music.) Alissa is right, skating lacks personality mostly, it isnt rewarded. In the quest to be a fair sport, the skating is robotic.
I appreciate the point about how skating with performance is harder. It's literally harder physically, so I don't buy that because this is a sport, the PCS skaters shouldn't get rewarded as much. I've always maintained that the jump-focused skaters literally can't physically skate a Jason Brown program. They literally physically aren't capable of doing it. So why are they being rewarded more?
@davelease what do you think of Yuma being coached by his dad or Jade Carey. At least with Jade's dad, he was strategic with composition and peaking and seemed to ground her well without placing exorbitant amounts of pressure on here
Honestly wondering about the quality of the coaching in skating these days. Just because someone was a skater, it doesn't make them a good coach.They need additional training, not just experience "coaching" skaters. Since skaters are being sent out on the ice at top level competitions with poor jump technique and not having done proper run throughs of programs, then it seems the skating federations need to start centralizing the process by bringing in experts in the field to help their coaches coach. Bring in experts in physics, exercise physiology, pilates, etc. If you look at what the Ice Academy of Montreal did, they brought in experts from various fields (music, dance, Cirque du Soleil, etc.) to help with their coaching and they've achieved tremendous results with that model... and other factors in addition to that. Why aren't federations with elite level skaters doing the same? Skaters shouldn't be placing on the podium of Europeans and nationals with poor skating technique.
For all your talk about skating skills, I'm surprised you said that Surya's skating marks were about race. I'm not saying racism doesn't/didn't exist in the sport. but c'mon....Surya was not a particularly smooth or artistic skater and even her jumps, her bread and butter, were not always on point. People love a good racism story so they're rewriting history. (Again, not saying real racial discrimination doesn't exist. But we shouldn't make *every* story retroactively be about that - it detracts from the actual instances of it.)
Alissa Czinny is just beautiful
💯
1:01:33 wait, isn’t musicality (or, like, matching the music) a bullet point for spins?
Jonathan, please, we're talking about an ice dance duo skating to Ed Sheeran at the Olympics, coooome on! What "outside influences"? I'm with Dave on that one, it just make them seem unnecessarily cocky and snobs - ok, later they made some better musical choices, but still. Pretentious to the bone is the vibe most times. I said what I said (don't block me) :D ;)
My concern about a skate off: It could mess up peaking for worlds, unless its like USA gymnastic world selection where its literally right before that you can maintain the peak through worlds.
What happened to Ekaterina Kurakova? I was so disappointed she didn’t make the free skate. Her personality wasn’t enough.
Her new short program looked like parts of her previous programs, tacked together. It was slow, and you could tell she was thinking her way through it. It was totally uninspired.
All I want to know is what's that painting behind Jonathan. It's beautiful!
Very very happy for Livia Kaiser
Why is an aerial allowed and not a back flip. It actually looks harder and cooler. Both are types of flips.
I remember hearing that the reason is it's a blind landing. You can't have your eyes on the ice in a back flip, but you can in an aerial.
@@suzannewint3813 Interesting. But now I'm wondering what good it is to see the ice right before your head smashes into it in a botched aerial. Forgive me. LOL
@@suzannewint3813 thanks for the information but it’s still a dumb reason in my humble opinion. It’s hard to believe they can see anything in a split second even for a regular jump. lol.
Regardless about Adam Siao's backflip whether you like it or not, I have to say that the non-FS fans/casual viewers receive this news very well which it went viral particularly in reddit while certain non-FS Twitter users used his as an example as motivation. Not to mention that the thirst comments as well.
Great! Thanks Dave
❤️❤️
what was the extra element of the Finnish team nr. 1?
Tickets in Europeans wasn't free. All theese people came to see and support our skaters especially Allison and Saulius. They where announced as bronze medal contenders. This fact helped to atrract audience. It is first European medal for Lithuania in skating after 18 years. Support from the audience was huge and deffinetly helped them to achieve their goal. Lithuania is a very small country, so we are always very proud about our athletes in any sport. That's why arena was full. Amazing event. Best five days in my life. 💛💚❤
Hope Lithuania gets a grand prix event in the future
I think you and your country have every right to be proud of this event and of your first medal. Every athlete of the Italian team said in interviews that the cheers of the crowd were amazing, so warming and unexpected! So thanks Lithuania for all that joy and enthusiasm. 💕
The organizers distributed yellow, green, and red pieces of paper (colors of Lithuanian flag) so that ppl could support the ltu team. That was genius!
And many thanks for the support of Ukrainian skaters!
@@kseniacoffman2 In Lithuania January 13th is the Day of the Defenders of Freedom. Piecies of paper was also for this occasion
The Reading, PA mention was soooooo relatable. They had a holiday on ice show there in 2019 right before the pandemic hit and there was like. maybe 100 people total in the seats? It was the first ice show I saw and it was certainly a time LOL
the finnish team deserved to be on the podium. they are undoubtedly better than the lithuanians & that fd is everything
I’m so invested in rocky the dog
I had a rant at my poor partner over the spins! Also heard horse noises in a men's FP, we need to stop with the sound effects
😆😆😆
Double the value of spins. Full stop.
that "self-involved arrogant assholes" line is gonna stay with me for a while. lol Dave!
I always get the feeling that they’re a snob. Like the reason interview in euros when they were asked about the condition of current ice dance, they were like slyly saying it’s underwhelming . I love that they couldn’t hide their arrogance.
I said that answer sounded like that - not them in general! I just wanted to clarify!
@@TheSkatingLesson yes. but that whole discussion really resonated with me esp when I deal with my own students who seem passionate about the work but don't have fan interest for those who came before!
yerba buena! :) come skate with us dave
I’m so ready
@@TheSkatingLessonyou can sneak us onto the Olympian ice time :)