Ice Link issue 54 (Page 3) - National Ice Skating Association

Ice 

INSIDE 

Issue 54 - April 2004 

Link 

The official voice of ice skating in the UK 

British Novice & Pre-Novice 

Championships 2004 

.......... p7 

The Synchro page 

........ p11 

Developing Youth Ice Sport 

British Short Track 

Championships 2004 

............p6 

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National Ice Skating Association of UK Ltd 

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Nottingham NG1 1LA 

Princess Royal officially opens 

iceSheffield 

Sheffield's multi million pound sporting facility iceSheffield received the 

royal seal of approval when Princess Anne officially opened the venue 

on April 1. The Princess Royal, a keen sports woman, met with many of 

iceSheffield's current users and was treated to a demonstration of ice sports. 

Steve Brailey, Chief Executive of Sheffield International Venues, said: "We were delighted 

that the Princess Royal was able to give iceSheffield the official royal opening it 

deserves". The Princess took to the ice along a red carpet to unveil a plaque. 

During the visit, the Princess was shown two pairs of skates which were very close to her 

heart. 

The skates, made by Sheffield's 

John Wilson Skates, were for 

Queen Victoria and Prince 

Albert - Prince Anne's 

great, great, great 

grandparents. 

Introduced to Roger 

Margereson, from HD 

Sports, the company 

that now runs Wilson 

Skates, he said: "it was 

a great privilege to 

meet the Princess Royal 

and show her the skates 

worn by Queen Victoria 

and Prince Albert. The 

skates were returned to 

John Wilson's for posterity 

and this was a wonderful 

occasion for us to bring them 

out and display them for Princess 

Anne to see." 

The 'clog' of Queen Victoria's skate is made 

from birdseye maple, surmounted by a 

slip-on toe piece of patent leather with 

swansdown and the blade is in the shape 

of a swan at the toe. The Prince Consort's 

skate clog is of rosewood with an 

engraved blade. "It is always nice to see 

pieces of family history and these skates 

are particularly interesting as they form part 

of the memorabilia of Queen Victoria and 

Prince Albert. "I'm sure a lot of the guests 

to iceSheffield for this very important Royal 

visit were also keen to see the skates," 

Coventry - 31st March (held) 

Basingstoke - 30th March (held) 

Manchester - 14th April GB Athletes 

added Roger. 

Since iceSheffield opened to 

the public in May 2003 it 

has played host to a 

number of high profile 

events including the 

British Ice Figure and 

Dance Championships, 

the British Recreational 

Hockey Championships 

and this year will see 

the Solo Ice Dance 

Championship hopefuls 

take to the Olympic 

sized performance rink. 

This is not the first time 

that Princess Anne has 

visited Sheffield to open a 

sporting facility - she opened 

Ponds Forge International Sports 

Centre in 1991. 

Following the official opening Princess 

Anne paid a visit to neighbours, the newly 

opened English Institute of Sport Sheffield 

where she met elite athletes, community 

users, coaches and sports staff. 

This visit was yet another coup for Sheffield 

International Venues who were 

instrumental in bringing Barbara Cassani, 

one of the key figures behind London's bid 

for the 2012 Olympic Games, to the city 

the previous week. 

Chairman's Consultations 2004 

iceSheffield - 12th May Rink Managers Conf 

Milton Keynes - 12th May 7.00pm start 

Hull - 15th June 

The Princess Royal meets 12 year old British Novice Solo Ice Dance Champion Olivia Webster from Sheffield 

accompanied by Alex Pettifer, Chairman iceSheffield Project Board and Adrian Broadbelt, General Manager of 

iceSheffield 

Chairman consults top GB skaters 

At last year's British Championships, NISA Chairman Haig 

Oundjian vowed to meet with our GB senior skaters, to 

give them an informal opportunity to comment on their 

own performances and to explore how the association could 

support their and fellow athletes' development in the coming 

years ahead. 

During the last twelve months, Haig, together with General 

Secretary Keith Horton has held a series of consultation sessions, 

up and down the UK, with various groups - members, coaches, 

judges and indeed parents, so the time was now right, at the end 

of the season, to meet with our athletes. 

Altogether eleven of our top skaters - from every discipline 

including figure, dance, short track and synchro, were invited to 

lunch in Manchester, hosted by Haig, and they enjoyed a very 

useful meeting. After the lunch, they all paid a visit to Genesis 

(Kit@) to look at possible designs for a new TEAM GB uniform. 

Representing skaters were Jonathon O'Dougherty, Pamela O'Connor, John 

Kerr, Sinead Kerr, (Dance) James Black, Matthew Wilkinson, Tristan 

Cousins, David Hartley (Figure), Ria Purser, Nadia Sargeant (Synchro), and 

Tom Iveson, Sarah Lindsay (Short Track) 

Alexandra Palace - 2nd July 11.30am start 

Sheffield - 29th July 6.30pm start 

Deeside - September (tba) 

Haig Oundjian 

*Subject to change - check NISA 

website www.iceskating.org.uk 

Dumfries - October (during Championships) 

Scotland - Rink Managers Conference (tba)

Ice Link Issue 54 page 2 

Ice 

Link Editor's Comment 

As the new season opens there is 

a lot to look forward to - 

exciting times ahead - as they 

say. In June the ISU Congress in the 

Hague will be considering whether to 

introduce the revolutionary new CoP 

jusging system which has been trialled 

at Senior Grand Prix events over the 

past year. If adopted, this will 

dramatically change the face of ice 

skating. 

Bryan Morrice - Editor 

On the international front, we have quite a few positives to reflect 

on, giving real hope for the future. Stunning performances at 

Europeans and World Championships from the brother and sister 

dance team John and Sinead Kerr, and the great news that their 

funding from sportscotland had been reinstated, means that British 

ice dancing could well be on the ascendency once more on the 

international platform. With the added bonus that John and Sinead's 

10th place in Budapest allows GB to send two dance couples to 

Europeans next year. 

The support given to Jenna McCorkell by UK Sport, N Ireland Sports 

Council, English Institute for Sport and of course NISA, gives this 

talented young skater - let us not forget, still competing as a Junior 

last year - every opportunity to shine for Britain. And on the Short 

Track front, sterling performances from our skaters and especially 

Jon Eley's bronze medal at Junior World's keeps us up there with 

the best. 

On the domestic front, the Novice Championships were exciting 

enough, but of great encouragement was the number of couples 

entered into the pairs event - no less than TEN! Let's hope that this 

trend can continue into higher levels in this great branch of figure 

skating. 

Organisationally, the association is trying hard to listen to members - 

over the past year a programme of consultations throughout the UK, 

with members, skaters, coaches, judges and parents has proved 

very valuable, so much so that a further programme has been 

arranged for this year, including a recent meeting between NISA 

Chairman Haig Oundjian and representatives of our top athletes 

from every discipline. Most importantly, this has now been 

formalised into an athlete's consultative group. The association is 

also planning a first ever Rink Managers Conference, both for 

England/Wales and another in Scotland. 

On which subject - Scotland, not conferences - this past month has 

now seen the birth of a new Home Country Association for 

Scotland, to be known as "Skate Scotland", with Scottish members 

voting by 96% to adopt the new constitution. Elections for the new 

Board are now being held, and we look forward to seeing a much 

more "hands on" approach to the delivery of skating in Scotland. 

Editor/Designer/Layout/Chief Reporter/Dogsbody ~ Bryan Morrice. 

Design Assistant ~ Julie Morrice 

Photographs ~ NISA Official Photographer - Icephoto. Publisher ~ NISA 

NIC Lower Parliament Street, Nottingham NG1 1LA Tel: 0115 988 8060 Fax: 

0115 988 8061 or e-mail on nisa@iceskating.org.uk Website: 

www.iceskating.org.uk 

Contributions, articles, news, photos and information from your rinks are 

always welcome. If you have a contribution, or would like to help, contact the 

editor at 'Brackenlea', Lower Glenhead, Kemnay, Aberdeenshire 

AB51 5PR Telephone: 01467 641389 (set to answerphone only 

/ no fax); E-mail on - morrice@globalnet.co.uk 

Views expressed in Ice Link are those of the editor and/or contributors 

but not necessarily those of the Governing Bodies or Officers. 

Copyright is reserved and while all efforts are made for accuracy, no 

responsibility can be accepted for printed errors or matters arising 

from them. No part of the newspaper may be reproduced without 

written permission from the publishers. 

New face at NISA 

Laura Hallam joined NISA 

on 15th March as the 

Association's Sports 

Development Administrator 

working alongside Karen King. 

Laura has a HND in Sport 

Science and Management and 

general administration skills 

from her previous role at 

David Wilson Homes. 

WIFA 

BOOT & BLADE 

STARTER SETS 

Letters to 

the Editor 

Dear sirs 

It was a sad sight this evening to see your 

sport brought into such ridicule by the 

judges in the mens competition (Worlds) 

awarding perfect marks to someone who 

falls during their performance. It is this sort 

of behaviour that makes laughing stocks of 

sports where people work hard. 

I have been unable to find the web site for 

the international body but I am sure you 

must meet with them so please pass on my 

comments. Unless they correct the marks 

and this false award of the championship 

any future champion will be subject to the 

same disbelief. The judges have merely 

proved that they are not worthy of the 

sport. 

Colin Howard (by e-mail) 

Ed: This has been quite controversial and 

one of our senior international judges 

also received quite a few calls - not from 

irate viewers, but from irate judges! So 

let's put the record straight ... 

The most outspoken contribution I heard 

on this subject was on Eurosport, and 

with viewers entitled to assume the 

commentators are 'authoritative', clearly 

viewers - like Mr Howard - have become 

incensed. 

Prior to the 2002 ISU Congress, it is true, 

a 6.0 was only to be given for a perfect 

and faultless performance. Since then 

however, this has changed (TV 

commentators and journalists please 

take note) and a score of 6.0 could be 

given for a 'memorable and outstanding' 

performance and further, it is more 

acceptable to see this when the 

performance is given by the last skater. 

i.e. when a better performance cannot 

then be seen. (If anyone wants to check 

this out in full, go to page 68 of the 

2002 Regulations as approved by ISU 

Congress. 

This explains why Pluschenko in 

particular, although having fallen, 

deserved 6.0s in the eyes of several 

judges due to the superb quality of 

technique and presentation 

demonstrated during an extremely 

difficult performance. As a piece of 

further education, in the Long 

Programme, there are no deductions for 

falls - that only occurs in the Short 

Programme. The technical content, IF 

PERFORMED CORRECTLY, is given a mark, 

and anything else is ignored. A fall 

therefore, would only have an effect on 

the second mark where it may detract 

from the overall presentation. 

So it is not the judges, as Mr Howard 

suggests, who have 'brought the sport 

into ridicule' - they were merely 

following ISU guidelines. Perhaps our 

journalists and commentators could read 

up a little more on the rules and present 

a more balanced view. 

Dear Ed, 

Could you please include in your next Ice 

Link a letter regarding my daughter. 

Shelby Jade France has recently returned 

from the Mladost Trophy in Croatia, where 

she placed 5th out of 23 skaters. Shelby is 

possibly the youngest ever skater at 8 

years old to represent GB at an 

For details and orders 

contact: 

WIFA INTERNATIONAL UK 

John Turner, 75 Springfield 

Road, Kings Heath, 

Birmingham B14 7DU 

Tel/Fax: 0121 441 3405 

Mobile: 077100 66218 

International competiton. 

Shelby really enjoyed the 

experience and rose to the 

occasion. She is hoping to go to 

another International later this 

year with Joy and Karen. Shelby 

trains 5 days a week at 

Blackburn and her coaches are 

Steven Pickavance and Karen Barber, who 

are both very proud of Shelby's 

acheivements and her dedication to the 

sport at such a young age. Shelby is our 

youngest child, having 2 older brothers 

one of whom is severly handicapped and 

Shelby loves him to bits. All the family are 

very proud of Shelby and we all wish her 

every success in the future with her dream 

to first win a British title, then go on to the 

Europeans and eventually the Olympics. 

Keep up the good work Shelby Love all 

the family, Michelle France 

Ed: Thanks for your letter Michelle, and 

we're all delighted to hear about 

Shelby's success. At just eight years of 

age, she could well be the youngest 

skater to represent GB at an 

international ..... unless you readers 

know better! (I've been caught out 

before on this - so it's over to you dear 

readers!!!) 

Dear editor 

I have been following with interest the 

debate on the new judging system in the 

internet, and with the ISU Congress shortly 

to be held in the Hague, I wondered what 

position the NISA was going to take on the 

issue? There has been a lot of positive 

comment about the new 'points' system on 

the Eurosport coverage of both the 

Europeans and World Championships, 

while on the other hand I have seen 

reports of serious misgivings. It is difficult 

for us to come to firm conclusions given so 

much conflicting coverage. 

C Greensmith (by e-mail) 

Ed: 

This is an enormously important issue, 

and I agree with you that it can be 

difficult to make an informed decision, 

and the forthcoming ISU Congress is 

likely to be a lively affair! As of this 

moment, the NISA Technical Committees 

have not yet met to consider the 

proposals, and make their 

recommendations to the Board. 

Therefore I cannot give you any 

indication of NISA's position, and of 

course the important arguments that will 

take place at Congress, must also be 

taken into account. All I can offer is my 

own personal opinion - not of the 

relative merits of the respective judging 

systems, but of the issues that must be 

addressed and resolved if Congress is to 

make an appropriate decision. 

At present there are no less than three 

systems of judging in operation. First 

the system we are all familiar with, used 

for open events and our National 

Championships. Second, the new 'Code 

of Points' system (CoP) which has been 

used at ISU Senior Grand Prix events 

over the past year, and third the socalled 

'interim judging system', where 

the actual judging follows existing 

convention, but the computer randomly 

selects 9 of the 14 judges and only 

those judges' marks will count. Total 

anonymity for the judges - and not even 

the individual judges know whether their 

marks have been used! 

At the forthcoming ISU Congress in June 

in the Hague, delegates will be asked to 

vote to adopt the new 'Code of Points' 

system as the new standard method. 

While many experts strongly agree that 

the judging of skating badly needs a 

thorough review, and certainly the ideas 

underlying the proposed new system 

have great merit, let no one be deluded 

into thinking that this decision is 

anything other than unprecedented - 

with potentially disastrous 

consequences for the sport. 

The CoP system has many fundamentally 

appealing features, but where has been 

the rigorous scientific testing? To assess 

its merits, strengths and weaknesses - 

even its very validity - the scientific 

method demands strict parallel testing. 

In the same way as medical research is 

conducted, one approach must be 

directly assessed against the other, with 

full and forensic analysis of the results. 

This evidence should have been placed 

before all ISU members for extensive 

evaluation long before they are asked to 

vote on adopting such a radically new 

approach to judging our sport. 

Federations need to be absolutely sure 

that any new system is better, more 

accurate and reliable, and not simply 

“different”. Without this, Congress will 

literally be voting blindfolded. 

There are also other, perhaps even 

greater considerations of a more 

practical nature, affecting every single 

Federation, judge and skater. The new 

system CoP is enormously dependent on 

extremely expensive computer hardware 

and technology. How are small 

Federations going to be able to 

implement such a system for their 

national championships much less at 

club level? Whilst we have been assured 

that a paper-based version of the system 

will be available, where is the evidence 

for its successful development? There 

have been suggestions from the ISU that 

financial assistance for Federations 

might be available, but there are also 

concerns that the ISU might find itself 

more restricted financially following 

news that TV rights from America look 

set to drop from $25m to just $5m in 

2006. This represents an enormous 

black hole for the ISU at a time when 

massive investment would be required. 

The very real danger for our sport is that 

we could end up with two totally 

different judging systems; one for 

Olympics, ISU events and championships 

of wealthy ISU member nations like the 

USA and Canada, the other, basically our 

current system, for everybody else. We 

must therefore ask - is this fair to our 

international judges who would have to 

work with two judging systems, or more 

importantly, to our international skaters 

who would have to compete under both 

systems? And be of no doubt, it has 

already been established that each 

system demands quite different 

strategies for choreography and 

technical content. Before voting to 

adopt this new COP system, ISU member 

delegates need to consider fully all 

these implications, and be 100% 

confident that ALL the answers are there. 

Press releases praising the new system 

are not the hard evidence we need. 

Ice Link would welcome readers' views 

on this issue. Please write or e-mail to 

Keith Horton at NISA (e-mail 

keith.horton@iceskating.org.uk). We 

cannot respond individually, but will 

publish a selection of your views in Ice 

Link or perhaps on the website. 

MERCIAN ICE DANCE CLUB 

What a wonderful two days we had here in Coventry on 25th and 26th March 2004 - our 

1st Open Adult Competition plus British Championship Ice Dance Accredited Event and 

a British Solo Ice Dance Qualifier - thanks to the many people who have emailed, called 

etc to say what a great time they had, writes Julia Greenhough. 

We were delighted to have exactly 100 

applicants for the Solo Qualifiers alone and 

how well everyone skated. 

As we had two days for our open we cut 

our 1st Adult Open down to 

accommodate a British Accredited Event. 

What a good decision that was - everyone, 

especially the adults, watched and enjoyed the 

skating so much. 

Finally our own Adult Open, we had 6 ice dance 

solo competitions and 4 couples ice dance 

competitions, which were enjoyed by all. 

Mercian wish to convey their thanks to the 

judges, the skaters and particularly Odette 

Coulson the referee, without whose help 

and guidance this event would not have 

been the success it was. 

What is next: Saturday 8th May, The Joan 

Slater Workshop and Ice Dance Social with live 

music by Eddie Ruhier as advertised in February 

Ice Link, we look forward to seeing you there. 

(web: mercian-icedanceclub.com) Tel: 07836 

200963 

These events have been assisted by funding from the 

Lottery "Awards for All".

2004 NISA National Events Diary 

Jul 24-25th British Solo Dance Championships 2004 iceSheffield 

Oct 3rd British Adult Championships 2004 (Practice available on Oct 2nd 17:00 - 20:00) iceSheffield 

Oct 16-20th NISA Scotland Open Championships 2004 (inc Accredited Events Figure/Dance) Dumfries Ice Bowl 

Dec 1-4th British Ice Figure & Dance Championships 2004 NIC Nottingham 

2004 Domestic Figure & Dance Diary (& Regional Tests) 

In order to clarify the position as regards Ice Figure open competitions / accredited qualifying events, we have produced the 

calendar below including full details as at date of printing. Any Ice Figure event not listed in the table below has not been 

registered with the NISA Ice Figure Committee and no permit will have been issued. All clubs should note that announcements 

and permit applications for Ice Figure competitions are to be sent to Maggie Worsfold, 54 Moat St. Edinburgh EH14 1PH 

Key to abbreviations: N/a = Not applicable (S) = Singles Accredited Event (P) = Pairs Accredited Event. (D) = Dance 

Accredited Event, (SQ) = Solo Dance Qualifier, P = Primary J = Junior S = Senior 

FULL DETAILS AND CONTACT NUMBERS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE NISA WEBSITE 

Date Event Announcement Permit Accredited Referee Contact 

Status Auth Events 

May 3rd Nott'ham Dance Open Dates Notified - (SQ) J Buckland 

5th Regional Tests - Deeside NISA Office 

10th Regional Tests - Aberdeen Linx NISA Office 

10th Deeside Dance Open Agreed - (SQ)/(D) P/J/S C Yates L McNulty 

15th Dumfries Solo Dance Agreed - (SQ) N Grimshaw/C Yates A Ferguson 

16th Solihull Opens Agreed - Odette Coulson W Perrigo 

24-25th Gillingham Open Dates Notified - (S) P/J/S S Lindsey A Hinksman 

Jun 2-4th Blackpool Opens Agreed - M Mallinson S Naylor 

7th Regional Tests - Nottingham NISA Office 

13th Queens RIDL Dance 17:00pm D Arbiter 

14-16th Milton Keynes Open Agreed Yes (S/P) P/J/S M Chapman/ 

D Stevens D Moulden 

19-20th Deeside Open Agreed Yes (S/P) P/J/S L Littler J Lloyd Hazelgraves 

25th Bracknell Adult opens Agreed - S Hanrahan S Truby 

29th Regional Tests - Alexandra Palace NISA Office 

Jul 1st Telford Open Agreed - M Chapman A Smith 

5-6th Guildford Opens Agreed - (S) P/J/S W Clay A Terry 

10-13th Hull Open Dates Notified - (S/P) P/J/S J Dodd M Pickard 

Aug 7-9th Dundee Open Dates Notified - (S/P) P/J/S M Worsfold (tbc) J Urquhart 

10th Regional Tests - iceSheffield NISA Office 

Sep 13-14th Chelmsford Open Dates Notified - (S)/(P) P S Hanrahan/V Riley A Willey 

13-15th Basingstoke Open Dates Notified - (S/P) P/J/S P Clews L Hempel 

15-17th Nottingham Open Dates Notified - (S/P) P/J/S J Dodd J Buckland 

17-19th Paisley Open Dates Notified - (S/P) P/J/S M Worsfold M Brady 

20th Swindon Open Dates Notified - T Houghton A Hood 

24-26th Dundonald Open Dates Notified - (S/P) P/J/S M Worsfold J Passmore 

27th Regional Tests - Romford NISA Office 

28th Regional Tests - Nottingham NISA Office 

29-30th A Palace Open Dates Notified - (S/P) P/J/S J Dodd A Rogers 

Oct 16-20th NISA Scotland Open Championships (S/P/D) P/J/S 

28th Regional Tests - iceSheffield NISA Office 

NISA official stuff! 

Attention all skaters, coaches, judges and officials - this is the page to read to keep 

up to date with all the Association's Official Information 

For full details also check NISA website www.iceskating.org.uk 

This is the first in a series of Bulletins which will be issued 

from time to time by the Technical Committee covering Ice 

Dance matters. The Bulletins will be sent to all Ice Dance 

Judges, Coaches and Test Organisers. In addition the 

contents may be published in Ice Link and put on the NISA 

web site. It is important that their contents should be 

noted as they will authorise changes to existing Regulations. 

1. As from the date of this Bulletin Inter Silver Field Moves, 

under the jurisdiction of Figure Skating, will equate to Level 

8 Ice Dance Moves. 

2. At the start of the new Ice Dance tests in January 2002 it 

was recognised that skaters who had already passed 

several Ice Dance tests in Compulsory Dances may wish to 

take the Original and Free Dance tests. So that they did 

not have to start at level one and skate every test to their 

Compulsory Dances level a transitional arrangement was 

put in place to permit the taking of Original and Free Dance 

at an equivalent level, providing the fees for the lower tests 

had been paid. They were then awarded a level 

depending on the success of the test. As from 1st July 

Ice Dance Technical Committee - Bulletin No 1 

2004 this transitional arrangement is withdrawn. From 1st 

July 2004, all tests, starting at level one, will have to be 

skated. (NB: This notice re transitional arrangements, 

supersedes the letter recently sent to judges and coaches 

which specified 'effective 24th February'.) 

3. The A4 booklet entitled ‘Introduction of the new test 

system, Ice Dance’ contains typing errors on pages 11, 13, 

14 and 15. The Standard Test Equivalency for those skaters 

who have taken and passed the Primary Competitive Test 

(page 13) should read ‘Standard Test Level 8’ and NOT 9 

as printed. Similarly, the Standard Test Equivalency for 

those skaters who have taken and passed the Junior 

Competitive Test (page 14) should read level 9, NOT 10. 

On page 15 the Standard Test Equivalency for those 

skaters who have taken and passed the Senior Competitive 

Test should read Standard Test Level 10 - Compulsory, 

Original Dance and Free Dance. (The summaries on page 

11 should be changed to read level 8 for Primary, level 9 

for Junior and level 10 for Senior). 

24th February 2004 

Solo Dance Final - "Heather Green Trophy" 

At the 2004 Solo Ice Dance Championship final, 24th & 25th July, an additional award will be made - "the 

Heather Green Trophy". This trophy will be awarded to the skater adjudged to have performed the most 

innovative free dance. 

Compulsory Dances - Deeside Senior Couples Qualifier 10th May 2004 

Compusory dances for Deeside Senior Couples Qualifier being held on Monday 10th May 2004 have been 

changed from Argentine Tango and Paso Doble to Midnight Blues and Rhumba. These changes are to be made 

by the ISU. It is realised by the time Ice Link is circulated this will be very short notice, but NISA Dance Technical 

Committee intend to have it published on the Website and also contact coaches and couples directly. 

New Field Moves Levels 1-10 (Figure & Dance) 

Many people have been asking about the New Field Moves schedule originally proposed to have a start date of 

January 2005. Although drafts of these are nearly completed, they still need to be finalized, tested and printed. 

We are also planning to produce a video and run seminars for coaches, judges and skaters throughout 2005, in 

consequence the start date for the new tests will now hopefully be January 2006. 

Synchro Seminar for Judges & Coaches 

Following ISU Congress it is intended to hold a Synchro Seminar to cover new rules. This may be held 

concurrently with a qualifying event for the British Championships. Judges and Coaches concerned should look 

out for further information on the NISA website and/or in Ice Link. 

Cowling's 

Column 

James Cowling, Ice Link's 

independent sports journalist 

brings readers skating news from 

around the globe 


The 6.0, some thoughts - At this years World Championships, there were more than 

forty 6.0's awarded by the judges. I did read that it was an unprecedented number 

of perfect marks. In fact, Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China received a record ten 

out of fourteen 6.0's for presentation to win the pairs' free program. Under the old 

system, skaters could only receive up to nine. 

Some might argue that, that awarding that many 

perfect marks is in itself a reason to adopt the new 

Code of Points judging system that the ISU is 

proposing. But, I must argue that the record 

number of 6.0's may not have been awarded if the 

ISU was not proposing the new CoP system. 

At the ISU Congress in June, the ISU needs a two 

thirds majority for the CoP system to pass. At the 

European Championships, President Ottavio 

Cinquanta said that only figure skating 

delegates will vote on the issue. That 

means if all countries show up, I believe 

there are 51 in total, the ISU needs 32 'Yes' 

votes. Many circles seem to think the vote 

is already a done deal, but if 18 countries 

vote 'No' it will not be passed. 

The Americans say they like the new system, but 

they want some changes. The Americans have 

always had a strong influence in the skating world. 

But, it is only one country. The deciding factor 

whether the new system goes through could be 

the Russians as it also opposes the new system. 

After the World Championships, the president of 

the Russian Figure Skating Federation expressed 

dismay at the possible implementation of the CoP 

next year. Valentin Piseyev told the Russian news 

agency, Itar-Tass, "We favour the experimental use 

of the new judging system. We are categorically 

opposed to it being used at ISU championships." 

He went on to say that the CoP system had 

produced an anomaly at an ISU event in Canada 

this season, with officials having to alter some of 

the placings. "We would certainly not want 

something like that to happen here (in Moscow)," 

he said. 

Now, Russia is also just one country, but Piseyev is 

a very powerful man in the figure skating 

Bits n'' 

pieecees 

community. He may even be more powerful than 

Cinquanta. He's been at the helm of figure skating 

in his country almost consistently since the late 

1960's. Some even feel that since the break up of 

the Soviet Union, he has huge influence over many 

of the former Soviet block too. 

So, if Piseyev pulls strings, the ISU may not get the 

vote it is so desperately wanting. Taking a 

look at those countries that he might be 

able to influence, they are Ukraine, 

Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Azerbaijan, 

Aremenia, Belarus, Georgia, and 

Uzbekistan. That doesn't even include 

Eastern block countries like Bulgaria and 

Romania. 

From the looks of things, Cinquanta will really have 

a fight on his hands. 

At the banquet at the Worlds, a high ranking dance 

official told me that he/she was keeping her/his 

fingers crossed that the new system does get 

passed. I told the person that I did see some 

positive things about the new system, but I told 

the person that I was reserving my judgement. 

Whether the CoP gets the nod or not, I just hope 

that countries have really thought their decision 

through. Because if it does go ahead, there will 

be no turning back. 

Just something to ponder. 

Something interesting that was passed to my by a 

colleague. It was an article in the March 10-17 

Time Out magazine. It was called Frozen Assets; 

an article by Hugh Graham on London's dwindling 

Ice Rinks. The blurb at the end caught me eye. 

For more information on the campaign for a new 

ice rink in Richmond contact www.icerinx.com or 

call 0208 948 6688. For more information on the 

Streathem campaign, email mail@sisag.org.uk. 

Like to keep up to date with major skating competitions? 

James Cowling, Ice Link's independent 

skating journalist, is offering a unique 

new service to skating fans - detailed 

reports from a number of European events 

during the coming season, e-mailed 

directly to YOU. 

.....then look no further 

& join on-line 

www.figureskatingreports.com 

any skaters and members of the community in the Inverness area were 

Mshocked to hear the news of the sudden death of Amy Upcraft (19) when 

she was recently involved in a car accident near Peterborough last month. 

Reports are 300-500 words long and 

highlight jumps and other technical 

elements, choreography and analysis. 

Includes Short and Long programs, , 

and images included per report. 

Reports $10 per 

competition 

Major credit cards 

accepted 

Tragedy as young skater dies in car crash 

The Upcraft family used to live near 

Inverness in the Scottish Highlands, 

and at the age of six, Amy joined the 

Moray School of Skating, run by coach 

Judy Clinton, at Inverness Ice Rink. 

She skated to Bronze Free and Silver 

Dance standard with the school and 

took part in many charity ice galas. 

The School and local community 

supported the family when Liz's 

husband Martin Upcraft was killed in a 

car crash eight years ago. The family 

moved south when Liz re-married and 

Amy moved her skating to 

Young Amy skates in Inverness 

Judy Clinton remembers 

a cherished pupil 

Peterborough. 

On her way to work last month, a 

lorry clipped Amy’s car pushing her 

into the central reservation of a busy 

dual carriageway. Terrified, she rang 

her mother for help, but was too 

frightened to get out of the car to 

safety. Minutes later her car was hit 

a second time. Skating has lost a 

dedicated young lady who gave 

herself fully to all she did, and the 

skating community in Inverness – past 

and present - are thinking of Liz and 

her family at this very sad time. 

N 

Merchandise 

I 

S 

A 

NISA is pleased to offer 

members a range of quality 

skating clothing and 

accessories at very competitive 

prices 

All proceeds go to Skaters Fund 

Telephone order line: 0870 758 0278 

or check NISA website: www.nisa-uk.org 

Tights order line: 0870 758 0269 

STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS 

Ice Sheffield will be holding an Ice Dance Competition on 12th/13th October, 2004 (qualifying 

event for the British Championships). The event will also be open to International Ice Dance Couples. 

More information will be available on the NISA website, www.iceskating.org.uk, or on the Ice 

Sheffield Skating Academy website, www.icesheffieldskatingacademy.co.uk at the beginning of May. 

iceSheffield will also be organising an International Skating Camp for all levels of skaters and 

coaches 23-27th August, with former Olympic Champion Alexei Urmanov leading a strong team of 

support coaches. Look out for further details in Ice Link. 

Lee Valley has opened its doors to ice dancers once again (oh memories of happy days!) with a 2 

hour dance session on Sundays 16:30 - 18:30pm with a mix of dance music, social skating and 

practise with advice, help and tuition available. £6.00 at the door no need to book.


Athlete Development a long-term 

NISA General Secretary Keith Horton expresses his 

commitment views on the development of our top athletes 

During the last 3 years I have been 

fortunate to work with Short Track 

Speed officials and athletes helping to 

develop various successful funding bids from 

the World Class Lottery Fund. I must confess, 

that personally, I am very impressed with the 

amount of detailed preparation, planning, 

analysis of athlete performances, blood 

testing, psychology, physiotherapy and off-ice 

conditioning and strength work that is 

completed by the athletes. This is in addition 

to the detailed knowledge that the National 

Coach and his staff have available on their 

individual athletes. 

It is only in recent months, following work with 

John and Sinead Kerr to help reinstate their 

sportscotland funding and continuing the work 

started by Andre Bourgeois for the development 

of a funded programme for Jenna McCorkell via 

UK Sport, Sports Council Northern Ireland and 

NISA, that I have been able to look at how we 

(NISA) support the development of our figure 

skaters. This has given me an insight into 

apparent gaps in long term planning and 

detailed analytical work carried out by our figure 

skaters. 

NISA needs to offer more support not only 

through my office with the preparation of long 

term plans and funding for individual athletes, 

but also through Carol Bartlam as Performance 

Manager looking at not only technical 

development but also the important off-ice 

work. 

Karen King has recently joined our Association as 

National Sports Development Manager and will, 

during the next 12 months, work closely with 

Simon Briggs (recently appointed NISA Coaching 

Portfolio Director) and all our NCCP coaches to 

not only develop and enhance the level of 

coaching across the UK, but to ensure we are all 

working for the benefit of all our athletes - in 

particular those with the ability to perform at 

elite levels. Karen brings to NISA a wealth of 

coaching experience from other sports, in 

particular the requirements to produce World 

Class Athletes. 

Judges and officials also have an important role 

to play in working with coaches and athletes to 

ensure that everyone involved within our sport 

understands, in detail, all the technical 

requirements that are required at the various 

levels throughout our sport both Nationally and 

Internationally. 

Whilst we cannot deny that technical ability is 

paramount, we must, if we are going to produce 

future World Champions, extend the support and 

development we give to our athletes over a 

minimum of a 10-year period. I believe that the 

Directors and staff of NISA now recognise this 

need and we have to work much more closely 

with coaches and athletes during the next few 

years. Coaches, more than ever, have to 

recognise that the training of World Class Athletes 

does not start and stop at the barrier of the ice 

pad. 

Scientific research* over the last few years, has 

identified that it takes a minimum of 10 years or 

10,000 hours for talented athletes to achieve 

sporting excellence. Sadly there are no short 

cuts. There are two ways in which young skaters 

can improve their performance: 

Training 

Growth and Development 

Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) is 

Haig's vision comes 

a step closer 

designed around athletes to help achieve 

optimal training, competition and recovery 

throughout their career, particularly in relation to 

the important growth and development years of 

young people. If a long term approach to 

training is not adopted, there is likely to be a 

plateau in performance. When growth and 

development slows significantly, this may result in 

some ice skaters' performances becoming worse, 

often resulting in a drop out before the skater 

has achieved their true potential. During the next 

few months we will feature more articles on LTAD 

in both the Ice Link and on the website. 

During the last 2 months I have held, along with 

Liz Littler, (Director responsible for Judges and 

Officials) a number of consultation sessions with 

coaches, parents and skaters. In conversations 

with many of the skaters, they talk enthusiastically 

about their aspirations of achieving Olympic and 

World success, but many do not even plan their 

work programmes on a daily basis let alone set 

goals and targets for the 10 year period taking 

them to 2010 and beyond. 

It is interesting to note that we are not alone in 

the lack of support that we provide our athletes. 

Recent research from around the world indicates 

the following problems: 

§ Young Athletes under train, over compete 

§ Low training to competition ratios in early 

years 

§ Training in early Years focuses on outcomes 

(winning) rather than the processes (optimal 

training) 

§ Chronological age influences coaching rather 

than biological age 

§ Poor training between 6 and 16 years of age 

cannot be fully corrected (athletes will never 

reach genetic potential) 

§ Coach education tends to skim the growth, 

development and maturation of young 

people 

§COACHES, SKATERS AND PARENTS NEED TO BE 

EDUCATED IN LONG TERM ATHLETE 

DEVELOPMENT PRINCIPLES 

§ ADMINISTRATORS AND OFFICIALS NEED TO BE 

EDUCATED IN LONG TERM ATHLETE 

DEVELOPMENT PRINCIPLES 

During the next few months we will feature more 

articles on LTAD, not only in Ice Link but also on 

our website. As always I would welcome your 

comments preferably by e-mail 

keith.horton@iceskating.org.uk 

*Istavan Balyi PhD National Coaching Institute British 

Columbia and Manitoba 

Education 

Education 

Education 

& 

Education 

Skaating 

In an exciting update on a story in the last issue of Ice Link, Education Secretary Charles 

Clarke has recently given approval for the Harefield Academy School (sports). This whole 

project, as readers will recall, has been the brainchild of NISA Chairman, Haig Oundjian, who 

is delighted that his vision to integrate education with sport is at last becoming a reality. 

The application received support from many organisations: Youth Sports Trust, UK Sport, BOA, 

Football League, Premier Football League, Watford Football Club (a joint sponsor and Academy 

players will be offered places at the school), UK Athletics, British Gymnastics, The Amateur Swimming 

Association, Hillingdon Council, Hillingdon Sports Council and Harefield Heart Hospital. 

The new school should open September 2006 offering the best indoor and dry training facilities 

together with a broad and balanced curriculum delivered in flexible modules for the gifted and 

talented. The Performing Arts programme also will receive special emphasis and the school trustees 

are currently in discussions with the Arts Council. 

Harefield is approximately 10 miles from Slough and it is hoped that the new Sports Director for the 

school will enter into discussions with the Montem Council in order to develop a Skating Academy 

for gifted and talented skaters who would then be eligible to be considered for a place at the 

school. 

Have your say 

Following the success of consultation 

sessions held throughout 2003 by the 

Chairman of NISA, Haig Oundjian, and the 

General Secretary, Keith Horton, it has been 

agreed to repeat a series of consultation 

sessions during 2004. 

NISA is endeavouring to become more 

transparent with it's membership and these 

consultation sessions give members and indeed 

non-members an ideal opportunity to make their 

opinions/concerns known to the senior 

management of the Association. It has recently 

been brought to our attention that there are 

major concerns regarding the current 

competitive test structure and the high level of 

failure rates. It is believed that a major 

contributing factor to these high rates is a lack of 

communication between all parties involved 

with the competitive test structure. We are 

therefore proposing to hold a series of meetings 

at which Liz Littler, NISA Board Director 

responsible for Judges and Officials and Keith 

Horton, General Secretary will attend to meet 

with parents, coaches, officials, skaters and 

anyone else who has an interest to attend. to 

answer not only questions on the competitive 

test structure but also any other aspect of the 

Russian Ice Stars back Durham 

campaign for new ice rink 

One of the finest teams of professional skaters in the world last week added their name 

to the list of supporters backing an initiative that would see a permanent ice rink return 

to the Durham area for the first time since 1996. 

The Russian skaters, who were starring in a 

production of Sleeping Beauty in Ice at Durham 

City's Gala Theatre, took time out during 

rehearsals to meet members of the County 

Durham Ice Foundation campaign group. The 

CDIF is a group of dedicated skaters, ice hockey 

players and fans who have been working with 

local authorities and potential developers for 

the re-establishment of a new ice sports facility 

in the County. Durham's former ice rink was 

forced to close in 1996 and has since been 

converted into a bowling alley and health club. 

Local skaters Lyndsey Black, 19, of Durham City 

and Rhiannon Morris, 15, of Crook took to the 

temporary ice on the Gala's stage with the 

It's your association 

so don't miss your 

opportunity to give 

NISA your views 

operations of NISA. We are currently finalising 

dates and venues. At the moment we have a 

draft timetable of: 

Coventry - 31st March (held) 

Basingstoke - 30th March (held) 

Milton Keynes - 12th May 7.00pm start 

Hull - 15th June 

Alexandra Palace - 2nd July 11.30am start 

Sheffield - 29th July 6.30pm start 

Deeside - September (tba) 

Dumfries - October (during Championships) 

NISA is also planning an important Conference 

for Ice Rink Managers to be held at iceSheffield 

on the 12th May 2004 to discuss a range of 

issues including the better utilization of ice time, 

increased links with schools and education, the 

development of learning centres and new and 

innovative competitions. A separate conference 

will be arranged for Scotland following the 

formal launch of Skate Scotland. This is an 

important event, and attendees will be 

restricted to invited decision making 

management. 

Kerrs shine as funding is reinstated 

Following their impressive tenth place at the European Championships in Budapest last 

month, sportscotland met recently with ice dancers John and Sinead Kerr and NISA to 

discuss funding from the Talented Athlete Programme and ongoing performance plan 

towards the 2006 and 2010 Olympic Winter Games 

As their performance level has now significantly improved beyond the level set in last year's targets, 

they have been awarded £4,750 through to the end of this season, to assist preparations and 

competition costs in the run-up to the World Championships. A top-18 finish was the agreed target, 

however Sinead and John went one better - well FOUR better actually - to scoop fourteenth place! 

NISA will be working closely with John and Sinead to help them develop their long term 

performance plan. Keith Horton, General Secretary said: " I am extremely pleased that sportscotland 

has been able to recognise the recent performances of John and Sinead at the European 

Championships. I look forward to a continued good working relationship as we develop the long 

term goals linked to the production of a formal six year performance plan that will take John and 

Sinead through to the 2010 Olympics." 

former World and European Championship 

winning performers as they practised for Friday 

night's production. Both girls first took to the ice 

at the Durham rink and it is this development of 

budding young stars that the CDIF is hoping to 

encourage once a new facility is established. 

"It's sad to think of the number of kids who are 

missing out by not having the opportunity to 

take to the ice at the moment", said Ice Skating 

Coach and CDIF spokesperson Christine 

McDonough. 

A 'Get-together' evening has been arranged on 

Friday 23rd April by the CDIF for former skaters 

More information about the CDIF can also be 

found at www.cdif.org.uk.

The 

Turn your free leg 

out strongly 

TechFile 

ISkate forwards on an 

1outside edge. The skating 

side of your body is leading. 

Page 

When you skate a mohawk, you will be turning from 

forwards to backwards. However, unlike the three 

turn, you will be changing from one foot to the other 

foot. You also need to turn from an outside edge 

onto an outside edge (an Outside Mohawk), or an 

inside onto an inside edge (an Inside Mohawk). 

Mohawks continue on the same circle. 

Bend your 

skating leg 

Outside edge 

Place the heel of your free 

2foot next to the instep of 

your skating foot. Transfer your 

weight from one foot to the 

other. 

Keep your 

body upright 

and your arms 

outstretched 

Your hips and 

3shoulders must 

rotate strongly 

against the 

mohawk. Both 

feet should be in the 

same position after 

the turn 

Always look 

in the same 

direction 

Bring the free 

foot in to 

form the T 

position 

After the turn, 

stretch your free 

leg out in front 

commence the 

4closed mohawk 

as in diagram 1. At 2, 

place your free leg behind 

your skating foot in T 

position and then turn by 

transferring your weight. 

After the turn - at 4 - the 

new free leg is in front. 


SKATE UK is NISA's flagship 'learn to skate' programme designed to ensure beginners to the sport receive the very 

best instruction, delivered by fully qualified coaches, in a fun and enjoyable way. 

The Outside Open Mohawk 

Ice Magic support for Skaters 

Fund continues unabated! 

Peter Emmett MD of 

Promo Concepts 

Ice Magic presents 

Keith Horton with a 

cheque for £3,500, 

watched by a family 

enjoying synthetic ice at 

the Great Northern 

Shopping Complex, 

Manchester 

Ihave just one word 

for both the 

product and level of 

service provided to us 

by Promo Concepts 

Ice Magic. Fantastic" 

Ken Barney, Wrexham 

County Borough 

Council. December 

2003 

From the minute we opened our permanent synthetic ice rink facility in 

December 2003, we were inundated with 'hungry skaters' who were 

delighted to have an opportunity to skate. 

This as a great PR exercise for the Diamond Shopping Centre in that we were 

providing an innovative leisure attraction to the community and it has proved to 

be a resounding success. 

In the short time it took from its arrival to operation, I formed a very strong and 

professional working relationship with Promo Concepts Ice Magic. The 

continued support through any advice or help I have required since its opening 

has been commendable. 

If you are considering this type of attraction I would say simply…Go For It!". 

Gwyneth McQuiston, Centre Manager, The Diamond Shopping Centre, 

Coleraine. January 2004 

Last year, Ice LInk brought you a series of features 

for the complete beginner We are pleased to 

continue our series of 'Technical Tips' and introducing 

more advanced techniques for the SKATE UK skater 

Mohawks can be either open or closed. The main 

difference between an open mohawk and a closed 

mohawk is the position of the free leg immediately 

prior to the turn. In the open mohawk the heel of the 

free leg is placed next to the instep of the skating foot 

prior to the turn (diagram 2 below). 

In the closed mohawk, the free leg/foot must be 

placed behind the skating foot in a T position; the turn 

is achieved by again transferring the weight from one 

foot to the other, and in the closed mohawk the new 

free leg is in front (diagram 4) 

Receiving a 

cheque from 

Promo 

Concepts at the 

Chelsea luanch is 

NISA chairman Haig 

Oundjian, watched 

by Tammy Sear, 

Tony Barron and 

Vicky Ogden 

The Outside Closed Mohawk 

Learn 

all about Choctaws 

In Issue 55 

This Learn-to-skate 

series adapted from 

'The Young Ice Skater' 

by Peter Morrissey 

Birmingham City Council 

were extremely satisfied 

with the installation of a 

300m2 synthetic ice rink by 

Promo Concepts Ice Magic, 

with the rink having been 

installed in the heart of the 

City Centre between 16 

November 2003 and 5 January 

2004. 

The Ice Rink was used by 

thousands of people and we 

have received plenty of 

positive feedback from those 

that maximised the facility. The 

Ice Rink was a superb 

attraction that complimented 

the seasonal dressing of the 

main civic squares in 

Birmingham. 

I would certainly recommend 

the use of Promo Concepts Ice 

Magic to other Councils and 

Organisations that might be 

considering a high quality Ice 

Skating Rink in the future". 

Kevin Brown Head of Events, 

Birmingham City Council, 

January 2004


British Short Track Championships 2004 

Ian Upcott (Aldwych) 

Juvenile Boys 

Georgina Conway (Aldwych) 

Pee Wee Girls 

Champion Tom Iveson (Mohawks) 

leads the field in the Senior Men 

Pee Wee Girls 

1 Georgina Conway (Aldwych) 

2 Elise Christie (Dundee) 

3 Jennifer Miller (Ayrshire Flyers) 

Pee Wee Boys 

1 Jack Whelbourne (Nottingham) 

2 Harry Barrett-Kemp (Aldwych) 

3 Triston Adams (Nottingham) 

Juvenile Girls 

1 Sally Conway (Aldwych) 

2 Alex Whelbourne (Nottingham) 

3 Charlotte Gilmartin (Mohawks) 

Jon Eley (Mohawks) 

Junior Boys 

Juvenile Boys 

1 Ian Upcott (Aldwych) 

2 Stephen Chaston (Nottingham) 

3 Josh Oldfield (Flintshire Flyers) 

Junior Boys 

1 Jon Eley (Mohawks) 

2 Philip Brojaka (Nottingham) 

3 Paul Worth (Nottingham) 

Sally Conway (Aldwych) 

Juvenile Girls 

Paul Stanley 

iceSheffield April 3-4th 

Matthew Lindsay 

Alan Dobbie (Falkirk) 

Masters 

Senior Ladies 

1 Sarah Lindsay (Aldwych) 

2 Joanna Williams (Aldwych) 

3 Chenai Flack (Aldwych) 

Senior Men 

1 Tom Iveson (Mohawks) 

2 Matthew Lindsay (Aldwych) 

3 Paul Stanley (Mohawks) 

Jack Whelbourne (Nottingham) 

Pee Wee Boys 

Sarah Lindsay (Aldwych) 

Senior Ladies 

Masters 

1 Alan Dobbie (Falkirk) 

2 Brian Reid (Falkirk) 

3 Clive Smallman (Sheffield) 

For the very best in digita 

www.iceph

l action ice photography 

oto.co.uk 

Lesley Reynolds pens a personal commentary on the 

2004 British Novice & Pre-Novice Championships 

This was the first time I had watched a British 

Novice Championship so I am unable to 

compare it to previous events, but it looked 

to me as though IceSheffield and NISA arranged 

things with great care and that the competitors 

could have no reason to suppose that their 

efforts were not being taken with the utmost 

seriousness. I only attended on the Saturday, so 

did not actually see any of the Pre-Novice events 

or the short programmes which were skated on 

Friday. 

What did strike me on reading the entry lists was 

how many Novice pairs there were (10) and how 

few dance couples (sadly only 2). What is 

happening in British dance? It was intimated to 

me that the test structure is partly to blame, as 

there are now so many hurdles to cross before 

being eligible to compete. In view of the 

international success of our senior dancers this 

year, it will be a great shame if there is no-one 

coming up to follow on. 

That said, the dance winners, Rebecca 

Forsyth/Christopher Hockaday (BRA) skated with 

assurance and some confident lifts in their free 

dance. Jessica Potter/Simon Pougher (DEE) could 

use a little more power, but all credit to both 

couples for getting this far. 

Fifteen young ladies vied for the 

Novice title, which was won by 

Yuen Tung Chiu (SLO). I think I 

may have seen her some years ago in 

a gala at Slough when she was 

obviously much younger, and I was 

very impressed in Sheffield, 

particularly with her double 

loop/double loop combination. 

Second was Amy Leigh Tanner, now 

coached by Yuri Bureiko at Coventry 

but originally from Sheffield – hence a 

good deal of local support. Her 

jumps were good and confidentlooking. 

Third place went to Katie 

Powell (BLA) , who included two 

double-double combinations. 

Another Blackburn skater, Sally Hoolin, 

placed 4th. 

BRITISH NOVICE CHAMPIONSHIPS, IceSheffield, 13-14 February 2004 

I hope everyone gained from their experiences in Sheffield and I really look 

forward to following the development of these youngsters season by season. 

The Pairs competition was won by a very selfpossessed 

young lady, Tameron Drake, and her 

partner Edward Alton (DUN). They were 

appreciably the fastest over the ice and included a 

death spiral and full lifts. Second place went to Laura 

Kean/Christopher Gethins (DDE), one of three pairs 

coached by Debbie and Simon Briggs. In third were 

Charlotte Kennedy/Michael Beedon (SOL) who seemed 

Novice Dance 

1 Rebecca FORSYTH / Christopher 

HOCKADAY; 2 Jessica POTTER / Simon 

POUGHER. Novice Pairs 

1 Tameron DRAKE / Edward ALTON; 2 Laura KEAN / 

Christopher GETHINS; 3 Charlotte KENNEDY / Michael 

BEEDON; 

4 Sophie NORSWORTHY / Charles HOWARD-JONES; 5 Laura GARRIGAN / 

Josh INGLIS; 6 Leah STUBBS / Iain MOULDEN; 7 Charlotte HESTER / David 

TRUBY; 8 Natasha MCKAY / Stuart URQUHART; 9 Emma WILLEY / Robert 

WILLIAMS; 10 Rebecca NEWTON / John HAYES. 

Novice Ladies 

1 Yuen Tung CHIU; 2 Amy TANNER; 

3 Katie POWELL; 

4 Sally HOOLIN; 5 Rachel PAGANI; 6 Kelly HARRISON; 7 Jane 

FAUX; 8 Jessica MALLENDER; 9 Elise CHRISTIE; 10 Sophie 

WATSON; 11 Amy-beth COWAN; 12 Alex HODGKINSON; 13 

Nicola MILNE; 14 VIctoria CAINE; 15 Claire MILLER. 

Pre-Novice Ladies 

1 Abbi-Louise OMELIA; 2 Rebecca MAYO; 3 Kristie 

ROBERTSON; 

4 Shelley THOMSON; 5 Laura KEAN; 6 Marissa HENDERSON; 7 

Sophie KENT; 8 Sophie NORSWORTHY; 9 Helen CLARK; 10 Annabel 

COLENUTT; 11 Alisha ANNANDALE; 12 Kelsey DREWARY; 13 

Anastasia VINNIKOVA; 14 Ailsa MACGREGOR; 

Pre-Novice Men 

1 Daniel KING; 2 Charles HOWARD- 

JONES; 3 Mark WATSON; 

4 Joshua SPONG; 5 Edward HAMMOND. 


to manage more rotations on their lifts. It is difficult to 

gauge skaters’ ages, but I would guess that Charlotte 

and Michael might have been older than some of the 

others. I’d just like to mention Leah Stubbs/Iain Moulden 

(MK) whose progress I have been observing over several 

months and they should be congratulated for a good 

clean skate in what I believe was their first competition. 

Ihad seen quite a few of the Novice men at 

various Opens already, and it was no surprise 

when the title was won by Luke Chilcott (GIL). 

Luke had won the short and opened his free with 

triple salchow, though the landing was twofooted. 

He followed with double lutz-double 

loop and 4 more doubles, with good spins and 

steps. Luke has quite a presence on the ice as 

well. Second was Jason Bowman (ELG) whom I 

don’t recall seeing before – his two 

combinations were double-single here. Tadgh 

O’Connor (OXF) moved up from 5th to take third 

after the free with an opening combination of 

double lutz-double toeloop. 

Novice Men 

1 Luke CHILCOTT; 2 Jason BOWMAN; 3 Tadhgh 

O'CONNOR; 

4 David WATSON; 5 Lawrence EVANS; 6 William TAPPER.


Riverside dancers help BBC 

Children in Need 

writes Barbara 

Bone 

Riverside Ice Dance Club were invited by the BBC to join them in the Norwich Children in Need 

Appeal in November at their new, very tiny, Ice Rink. A display of Ice Dancing to music from 

the local orchestra entertained the crowds, a few minutes of which went out live on regional 

TV. Great excitement and a lovely atmosphere as the rink was floodlit and enhanced by artificial 

snow. We managed to sneak in a few words to promote Recreational Ice Dancing and presented a 

cheque to the BBC on the ice. 

It was a fantastic evening - we were joined by skaters from all over the Eastern and South region. 

Some drove 5 hours to get there and help swell the numbers as unfortunately it clashed with our 

Club Christmas Dinner, so we had to phone around frantically to all the other Clubs to get support. I 

didn't want to miss out on such a great opportunity to promote out sport. 

photo - David Solomons 

Dempsey is an Ice Star! 

History was made in 

January this year, 

when seven year old 

Dempsey Andrews, from 

Dundonald, Northern 

Ireland, became the 

youngest skater ever to 

perform with the 

Russian Ice Stars. 

The ice show "Sleeping Beauty" 

was in Belfast to perform at the 

Waterfront Centre and little 

Dempsey was asked to skate 

around in the background while 

the Ice Stars were being filmed 

by local Ulter TV. 

To her complete surprise, a few 

days later, the Ice Stars 

producer contacted 

Dempsey's mum, Nicola, to 

ask her if Dempsey could take 

part in the show - and they 

had even created a special 

part for her! Playing the part 

of an Elf in the show, 

Dempsey had her own 

costumes custom made. 

Nicola admitted she was 

just as excited as her 

daughter, but Dempsey - 

used to performing in 

front of audiences at 

competitions - keeps telling her mum 

to "calm down"! 

Dempsey, a pupil at Dundonald Primary school, has been skating since 

she was five, and has made it a way of life. She heads straight for the ice rink 

after school where she is coached by Caroline Gill who says "Dempsey 

practices five days a week - and then skates 'for fun' with her friends at the 

weekend. 

Scott Trowbridge heads for Disney 

Scott Trowbridge (24) has decided 

to take a break from his job as a 

Dental Technician in Aberdeen to 

join the Walt Disney on Ice Far East Asia 

and Australian tour of "Beauty & the 

Beast". 

But even in his first show in Hong Kong, he 

won't be far from his home city's namesake 

- Aberdeen - the harbour resort famous for 

its floating Chinese restaurant is only a few 

miles south of the city on Hong Kong island. 

Scott has lived in Aberdeen (Scotland 

that is) most of his life and trained 

both at the LInx 

Centre and at the 

old Dyce rink, now 

purely a curling 

rink. 

He first competed in 

the British Junior 

Championships in 

1996 and has 

competed several on 

several occasions in 

the Seniors British 

Championships . A 

gold level skater, he is 

fulfilling a lifetime's 

ambition to perform 

in an ice show. 

We wish him well! 

My Gran was Champion 

too! 

2003 Junior Ladies Champion Joanna Webber 

repeats grandmother's triumph after 55 years 

In an astonishing repeat of history, 18 year old Joanna Webber from Swindon, skated into 

the association's record books by winning the 2003 British Junior Ladies Championship title 

at iceSheffield, 55 years after her grandmother Pat Devries 

won the same title - also aged 18 - at Wembley in 1948. Pat 

later went on to place bronze in the British Senior Ladies 

Championships in 1952 and also skated for GB in the 1952 Oslo 

Olympics. 

After winning her 2003 British Junior Ladies title, Joanna has also 

represented her country at Val Gardena, Italy this month, and who 

knows, in a few years time could even repeat her gran's success in 

Britain's Olympic team! 

Meanwhile..... 

Joanna Webber 

Icephoto 

Sisters Gillian and Suzanne Otterson from Kyle (Ayr Ice Rink) are pictured below with 

two of their pupils, Lauren Orr and Stephanie Smith at the 2003 British Primary 

Championships in iceSheffield in December. 

Gillian herself won 

the British Primary 

Trophy in 1982 

while her sister, 

Suzanne, won the 

event in 1983. 

Gillian and 

Suzanne were 

now returning 

with high hopes 

for two of their 

pupils, Lauren and 

Stephanie, who 

did their coaches 

proud by finishing 

in fourth and fifth 

place 

consecutively.

SKATEWATCH 

April 2004 

Skatewatch is an independent editorial provided as a service to our members. The views and opinions expressed are not those of NISA 

Note from the editor 

T 

hough I have just returned from 

the World Championships in 

Dortmund, publication dates mean 

that this issue contains reports from 

the European Championships, and I am 

afraid the Worlds will have to wait 

till next time. As most of you will 

already know, Sinead and John Kerr in 

particular put a smile on the face of 

the British supporters with their 

continued success. I hope to catch up 

with as many old and new friends as 

possible in the next few months as I 

Russian choreographer Elena Matvieva is 

working with Jenna McCorkell. A major 

contributor to skating, she has in the past 

helped Marina Anissina/Gwendal Peizerat, Irina 

Slutskaya, Viktoria Volchkova, Usova/Zhulin, 

Klimova/Ponomarenko and many others. 

The new season of Hot Ice opens at the 

Pleasure Beach Arena, Blackpool on Good 

Friday, 9th April and I hope to bring you my 

annual review in the next issue in order to 

whet the appetite for as many readers as 

possible to schedule a visit to this excellent 

show. (They’re not paying me for the plug, 

honestly….) 

try to get to some of the Opens, 

though I fear pressure of work at the 

office might mean fewer than usual 

this year. Could I request that 

organisers spare a few minutes from 

their hectic schedules to let me have 

timetable details before, and results 

after, their competitions? It would be 

enormously helpful, and ensure that 

some publicity is given to their event 

as a reward for all the hard work. A 

reminder of my email address : 

Lreynolds@ringspann.co.uk. 

ISU Grand Prix Final 

Naomi Lang/Peter Tchernyshev have ended 

their partnership. Naomi is expecting a baby. 

Takeshi Honda has withdrawn from Worlds 

because of continuing ankle problems. He will 

be missed. 

Possible good news for Altrincham skaters – 

Trafford Council has invited proposals from 4 

developers for the site on Oakfield Road and 

have said : “We are committed to achieving 

the best possible development for this site and 

that this should, if feasible, include plans for a 

new ice rink.” No immediate action, but hope 

remains alive – more news available around 

May. 

Kempen Trophy 

Ateam Courtesy ISU 

Press reports 

Aside from the cold weather, the altitude of 

Colorado Springs always affects athletes – 

indeed, after finishing his Pairs short 

Perren (with triple salchow-triple toe-triple loop 

combo) to move up to 4th. Michael Weiss managed to 

maintain 3rd despite still feeling ill from the flu. He 

programme with partner Xue Shen, China’s Hongbo said “I have never been hit by Mike Tyson, but after I 

Zhao’s first thought was “I need oxygen!” That did finished my program it felt like I had”. He fell on the 

not stop them performing their “Kismet” (the Bond triple axel and flip, but did triple flip-triple toe 

version) in dynamic fashion with huge thrown triple combination. Plushenko suffered from errors and lack 

loop, s.b.s. triple toeloops, and high double twist, of understanding of the CoP rules. He did two quad 

though they almost lost their balance on the exit of toe combinations (one with triple toe and the second 

their lift. This being the last competition of the season with double loop) but later also performed triple axel- 

under the new Code of Points, their total segment score double toe. Three combinations are not allowed, so he 

was 66.00, ahead of the 62.96 achieved by Tatiana received 0 points for that one, and his total points 

Totmianina/ Maxim Marinin (RUS), who performed score amounted to 225.19, as opposed to Sandhu’s 

the same elements. Compatriots Maria Petrova/Alexei 228.29. Emanuel therefore gained his first major 

Tikhonov made mistakes - he doubled the toeloop and international title with quad-triple toe (stepped out of 

she stepped out of the thrown triple loop. They placed the toe), 7 triples including 2 axels (one in combination 

ahead of Anabelle Langlois/Patrice Archetto (CAN), with a wobbly triple toe) and intricate step sequences. 

with the other 2 Chinese pairs Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang 

and Qing Pang/Jian Tong 5th and 6th. When it came 

to the free the following day, the top positions 

remained unchanged. Petrova/Tikhonov started well, 

but then he put his hand down on the double axel and 

she fell on the thrown triple salchow. 

Totmianina/Marinin performed last season’s “Cotton 

Club” and he singled a planned triple toe, whereas 

Shen/Zhao sparkled in their “Nutcracker” programme, 

featuring s.b.s. double axel-triple toe sequence, huge 

thrown triple salchow, s.b.s. triple toeloop alone, triple 

twist and thrown triple loop. Just a wobbly exit from 

the lasso lift could be described as a “mistake” and the 

audience gave them a standing ovation. Their overall 

points score was 196.08, against 

Totmianina/Marinin’s 177.30. Though 

Langlois/Archetto beat Petrova/Tikhonov in the free 

skating, the total points score kept the Russians in 

third. 

Fumie Suguri (JPN) completed a clean Ladies short 

(triple lutz-double toe, triple flip, double axel), gaining 

an segment score of 62.02. Sasha Cohen (USA) fell on 

her triple lutz, ending up with 60.80, with Elena 

Liashenko (UKR) close behind in third with 60.54. She 

completed the same elements as Fumie, but her spiral 

sequence was described as somewhat slow. Two more 

Japanese skaters, Yoshie Onda and Shizuka Arakawa, 

were 4th and 5th respectively with Julia Sebestyen 

(HUN) in 6th after doubling the lutz in her 

combination. Shizuka moved up after a free 

containing 5 good triples to take the bronze medal, 

with Elena popping her lutz and putting a hand down 

on the triple salchow dropping to 4th. Sasha started 

well but lost steam towards the end of her “Swan 

Lake”, falling on the triple toe and her second flip. She 

had to be content with second place behind Fumie who 

skated last to a Mozart selection with two triple-double 

combinations (lutz-toe and flip-toe), 3 other triples and 

Evgeni Plushenko won the Men’s short despite falling double axel out of a spiral. She did two-foot an 

on the quad toeloop, and Emanuel Sandhu (CAN), in under-rotated triple loop but it was enough to win. 

the final as second substitute, stumbled on his quad 

toe, but still managed to add a triple. His score of 

75.55 put him second to Plushenko (78.25) with 

Michael Weiss (USA) third on 73.33. His combination 

was triple flip-triple toe. Fourth place went to Song 

Gao (CHN), who fell out of his triple axel, and Kevin 

van der Perren (BEL) was 5th with a difficult triple 

lutz-triple loop combination. Jeffrey Buttle (CAN) 

withdrew through illness. There were some surprises 

in the free. Gao made mistakes, enabling van der 

In the dance competition, Tatiana Navka/Roman 

Kostomarov (RUS) won convincingly with points of 

175.91, as opposed to Albena Denkova/Maxim 

Staviyski’s (BUL) 163.30. Tanith Belbin/Benjamin 

Agosto (USA) took bronze, though they were 4th in 

the free dance behind Elena Grushina/Ruslan 

Goncharov (UKR). Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder 

(FRA) were 5th, with Marie-France Dubreuil/Patrice 

Lauzon (CAN) 6th. 

Had you heard ....? 

Belgium 

Jan 2004 

from the International School of Skating at Planet Ice Coventry took part in this competition, along with 

skaters from countries including Denmark, France, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and the USA. Apart from 

a mishap when Matthew Wilkinson snapped a blade landing a triple axel combination which meant he had to 

withdraw, it was very successful. The Senior Men’s section was won by Simon Surridge, and Susanna Bureiko was 3rd 

in the Ladies Novice category. Amy Tanner came 7th in the under-13s in her first international competition and 

Catherine Ross was 21st in a strong Junior section of 33 skaters. 

World Champs Dortmund 

March 2004 

Due to a lack of space, we are unable to publish Albert Saadi's detailed account of the recent World Figure Skating 

Championships in Dortmund. The full report however will be published on the NISA website / News / Ice Link 

page. (www.iceskating.org.uk). Full report in SKATEWATCH appendix p3 at end of this e-publication 

ISU Four Continents 

Dance 

The Yankee Polka was drawn as the Compulsory 

Dance for the event, and a lead was established 

by Marie-France Dubreuil/Patrice Lauzon, with 

Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto close behind. Neither 

couple had skated the dance in competition before and 

indeed, the US Champions admitted to only having 

learnt it in the summer. Dominance of the 

competition by North America was confirmed with 

Megan Wing/Aaron Lowe (CAN) in 3rd and Melissa 

Gregory/Denis Petukhov (USA) 4th. When it came 

to the OD, the leaders had a bad fall towards the end 

of their Swing and Blues which rather stunned them, 

leaving the way clear for Tanith and Ben to overtake 

them with their difficult footwork and strong lifts. 

The other two couples also changed places with 

Melissa and Denis demonstrating an energetic Rock 

‘n’ Roll and soft Blues. In their “West Side Story” free 

dance, Tanith and Ben again showed intricate 

footwork, but he stumbled on a twizzle. 

Nevertheless, they still won on a 6/3 split of the 

ordinals, with Marie-France and Patrice taking silver 

with their passionate Tango – though on a “lift in a 

crouching position”, Patrice apparently almost slipped 

and had to put his knee down to keep balance (I hope 

you can visualise this – I have some difficulty from 

the description!). Megan and Aaron skated last to a 

selection of Fellini soundtracks (very popular this 

year, or so it seems after Europeans!) overtaking the 

US couple to take their second 4 Continents bronze 

medal. Melissa and Denis were 4th, with Nozomi 

Watanabe/Akiyuki Kido (JPN) skating to a “pop 

version of Nutcracker” – can’t wait to see that (or 

perhaps I just can ….) 

Ladies 

Americans started out dominating the Ladies’ event, 

with Amber Corwin and Angela Nikodinov first and 

second in the short. Yukina Ota (JPN) was third. 

Amber’s combination was triple toe-triple toe 

whereas Angela did triple lutz-double toe. Yukina 

(current World Junior Champion) did the same 

elements as Angela. Jennifer Robinson (CAN) was 

4th, and 5th place went to Yukari Nakano, who 

attempted triple axel-double toe, but underrotated 

and stepped out of the axel. When it came to the free, 

there were some surprises. The newly-crowned 

Canadian champion, 16 year old Cynthia Phaneuf 

(8th in the short) gave a scintillating performance 

featuring 7 triple jumps, moving up to take the silver 

medal to the delight of an appreciative home crowd. 

The Americans both made mistakes, Angela dropping 

back to 7th, while Amber managed to hang on for the 

Europeans Trivia 

There were 143 competitors from 31 ISU member 

countries. Competing in her 12th Europeans (a 

record for ladies) was Mojca Kopac (SLO). The 

longest-serving men were Ivan Dinev and pair 

skater Mariusz Siudek, this being their 13th. 

Neither has missed a Europeans since they first 

competed in 1992 in Lausanne, when Ivan was 

only 13 years old and couldn’t see over the barrier! 

Trifun Zivanovic is the first and (so far only) 

athlete to skate in both the Four Continents and 

Europeans. Born and raised in the USA, he 

Hamilton 

Canada 

Jan 2004 

bronze. Victory went to Yukina Ota who herself 

was not without error – she started with triple lutzdouble 

toe and double axel, but two-footed the flip. 

Loop and salchow followed, but she missed her 

second triple lutz, finishing her Ravel progamme with 

triple-double toe. The quality of her spins and flow 

helped cement her placing – which she claimed 

surprised her too. 

Pairs 

In the absence of Shen/Zhao, China’s other two main 

couples dominated, as perhaps befitting, since the 

short programmes were skated on the day of the 

Chinese New Year! Qing Pang/Jian Tong won both 

sections, but were given a close run by Dan 

Zhang/Hao Zhang, who stole 3 first-place ordinals in 

the free. Both couples made slight mistakes and Jian 

had sustained a slight injury in practice, but they still 

landed quality elements including throw triple 

salchow and loop. Bronze medallists Valerie 

Marcoux/Craig Buntin (CAN) after an excellent short 

and lifts in the free with “many changes of position”, 

but Craig fell on their second triple toe and Valerie 

tripped in the side by side footwork. Rena 

Inoue/John Baldwin (USA) were 4th, with a heavy 

fall by Rena on the throw triple salchow. Yang 

Ding/Zhonfei Ren (CHN) attempted a thrown quad 

toeloop, but it was two-footed and therefore not 

ratified. 

Men 

Defending champion Takeshi Honda (JPN) was forced 

to withdraw after the short warm-up with an ankle 

injury, leaving the way open for his compatriot 

Yamato Tamura to skate an excellent short (quadtriple 

toe, triple lutz, double axel) to place second in 

the short, behind Jeffrey Buttle (CAN) who missed the 

quad toe but stuck a double on the end, continuing 

with triple axel and lutz . Emanuel Sandhu doubled 

his planned quad, missing his combination. A triple 

axel and lutz as well as good footwork left him in 3rd 

with two Americans – Evan Lysacek and Ryan Jahnke 

4th and 5th. In the free, Tamura missed his quad and 

slipped back to 5th, overtaken by Jahnke (7 triples 

including triple lutz-triple loop combo.) 4th, and 

Lysacek, whose solid performance (7 good triples) 

gave him the bronze medal. Canada retained 1st and 

2nd – Jeff keeping the edge though he struggled with 

some of his jumps. His spins were particularly noted. 

Emanuel fought back after some small errors (three 

turn out of quad toe landing, adding double loop; 

repeating a popped triple axel successfully). Pity the 

top guns weren’t there maybe. 

Facts from 

Hungary 

represented them at 4 Continents in 1999. He then 

transferred to competing for his father’s native 

Yugoslavia, which is now known as Serbia and 

Montenegro (abbreviation SCG). This was his 

first European Championship (he was 21st). 

The youngest lady was Candice Didier (FRA, 16), 

Przemyslaw Domanski (POL, 17) the youngest 

male skater. At 32, Alexei Tikhonov holds the 

honour of oldest man, whereas the “senior” lady 

was Albena Denkova (29). 

OTHER NATIONALS 

USA Ladies:1. Michelle Kwan, 2. Sasha Cohen, 3. 

Jennifer Kirk Men:1. Johnny Weir, 2. Michael Weiss, 3. 

Matthew Savoie (Tim Goebel withdrew) Pairs:1. Rena 

Inoue/John Baldwin, 2. Kathryn Orscher/Garrett Lucash, 

3.Tiffany Scott/Philip Dulebohn Dance: 1. Tanith 

Belbin/Benjamin Agosto, 2. Melissa Gregory/Denis 

Petukhov, 3. Loren Galler-Rabinowitz / David Mitchell 

(Naomi Lang/Peter Tchernyshev withdrew) 

CANADA Ladies:1. Cynthia Phaneuf, 2. Joannie 

Rochette, 3. Jennifer Robinson Men:1. Emanuel Sandhu, 

2. Ben Ferreira, 3. Jeff Buttle Pairs:1. Valerie 

Marcoux/Craig Buntin, 2. Anabelle Langlois/Patrice 

Archetto, 3. Elizabeth Putnam/Sean Wirtz. Dance:1. 

Marie-France Dubreuil/ Patrice Lauzon, 2. Megan 

Wing/Aaron Lowe, 3. Chantal Lefebvre/Arseniy Markov 

RUSSIA Ladies:1. Elena Sokolova, 2. Julia Soldatova, 3. 

Kristina Oblasova. Men:1. Evgeni Plushenko, 2. Ilia 

Klimkin, 3. Andrei Griazev (Alexander Abt withdrew). 

Pairs:1. Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin, 2. Maria 

Petrova/ Alexei Tikhonov, 3. Julia Obertas/Sergei Slavnov. 

Dance:1. Tatiana Navka/Roman Kostomarov, 2. Oksana 

Domnina/Maxim Shabalin, 3.Svetlana Kulikova/Vitaliy 

Novikov 

GERMANY Ladies:1. Annette Dytrt, 2. Denise 

Zimmermann, 3. Constanze Paulinus. Men:1. Stefan 

Lindemann, 2. Andrejs Vlashenko, 3. Silvio Smalun. 

Pairs:1. Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy, 2. Eva Maria 

Fitze/Rico Rex, 3. Mikkeline Kierkgaard/Norman Jeschke. 

Dance:1. Kati Winkler/Rene Lohse, 2. Christina Beier/ 

William Beier 

FRANCE Ladies:1. Candice Didier, 2. Anne-Sophie 

Calvez, 3. Gwendoline Didier. Men:1. Brian Joubert, 2. 

Frederic Dambier, 3. Stanick Jeannette. Pairs:1. Sabrina 

Lefrancois/Jerome Blanchard, 2. Marilyn Pla/Yannick 

Bonheur. Dance:1. Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder, 

2. Roxane Petetin/Mathieu Jost, 3. Nathalie Pechalat/ 

Fabien Bourzat 

SWITZERLAND Ladies:1. Cindy Carquillat, 2. Lucie 

Anne Blazek, 3. Myriam Fluhmann (but none skated to 

standard). Men:1. Stephane Lambiel, 2. Patrick Meier, 3. 

Jamal Othman NO PAIRS OR DANCE 

AUSTRALIA Ladies:1. Miriam Manzano, 2. Joanne 

Carter, 3. Sarah-Yvonne Prytula. Men:1. Bradley Santer, 

2. Daniel Harries, 3. Stuart Beckingham. Dance:1. Natalie 

Buck/Trent Nelson-Bond, 2. Danika Bourne/Alexandre 

Pavlov 

BELGIUM Ladies:1. Sara Falotico, 2. Ellen Mareels, 3. 

Isabelle Pioman. Men:1. Kevin van der Perren. 

DENMARK Ladies:1. Christina Lykke Kristensen, 2. 

Pernille Holkjaer, 3. Irina Babenko. Men:1. Michael 

Felding 

HOLLAND Ladies:1. Karen Venhuizen, 2. Joelle 

Bastiaans, 3. Martine Zuiderwijk. Dance:1. Marie-Louise 

Gijtenbeek/Xander Gijtenbeek 

JAPAN Ladies:1. Miki Ando, 2. Fumie Suguri, 3. 

Shizuka Arakawa. Men:1. Yamato Tamura, 2. Kazumi 

Kishimoto, 3. Daisuke Takahashi (Takeshi Honda injured). 

Dance:1. N Watanabe/A. Kido, 2. N. Tzuzuki/K. 

Miyamoto, 3. Y. Oda/S. Kagayama 

SPAIN Ladies:1. Meritzel Baraut. Men:1. Yon Garcia

SKATEWATCH April/May 2004 p2 

International 

Competition 

Reports 

National 

Competition 

Reports 

European Championships 

Wrapped up warm 

and with sweaters Lesley Reynolds 

and boots in the reports from 

case, I arrived in a 

Budapest 

slightly-snowy Budapest 

only to swelter the rest of Feb 2004 

the week as the weather 

turned warm and the Arena was the 

hottest I have been in, by a long way! 

Actually, the skaters were sweating a lot of 

the time, too, so it can’t have been easy for 

them. The seats were padded and visibility 

good, but the event was spoilt by overofficious 

security. Why take food and drink 

away from spectators on entry when that on 

offer in the Arena is inadequate? Unless you 

wanted to live on ham or salami sandwiches 

all week, there was no choice. Where else are 

media refused entry to the spectators’ seats 

(even to speak to friends) when the place is 

half empty? This was enforcing rules 

without good reason for the rules, and 

sometimes caused great offence. There was 

even a near-riot at the first medal ceremony 

when the official photographers were refused 

access to rinkside just to do their jobs. 

However, the volunteers were all friendly and 

one even managed to teach me a few words of 

Hungarian in exchange for a hint as to how 

to meet Kevin van der Perren (of whom more 

later…) Amid rumours of possible 

withdrawals (Plushenko’s knee was the 

subject of much speculation), hopes were not 

high for the Men’s competition, but in 

Monday’s Qualifiers the “quality” skaters 

were fairly evenly distributed among the 

groups so interest was maintained. I am 

afraid that I am going to indulge myself by 

writing mainly about the skaters that have 

impressed me, – without neglecting the Brits 

or the medallists – so I hope you will find it 

interesting, too. Incidentally, does anyone 

agree with me that the prize money 

distribution should be reversed so that the 

medallists receive the least and those further 

down the most, as their need is greater? 

Starting on Monday at 11 am, the first group 

included Ivan Dinev (BUL), who only 

managed 2 triple jumps, doubling most, and 

looking a shadow of his former self. 

Stephane Lambiel (SUI) managed quad-double 

toe combination but fell three times, and some 

strange judging put him 4th in Qualifier B. 

Actually, I felt old-stager Patrick Meier (SUI) 

outskated him, as did Kevin van der Perren 

(whose triple toe-triple toe-triple loop 

combination made the tiny crowd gasp) but 

they placed 7th and 8th respectively. 

Incidentally, I “gatecrashed” one of the British 

supporters’ groups who happened to be 

sitting with some Belgians, so I nicknamed it 

“Kev Corner” – Mrs van der Perren (his 

mother) was there some of the time and we 

suffered the roller-coaster with them. A real 

revelation was Andrei Griazev (RUS), the 

latest prodigy to defect from Alexei Mishin to 

Tatiana Tarasova (Alexei Yagudin also has 

coaching credits but was not with him – a 

fact lamented by not a few ladies). If they can 

choreograph Andrei’s programmes with fewer 

obvious “Yagudinisms”, this boy is going to 

be something else – he can jump and spin as 

well as having excellent carriage and presence 

on the ice. After this performance, it was no 

surprise that he was third, behind Frederic 

Dambier (FRA) whose “Moulin Rouge” was 

better than at Lalique, from the opening quad 

salchow through triple axel-triple toe and a 

further triple axel to the last of six triples. I 

made a note that, of the first two groups of 

11 skaters in all, Kev and Fred were the only 

two who looked to be really trying, but 

maybe that is a bit unfair! The morning’s 

highlight had to be French champion Brian 

Joubert, who WAS his character from “The 

Matrix”, hitting a strong opening quad toe 

and six triples, finishing first in Group B with 

artistic marks ranging from 5.0 to 5.9. 

Matthew Davies (GBR) skated in the same 

warm-up group as Joubert but unfortunately 

could not match his performance. Sitting on 

the triple axel and falling on the triple lutz, 

there were still 4 triples, but the dynamism he 

had shown at the British was absent, and he 

just squeaked in for the short in 14th of his 

Qualifier (out of 17). 

In with a bang at the start of Qualifying A 

was Evgeny Plushenko (RUS) with quad toetriple 

toe-double loop, followed by triple axel, 

repeated with double toe and four other 

triples in a reprise of “St Petersburg 300”. I 

thought it looked better than last year, and 

his position as no.1 in the group remained 

unchallenged. Our old mate Vakhtang 

Murvanidze (GEO), now being coached in the 

USA by Alexander Zhulin, finished 8th after a 

couple of falls and a two-footed lutz but was 

still entertaining with his upbeat Mozart 

medley. Ilia Klimkin’s style has not always 

been to my taste in the past, but I must admit 

to great admiration for this week’s 

performances. “Dr Diesel” is funky and 

original and he really skated incredibly well – 

two triple axels (one with triple toe) and 

amazing flexibility in his spins, though he did 

fall on the quad toe. A deserved second place. 

Stefan Lindemann (GER) showed a sense of 

humour by skating to “Le Petit Poucet” 

(translates from the French as “Tom Thumb”) 

and though he fell on the quad, he landed two 

triple combinations – axel and salchow – to 

end up 3rd in the group – with an on-form 

Georghe Chiper (ROM) in 4th, skating to the 

accompaniment of shouts of “Papi, Papi” 

from his delightful young daughter in the 

audience. A couple of youngsters I have 

“spotted” in previous years are 

coming along nicely – Karel 

Zelenka (ITA) was 9th and 

Kristoffer Berntsson (SWE) 6th. 

Both are maturing into 

accomplished skaters, but if I 

had to tip just one, it would be 

the Czech-Italian. I also quite liked Yon Garcia 

(ESP) who dared to skate to entertain with a 

Charlie Chaplin routine, managing to qualify 

for the short programme for the first time 

(his first Worlds was in 1999 and he has not 

qualified there either). I have just made up 

my mind that I will write chronologically, so 

you will have to wait for the short 

programme! 

A short (sorry!) evening for the Pairs’ short 

programmes, as there were only 16 entries. 

It was disappointing for us (and them no 

doubt) that British Junior champions Rebecca 

Collett and Hamish Gaman were unable to 

compete. I understand that Hamish went 

down with a gastric problem at the end of the 

previous week and they were just unable to 

travel. It was a shame, as I have a feeling 

they would not have finished last and it 

would have been good experience. The 

dubious honour of being last went to Milica 

Brozovic/Vladimir Futas (SVK) who were 

pretty slow and made several mistakes. That 

criticism could not be levelled at the Russian 

pairs – Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin 

were first, with Maria Petrova/Alexei 

Tikhonov 2nd. Moving to train with Richard 

Gaulthier in Canada has reinvigorated Dorota 

Zagorska/Mariusz Siudek (POL), who also 

made no mistakes to lie in 3rd, with the third 

Russians Julia Obertas/Sergei Slavnov just 

behind them. Trained by Tamara Moskvina, 

they are tipped for great things but I wonder 

if he is quite as strong as she, and she has 

changed partners quite a few times already. I 

was pleased to see the Czech pair Katerina 

Berankova/Otto Dlabola place 5th – their only 

mistake was that he two-footed the s.b.s. 

triple toeloop. 

Only having one Compulsory Dance makes 

for a short Tuesday afternoon (and a chance 

to find a decent meal!). The Austrian Waltz 

was drawn – the same as at the British, and 

Sinead and John Kerr (henceforth referred to 

as “The Kerrs” for reasons of brevity, so I 

hope they don’t mind) had a good draw in the 

final group. Skating between Albena 

Denkova/ Maxim Staviyski (BUL) and Tatiana 

Navka/Roman Kostomarov (RUS) with Elena 

Grushina/Ruslan Goncharov (UKR) two 

couples later, they must have found it a 

daunting warm-up! If anything, it inspired 

them, as they skated a really good waltz with 

feet close to each other, resulting in an 

excellent 12th place. In truth, there were 

comments among our off-ice “experts” that 

some other couples did not really deserve to 

place above them, but we hoped that would 

be sorted out in the OD and Free Dance (which 

to an extent it was, as those lucky enough to 

have Eurosport will have seen). It was sad 

that Kati Winkler and Rene Lohse (GER) had to 

withdraw again through an injury, but 

actually the second German couple of 

Christina and William Beier (the only other 

brother and sister in the competition) look set 

to become worthy successors in time. 

Navka/Kostomarov were, as expected, 

winners of the CD, followed by 

Denkova/Staviyski and a slightly subdued 

Grushina/Goncharov in third. Incidentally, 

Ruslan has cut off some of his wild hair, 

ditched the perm, and suddenly become rather 

more handsome (not my comments, of 

course….) The subject of costume always 

arises in ice dance, and maybe Albena’s skirt 

was too short, Elena Grushina’s white but 

tarty – but out-tarted by Isabelle Delobel 

(FRA) - but the prize must go to Austria’s 

Barbara Herzog, whom I described in my 

notes as a “baby doll complete with ringlets” 

but perhaps more appropriately someone else 

observed “I thought it was Little Bo Peep out 

there”! 

Young Aidas Reklys (LTU) coached by Povilas 

Vanagas’s mother) started off the Men’s 

short in the evening, before a disappointingly 

small audience. Matthew Davies skated 3rd 

in the first group, starting with double axel 

and completing a clean programme to Pink 

Floyd. This pulled him up to 24th, ensuring 

that he qualified for the free. It was a better 

class of performance all together than the 

previous day, which cannot be said of 

everyone. Slipping down were Patrick Meier 

(14th to 18th), Georghe Chiper (8th to 16th), 

Andrei Griazev (6th to 13th, falling on the 

triple axel combination and two-footing the 

flip) and Stephane Lambiel (8th to 10th, with 

a fall on the quad toe of his combination and 

also in a step sequence, as well as two feet 

down on the flip). 

Kristoffer Berntsson skated his way from 

12th to a surprising place in the final group 

for the free, with triple axel, triple lutz-triple 

toe and triple flip, but maybe the choice of 

music here just inspired him – modern and 

young-sounding. Also moving up after good 

performances were first Damien Djordjevic 

(4th at French Nationals, but sent instead of 

Stanick Jeannette – and we did miss HIM), 

who managed triple axel combination, but 

who I did not find a riveting performer – 

sorry Annick Gailhaguet, favoured coach of 

the French Federation). He progressed from 

24th to 17th. An invigorated Gregor Urbas 

(SLO), who still seems self-conscious about 

his height, landed triple lutz-triple toe, triple 

axel and loop to rise from 22nd to 14th. 

Tomas Verner (CZE) is another skater of 

promise who is maturing, and though he 

two-footed his triple axel, combined it with 

double toeloop to progress from 20th to 11th. 

Sergei Davydov (BLR), who was 7th at 

Worlds last year, came back from a 

disappointing 16th to be 8th in the short, 

starting with triple axel-triple toe and going 

on with triple lutz for a clean programme 

skated to the appropriately-chosen 

“Hungarian Rhapsody”. In what will 

probably be his last Europeans, Andrejs 

Vlaschenko (GER) wins the prize for most 

outlandish man’s costume – pale grey 

trousers and a colourful (to put it mildly) 

depiction of St Basil’s Cathedral on both chest 

and back for his “Moscow Nights” short, 

during which he landed triple axel-double toe, 

triple lutz and double axel. Holding their 

own were “our Kev”, still 12th, despite a fall 

on the attempted triple axel, and Fred Dambier 

(mercifully in a slightly – but only slightly - 

less outlandish costume than at Lalique), 

though had he made it triple rather than 

double toe in his quad salchow combination 

he might have been 3rd instead of Ilia 

Klimkin. Debatable perhaps, as the latter 

combined triple toe after triple axel, then did 

quad toe, double axel and an absolutely 

superb change foot camel spin. After 

Plushenko’s rocky landing of his quad toe, he 

could only combine it with a double and 

though his other elements (triple axel and 

lutz) were OK, I didn’t feel he had that much 

of an edge over Brian Joubert. Brian reprised 

last year’s “Time” by Pink Floyd, but skating 

it well on this occasion - quad-triple toe, triple 

axel and flip and his great signature step 

sequences. You probably remember that 

these were originally choreographed by 

Nikolai Morozov (with a nod towards Alexei 

Yagudin who is now “advising” Brian), who 

coaches Kevin in the USA these days. So, the 

lineup going into the free was 1. Plushenko, 

2. Joubert, 3. Klimkin. Suspense is not the 

word! 

With only 31 ladies on the entry list, the 

decision was wisely taken to dispense with 

Qualifying rounds, so Wednesday offered a 

rare opportunity of some sightseeing and a 

long, civilised lunch before the Pairs Free in 

the evening. The field had been reduced to 15 

with the withdrawal of one of the Ukrainian 

pairs, so it was an early night as well! Apart 

from the top 3, it was not really the most 

exciting of evenings, and there was very little 

movement in the placings – in fact the top 5 

remained exactly as in the short. There had 

been much talk about Tatiana’s knee problem 

– apparently caused by “over-use” - but the 

only real evidence of it was an opening s.b.s. 

double salchow instead of triple. Personally, 

I preferred the “Circus Princess” programme 

of Maria and Alexei – it had more character 

and “fizz” than Tatiana and Maxim’s “Art on 

Ice” presentation. Both were technically 

good, but it was interesting that the audience 

appreciation was noticeably louder and longer 

for the second Russians. It was good to see 

Dorota and Mariusz overcoming their recent 

propensity for error, (the only fault being her 

two-footing of the triple toe) with a romantic 

“Warsaw Concerto” programme which really 

suited them. Nice to see them back on the 

podium. As for the others, Eva-Maria 

Fitze/Rico Rex (GER) improved on last year’s 

9th place, and I still like the second French 

couple Marilyn Pla/Yannick Bonheur. 

Unfortunately, they made a few mistakes in 

their “Tarzan” programme but I agree with 

Eurosport commentator Nicky Slater that 

there is scope for more on the same theme, 

and I am sure they are capable of it – he has 

good musical feel as well as strength, though 

it would be good if Marilyn could get rid of 

her frightened rabbit expression! 

Berenkova/Dlabola improved one place on last 

year, and he did have one fall and two-footed 

the double axel, but her leg extension and 

flexibility are something else – move over 

Sasha Cohen! One interesting fact is that the 

gold medallists’ coach Oleg Vassiliev had won 

his first European title in Budapest with 

partner Elena Valova exactly 20 years earlier. 

Back for a full day on Thursday with the 

Original Dance to look forward to in the 

afternoon and the Kerrs skating in the first 

group. Incidentally, during the course of 

each competition the media are supplied with 

sheets of “Quick Quotes” obtained from the 

skaters as they leave the ice after their 

performances. Usually, it is only the betterknown 

skaters who are included but the Kerrs 

have now officially “arrived” – they were 

featured after both the OD and FD. They 

have certainly been noticed – their innovative 

choreography and sheer energy and 

enjoyment come over so clearly that they are 

quite a breath of fresh air against more 

established couples who often seem to be just 

“going through the motions”. Their Atomic 

Fireballs Swing and Blues OD was well skated, 

and a 10th place in this section moved them 

up to a tantalising 11th – top 10 not 

impossible on Friday, or so we hoped. Near 

rivals Roxane Petetin/Mathieu Jost (FRA) are 

not my favourites as they are often too “Pair 

Skatery”, and indeed they had almost a 

“headbanger” move at the end which looked 

suspiciously illegal to me. They were 

overtaken by the Kerrs. The no. 1 French 

couple, Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder 

had a fall in their opening step sequence, (and 

I still think he looked like a railway guard) 

but they maintained their 4th place ahead of 

Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovsky (ISR), now 

coached by the impressive team of Tarasova, 

Usova and Platov. However, their costumes! 

My best description would be “biker bondage 

International 

Competition 

Reports 

with sequins” and totally over the top. 

Enough said perhaps… Albena and Maxim 

really didn’t thrill me too much with their 

OD, and their side by side footwork was not 

perfect, dropping them back to 3rd behind 

Elena and Ruslan who had skated a lot earlier. 

Coach Nikolai Morozov (probably with help 

from girlfriend Shae-Lynn Bourne) had put 

together a good OD for the Ukrainians, 

including a spin with a change of direction. 

Undoubted leaders were still Tatiana and 

Roman with the strongest edges of all and a 

really good spin and twizzles. The “home 

team” of Nora Hoffmann/Attila Elek having 

been (in my humble opinion as they say) 

overmarked in the CD (8th), their less than 

thrilling Rock n Roll dropped them to 10th – 

would the Kerrs incur the wrath of the crowd 

by deposing them from the top 10 in the Free 

Dance ??? Costume note : a couple of ladies 

wore trousers, which I didn’t think were 

allowed though I have since been told that 

this was permitted this year for these 

rhythms. Best-dressed is still Federica Faiella 

(ITA) for consistent good taste. 

Skating second in the Men’s Free, after 

Zoltan Toth who had been awarded a home 

country “bye”, Matthew Davies improved his 

placing to 23rd with a gutsy performance of 

5 triples and double axel to an orchestral 

medley of Beatles music, which works well. 

One or two others also redeemed themselves 

with good performances, in contrast to what 

had gone before. Stefan Lindemann fell on his 

quad toe, but the rest of the skate was good, 

with two triple axels (one with triple toe on 

the end). Stephane Lambiel finally smiled 

after landing quad-triple toe at the start of his 

programme. Despite a fall on the triple axel, 

he continued with triple flip-triple toe and 3 

other good triples as well as his fast spins, 

moving him up to 6th (12th in the short). 

Andrei Griazev received the approbation of 

Tatiana Tarasova, regaining 8th place with a 

beautiful triple axel-triple toe followed 

immediately by another axel, triple lutz and 

flip – with triple salchow-triple toe and triple 

loop to follow. Why he bothered with a 

double axel after that, I don’t know, but I 

think he was just carried away on the noise of 

the crowd. Fred Dambier was unable to edge 

out Ilia Klimkin for bronze, though he did try 

with two quad salchows (one in combo with 

triple toe) and two triple axels (one combined 

with double toe). I have to say Ilia deserved 

his medal; he has had a tough year with the 

death of his coach Igor Rusakov last summer 

in particular. He had to skate last, starting 

with triple axel-triple toe then going from a 

change foot (and direction) camel spin 

straight into triple salchow. He hit the quad 

toe in combination with a triple, but fell on 

the second quad and twice messed up on the 

flip. Maybe if he hadn’t, he could have even 

have had silver ahead of the previouslyinvincible-seeming 

Evgeni. What happened 

here – was it the knee? Once again, he 

presented us with a different programme 

from the Qualifier; this time his “Tribute to 

Nijinsky”. No problem on the opening quad 

toe-triple toe-double loop, but when it came 

to the triple axel everything looked wrong 

and he fell awkwardly. He went for the axel 

again – a single. Seeming determined to nail 

that one jump, he threw in a triple axel-triple 

toe-double loop combination but then went 

down on the triple flip. He looked all over the 

place for the rest of the programme and 

almost lost his final combination spin, after 

doubling the salchow. Brian Joubert had 

already skated another strong, determined 

version of “The Matrix” with two quad 

toeloops (one with triple toe), triple axel and 

everything else clean. The judges had 

obviously left room in their marks for 

Plushenko, but it was not needed. Brian 

Joubert was European Champion – stage 1 on 

his stated road to Olympic gold. Maybe an 

omen for him was that earlier in the day he 

had spoken to Alain Calmat – another 

Frenchman who had won the European title 

in Budapest, but 41 years earlier. (More trivia 

: all three Frenchmen who have ever won this 

title did so in Budapest – the other was Alain 

Giletti in 1955). 

The ladies finally got their first taste of 

action (albeit in an almost-empty arena at 

first) on Friday afternoon. Last year’s silver 

medallist Elena Sokolova (RUS) drew to skate 

first and doubled the second jump of her 

planned triple lutz-triple toe, two-footing the 

flip which followed. Not an auspicious start, 

leaving her in 6th at the end of the day. 

Conversely, Susanna Poykio (FIN) hit all her 

elements in an elegant programme which 

placed her 4th. I am afraid some of the next 

ladies were rather uninspiring, though the 

costumes gave us some amusement – 

particularly that of Anna Bernauer (LUX), 

skating to something called “Beyond 

Rangoon” in khaki and sporting what looked 

like a dead mongoose. Bland is the word that 

comes to my mind, even for Elena Liashenko 

(UKR) who gained second place with a solid 

technical skate (triple lutz-double toe, triple 

flip and double axel). By the time we got to 

no. 16 we managed to wake up, with the 

crowd ecstatically supporting Julia Sebestyen 

(HUN) through her Shostakovich Waltz 

programme with the same elements as 

Liashenko but with a lightness and joy rather 

lacking in the Ukrainian’s skating. She was 

first, but it was the 29th to skate who really 

got the crowd going. Viktoria Pavuk (HUN) 

had the skate of her life – starting with triple 

lutz-triple toe, triple flip and double axel, this 

17 year old in her first Europeans grabbed 3rd 

place. Our own Jenna McCorkell had skated 

26th, starting with a good triple lutz-double 

toe, but she put a hand down on the triple 


Competition 

Reports 

loop and singled the axel. Her 20th place was 

a big disappointment and we all wondered if 

she was unwell – it later transpired that she 

was, and I heard her coughing badly – though 

at no time did she herself complain or use it as 

an excuse. 

Hungarians appear to love their ice dancing. 

The only capacity crowd of the week was for 

the Free Dance on Friday evening, and were 

they appreciative! Actually, for all of the 

British spectators, this was the highlight of 

the week as well as one of the most nervewracking 

– would the Kerrs crack the top 10 

and make Sportscotland eat their hats for 

stopping their funding ? We would have to 

wait till group 3 to get some idea. However 

harsh it may sound, the French threat was 

removed when Roxane had a bad fall on an 

early lift and they stayed 12th. Some of the 

couples’ music has become boring through 

overuse – Cabaret, Toccata and Fugue, 

Carmina Burana, Xotica etc – and another 

couple used “The Matrix” like the Kerrs. 

However, there was no comparison – the 

Italians Alessia Aureli/Andrea Vaturi skated 

with it in the background, whereas Sinead 

and John lived the programme (and we lived 

each energy-charged moment with them). 

From the original opening pose to the final 

spin, through Sinead’s handstand on John’s 

leg and her carrying him on her back, the 

audience went wild. The support was 

deafening, so it was just as well the music 

was loud! Would it be enough? Would the 

judges like it? It seemed they did – I travelled 

back to the hotel on a bus full of judges that 

night, and they were enthusing about our 

couple which was great to hear. It was 

perhaps a shame it had to be the Hungarians 

to make way for that 10th place, but their 

free dance bore no real comparison – it was 

clumsy and slow compared to the British one. 

The final group was opened by Elena and 

Ruslan, back in their normal chiffon rags this 

time though with a slightly calmer 

programme than usual, and all the better for 

that. Their lifts were good but there did not 

seem a lot of edge work. It was enough to 

give them bronze, with Isabelle and Olivier 

staying in 4th with their slightly-odd 

“Merlin” by the ubiquitous Maxim 

Rodriguez. I noted that Galit Chait “spent a 

lot of time in the splits position” during their 

Fellini “Clowns” programme (Tarasova is 

really into clowns, isn’t she?). They stayed 

5th. As I felt at Lalique, Albena and Maxim’s 

free dance is a wee bit too traditional for me. 

I like them when they are being slightly 

offbeat, not joining in the “armwaving school 

of over-dramatisation”. However, their basic 

skating skills are so good and their originality 

shows in the spin and lift positions – one lift 

in particular could have been nasty if it went 

wrong as Albena’s leg was wrapped around 

Maxim’s neck as he skated a spread in a 

crouched position (if you understand what I 

mean…) They seemed content with a silver 

medal, as it was pretty much a foregone 

conclusion that Tatiana and Roman would 

have the gold. To my mind, it was fairly 

close as the Russians’ “Pink Panther” and 

“Austin Powers” could maybe have been more 

dynamic, though their technique was 

excellent. A great evening. 

The Ladies’ free skate on Saturday 

afternoon saw Jenna McCorkell having drawn 

to skate first. If it was a daunting prospect 

for her, it did not show. This was, I think, 

the best I have seen Jenna perform – from the 

opening triple lutz-double salchow, 

everything seemed to go right. Five more 

triples – flip, toeloop, lutz alone, loop, 

salchow (combined with double toe) as well as 

double axel (well, slightly over-rotated) and a 

confident-looking performance kept Jenna in 

first place for a good deal of the day. In fact, 

she finished 11th in the free skate, giving her 

14th overall. As she had been 20th in the 

short, this was an amazing leap, but fully 

deserved. After that, there was not a lot of 

excitement until the final group of skaters. 

Young Viktoria Pavuk looked rather 

immature alongside the rest in this group, 

despite technical expertise that included triple 

lutz-triple toe combination. She dropped back 

to 4th, but still ahead of Susanna Poykio 

(6th), who two-footed her triple salchow – an 

elegant skate but a little lacking in interest – 

and Carolina Kostner (ITA), who was 5th. 

Carolina burst onto the scene last year, but 

has had a number of problems this season. 

She did triple flip-triple toe but wobbled on 

the landing, as well as two-footing the triple 

lutz, and her presentation has not really 

matured as yet. Watch this space, though! 

Of the prospective medallists, Elena Liashenko 

skated first, completing all her planned 

elements (two triple-double combos; lutz-toe 

and flip-toe) to add to her success this season 

with the silver medal. Elena Sokolova 

completed two triple-triple combinations 

(lutz-toe and salchow-toe) but doubled the 

lutz alone. Quality skating moved her up 

from 6th to take bronze, though she was 

actually 2nd in the free. You could hardly 

hear Julia Sebestyen’s music! Skating a Tango 

programme in dark red with black trim, she 

opened with triple salchow, triple lutz-double 

toe and triple loop before doubling the lutz 

alone. As I think I have said before, her 

jumps are so light and she skated with real 

verve. After completing triple flip then triple 

toe (stepped off)-double toe and double axel, 

she relaxed into her straight line step sequence 

and the noise was absolutely deafening during 

her final spin. When the marks came up, the 

roof almost came off. The first European 

Ladies’ title for Hungary and, indeed the first 

European gold for them in any discipline since 

1955.

COACHES 

'Coaches Corner' is a regular feature of Ice Link 

and gives full details of seminars, education 

programmes and items of general interest both 

for Coaches and skaters alike. 

Following the recent resignation of Peter 

Morrissey as Coaching Director on the NISA 

Board, Simon Briggs has been co-opted to 

succeed Peter in this important role. Simon is 

currently an NCCP level 3 coach working at 

Dundee, wher he has a number of skaters 

competing at National level in both singles and 

pairs. Over the next few weeks, Simon, 

together with his executive suport will be 

working to pull together his coaching sub-group 

in order that we can start to drive forward the 

coaching agenda and meet the objectives set 

out within the NISA four year Strategic Plan. 

The Board of Directors look forward to 

welcoming Simon to his first Board meeting on 

27th April 2004 and working with him during the 

next two years. 

We must also pass our grateful thanks to Peter 

Level 1 Verity Louise Brown; Alessandro Di Pietranto; 

John Hamer; David Mumby; Mechelle Rist; Shelley 

Tapsell; David Wilson 

Level 2 Greta Dabek; Claire Frost; Richard Rowlands; 

Rochelle Scott 

Level 3 Dawn Kalber; Karen Martin; Amanda Raworth 

Simon Briggs appointed NISA Coaching Director 

CORNER 

Simon pictured with pairs skaters Stephanie 

Smith & Jaymes Monte from Dundee 

Morrissey for all his hard work and dedication to 

the Association and wish him well for the future. 

Congratulations to coaches on recent NCCP Passes 

Revalidations 

Level 3 Simon Briggs (Free & Pairs) 

Level 4 Joy Sutcliffe (Figure); Peter Morrissey (Figure); 

Dawn Peckitt (Figure); Karen Fletcher (Figure) 

Level 5 Debbie Briggs; Jimmy Young 

NIC to stage Synchro Intern'l 

The National Ice Centre is awaiting confirmation from the ISU to hold an international 

synchronized skating competition at the National Ice Centre 2-6th March 2005. This will be 

the first international synchronized skating competition that Great Britain has hosted. 

The competition will have three competition categories-Novice, Junior and Senior. The 2nd March 

Wednesday is held for unofficial practice sessions, with Thursday 3rd March ior official practices. 

Thursday 4th -6th March is the international competition. (Exact timings are dependent on the 

number of teams entering) 

“We are delighted at the National Ice Centre to be able to hold such an event. Synchronised skating 

is developing fast within Great Britain and it is important that we seek to drive this energy and 

enthusiasm forward by attracting teams from all over the world to compete at an event in Great 

Britain. This can only encourage more skaters to become involved in the sport and raise the sports 

both regionally and nationally.” Cath Barker Sports Development Manager. 

An information leaflet has been distributed at the World Synchronized Skating Championships and is 

available on request for the event. All information regarding the event will be posted in good time 

for the event via the website, including application forms, timetables, preferential rates with hotels 

and coach companies. Visitors requiring further assistance can email their query through via 

cath.barker@national-ice-centre.com or donna.gately@national-ice-centre.com 

Teams taste French success 

We have just come back 

Lee Valley had their Mixed Age 

from Compiegne in Nottingham Synchro Team team skate and they came 1st. 

France from an 

Manager Sue Shephard Which was absolutely wonderful. 

International Competition where sends us this news 

It was so great to have them 

the Nottingham Novice team 

there and supporting us and our 

(Shadows, pictured below) came 7 out of 14. team supporting them all from Great Britain and 

Teams were from all over the world, Czech flying the union jack flag. The noise we all made 

Republic, Switzerland, Croasia, etc. This was a when each team skated was deafening. The 

fantastic experience for all our skaters. 

atmosphere was absolutely fantastic. We at 

Everything went smoothly and we would like to Nottingham are very proud of this team, infact of 

thank parents for their help. 

all the squad of skaters we have. We now have 

Chris Buchanan who was the Referee gave a little the taste of Internationals and we have been 

feed back and said that this was a high standard invited to The Czech Republic and The 

of synchronized skating and for our team to Netherlands, so we will be working hard now to 

come 7th place was a fantastic achievement. do some fundraising and hopefully will be able 

to take more of our teams next time. 


THE 'SYNCHRO' 

P 

Update on 

Synchro news 

Synchro World 

Championships 

A 

G 

The fifth World Synchronized Skating Championships 

commenced on Friday 2nd April, in Zagreb, Croatia with the 

Short Program with the top two teams closely matched. Team 

E 

Sweden 1, winners in 2003, 2001 and 2000, skated to music from the 

film Matrix Reloaded and was second after the Short Program. A minor error 

(a stumble in the open block) may have lost them first place. The leading team, 

Finland 1, skated to the Rocky IV soundtrack and was almost faultless. 

There was a tense atmosphere for the second and the final day. Team Finland 1 (2002 World 

Champions) and Team Sweden 1 (2003 World Champions) battled for the gold. 

Team Finland 2 skated to the soundtrack from Evita. Dressed in white, they skated their sophisticated 

program with grace and elegance. Their excellent lifts and unison were rewarded with marks for 

technical merit from 5,5 to 5,7 and from 5,7 to 5,9 for presentation. Finland 2 achieved their stated 

objective of winning the bronze medal. 

Team Sweden 1 was able to perform their program to music from Gladiator without the added 

burden of being in the lead. The reigning World Champions skated their beautifully choreographed 

routine with heart and power but an unfortunate fall from one skater during the intersection at the 

end of the program proved costly. The marks were between 5,5 and 5,8 for technical merit and 

from 5,8 to 5,9 for presentation. The team was disappointed with the fall but otherwise it was an 

excellent performance. 

Team Finland 1 had chosen a mixture of music (In the Dungeons and Cu Chullain). They began their 

program with a dramatic lift, which set the tone for the whole performance. The lifts were 

spectacular and the program was packed with difficult steps. Finland 1 received marks between 5,6 

and 5,9 for technical merit and between 5,7 and 5,9 for presentation, which earned them the gold 

medal. Coach Ms Anu Jaaskelainen said that the team was delighted to be at the World 

Championships in Zagreb. She was very happy and proud of her skaters for staying so calm and 

relaxed. The team captain said: “We were very excited, we were anxious and all we wanted to do 

since we woke up is to skate our program. We skated with our hearts”. 

Finland, Sweden, Canada, USA and Germany earned the right to enter two teams at the 2005 World 

Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. 

The standard of performances in Zagreb demonstrated that Synchronized Skating continues to 

develop rapidly. At the 2004 ISU Congress delegates will decide whether next year’s World 

Championships will be conducted using the New Judging System, which was tested at the 

Neuchatel Trophy in Switzerland in February. 

Basingstoke's Team Storm represented Great Britain and skated very creditably to secure 21st 

position. 

FPl. Name SP FS 

1 Team Finland 1 1 1 

2 Team Sweden 1 2 2 

3 Team Finland 2 3 3 

4 Team U.S.A. 1 4 4 

5 Team Germany 1 5 5 

6 Team Canada 2 6 6 

7 Team Canada 1 7 7 

8 Team Russia 8 8 

9 Team U.S.A. 2 9 9 

10 Team Czech Rep 10 10 

11 Team Japan 11 11 

12 Team Sweden 2 13 12 

13 Team Germany 2 12 13 

14 Team Switzerland 15 14 

15 Team Italy 16 15 

16 Team France 14 16 

17 Team Croatia 17 17 

18 Team Hungary 18 18 

19 Team S Africa 20 19 

20 Team Austria 19 20 

21 Team Great Britain 21 21 

22 Team Australia 22 22 

23 Team Netherlands 23 23 

British coaches learn at Worlds 

As part of the NISA development programme for skating, several key British Synchro 

Coaches from around the country were selected to travel to the Synchro World 

Championships in Zagreb to learn from the World's top coaches. This visit was funded 

from surplusses arising from the British Synchro Championships. 

Pictured at Zagreb: Jimmy Young, Simon Jenkins, Danni Goldi, Judy Clinton and British judge Noel Grimshaw 

The selected four coaches all have teams or are 

currently developing teams – Danni Goldie (Lee 

Valley), Simon Jenkins (Slough), Jimmy Young 

(Sheffield) and Judy Clinton (Inverness), and will 

report back to NISA and the Synchro Technical 

Committee regarding the current standards and 

techniques of the world class teams as well as 

their own comments and recommendations as 

to possible ways to develop this discipline in 

the UK. Each coach was attached to a top team 

for the duration of their visit. Judy and Danni 

worked together and followed Team Canada 1 

and Finland 1. Jimmy was with Sweden 1 and 

Simon USA 1. It was an exciting week with top 

teams pushing the standards to new levels. In 

the coming weeks and months ahead, it is the 

intention that their experiences from Zagreb will 

be passed on to other Synchro coaches and 

teams in the UK to help further develop this 

exciting branch of the sport in the UK.


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SKATEWATCH April 2004 p3 (Appendix) 

PAIRS 

International 

Competition 

Reports 

World Championships 

‘Russia versus China round 

2’ - The mini battle between the 

Russian and Chinese pair 

skaters, which began at last 

year’s World championship, 

was set to continue here in 

Dortmund. 

The contest between the reigning champions 

and their bridesmaids fizzled out very early 

on in the short programme when Hongbo 

Zhao surprisingly fell on his solo triple toe. 

The rest of Shen-Zhao’s routine to ‘Kismet’ 

looked unsettled and the judges did not 

hesitate to dump them in 4th, making their 

victory an unlikely event. 

The reigning European Champions, 

Totmianina-Marinin, saw the opening and 

grasped the opportunity with both hands. 

Skating last, they delivered a beautifully 

smooth programme to ‘ Variations on a 

theme of Paganini’ picking up a 6.0 along the 

way. 

The European silver medallists Petrova- 

Tikhonov were also in superb form, 

completing the same elements as all the top 

five couples. Their solo triple toes and thrown 

triple loop were perfect and they finished the 

evening a very promising 2nd. 

The younger, machine like consistent Chinese 

couples, Pang-Tong and Zhang-Zhang 

wowed the audience with their usual 

mammoth elements. Their trademarks include 

enormous thrown triple loops and twist lifts 

that seem to never come down. 

Pang-Tong skating to a slightly more 

polished and mature ‘Illumination’ finished 

3rd, with the younger Zhangs placing 5th 

with their bluesy ‘Joe Satriani’ programme. 

Very few other couples made any impact that 

night. The Canadians Langlois-Archetto, 5th 

last year, could only manage 8th place, 

despite a very interesting Lawrence of Arabia. 

The youngest Russian duo, trained by the 

infamous Tamara Moskvina, skated a clean 

‘Flamenco’ and showed a lot of promise 

placing 7th. Both couples though, were 

beaten by Zagorska-Siduek who are the 

perennial favourites of the judges and were 

yet again highly rewarded, despite having 

some major finesse and polish problems. 

It was all China versus Russia in the free. 

Pang-Tong skating two from last, delivered a 

technically perfect routine with all the 

massive elements being reeled off with 

consummate ease. They showed more polish 

and unison than years gone by and even 

picked up a very generous 6.0 for artistic 

impression. Totmianina-Marinin only needed 

to finish 2nd in the free portion to take away 

their first gold medal. Dropping their ‘Cotton 

Club’ routine for a much more interesting 

piece of music of Edvin Marton, they had 

silky smooth skating, with unparalleled 

unison and crispness to every move. 

The only criticism would be, that all the big 

elements were completed by the two-minute 

mark, making the routine slightly top heavy. 

They too, picked up a perfect 6.0 for 

presentation. The Chinese skating last, knew 

they could no longer win and thus had 

absolutely nothing to lose. They gained a 

massive standing ovation and twelve perfect 

6.0s skating a wondrous ‘Nutcracker’ 

routine. The elements were the same as 

almost all the couples in the top 10, but it 

was the rest of the program that brought the 

house down. The complexity of the 

choreography, the entries in and out of the 

elements, and a very important ability to 

convey emotion, something the almost 

clinical Totmianina-Marinin are still unable to 

do. 

The road to the Turin Olympics has been set. 

Three Russian couples will take on three 

Chinese. Apart from a new promising 

Canadian team of Marcoux-Buntin, those six 

are way ahead of the game at the moment. It 

remains to be seen whether Totmianina- 

Marinin can in the next couple of years, 

deliver routines that will stir the audience and 

make them real gold medal contenders 

without banking on a mistake from their 

leading rivals. 

MENS 

‘Plushenko and the rest’ 

The men’s event did not start off on the right 

foot, when the qualifying rounds drew two 

very uneven groups. Around fourteen 

extremely heavy hitters drew to skate in 

group B, while the remaining six or seven 

ended up in group A. 

Emmanuel Sandhu of Canada fell and was 

rather uninspired and lethargic but still 

managed a quad and seven triples to take the 

lead above the European champion Brian 

Joubert. The Frenchman did not fall and 

performed the same amount of jumps, 

however his artistry, spins and footwork 

were not a patch on the Canadian. The 

brilliant Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland 

ended up in 3rd. The controversy of the 

morning was the US champion Johnny Weir 

who skated a majestic Dr Zhivago routine, 

complete with 7 triples. He did not have the 

quad but artistry and elegance to rival the 

very best. Skating early in the morning, in an 

almost empty arena, the impact of the routine 

suffered and he found himself in a very 

unjustified 7th. 


Competition 

Reports 

Group A was a walk in the park 

for Plushenko. European Bronze 

Albert Saadi reports 

medallist Klimkin ended up 

from Dortmund second with his trademark 

March 2004 

original moves. Stefan 

Lindemann boosted by his 

home crowd, gave one of the 

performances of his career, to beat the likes of 

Michael Weiss for 3rd spot in his group. 

Neil Wilson who just squeezed through the 

qualification opened the night of the short 

programme with a superb short to music by 

‘Bond’. His spins were fantastic, his steps 

difficult and he finally landed his nemesis 

triple Axel. The low marks of 4,0 did not 

reflect his programme whatsoever; they were 

rather due to his early skating order. 

Johnny Weir skating early on, got rewarded 

this time with a 4th place in the short and 

vaulted up to 6th overall. His ‘Valse Triste’ by 

Sebelius was simply exquisite, his extension, 

polish and line were far more interesting than 

any triple axel-triple toe combination he 

completed. 

Plushenko’s ‘Flamenco’ short was flawless 

including a quad-triple toe combination, and a 

blistering straight-line step sequence. He 

would not be defeated. Joubert proved that 

his European gold was no fluke and 

completed the same elements as his Russian 

rival. His programme choreographed by, en 

vogue choreographer Nikolai Morozov, had 

all the trademark moves that have made this 

former ice dancer so popular in the last couple 

of years. Lindemann continued his dream 

start with a clean short to the ‘Earnest’ 

soundtrack. His jumps were enormous and 

errors from Weiss and Lambiel kept him in an 

unheralded 3rd spot. 

The disaster of the evening belonged to the 

ever-underachieving Sandhu who fell twice on 

the quad and triple Axel. His Tango short 

program was an absolute gem; it would not 

have looked out of place in the dance event. 

Unfortunately without the jumps no amount 

of talent will save you, Sandhu tumbled to 

13th on the short and out of the final flight. 

Rumours behind the scenes were that his 

coach Joanne McLeod had reached the end of 

her patience and a never mentioned before 

split was on the cards. 

The free programme was one of the highest 

standard competitions ever witnessed at world 

level. Five of the six skaters in the last group 

received standing ovations. 

Weir moved up again and ended up in 5th 

place; he reprised his Dr Zhivago and skated 

flawlessly to complete eight triples. This time 

the judges woke up and gave him marks as 

high as 5.8. When this skater gets a quad in 

his arsenal, there is no end to what he might 

achieve. 

Stephane Lambiel must have thought he had a 

medal sewn up after delivering the 

performance of his life including two quads 

and spins unrivalled by anyone in the world. 

The crowd were on their feet before he had 

finished. Unfortunately marks as high as 5.9 

could not see him on the podium, thus the 

standard of the competition. 

The bronze belonged to Lindemann, the 

hometown boy put his hand down on the 

quad and his artistry and spins were nowhere 

near as strong as Lambiel, but we were in 

Germany and the crowd were not going to be 

denied their medal. 

Brian Joubert tried everything in his power to 

keep Plushenko off the top spot but despite a 

clean programme, with two quads and all the 

other triples, his artistic marks would not be 

enough. A slight criticism would be that he 

did not land any triple-triple combinations, 

while all the men around him did. 

Skating last and completing two quads and a 

triple axel-triple flip combination Plushenko 

secured the title. We were headed for a 

barrage of 6.0s until disaster struck on the 

way into the triple loop, and Evgeny ended up 

on his backside before he even took off. The 

fall detracted greatly from the majesty of the 

programme and unfortunately four of the 

judges decided to ignore the fall and rewarded 

him with a perfect 6.0 

In years to come Plushenko will be pushed all 

the way by, Daisuke Takashi, a brilliant new 

Japanese export, Weir, Lambiel and Joubert if 

they all stay healthy. 

The Russian will have to up the level of his 

choreography; many experts complained that 

his free was rather devoid of any artistic 

substance. It was his beautiful skating ability 

and superb jumping technique that gave him 

the edge, not his presentation. 

DANCE 

‘Much ado about nothing’ 

The competition in the compulsory dance was 

hardly nail biting as most couples that were 

vying for similar places drew to skate in 

different groups. Navka-Kostomarov who are 

yet to be defeated this season, trounced the 

rest of the group with a commanding 

Midnight Blues, which never lacked control 

and played on their excellent extension and 

unison. Winkler-Lohse who have been out for 

most of the season, and indeed most of the 

previous two, were welcomed back warmly 

by the audience and the judges. The Germans 

were very generously put into second, despite 

not demonstrating much speed or strength of 

edge. The French team of Delobel-Schoenfelder 

were considerably stronger and displayed 

excellent edge control and lobes that far 

surpassed those of the Germans. Alas this was 

ice dance and the writing was firmly on the 

wall. 

Group A was won by Denkova-Stavisky who 

were very strong but did seem to be out of 

time on more than one occasion. The very 

scratchy Grushina-Goncharov used their very 

powerful skating to hammer through the 

dance placing second ahead of the very 

smooth Canadians Dubreuil-Lauzon. In a 

disappointing 4th place were Belbin-Agosto. 

The US team who skated first, looked a bit 

weak. At this stage of their career, she doesn’t 

possess enough strength in her edges to make 

this dance seem commanding enough. 

All in all the general trend of weak 

compulsories from the last few season, just 

seems to continue. Even Navka-Kostomarov 

who had the best blues of the afternoon were 

nothing to write home about. This discipline 

is sorely lacking in practice and nobody seems 

to care. 

The real battle began in the original dance, 

which this year was a Swing combination. 

Once again Navka-Kostomarov performing a 

blues and rock n’ roll routine out skated 

everyone else by a considerable margin, even 

picking up a 6.0. Their straight-line step 

sequence on one foot was powerful and 

included very well performed twizzles. 

Although the programme is by no means the 

most intricate, her presentation in particular, 

is unrivalled. 

The Bulgarians started off their blues 

beautifully to ‘It’s Man’s Man’s world’, 

displaying crisp and difficult footwork in 

their diagonal step sequence. However their 

Swing segment almost looked glued on as an 

after thought, and failed to demonstrate any 

feel of ballroom dancing. Recreating the 

ballroom essence is one of the main aspects of 

the original dance exercise. 

Grushina- Goncharov seem to be 

mysteriously pleasing the judges with their 

frantic and scratchy routine this season. The 

Swing was snappy, but the footwork is 

laboured, the weight is not always on the 

right part of the skate, and he is completely 

out skated by his partner on every occasion. 

It was unbelievably close between all the 

couples from 4th to 8th but the ‘let’s treat the 

hosts well’ continued for Winkler-Lohse. 

Their programmes do not contain the same 

content as any of the couples in the top flight, 

by they did capture the ballroom aspect very 

well and as always, they looked beautifully 

turned out and very polished. 

The Americans were unlucky to end up as 

low as 5th. This perky original dance suits 

their yet to mature style perfectly and they 

sold the dance very well. Their straight-line 

step sequence included a beautiful set of 

‘turbo’ twizzles, each skater performing four 

revolutions on each foot. 

The French who have been receiving rave 

reviews all year for their original dance were 

not on form. He has a very severe cut on his 

hand, which lead them to change both lifts to 

simply them. Their footwork was perhaps the 

most complex of all the couples but they 

placed 6th missing out on the final group by 

one vote. 

Their training partners, Dubreuil-Lauzon of 

Canada skated beautifully to ‘Americano’ and 

despite having the best lifts in the business 

their footwork is not quite crisp enough. 

The real disappointment of the afternoon 

came from the Israeli partnership of Chait- 

Sakhnovsky. This couple marred in 

controversy over the last few years after 

being unceremoniously dumped by the 

judges, continued their free fall with Galit 

taking a tumble on the twizzles. 

Ice Dance judging has never been the most 

credible part of the discipline and the judges 

continued to make a mockery of their sport 

by handing Navka-Kostomarov nine perfect 

6.0s for their Pink Panther routine. The 

couple have beautiful skating ability and great 

presentation skills but the superlatives end 

there. The program was simple, open, and in 

no way demonstrated anything new. The 6.0s 

were absolutely ludicrous; their overall 

victory was not. 

The Bulgarians, who had hoped for gold here, 

after garnering four first places in the 

European championships, were not as strong 

as in Budapest. Their ‘Handel’ program is 

infinitely more complex than the Russians but 

somehow the frantic footwork leads to a lack 

of finesse. Another major downfall would be 

Albena’s inability to portray any type of 

emotion one ice. They too picked up a couple 

of 6.0s. 

The Germans were groomed for this bronze 

and the 10, 000 people could have only 

helped. Skating to a patchwork of unrelated 

music, Winkler-Lohse looked fluid and really 

did dance. It wasn’t difficult, it wasn’t genius, 

it was simple dancing reared on by a home 

crowed. They received a very silly 6.0 for 

presentation, but it was their 5.6 to 5.8 

technical range which was heavily inflated. 

Grushina-Goncharov were aggrieved to be 

dropped to 4th, but their routine was 

uninspiring, repetitive, and had very little 

rhyme or reason to it. Their major trump 

card was a beautiful circular step sequence 

and her excellent quality of skating. 

The real losers of the night were Belbin- 

Agosto who should be forgiven for skating to 

‘West Side Story’ as they performed a 

beautiful routine, which hid all their 

International 

Competition 

Reports 

shortcomings very well. The US team were 

truly dancing, not just posing and acting, and 

their step sequences were some of the best of 

the night. 

Everyone below was fighting for 6th spot, 

with the French showing off their usual mind 

mending changes of hold and non-stop 

intricate footwork. Unfortunately they lack a 

certain charisma and their ‘Merlin’ routine, 

despite all its difficulty barely kept them in 

6th. 

The Israelis had something to prove and raced 

through their routine with their usual flair, 

panache and over the top expression. The 

presentation was superb and so were many of 

the lifts. Since returning to Tatiana Tarassova 

though, their old bad habits have crept up 

again; constant running on the toes and 

enough toe steps to sink a battle ship. The 

two required step sequences were also a tad 

repetitive, the main focal point being Sergei 

twizzling Galit in every direction. 

The Israelis were lucky to hold off Dubreuil- 

Lauzon, who had a steamy tango that 

included a minor mistake on a solo twizzle. 

They skated with a certain class not 

demonstrated by many of the couples ahead 

of them however their skating doesn’t seem to 

have a lot of rise and fall in it, the knees seem 

perpetually bent giving the programme a 

rather laboured look to it. 

Our British representatives were once again 

one of the most popular couples in the entire 

event. They finished a very promising 14th 

place beating some seasoned campaigners. 

Their midnight blues was a marked 

improvement on some of the compulsories 

they skated early on in the season; they used 

their deep knee bend very well to capture the 

sultry feel of the blues. Their swing and blues 

original dance was precise and a lot of fun, 

receiving marks as high as 5.4. 

The ‘Matrix’ free dance was a rousing success; 

the programme was loaded with new original 

moves and John’s personality shone out as 

usual. As in Budapest the crowd absolutely 

loved them. 

‘Surprise’ was the operative word in the press 

conference. The Germans claimed they were 

thrilled and surprised by their bronze medal, 

although uncertain about their future in 

eligible skating. While the winners were 

simply surprised by the number of 6.0s. So 

were we… 

The entire dance event was ‘much ado about 

nothing’. The winning free dance was 

possibly one of the simplest routines of the 

final two groups and indeed one of least 

inspiring of the last few years. The top nine 

couples seem to be of very similar abilities, 

each having their own strength and 

weaknesses but rarely seeming to change 

positions. Technical difficulty is overlooked 

and taking risks with extra footwork and 

changes of hold is very seldom rewarded. 

Bulgaria and France take note. 

LADIES 

‘The Japanese Revolution’ 

Michelle Kwan was the heavy favourite to 

pick up her sixth world crown despite 

showing very little improvement in her 

skating since she first captured her first gold 

back in 1996. 

Her main rival Sasha Cohen who 

mysteriously left, the grande dame of skating 

Tatiana Tarassova, to train with Robin 

Wagner, won her group convincingly 

completing 6 triples to an exquisite, newly 

touched up Swan Lake routine. Placing second 

and third respectively, were Sokolova last 

year’s silver medallist and Sebestyen the 

European champion. 

Jenna McCorkell just squeezed through 

qualifications with a nightmare showing 

which included three falls on the lutz, loop 

and double axel. Her skating ability and 

finesse saw her through but she was lucky to 

be in the easier group. 

Group A was loaded with top skaters, indeed 

last year’s bronze medallist, didn’t perform 

badly but ended up in 8th. Viktoria 

Volchkova was called back on the World team 

after the disastrous showing of her younger 

compatriots at Europeans but five mammoth 

triples could see her no higher than 7th. 

The afternoon belonged to the Japanese army. 

Shizuka Arakawa one of Cohen’s biggest 

rivals on the Grand Prix circuit this year, 

skated a beautiful programme to ‘Turandot’ 

including a triple salchow-triple toe 

combination with superb basic stroking skills. 

Miki Ando the 16 year-old junior World and 

Japanese champion unleashed a plethora of 

triple jumps to ‘Firebird’ and wound up above 

Kwan. 

The reigning champion once again delivered 

the same type of programme as the last 3 or 4 

years. The routines are polished, contain 

beautiful and solid jumps, but little else. The 

spins are slow, the spirals get shorter every 

year, and there is very little of any substance 

happening between the jumps. Irina 

Slutskaya, who has been battling a very 

severe mystery illness since summer, should 

be commended for just showing up at these 

championships. Skating a new routine to 

‘Wonderland’ she looked understandably slow 

and indeed fell on the triple lutz. The judges 

welcomed her back warmly placing her a 

controversial and high 6th above Volchkova 

and Suguri. 

Jenna McCorkell redeemed herself in the short 

programme completing a clean triple loop out 

of steps, good spirals and a high double axel. 


Competition 

Reports 

She stepped out of the combination, which 

cost her, but she made it into the finals. 

Carolina Kostner of Italy brought the 

afternoon alive with an incredibly fast routine 

to ‘Secret Garden’. Her gorgeous skating 

ability was completed with a triple flip-triple 

toe combination and a standing ovation. 

Kwan reprised last year’s short and despite 

skating it flawlessly, her lack of triple-triple 

could not keep her above 4th place. She also 

picked up a time violation for skating over the 

required time; the Americans made a big song 

and dance about it to no avail. 

Miki Ando looked even more impressive than 

in qualifying, completing what is likely to be 

one of the most difficult short programmes in 

ladies history. She landed a triple lutz-triple 

loop combination and had no visible 

weaknesses in any other aspect of her skating. 

The afternoon belonged to Arakawa and 

Cohen who were simply awesome. Arakawa 

landed a clean triple lutz-triple toe, showed 

greater presentation and a very original 

modern version of Swan Lake. Despite no a 

triple-triple combination Cohen’s Malaguena 

got it for her on the presentation with four 

deserved 6.0s. Her spirals, spins and 

choreography were simply magical and the 

little Californian dynamo was looking good 

for gold. 

As at Europeans McCorkell skated first. She 

completed three clean triples but fell twice on 

the lutz and flip in her Vanessa Mae 

programme. Jenna who seems to have 

moulded herself on Viktoria Volchkova needs 

to pick a more dynamic piece of music for 

next year and find a style all her own. 

The Russians disappointing season continued, 

having skated a very good qualification and 

short and still only managing an astounding 

12th place, Volchkova crumbled and fell three 

times. The judges who had been roasting her 

all week did not hesitate to continue and she 

finished a disastrous 15th. Conversely 

Slutskaya who had skated a bad qualifying 

and short, but was getting rewarded for her 

unbelievable bravery, cracked in the free too. 

The Russian ladies will only get two entries in 

next year’s Worlds in their home country. 

After yet another flawless skate, Arakawa 

was crowned world champion. She completed 

two triple-triple combinations, had beautiful 

spirals and Ina Bauer’s and lacked absolutely 

nothing in her skating. Had she not skated 

first, she would have been showered with 

6.0s, instead she received just one for technical 

merit. 

Sasha Cohen wasn’t as good as in qualifying 

and could only manage 3rd in the free skating 

portion for silver overall. She had a difficult 

landing on her opening lutz and made a 

mistake on the triple salchow. The rest of her 

magic didn’t come through but miraculously 

three judges had her above Arakawa. 

Just as Kwan was about to skate, a deranged 

man managed to find himself all the way 

down onto the ice surface. He had a website 

address printed on his bare chest. The security 

that should be reprimanded, took their time 

before getting him off the ice. Kwan the queen 

of the World championships showed her 

nerves of steal and skated a beautifully 

composed Tosca. She managed 6 clean triples 

and her excellent quality garnered her six 

perfect 6.0s. She took second place on the free 

and moved herself up to the bronze. She now 

has a full set of world medals. 

At the press conference she amused the media 

by saying that she thought the man who 

came on the ‘was an awfully tall flower girl’. 

She also mused that it was probably the ISU 

trying to punish her for her time violation in 

the short programme. 

The Japanese Revolution has begun, 16 years 

after Midori Ito landed the first triple axel at 

Worlds and 10 years after Yuka Sato won 

gold in the Worlds in Chiba, Japan have a 

world champion an all their ladies placed in 

the top 7. If Kwan or Cohen are to contend 

with these girls they need to up their technical 

ante quite considerably. 

CONCLUSION 

These very smoothly organised world 

championships concluded an incredibly long 

season for all the elite skaters. The major 

story of the event was the unparalleled 

standard of the figure skating events. Nobody 

can remember a pairs, men’s or indeed ladies 

competition with so many flawless and wellpackaged 

routines. Not only was the technical 

level at its highest but skaters like Arakawa, 

Cohen, Weir and Plushenko excelled in every 

aspect of their sport. 

The state of the dance event remains a bit 

worrying but this discipline has had bad years 

before and bounced back in style the 

following season. By far the biggest 

disappointment was the 6.0 free for all. Over 

forty perfect marks were awarded for 

programmes that in years gone by would 

have never received such accolades. This 

inflation fest, devalues the sport, its scoring 

system and the truly deserved 6.0s of years 

gone by.

Ice Link issue 54 (Page 3) - National Ice Skating Association

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