#2018 Finlandia Trophy

[figureskatingcostumes]

Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii skating to The Nutcracker at the 2018 Finlandia Trophy.

(Photos by Antti Lehto)

[allekha]

Fun With Jump Arm Variations

When jumping, different skaters put their arms in different places, but generally they are pressed flat against the torso, especially on higher-revolution jumps. This compressed shape increases the skater’s rotational speed, which is important for attempting triples and quads.

But as anyone who has watched much skating has seen, you can jump with your arms in different positions, too. There are two main arm variations you will see in modern skating programs:

One arm above the head - these are nicknamed ‘tanos’ after Brian Boitano, who did not invent but did popularize the variation. Ones where the arm is bent a lot may be derisively nicknamed ‘helicopter tanos’, as some fans don’t like how they look. (Brian Boitano 1988 Olympics SP, Brian Orser 1988 Olympics SP, Petra Burka 1965 FS, Wendy Burge 1976 Olympics FS, Ekaterina Kurakova 2022 Euros FS)

Two arms above the head - these are nicknamed ‘rippons’ after Adam Rippon, who also did not invent them but popularized them when he started doing it on his lutz. (He did tanos on it for a while, but then started using both arms when he trained with Brian Orser, because he felt bad doing ‘tanos’ in front of Orser, who famously took silver behind Boitano at the Olympics.) (Adam Rippon 2016 GP France FS, Midori Ito 1988 Olympics SP, Ting Cui 2018 JGP Ostrava  SP, Sihyeong Lee 2021 Nebelhorn FS)

However, there are also other arm variations. These are all rare nowadays, although if you watch older programs, you are more likely to spot a variation that’s not a tano or rippon. Ones I’ve seen include:

Hands on hips - these used to be much more popular back in the day but have fallen out of fashion. I would guess it’s because they slow down rotational speed too much, as every one I have seen is a double except this one by Michael Chack, but I don’t know for sure. (Jill Trenary 1990 Worlds FS, Michael Chack 1992 USNats FS, Rory Flack 1988 USNats SP, Tonia Kwiatkowski 1988 USNats SP, Midori Ito 1987 Worlds SP, Anna Kondrashova 1988 Olympics SP, Yuzuru Hanyu 2010 JPNats FS)

Helicopter arms - this one has been used as a warm-up by Yuzuru Hanyu, and I’ve spotted it in competitions a couple of times with single and double jumps (Rory Flack 1994 US Open Artistic Program, Yuzuru Hanyu 2012 Finlandia Trophy SP warmup)

Arms behind back - I’ve only seen this one performed by Jason Brown in his Riverdance program, where depending on the event he placed either one or both arms behind his back during the second jump of this combo (2013 SA FS, 2014 Nats FS)

Arm switching midair - I’ve only seen this one in this lovely axel variation by John Curry (1976 Olympic SP)

Hands by the head - I believe I may have seen this used by at least one other skater, but the only example I have at hand is this one by Nancy Kerrigan (1990 Goodwill Games SP)

Beginning in 2009, ‘varied position in the air’ became a positive GOE bullet point for jumps. This was because they are supposed to add to the difficulty of a jump, although I’ve seen arguments back and forth from skaters about how true that is for some arm positions (and even if which arm is raised makes a difference for tanos). Years later, they exploded in popularity, particularly in the women’s competition. The trend had its beginning around 2014 or so; the previous season, junior World medalists Evgenia Medvedeva and Serafima Sakhanovich were given programs constructed to include raised arms on a couple of jumps, which wasn’t too unusual, but in 2014, their programs contained many more of them. Medvedeva would go on to dominate the senior circuit for several years and notably used raised arms on most of her jumps during that time, which started the trend in earnest among other skaters.

This GOE bullet point was removed for the 2018-2019 season. But if arm variations no longer get that bit of GOE, why do we still see them so often? There are probably a few reasons:

Skaters who trained them for GOE a few years ago got used to doing them that way and don’t want to mess with their muscle memory

They can add to a program aesthetically

Skaters and their teams may still hope to impress the judges by using them

Skaters have said that rippons help straighten their jump axis

I’ve also seen speculation that rippons can be used to help muscle jumps using the upper body in some cases

I would also like to shout out arm variations on jump exits that aren’t the standard check-out position. These aren’t as common as mid-air variations nowadays and rarely get talked about as their own thing - probably in part because they were never a GOE bullet - but they can add difficulty to the exit as well as give a nice choreographic touch to a program. You can see a few in the above gifs, but here’s a few more:

(Petra Burka 1965 Worlds FS, Yuzuru Hanyu 2021 “White Nights” EX, Anett Pötzsch 1976 Olympics FS, Hana Mašková 1968 Worlds FS, Claudia Kristofics-Binder 1976 Olympics FS, Brian Boitano 1988 Olympics SP, Vladimir Kovalyov 1976 Olympics SP)

[gogogogolev]

Men’s FS results and Stephen’s protocol from 2023 World Team Trophy. He finished in 11th place with a score of 125.17, picking up 2 points for Team Canada who finished 6th overall with a total of 68 points. They pick up prize money totalling $130000 (with a cut taken by the federation).

Stephen’s total score, if that were a thing for this event, would have him under 200 points, a total of 174.95. He has only been under 200 internationally twice before (2018 JPG Canada and 2020 Junior Worlds where he broke his boot). There were his lowest scores of the season, his lowest since he left novice. These were some unbelievably low scores.

Something is seriously going wrong and Stephen needs to resolve this slump he’s in. I want him to take an analytical approach if that helps him deal with things better. Break the situation down into parts and see what is not working, how it can be resolved, the timeline of resolution, and checks to see if goals are being met. He needs to give himself some time to troubleshoot as well. This season’s approach of just doing the same thing over and over and hoping something changes for the better is obviously not working. I.e. It was disappointing to see him going back to a two quad short program layout when he knows he is not hitting those quads. He needs to be honest with himself so he can have reasonable skates.

There were good things about this free skate as well. He managed to land each of a 4T, 4S, and a beautiful 3A. His levelled elements were all level 3 and up. He made a gutsy move to attempt a sequence off of the 3F. I cannot recall seeing that kind of a sequence from him previously. He also tacked on the 2T to the 3Lo, but he was still short a combo. His PCS were in the gutter. :/

Thanks to the Canadian team for their support. They were all so kind to him. Someone even patted his shoulder after the FS. He was able to smile in spite of his performances thanks to them.

What’s next?

-GP assignments: supposed to be in late June but will potentially be delayed by the possible return of banned athletes -A summer event: Stephen needs to do a full event in the summer. Ideally he would come to Canada early and skate here as Kaetlyn Osmond or Keegan would do, but he favours Glacier Falls Summer Classic which is July 27-30. -A Challenger Series event - ACI, Nebelhorn Trophy, Nepela Memorial, and Finlandia are events before the GP where Canadian skaters get assigned. He should really be doing two since he is clearly in need of mileage but he has to start with one. ACI is likely to be yet another skate off. -Canada is hosting Worlds next season, and we have two spots for men. If he can get it together maybe he can claim a spot.

I want Stephen to know that while his fans are clamouring for a coaching change we still very much believe in him. If we didn’t we wouldn’t care how well or poorly he does. I will choose to remember him as I last saw him - brilliantly skating his FS in Oshawa at Nationals. That is the real Stephen Gogolev, and the one I hope to see again next season and for many years afterwards. I believe he can overcome whatever it is that is holding him back and he will reemerge as a top skater once more. So don’t give up. Show us the fight you’ve got.

Thank you for hanging in there this season Stephen. I wish you the best for the off season.

[incandescentlysilver]

mikhail’s 3Lz (+GOE 2.46) || 2018 Finlandia Trophy

[beautifulstorms]

Dmitri Aliev, SP, CS Finlandia Trophy 2018

[sywtwfs]

2018 Japan Open, CS Finlandia Trophy, & JGP Slovenia: Info & Streaming

We're in for a crazy week ahead with three major international competitions, including Japan Open and the sixth events of both the Challenger Series and the Junior Grand Prix! Japan's Kinki Regionals (featuring the return of Daisuke Takahashi to competition, as well as several other top Japanese skaters) will also take place this weekend from Oct. 6-8; please see this post for broadcast and other information.

Remember to subscribe to our calendar to keep up with the insane schedule in your very own time zone!

JAPAN OPEN & CARNIVAL ON ICE

Japan Open is an invitational team competition where skaters are grouped into Team Japan, Team Europe, and Team North America. Each team is composed of two ladies and two men. Retired skaters can also be invited. Skaters perform only their free skates, and the team with the highest total score wins. The Japan Open gala is called Carnival on Ice and features skaters who did not participate in the competition, in addition to the ones who did.

Results | JO Website | COI Website | Detailed schedule | ISU

When: Oct. 6 Where: Saitama, Japan Level & disciplines: senior men & ladies How to watch: Delayed broadcast on TV Tokyo; videos will probably be uploaded to Youtube afterwards. Stream

Schedule (JST, UTC+9) Japan Open: Oct. 6 at 12:30. Broadcast: Oct. 6 at 18:30 Carnival on Ice: Oct. 6 at 18:30. Broadcast: Oct. 8 at 12:00

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FINLANDIA TROPHY

Results | Entries | Detailed schedule | Website | ISU

Designation: Challenger Series When: Oct. 4-7 Where: Espoo, Finland Level & disciplines: senior men, ladies, pairs, ice dance

Schedule (EEST, UTC+3) 10/5: Pairs' SP 12:00; Men's SP 14:00; Ladies' SP 17:30 10/6: Rhythm Dance 12:00; Pairs' FS 14:25; Men's FS 16:40 10/7: Ladies' FS 13:00; Free Dance 17:15

How to watch:

1) Paid livestream for entire competition. Weekend pass 12,99€, daily pass 8,99€, available worldwide.

2) Possible fan streams: 1, 2. Check the channels during the competition.

3) YLE taped broadcasts. Streams are blocked outside of Finland.

10/5: Pairs', Men's & Ladies' SP 19:15

10/6: Rhythm Dance & Pairs' FS 15:00, Men's FS 19:10

10/7: Ladies' FS 21:15, Free Dance 22:20

Notable entries: Nicolas Nadeau, Moris Kvitelashvili, Alexei Bychenko, Matteo Rizzo, Ryuju Hino, Sota Yamamoto, Junhwan Cha, Dmitri Aliev, Alexey Erokhov, Mikhail Kolyada, Alexander Johnson, Rika Hongo, Elizabet Tursynbaeva, Hanul Kim, Stanislava Konstantinova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Angela Wang, Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya/Harley Windsor, Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer, Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro, Daria Pavliuchenko/Denis Khodykin, Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii, Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov, Tarah Kayne/Danny O'Shea, Carolane Soucisse/Shane Firus, Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin, Olivia Smart/Adrian Diaz

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JGP LJUBLJANA CUP

Results | Entries | Detailed schedule | Website | ISU

Designation: Junior Grand Prix When: Oct. 3-6 Where: Ljubljana, Slovenia Level & disciplines: junior men, ladies, ice dance How to watch: Free livestreams on the JGP Youtube channel

Schedule (CEST, UTC+2) 10/4: Ladies' SP 14:00; Men's SP 19:15 10/5: Rhythm Dance 15:00; Men's FS 17:50 10/6: Ladies' FS 12:30; Free Dance 18:15

Notable entries: Conrad Orzel, Koshiro Shimada, Artur Danielian, Petr Gumennik, Tomoki Hiwatashi, Yi Christy Leung, Rion Sumiyoshi, Tomoe Kawabata, Haein Lee, Anna Tarusina, Anastasia Tarakanova, Polina Ivanenko/Daniil Karpov, Sofia Shevchenko/Igor Eremenko, Darya Popova/Volodymyr Byelikov

[ohtheseskaters]

(c)

[ivett-toth]

Ivett Tóth, Grenade, Uptown Funk || 2018 Finlandia Trophy (x)

[ritt-berger]

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Elizabet Tursynbaeva and Viveca Lindfors at the Ladies’ Victory Ceremony at the 2018 Finlandia Trophy  - © Margarita Voronkovskaya

Pairs - Men - Dance

[wanderlustinwonderland18]

WHOA WHOA WHOA the bbys winning Finlandia with two A-FREAKIN-MAZING programs and are the current world record holders ahhh!! Let ConfettiGate be the very worst thing that happens this season, they deserve every good thing now. I can't decide which program I like more. And the costumes!!

OMG anon, they are the cutest 😍 And yes, I’m so excited for their breakthrough! They’re definitely going after that world title!!! 🔥

[figureskatingcostumes]

Alexander Majorov skating to Bang Bang by Asaf Avidan for his short program at the 2018 Rostelecom Cup, 2019 European Championships and 2018 Finlandia Trophy.

(Sources: 1, 2 and 3)

[rika-hongo-fanblog]

Rika Hongo @ Finlandia Trophy 2018

[figureskatingfanblog]

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva of Russia wins the Finlandia Trophy despite a fall. Elizabet Tursynbaeva of Kazakhstan takes the silver, and Viveca Lindfors of Finland takes the bronze.

[yuriplisetsky-rp]

Yuri's Letter to Otabek

//This is Yuri’s letter to Otabek that he gives him before his first performance of his “Un Bel de Vedremo” Madame Butterfly free program. It’s on three pages, folded up with “Please read before you watch, but after I’ve walked out.” written on the front. The handwriting is shaking in places, and there are a few wet spots where he cried, but the handwriting is still visible.

Below the cut as it's long.//

Dear Otabek,

I needed you to know what this program was about - what it was really about, but… telling you in person was going to be too difficult. I’m not sure I could get the words out if I told you in person, and I needed to do this. I needed to say this. I know that you are aware that it’s about you. How could it not be? It’s your favorite song from your opera, and while I’m not a fan of opera, I’ve come to really like this song, this opera. I choose this for that reason, because everything I’m doing this season is for you. But it’s a lot more complicated than that, and I need you to know why.

This program is about pain.

It was always hard being separated from you. After the Grand Prix Final, after you surprised me at Europeans, after Worlds, the Team Challenge Cup, after Viktor’s show… even though by Viktor’s I was realizing my crush, but I wasn’t ready to tell you, to come to terms with it yet. Still, we always separated, and while it was hard, it seemed… fine, you know? We would see each other again, we always Skyped, FaceTimed, or talked on the phone.

And then… we became more than friends.  I know that everyone talks about how hard long distance relationships are, but I don’t think I ever realized how hard until I was in one. I hadn’t thought about that - I had though about losing you if you didn’t feel the same way or if you didn’t feel as I was worth the trouble. But you did. Everyone always says that they don’t work, and what if one day you decided that all this trouble was too much? That I was too much? I didn’t know. I hadn’t thought about any of that until afterwards, and then…

It was like a light switch was turned on. At that moment, suddenly everything seemed… more? More wonderful, more intense, and more painful. You surprised me a few days after that, despite the fact that we weren’t supposed to see each other for weeks. It was wonderful. We had our first kiss, our first real date, though most of it was us cuddling on my bed and making out. But you left. I knew you would leave, of course, but… it was very hard to see you walk away at the airport.

I told myself we would see each other again, and we did. None of that made that couple of months any easier, but then September came, and after the test skates, I went to see you for a few days in Almaty. It was great, despite your Dad being an asshole to me. We said we loved each other for the first time, and we took the next step in our physical relationship, too. But I had to leave.

It got harder and harder to be away from you, but I threw myself into my training as much as I could, and I still talked to you and saw you over Skype, but… you couldn’t kiss me or hold me or touch me. Sometimes, it hurt being away from you so much I would break down into tears. Then Rostelecom came, and while I sucked, you were so wonderful. We slept together for the first time, and it was amazing. And then we had to seperate, with promises that we would see each other in a few weeks. You said you were going to visit me before the Cup of China.

It was even harder then, but I kept telling myself that it was only a couple of weeks. And then… your family and your coach tried to keep us from talking, from seeing each other. And I understood why to a point, but… It was all we had! And by that point, I had a feeling that we weren’t going to be seeing each other, and it made it all so much worse, because talking and seeing you over Skype was all I had! How could they fucking take that away from us, for any reason? What else was I supposed to do?

I admit I was crying a lot then, because I needed you. I needed you in ways I couldn’t put into words, and I felt like they were trying to stop us and I didn’t know what to do. I know they were only trying to do what they thought was best for you by making you focus on yourself a bit more so that you didn’t hurt yourself or crash and burn. I get that. But it hurt, and part of me thinks I always resented them just a bit for that.  But then I got hurt again, and I said fuck it. I was not going to be seperated from, and I bought myself a one-way ticket.

Those six weeks were amazing, and I tried not to think about how we were going to be separated again. How could I when I was waking up next to you every morning and going to sleep next to you every night? But we did separate. After the GPF, I had to leave.  I had Nationals, after all, but… How? How could we go to not seeing each other for weeks or months? That time at the airport was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I wanted to stay! But I couldn’t. So I left, and I cried so much after that - you weren’t talking to me. You said you were busy, and while I believed you, I still hurt so much, because I missed you. I needed to talk to you, to see you!

I don’t resent you for that, just so you know. That’s not what I’m saying this. I’m saying this because it was part of the pain, so I need to put this into words. It just hurt because I loved you and missed you, and didn’t know what was going on. But it’s okay now, because then you moved to St. Petersburg to be with me, and aside from being seperated from you at Europeans, none of that is relevant anymore. Yes, Europeans was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, because we were living together, and sharing our lives, and being separated from you then was like another part of me was missing.

I know that we’re together now, and we’re not going to be separated again (unless absolutely necessary for competitive reasons), but I still couldn’t let go of all that pain I’d felt before. I need you like I need to breathe, and when we’re apart, it feels like the air has been sucked out of my lungs. I didn’t know how to say it, so when I finally connected to this program… I knew how I was going to do it. This is how I’m going to let go of all the pain I’d felt being away from you. So I put into this program, everything I felt, everything I had regarding that.

I wanted to tell you, but I wanted it to be a surprise, too. So I’ve kept everything a secret until now. I need you to know, though. So I wrote it in this letter, so that you could read it right before you saw me skate, and know what the program was really about. I don’t want to hold onto this pain, so I’m putting into the program.  Because I want to let go. I need to.

We have a life together. A life that despite all the hardships - my injury, and everything that happened with those assholes that we are still dealing with - is wonderful, and I love it. Because we’re in this for the long haul, no matter what. (Which is what my short program is about, us being able to handle anything.) Because we promised ourselves to each other back in Pyeongchang after that terrible fight I caused (which I will never really forgive myself for, I think). You dedicated that program to me in Worlds, and we exchanged rings. I love it, I love everything about you and our life together.

Watch me, Beka.  Please. I need you to. This is for you, more anything else.

I love you. More than life. More than words. More than the world.

Yours always and forever,

Yuri

[fyeahitalianskaters]

Matteo Rizzo || Finlandia Trophy 2018 (photos by Antti Lehto)

[soliduncertainty]

Stepanova/Bukin - 200.78 total score at Finlandia Trophy. Congrats! That was a breath of fresh air amidst the snoozefest.