#courchevel 2021

[figureskatingcostumes]

Sorami Tanaka's short program costume at the 2021 Junior Grand Prix Courchevel 1.

(Source: picdrop.com)

[sunskate]

Hannah Lim & Ye Quan FD at 2021 JGP France

[personal-reporter]

Tour de France 2023

L’edizione del Tour de France 2023, nota come  la Grande Boucle, si terrà dall’1 al 23 luglio 2023, con partenza a Bilbao e arrivo, come sempre, a Parigi sugli Champs Élysées. Ci saranno ai nastri di partenza 22 squadre, 3.404 chilometri, 21 tappe di cui una sola cronometro con scalata finale, quattro arrivi in salita e 30 gran premi della montagna. Grandi favoriti sono il danese Jonas Vingegaard e lo sloveno Tadej Pogačar, come nel 2021 e nel Tour de France 2022. Pogačar ha appena stravinto i campionati nazionali a cronometro in Slovenia e al Tour trionfò nel 2020 e nel 2021, vuole la rivincita e cerca la conferma invece Vingegaard, che ha dominato il Giro del Delfinato, con il ventiquattrenne della UAE Team Emirates assente per infortunio spettatore interessato. Se la classifica UCI vede Pogačar in vetta, seguito da Remco Evenepoel e Wout Van Aert, con Vingegaard solo quarto, i confronti a distanza ogni stagione hanno visto i due sempre in battaglia per la vittoria. Pogačar nel 2023 ha conquistato la Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior, la Parigi-Nizza, la Vuelta a Andalucía, il Giro delle Fiandre, l'Amstel Gold Race e la Freccia Vallone, con caduta e ritiro alla Liegi-Bastogne-Liegi e il  rivale ventiseienne,  oltre al Delfinato,  ha infilato il Gran Camiño e il Giro dei Paesi Baschi. Nell’unico testa a testa a vincere è stato lo sloveno, con  Pogačar primo a marzo sull’arrivo di Nizza, il danese terzo. Pronti ad approfittare saranno gli spagnoli Enric Mas della Movistar e Mikel Landa della Bahrain-Victorious, i fratelli britannici Adam Yates dell’UAE Team Emirates e Simon Yates della Jayco AlUla, il francese David Gaudu della Groupama-FDJ galvanizzato dal tifo di casa. Nell’Italia tutte le speranze sono su Giulio Ciccone, che si è fatto notare al Critérium del Delfinato, vincendo l’ottava e ultima tappa. Sarà possibile vedere il 110° Tour de France in tv in chiaro in diretta su Rai 2, a partire dalle 14.45, e su Rai Sport HD dalle 20 con sintesi della giornata, commenti e l’intera tappa in differita e in abbonamento su Eurosport 1 HD, oltre che in streaming gratuito su RaiPlay o in abbonamento su eurosport.it, discovery+, Sky Go, Now e Dazn. Il Tour de France prende il via in Spagna e rimane in terra iberica nella prime tre frazioni, che già presentano qualche asperità, più alla portata di attaccanti che da velocisti e la seconda tappa di domenica 2 luglio, di 208,9 km, è la più lunga. Le tappe di montagna cominciano sui Pirenei, alla quinta da Pau a Laruns mercoledì 5 luglio, quando ci saranno il Col de Soudet e il Col de Marie Blanche, non troppo impegnative, fino alla tappa di giovedì 6 luglio, sugli Alti Pirenei da Tarbes a Cauterets-Cambasque, con l’ascesa al Tourmalet, che ha fatto la storia della competizione e il finale della prima settimana sarà domenica 9 luglio con arrivo in vetta allo storico Puy de Dôme, conquistato nel 1952 da Fausto Coppi. C’è un’abbinata da non perdere nelle tappe 13 e 14, venerdì 14 e sabato 15 luglio, con prima l’arrivo in cima al Grand Colombier e un altra frazione di montagna da Annemasse a Morzine Les Portes du Soleil con in tutto ben 4.200 metri di dislivello. Nell’ultima settimana si parte martedì 18 luglio con la cronometro di 22,4 km da Passy a Combloux con arrivo in quota e, mercoledì 19 luglio, la tappe da Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc all’approdo in discesa a Courchevel, dopo la scalata infernale a Col de la Loze,, il punto più alto di questa edizione, tra le cime di Col des Saisies, Cormet de Roselend, Côte de Longefoy. L’appuntamento finale è per la ventesima e penultima tappa, breve e piena di salite, di sabato 22 luglio da Belfort a Le Markstein Fellering, lungo i Vosgi, con cinque gran premi della montagna. Read the full article

[actu24hp]

Brice Roger puts away the skis

Absent from competition since February 2021 due to serious knee injuries, Brice Roger, on two World Cup podiums, has announced that he is retiring. There is no doubt that he will be entitled to a fine tribute on the occasion of the Courchevel-Méribel world championships which begin next week. Brice Roger decided to put away his skis and retire at 32, because his body said stop. The skier from La…

[figureskatingandrainbows]

Thoughts on Courchevel 1

The first JGP event was a hot mess, as usual. Especially the junior men. The women actually did pretty well, for the most part. Ahsun Yun and Seoyeon Ji both won the costume competition. They were both so well-dressed. I really liked Ahsun’s FS to The Mummy. It was a good but unique choice, and she had a fantastic skate after a rough short. Kaiya Ruiter surprised me. She’s quite juniorish, but in a good way. She’s a solid performer and held up really well under pressure, so hopefully she can lead Canadian women’s skating over the next few years. Clare Seo and Lindsay Thorngren are so different: Clare’s very artistic with solid skating skills, while Linday’s more technically minded. But they both did really well here. Clare got nailed with a few URs, and Lindsay really delivered with her jumps to get the gold medal. But they’re both really talented and I’m excited to see where they go. 

The men were... pretty much a disaster, as I feared. The last two skates in the free were particularly rough. It’s probably because Courchevel is like a zillion miles above sea level and everyone was exhausted. Ilia Malinin had a fantastic short (although that cover of Billie Jean needs to die) and a spectacular morning practice, landing 4 different types of quads. His free was not nearly as solid: a fall on a quad sal, a popped quad toe, and a popped triple loop off of a triple lutz. He looked so tired. Corey Circelli started off well in the short, but his free skate was hard to watch. Lots of falls. I am happy for Francois Pitot and Lucas Broussard. Both of them don’t have the huge tech content of a lot of the Russian and Japanese men, so they managed to rise to the occasion here with solid skates to take JGP medals.

Also, shoutout to Katarina Wolfkostin and Jeffrey Chen, who dominated ice dance

[beautifulstorms]

Hannah Lim & Ye Quan, Gangnam Style || JGP Courchevel 1 2021

[gealach-edits]

Isabeau Levito, “Russian Dance” at the 2021 JGP Courchevel 2

[twizzleenthusiast]

I’m crying the ice dance medal ceremony is pure chaos 😂😂

[figure-skating-watch-party]

JGP Courchevel II

This time I – very surprisingly – decided to watch some ladies for a change so that it doesn’t seem that I live in a cave and so that I can get familiar with at least some of them.

Isabeau Levito - The Swan (Saint Seans) * Russian dance from Swan Lake I saw her at the Peggy Fleming Trophy and just knew she was special. I think a lot of people experience this “skating love” at first sight. For me, it’s Isabeau. Especially her step sequences are beautiful.

Nina Pinzarrone (BEL) - I will wait for you * Frida Nina is only 14 year old! I was amazed by her impeccable stylization into Frida. The costume, the flower crown, amazing spins, good jumps. Just an awesome program.

Kaiya Ruiter - Opportunity by Sia * Mulan I think Kaiya is an example of a skater with very balanced programs. She performs quite well for the spectators and doesn’t do many mistakes.

Ginevra Lavinia Negrello - GoT * La Terre vue du ciel She is a very expressive and mature skater. When it comes to jumps, both programs were quite unfortunate but it doens’t take away from the beautiful music and very fluid moves she does.

Niina Petrokina (EST) - Je n'attendais que vous * Love of my life  Her FP program didn’t go as planned, but I loved her great skating, mature performance and also a beautiful blue costume with red roses in the free.

And now some ice dance!

Solene Mazingue & Marko Jevgeni Gaidajenko - Clint Eastwood, Beggin * To build a home You probably already know that I’m a major hater of this season’s RD but this wasn’t bad at all. There were attempts at humorous choreography?! We take it all. And then in the FD a complete change, very nice calm program, great lift with Marko holding Solene in front of himself just by the upper part of her leg.

Barbora Zelená & Jáchym Novák - Seven Nation Army, Swing Baby * Rain in your black eyes, Fire on fire Awesome straight-line lift on one leg! That would be their trademark. But there were also 8 Ns on basic pattern :( and Jachym had some problems with twizzles (in RD as well as FD).  Good news is that Czech Republic has three junior ice dance teams!! And oh, what a great FD, it suits them much better, it’s much more fluid, the lift went even better.

Isabella Flores & Dmitry Tsarevski - Oh what a night for dancing * Nuvole bianche, Earth song Nice, oh wow what a rotational lift with Isabella hanging around Dmitry’s neck by her leg!, oh yessss, I’m happy it’s a “dancy” RD without streetdance vibes. And so fluid and light in the free, getting a silver medal and even winning the RD portion. What a debut! It’s interesting that they debuted quite late (in JGP terms) because they are both 18 yo.

Noemi Maria Tali & Stefano Frasca - Love is a lie * Always remember us this way I liked their FD, it was more lyrical with a nice spin at the beginning, it’s really soothing… And what an interesting curve lift with her “flying” under Stefano who is in a sitting position.

Oona Brown & Gage Brown - How ya like me now * Muse medley So quick, wiiiild, I liked it. But they were awarded only one yes on the blues pattern and the first half was deemed to be only basic?! That’s quite surprising, but it’s the beginning of the season. Good powerful skating in the free dance!

Eva Bernard & Tom Jochum - Black Swamp village * Kaleidoscope They are part of the Villard-de-Lans skating school and one of the many talented French junior ice dancers. This school produces some quite unconventional programs and I love it! Great blues, very defined finished moves. It’s a really enjoyable and crazy RD! And OMG the FD it’s like a mix of African woodoo and Indian tones it’s awesome. They are in synch, admittedly the music may be weird but they thrive! It was awesome. Such detailed choreography.

[figureskatingcostumes]

Ahsun Yun skating to La Strada for her short program at the two Junior Grand Prix competitions in Courchevel in 2021.

(Sources: 1 and 2)

[rutgersmcgroarty]

IM LATE BUT KAIYA GOT THE SILVER AND IM SCREAMING

[leahthedreamer]

Clare Seo STSQ Women’s SP- Rain in your Black Eyes || Junior Grand Prix Courchevel 2021

[niemernuet]

I missed (heh...) the deadline for last week's osws fandom challenge. Anyhooo. The subject was:

“i’ve missed you” 🥺

Switch

rating: T pairing:none characters: Justin Murisier, Loïc Meillard, Gino Caviezel, Marco Odermatt, Daniel Yule, Ramon Zenhäusern, Luca Aerni length: 1'800 words

Zermatt, 19 July 2021, 05:30

"You're late," Loïc said. Justin answered with a withering glare instead of words, and plopped down in the last free chair. His head hit the hard surface with a soft thud, and a pained sigh escaped his lips. Neither Marco nor Gino showed any concern as it was a regular occurrence. For a while they continued eating in silence. The world behind the windows was still pitch-black, and the lights of the kitchen turned them into mirrors. The rest of the house was quiet, the coaches already up on the mountain to prepare the track, and it seemed as if they were the only people in the world.

"I'm serious," Loïc eventually said, shoved his cup aside, and stood up. "You have twenty minutes to eat and get ready. Oats or bread?"

"Coffee," Justin grumbled into the table top.

Loïc was pouring oats into a bowl near the fridge when a commotion broke out in his back. He whirled around to see Justin and Gino at each others' throats.

"What is going on?" he exclaimed.

"My coffee!" Gino snarled, and tried to keep Justin away from the coffee pot.

"There is still more on the stove!" Loïc scolded them, and yanked the pot out of Gino's hands. "Why can't you guys be normal in the morning?"

"Too early for that," Marco grumbled.

Loïc ignored his remark, and put the full pot of coffee as well as Justin's breakfast on the table. "Every day it's the same thing."

"Forgive us, we're not all freaks of nature like you," Justin mumbled with his mouth full.

Zermatt, 15 March 2022, afternoon

The constant swearing and the tinny noise of a heavy metal tool hitting something at the back of the chopper made for a very uncomfortable atmosphere inside the cramped cabin.

"I'll be with you shortly," the pilot interrupted his profanity-laden monologue, and stuck his head through the open hatch. "Just a few more minutes."

"Take your time," Loïc assured but the pilot was already somewhere else again.

"Please take your time," Justin muttered under his breath, and it sounded a little bit like a prayer.

"Is it too late to go by car?" Marco asked as the noise picked up again.

"Yes," Loïc answered matter-of-factly, and turned his attention back to his camera, turning wheels and pushing buttons to change the settings.

"What if Justin drove?"

"I'd rather fly with a soviet-era helicopter from the junkyard," Loïc deadpanned.

"Hey!" Justin exclaimed, and turned around in his seat. He had snatched up the comfortable place next to the pilot, and glared at the back bench where Loïc, Gino and Marco sat pressed together like sardines.

"I'll have you know I could totally drive us from here to Courchevel," he said. "And we'd even have time for a break. Do you have a gum?"

Loïc rolled his eyes but leant out of the opened hatch, and dug a chewing gum out of the pocket that was pressed against Gino.

Gino snorted, and held his hand with his palm up towards Loïc. "Like when you'd promised you could take us from Lenzerheide to Val Gardena in time for dinner?"

"We were there for dinner!" Justin exclaimed. "It's not my fault none of you wanted to eat anymore."

They laughed at the memory of that legendary drive through Southern Tyrol while Loïc handed out his last chewing gums.

"Remember when Loïc wanted to jump out of the car when Justin drove us from Zermatt to St. Moritz?" Marco asked, and Loïc groaned.

Justin cackled, and turned around again. "I can't wait for this year's summer camp," he said. "This time, I'll put the child-proof lock in."

Gino was the only one who saw Loïc's smile disappear but before he could say anything, the clanging stopped, and the pilot stuck his head into the cabin once more.

"Good news: We can fly!"

Méribel, 19 March 2022, afternoon

A sharp knock interrupted the peaceful silence in the cellar, and soon afterwards, a head poked through the half-open door.

"Are you here?" Gino asked. "Come on, we're going to celebrate Marco in that bar at the other side of the valley."

Loïc stood hunched over a pair of skis on top of the table, with his back to the door. "I'm not coming," he said. "Have fun!"

Gino frowned, and stepped inside the cramped room. "What do you mean?"

Loïc shrugged, and wiped the underside of the slalom skis with a soft cloth rag once more. "I've got another race tomorrow, I can't party yet."

"Please!" Gino begged. "You don't have to stay all night, just for one drink! We can't do this without you."

Loïc snorted softly, and shook his head. "I'm sure you can. And I really need to focus, so no, I can't come."

Gino threw up his hands. "Are you serious?"

Loïc answered with a meaningful glance and raised eyebrows.

Gino tried another angle. "You know, you're going to make things very awkward next summer if you don't come now."

Loïc flinched, and the soft smile on his lips vanished. He turned back to his skis, and continued wiping them down.

Gino recognised the change immediately. "What?"

Loïc shrugged again. "We won't practise together next summer," he said quietly. "I'm switching to the slalom-team."

Gino wordlessly stared at Loïc, his mouth wide open, until Loïc stopped fiddling with his skis, and gave him a concerned look.

"Why?" was all he managed.

Loïc frowned. "Why not?" he asked back, louder than necessary. "I don't know if you've realised but I'm actually good at slalom this season, as opposed to giant slalom."

"But…"

"Also Sandro and Tanguy both fall out of the national team," Loïc continued, and turned back to the skis. "That leaves Daniel, Luca, and Ramon, while we all keep our status, and on top of that Semyel will come back. It's just not logical to have three skiers in one group, and five in the other when it could be even."

"But…," Gino stammered. "But we need you."

Loïc rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right," he scoffed. "As alarm clock maybe, or as a candy dispenser. What I need is a new start." The last sentence was barely more than a whisper. He put the rag down on the table, and pulled Gino in a hug.

"We'll still see each other at the races," he said. "It's not like I'm quitting giant slalom altogether. Also, please don't tell Marco and Justin yet. Okay? Let them have their party."

Gino pulled up his nose, and wrapped his arms around Loïc as if he could make him stay if he held on to him.

"Okay?" Loïc urged.

Gino nodded, and buried his nose in Loïc's shirt. "Okay," he rasped.

Saas-Fee, 19 July 2022, 04:00

The sharp peaks of the mountains showed up as dark shadows against the greying sky. The window was wide open, and a cool breeze flew through the kitchen. Amicable silence filled the room as the team ate breakfast.

"Still no rain this week," Luca read from the newspaper, and turned the page.

"Crazy," Ramon said, and looked out of the window towards the bone-dry mountainsides.

"Is there still coffee in the pot?" Daniel asked, and held his cup over the table.

Loïc grabbed the pot then hesitated, looked inside, and across the table. "My coffee," he grinned.

Luca and Ramon looked up.

"Okay…?" Daniel said with an unsure smile. He pushed his chair back to stand up but Loïc stopped him.

"No, stay!" he hurried to say, and poured the coffee into his mug. "I was just joking."

Zermatt, 19 July 2022, 06:00

"You're late!" Krugi barked when Semyel, Marco and Gino stumbled out of the house with their equipment. "You were supposed to be on the mountain fifteen minutes ago!"

"I'm sorry," Gino sighed. "I don't know how that happened."

"Yeah, well, I do," Krugi shot back. "And we will have a serious conversation about your habits this afternoon. Where's Justin?"

Gino and Marco looked at each other bleary-eyed, and shrugged.

"Didn't hear anything from him," Marco said, and could barely hold back a yawn.

They all took a step back as Krugi's head turned an unhealthy shade of red, and steam seemed to come out of his ears.

"If that boy is still in bed so help me God…" he snarled, and stomped inside. The three athletes waited for a moment but they hurried off when they heard incomprehensible yelling from deep inside the house.

Saas-Fee, 22 July 2022, after lunch

"Did somebody die?"

Loïc looked up, and over to Daniel.

"Because you're staring at your phone like that," Daniel clarified. "My condolences."

Loïc rolled his eyes, and stuffed the phone back into the pocket of his ski jacket. The gondola juddered over another mast, and for a second the four skiers inside seemed to float in the air. "Nobody died," Loïc explained. "I just wrote to Gino before the last run and he hasn't answered so far."

"That was barely twenty minutes ago," Luca said. "Give the man some time."

Loïc shrugged. "It never takes that long with him. Not this time of the day, anyway."

Their gondola arrived at the valley station, and they clambered out with their equipment. It was much warmer down here than up on the glacier, and Loïc felt a first sweat pearl roll down his back as they crossed the parking lot.

"What's up with that idiot?" Ramon suddenly piped up, and they all watched as a black station wagon with the logo of Swiss Ski dashed around the narrow turns and over the empty parking lot, and with screeching brakes came to a halt by their side. Before Loïc could even budge, the driver's door flew open, Justin skid over the hood, and wrapped him in a hug so tight he had to let go of his skis and the bag with the boots to keep his balance.

"Oh," Ramon said. "I see."

"There you are!," Justin exclaimed straight into Loïc's ear. "When Gino said you asked if we got something planned this afternoon we left right away."

"Ehm…" Loïc choked, because Justin's death grip barely left him enough air to breathe, and because he still tried to comprehend the situation. Gino finally managed to climb out of the car too, and joined Marco who stood bent over with his hands propped up on his knees. They both heaved, and focused on the gravel on the ground.

"We've missed you so much," Justin continued.

Loïc blinked, and turned his head as far as possible to catch a glimpse of Justin. "Really?"

"Really. It's just not the same without you."

Loïc smiled, and finally put his arms around Justin too. "I miss you too," he confessed. "Thanks for coming."

"You know, if I weren't such an understanding person, I'd be really insulted right now," Daniel threw in. "You never greet me like that, Honey Bear."

"I know you're joking but over the last weeks I realised that you should never hold back with telling your friends how much they mean to you," Justin said, and lifted one arm from Justin's back. "Come here!"

"Wait, no!" Loïc exclaimed but Daniel did not hesitate, and joined in the hug.

Loïc groaned. "Couldn't you do this without me in the middle?"

"Just let it happen," Luca grinned, and turned his phone sideways to get a better picture.

Loïc sighed. Next to the car, Gino and Marco slowly stood up straight again, and took a few tentative steps.

"Are you okay?" Loïc asked.

"Give us a few moments," Gino said, and heaved again.

[sywtwfs]

2021 Junior Grand Prix Overview

The Junior Grand Prix Series begins this week! This post is an overview of all events. We will create weekly posts for each competition.

See also:

Figure skating event calendar

ISU 2021 JGP page

2021 JGP Announcement

Junior Grand Prix tag

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FORMAT / HOW TO WATCH

All events of the Junior Grand Prix series will be livestreamed and archived on the ISU Junior Grand Prix Youtube channel.

Due to pandemic travel restrictions, the regular Junior Grand Prix rankings will not apply. If skaters are unable to travel to their assigned event(s) due to pandemic restrictions, they may request the ISU to reallocate their spots to a different JGP.

The modified qualification process for the 2021 Junior Grand Prix Final is detailed in ISU Communication 2431.

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JGP COURCHEVEL #1 (Courchevel, France)

Aug. 18-21

Results

Entries & overview

Announcement

ISU

Website

JGP COURCHEVEL #2 (Courchevel, France)

Aug. 25-28

Results

Entries & overview

Announcement

ISU

Website

Note: This event replaces a cancelled JGP event in Canada.

JGP KOSICE (Kosice, Slovakia)

Sept. 1-4

Results

Entries & overview

Announcement

ISU

Website

JGP KRASNOYARSK (Krasnoyarsk, Russia)

Sept. 15-18

Results

Entries & overview

Announcement

ISU

Tickets

JGP LJUBLJANA CUP (Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Sept. 22-25

Results

Entries & overview

Announcement

ISU

JGP BALTIC CUP (Gdansk, Poland)

Sept. 29 - Oct. 2

Results

Entries & overview

Announcement

ISU

JGP CUP OF AUSTRIA (Linz, Austria)

Oct. 6-9

Results

Entries & overview

Announcement

ISU

JUNIOR GRAND PRIX FINAL (Osaka, Japan)

Dec. 9-12

Results

Entries & overview

Announcement

ISU

Website