Fred's, (Used to be Barb's), Board

The current entries, by discipline: http://www.isuresults.com/events/fsevent03111627.htm

The time and practice schedule: http://www.isuresults.com/schedules/gpr ... hedule.pdf

It has been announced today that Wakaba Higuchi, who competed injured at Skate Canada International, has withdrawn from her 2nd event, the Rotelecom Cup.

Updated to say that Yuna Shiraiwa (JPN) has now been added to Rostelecom to fill out the roster.

https://t.co/rH4gW8bqNr

Looking at the entrants in all of the various events, we may have a mini Russian championship at the GPF.

happyheini wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 2:59 pm Looking at the entrants in all of the various events, we may have a mini Russian championship at the GPF.

I have already called the junior ladies event at GPF the junior Russian Nationals
Of course, we could also have a number of Japanese competitors

Of course, since there are limits to the number of competitors per country at Worlds, this may be a good opportunity to see more of the "up and comers".

The ISU has today announced the withdrawal of Chock & Bates of the USA from the ice dance competition at Rostelecom Cup. They had already withdrawn from their earlier GP event. In the off-season Madison had surgery on her ankle and she is apparently not yet ready to compete.

This is from her Twitter in April:

Possibly my best look yet. Happy to say surgery on my ankle went very well! A big thanks to everyone for your well wishes!

The current ice dance entries for Rostelecom:
http://www.isuresults.com/events/cat03108923.htm

This year has been an unusual one in terms of Canadian participation in the senior Grand Prix events. In this week's event, the 2nd last of the series, the lone CDN skater will be Keegan Messing.

Skate Canada's article: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dr0I0Z9UcAUYbtw.jpg

Karen Chen of the USA has withdrawn from the Rostelecom Cup due to ongoing recovery from injury. This NBC article talks about reduced US participation in the GP series this year: https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2018/11/ ... 02103355=1

A change of skaters in the Russians competing in the men's event - from IFS magazine via Twitter:

Andrei Lazukin will replace the injured Alexei Yerokhov at Rostelecom Cup this week.

A preview from Skate Talk Online with Tony Wheeler & PJ Kwong: https://youtu.be/dgOkHDQ2ULM

PJ's preview for CBC Sports: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/figu ... -1.4904646

The Entries/Start Orders/Results link is now up: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1819/gprus2018/

The CBC streaming & TV schedule are here: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/wint ... /broadcast

Streaming (all in EST):

Fri Nov 16 - 6:00 AM - Championship Figure Skating: Grand Prix of Russia - Men's Short Program
Fri Nov 16 - 8:00 AM - Championship Figure Skating: Grand Prix of Russia - Ice Dance - Rhythm Dance
Fri Nov 16 - 10:30 AM - Championship Figure Skating: Grand Prix of Russia - Pairs Short Program
Fri Nov 16 - 12:00 PM - Championship Figure Skating: Grand Prix of Russia - Ladies Short Program
Sat Nov 17 - 5:30 AM - Championship Figure Skating: Grand Prix of Russia - Men's Free Program
Sat Nov 17 - 7:40 AM - Championship Figure Skating: Grand Prix of Russia - Ice Dance Free Dance
Sat Nov 17 - 9:30 AM - Championship Figure Skating: Grand Prix of Russia - Pairs Free Program
Sat Nov 17 - 11:10 AM - Championship Figure Skating: Grand Prix of Russia - Ladies Free Program
Sat Nov 17 - 3:00 PM - Road to the Olympic Games: Championship Figure Skating - Grand Prix of Russia - Pairs, Men's and Ice Dance Free Programs [also on TV]
Sun Nov 18 - 7:00 AM - Championship Figure Skating: Grand Prix of Russia - Gala
Sun Nov 18 - 2:00 PM - Road to the Olympic Games: Championship Figure Skating - Grand Prix of Russia - Women's Free Program [also on TV]

There should be a link to the stream on this CBC Sports page: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/fig ... -1.4905048

====================================

Television
Sat Nov 17 - 3:00 PM EST - Road to the Olympic Games: Championship Figure Skating - Grand Prix of Russia - Pairs, Men's and Ice Dance Free Programs
Sun Nov 18 - 3:00 PM Local Time - Road to the Olympic Games: Championship Figure Skating - Grand Prix of Russia - Women's Free Program

Danielle Earl's time conversion FYI:

I was awake in time to watch the beginning of the live stream this morning. Other folks in Ottawa were dealing with snow on a messy drive to work!!

Among the skaters/appearances of note to look for here (in no particular order) - the record-setting Yuzuru Hanyu; the charming little flower boy, Vadim Voronov; the return of Gracie Gold to international competition; the daughter of Nikolai Morozov in her senior international ice dance debut; the US-born, much-traveled Allison Reed competing for her third country in ice dance.

At the opening ceremonies, between the rhythm dance and pairs SP, Misha Ge skated in an emotional tribute to the late Denis Ten.

As retweeted by Bev Smith before the men's free skate:

Yuzuru Hanyu left the morning practice after falling trying to complete a 4Lo at the beginning of the FS run-through.The problem concerns the right ankle. After an hour, while leaving the Megasport Arena to return to the hotel, he told reporters that everything was ok. Good Luck

From the Olympic Channel via Twitter:

Yuzuru Hanyu's coach, Brian Orser, praised the Olympic champion's performance at the Rostelecom Cup: "It was a big question whether [Hanyu] was going to skate [today] or not. And he did. It’s pretty courageous. I’m proud of him.”

Hoping this is nothing serious but according to a translation of a Japanese article:

yuzuru was skating on painkillers today and so his ankle is numb right now but he suspects tomorrow will be painful. he says he will have to think about the GPF. he's also very sorry and kuyashii but since last year's NHK, the ankle has been a weak point

Several articles mention that his doctor recommended three weeks of rest, putting his participation in the GPF and Japanese Nationals in question
Stay tuned...

After a difficult and disappointing short program in her comeback to competition, Gracie Gold tweeted:

Guys...I just remembered today that competing is hard

Today she withdrew before the free skate. She posted this on Twitter:

I’m heartbroken to withdraw from tonight’s free skate. It was a difficult decision to make, but ultimately I need to put my mental health first and focus on the big picture. Looking forward, I need to keep improving both my physical and mental condition. I thought checking into treatment last fall was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, but skating my short program last night might have topped it. I do not want to undo the tremendous progress I’ve made in these last few months and I feel that competing the free skate would be damaging to both my confidence and mental health going into Nationals. I thank you all for your support, and I am so sorry if I have let you guys down. This is just the start for me, and I know that greater things are yet to come. Thanks for sticking with me

Yuzuru wasn't the only one injured in the morning practice - Evgenia Tarasova, Russian pair skater, fell and crashed into the boards, cutting her chin. She was taken to hospital and received five stitches, but she was determined to compete.



Read more here: https://isu.org/news/125-grand-prix-new ... teParam=15

A little tidbit of trivia - today marked the first GP medal for Spain won by someone not named Javier Fernandez

The medal ceremonies took place before the Gala today - Yuzuru Hanyu was on crutches but he has released a statement via the JSF that he will do his very best to recover for GPF2018.