ISU GP #5 - Espoo, FIN - Nov. 17-19, 2023

[Elizabeth]

The entries, by discipline, can be found here: https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00117438.htm

The time and practice schedule: https://results.isu.org/schedules/gpfin ... hedule.pdf

Espoo will be 7 hours ahead of Eastern Time.

[Elizabeth]

A withdrawal in the Men's event


And one from the Women's event


Kimmy Repond’s withdrawal is due to an injury she sustained at Nebelhorn Trophy earlier this season. She’s taking a break from training to heal, and plans to be back for Europeans and Worlds.

[Elizabeth]

Liam Kapeikis of the US has been assigned to fill the vacancy. He trains in Richmond, BC with Keegan and Eileen Murphy.

[Elizabeth]

Lara Naki Gutmann has been assigned to Grand Prix Espoo to fill the spot vacated by Kimmy Repond.

[Elizabeth]

Junhwah Cha and Vladimir Litvintsev have withdrawn from this event.


Junhwan Cha’s withdrawal is due to an ankle injury he’s had since before the start of the season, the injury worsened after Skate Canada. He is concentrating on recovery, but will resume training for the domestic Ranking Competition soon.

[Elizabeth]

Skate Canada's press release about the CDN team in Espoo: https://skatecanada.ca/2023/11/canadian ... rix-espoo/

Canadian Ice Dance and Pair Skaters to Compete at Grand Prix Espoo
November 13, 2023/by Skate Canada

OTTAWA, ON (November 13, 2023) – After a great start to the season that has seen Canadian athletes win numerous medals on the ISU Grand Prix circuit, the competition continues this weekend in Espoo, Finland for the Grand Prix Espoo. From November 17-19, 2023, six skaters across the pair and ice dance disciplines will be competing for a spot on the podium and a chance to qualify for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.

Canadian Champions and Grand Prix de France silver medalists Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen will be among the favorites in the ice dance event after a breakthrough 2022-2023 season that saw the duo win medals at both of their Grand Prix assignments.

Joining them will be Nadiia Bashynska and Peter Beaumont, who will be making their senior Grand Prix debut after winning the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final last year and finishing third at the 2023 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

National pair silver medalists Brooke McIntosh and Benjamin Mimar also have big goals for the season after claiming their first Grand Prix medal last year at the NHK Trophy. The pair most recently placed sixth at 2023 Skate Canada International.

The competition will kick off on Friday, November 17 with both the pair and ice dance disciplines performing their short program/rhythm dance. All medals will be awarded following the free programs/free dance on Saturday, November 18. The event concludes on Sunday with the exhibition gala.

[Elizabeth]

Wow - it is unusual to see replacements named so close to the beginning of the competition but the two spots in the Men's event have been filled. Ivan Shmuratko was scheduled to compete at the Warsaw Cup but is going to be in Espoo instead.

[Elizabeth]

The ISU preview article: https://isu.org/figure-skating/news/new ... teParam=15

[Elizabeth]

The chart with times for each portion of the event in various time zones - Eastern time is the 2nd from the bottom.

[Elizabeth]

The Entries/Start Orders/Results link: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2324/gpfin2023/

The links for the individual events are now up on the ISU YouTube channel page: https://www.youtube.com/user/SkatingISU

[Elizabeth]

As practices are underway, the views from outside and inside the arena

[Elizabeth]

The overview of the competition (reminder that Espoo is 7 hours ahead of Eastern Time)


The start orders for Day 1




And the competitors

[Elizabeth]

Competition is underway at this penultimate GP event - today's events

[Elizabeth]

The Men SP results





The top 3 men





Press conference photo


ISU review article: https://isu.org/figure-skating/news/new ... teParam=15

[Elizabeth]

Although they skated first, Cheng Peng and Lei Wang hung on to the lead to win the Pairs SP

The results



The top 3 Pairs





Press conference photo


ISU review article: https://isu.org/figure-skating/news/new ... teParam=15

[Elizabeth]

Women SP results




Top 3 Women





Press conference photo

The ISU review article: https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/news ... teParam=15

[Elizabeth]

RD results



The top 3




Canada's 2nd team in their Senior International debut

Press conference photo

The ISU review article: https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/news ... teParam=15

[Elizabeth]

And Day 2 starts with the Men FS


FS results


Overall results


The top 3





Kao Miura of JPN has booked his ticket to the GPF.
From Jackie Wong, here's the current situation for qualifying for the GPF:

Q1 Adam Siao 30
Q2 Ilia Malinin 28
Q3 Kao Miura 28
4 Kevin Aymoz 24
5 Shun Sato 24
6 Sota Yamamoto 20
--
In the mix next week: Uno, Kagiyama, Britschgi, Egadze, Frangipani, Pulkinen, Economides

Kevin is ahead of Shun due to a "tiebreaker" rule.

The serious press conference photo and "the pose"


ISU review article: https://isu.org/figure-skating/news/new ... teParam=15

[Elizabeth]

Up next the Pairs FS - a very disappointing event, in my opinion. The FS results


The overall results


The top 3



Press conference photo

Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin took a surprise win in the Grand Prix Espoo pairs event and are scheduled to compete again at the NHK Trophy next week. The Chinese pair missed the podium by 0.03 points, in part because they failed to do a combo, aiming for a clean skate instead.



ISU review article: https://isu.org/figure-skating/news/new ... teParam=15

From Jackie Wong, regarding qualifying for the GPF:

Q1 Stellato/Deschamps 30
Q2 Pereira/Michaud 28
Q3 Conti/Macii 26
4 Hocke/Kunkel 24
5 Pavlova/Sviatchenko 24
6 Peng/Wang 20
In the mix: Hase/Volodin, Ghilardi/Ambrosini, Beccari/Guarise, Liu/Nagy + 2 others

[Elizabeth]

Medals for the Pairs and Men were awarded before moving on to the Women FS.

Women FS results


Overall results


The top 3





From Jackie Wong regarding GPF qualifying:

Q1 Kaori Sakamoto 30
Q2 Isabeau Levito 26
Q3 Loena Hendrickx 26
Q4 Hana Yoshida 24
5 Rion Sumiyoshi 24
6 Chaeyeon Kim 22
--
In the mix for next week: Pinzarrone, HLee, Higuchi, Thorngren

Press conference photo


ISU Review article: https://isu.org/figure-skating/news/new ... teParam=15

[Elizabeth]

During the warm-up for the first group in the Free Dance, the Referee called everyone over to warm them to be careful!!! I've never seen that before! It was after a near collision between two teams (HUN & GER, I believe).




The FD results:



The overall results:


The top 3:



From Jackie Wong re: GPF qualifying:

Q1 Gilles/Poirier 30
Q2 Chock/Bates 30
Q3 Fournier Beaudry/Soerensen 26
4 Lajoie/Lagha 26
5 Lopareva/Brissaud 22
6 Green/Parsons 20
--
In the mix for next week: Guignard/Fabbri, Fear/Gibson, Turkkila/Versluis + 3 other teams

Can you tell that Finland was the host country? I think the size of the flag gives it away


The press conference photo (after the medal ceremony:

ISU review article: https://isu.org/figure-skating/news/new ... teParam=15

[Elizabeth]

Today, the event finished with the Exhibition Gala


It is available to watch on the ISU YouTube Channel - I didn't find the program available online this week.

The gold medal winners performed in the Gala










That Gala-ending selfie from three angles

[Elizabeth]

In case you prefer to watch the CBC video rather than that on the ISU YouTube channel, for some reason...

CBC Sports archive links - ISU feed, commentary by Mark Hanretty, CBC Sports watermark
Day 1:
Men Short - https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2284354115901
Pairs Short - https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2284380227784
Women Short - http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2284446275578
Rhythm Dance - https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2284495939717
Day 2:
Men Free - https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2284921923572
Pairs Free - https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2284946499933
Women Free - https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2284991043715
Free Dance - https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2285024835668
Day 3:
The Gala - http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2285284419644