{"id":14649,"date":"2017-12-05T22:12:16","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T03:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/?p=14649"},"modified":"2018-05-13T14:55:02","modified_gmt":"2018-05-13T18:55:02","slug":"ice-dance-observer-december-5-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/ice-dance-observer-december-5-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Ice Dance Observer: December 5, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Recap” _builder_version=”3.0.90″ background_layout=”light” module_alignment=”left”]<\/p>\n

From now until after the 2018 Olympics in February, each week will be busy with international events as well as the national championships in many countries. This week includes the high-profile ISU Junior and Senior Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan, as well the final competition of the ISU Challenger Series, Golden Spin of Zagreb. As usual, we’ve included links to results pages in our side bar.<\/p>\n

SKATE CANADA CHALLENGE RECAP<\/span><\/h3>\n

by Melanie Heaney\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, Skate Canada held its annual Challenge, which serves as the qualifier for the Canadian Championships at the senior, junior, and novice levels, and the national championship for the pre-novice level. The event was staged at the Sportplexe 4 Glaces in Pierrefonds, Que. Teams coached by Megan Wing & Aaron Lowe in British Columbia won four medals, including three golds, and the newly amalgamated Skate Ontario section took home five medals, including the pre-novice Canadian title.<\/span><\/p>\n

SENIOR<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The senior title was won by national team members Haley Sales & Nikolas Wamsteeker. All senior teams in Canada will qualify for nationals this year, and they were the highest-ranked team of the five that elected to compete. Sales & Wamsteeker earned a season\u2019s best score of 156.66, but they still have opportunities to improve before Canadians; they earned only a level 1 on the Rhumba pattern in the short dance and dropped a lift and footwork level in the free.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their training partners, Sarah Arnold & Thomas Williams, came back from a third-place short dance to win the free. Their free dance levels were the same as Sales & Wamsteeker, but they netted a bit more positive GOE. Their silver-medal-winning score of 151.70 was also a season\u2019s best. <\/span><\/p>\n

Molly Lanaghan and Dmitre Razgulajevs fared fairly well with levels in the short dance, earning a level 3 for the Rhumba pattern and their not-touching midline steps, but were not as successful, overall in the free dance. They won bronze with a score of 142.94, also a season\u2019s best.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ashlynne Stairs & Lee Royer<\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

JUNIOR<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ashlynne Stairs & Lee Royer, last year\u2019s Canadian silver medalists, jumped out in front after a strong, 59.12-point short dance with great levels. They earned level 4 for the twizzles, the first Cha Cha Congelado pattern, and their lift; their not-touching midline steps and the second Cha Cha pattern were called level 3. Stairs & Royer were only third in their well-skated \u201cUn Monstre \u00e0 Paris\u201d free dance, but they did enough to hang on to the gold medal. Their winning score, 137.78, was a season\u2019s best and the fifth-highest score this season among Canadian juniors. Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha, who have a bye through Challenge due to their Junior Grand Prix Final qualification, hold the top three scores.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alicia Fabbri & Claudio Pietrantonio\u2019s first-place Moulin Rouge<\/i> free dance was skated with fire and catapulted them to the second step on the podium after a fourth-place short dance. They topped 80 points in the free and earned a score of 135.60 overall. Level 1 twizzles in the short dance held them back; if they nail their elements at Canadians, they should be in the mix for the silver there, as well. <\/span><\/p>\n

About a point behind Fabbri & Pietrantonio were Olivia McIsaac & Elliott Graham, with the bronze medal and a season\u2019s best score of 134.56. They were second in the short and fourth in the free, and their effort is particularly impressive, given that they have been skating together for less than a year, and it is McIsaac\u2019s first year on the junior level.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellie Fisher & Simon-Pierre Malette-Paquette, another new team, were closed behind in fourth. They were second in the free dance, but their total of 132.14 was not quite enough for a medal this time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Val\u00e9rie Taillefer & Jason Chan, the junior-level veterans of this field, were fifth.<\/span><\/p>\n

NOVICE<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The race for gold at the novice event was very close, and it took a new Canadian record to win the event.<\/span><\/p>\n

Miku Makita & Tyler Gunara, last year\u2019s Canadian pre-novice champions, came back from a fifth-place Argentine tango to win the free dance and slide into first place, just ahead of Nadiia Bashynska & Peter Beaumont, who were first after the pattern dances. Makita & Gunara skated in the penultimate spot, notching a total score of 97.97 that eclipsed a record that had stood for almost seven years. The previous novice record had been set by Madeline Edwards & ZhaoKai Pang, formerly a part of the same training group under coaches Megan Wing & Aaron Lowe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bashynska & Beaumont, out of the Ice Dance Elite group at Ontario\u2019s Scarboro FSC, skated very well in the free dance, even earning three level 4 calls to Makita & Gunara\u2019s two level 4s, but did not leverage as much from the GOEs. They were only .74 behind the leaders overall, earning 97.23 points. If the skating order had been reversed, with Bashynka & Beaumont skating first, they would have held the Canadian record for a few minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving up after eighth- and fourth-place pattern dances, Amelia Boone & Malcolm Kowan were third overall with a score of 87.56. They teamed up late in the year, and this was only their second competition together.<\/span><\/p>\n

Three other teams scored over 80 points: Sophia Strachan & Everest Zhu had 81.18 points for fourth place, Isabel McQuilkin & Jacob Portz scored 80.86 for fifth, and Bridget LeDonne & Jakub Smal were sixth with 80.49 points.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sydney Embro & Eric Millar<\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PRE-NOVICE<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The pre-novice competition mirrored the novice one, in that it was a close race between the top two teams, both of whom scored totals higher than the previous Canadian record heading into this event.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sydney Embro & Eric Millar scored a total of 79.38 points. The previous record was set last year at Challenge by Makita & Gunara. It was a season\u2019s best for Embro & Millar by over eight points. The Kitchener-Waterloo-trained team skated with polish and composure en route to the pre-novice Canadian title. They were 12th at this event last year; in the 2015-16 season, they won the Western Ontario juvenile dance title.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sophia Kagolovskaya & Kieran MacDonald won both pattern dances and skated well in the free dance, finishing second in that segment. Their silver-medal-winning total score was a season’s best of 79.12; if they had skated earlier, it would have been a Canadian record. The Skate Ontario sectional champions from this season, they flipped placements this time around with Embro & Millar. Kagolovskaya & MacDonald also competed at this event last year, finishing eighth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heading into this competition, Mia Saunders & William Oddson had the highest score this season; they topped 78 points at the Alberta\/NWT\/Nunavut Sectional Championships. They finished no higher than fourth in any of the three segments, but in an event that saw a ton of movement in the standings, their consistency helped them hang on and emerge with the bronze medal and a total of 73.54 points.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kiera Kam & Mathew Carter were third in the free dance, but could not quite bounce high enough from skating in the penultimate group for the free dance. Their total of 72.98 points placed them fourth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nicole Gallo & Liam Carr struggled with elements in the free dance, making a mistake on their twizzles and earning level 1 for 3 elements in all. However, their strong performance in the pattern dances meant that they stayed in the top five, earning 70.17 points overall. <\/span><\/p>\n

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NEW ON IDC<\/span><\/h4>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Photo” _builder_version=”3.0.90″ src=”https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Observer-120617-0167.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” align=”left” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” custom_margin=”10px|10px|10px|10px” show_bottom_space=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Bullet List” _builder_version=”3.0.90″ background_color=”#f9f9f9″ background_layout=”light” custom_margin=”10px|10px|10px|10px” custom_padding=”10px|10px|10px|10px” module_alignment=”left”]<\/p>\n

PHOTOGRAPHS<\/strong><\/p>\n