#finnstep

Finnstep Together:

Gabriella PAPADAKIS / Guillaume CIZERON

Madison HUBBELL / Zachary DONOHUE

Alexandra STEPANOVA / Ivan BUKIN

Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE veteran bonus: Weaver/Poje competing the compulsory dance in 2009

Madison CHOCK / Evan BATES bonus: young Evan skating the compulsory dance in 2009 with former partner Emily Samuelson

Piper GILLES / Paul POIRIER bonus: actual infant Paul skating the compulsory dance in 2009 with former partner Vanessa Crone

Charlene GUIGNARD / Marco FABBRI

Laurence FOURNIER BEAUDRY / Nikolaj SORENSEN Enjoy this suboptimal fancam from when the Canadanes were just the Danes

Shiyue WANG / Xinyu LIU

Shari KOCH / Christian NUECHTERN

Stepping out with(out) my baby! Some people were skating seniors in 2013/14, but not with their current partners. All experience is good experience!

Finnstep Apart:

Victoria SINITSINA / Nikita KATSALAPOV

Sara HURTADO / Kirill KHALIAVIN

Olivia SMART(Quickstep)/ Adrian DIAZ

Tiffani ZAGORSKI/ Jonathan GUERREIRO

Allison REED / Saulius AMBRULEVICIUS

Misato KOMATSUBARA / Tim KOLETO

Some of these teams have been together awhile, but were still in juniors for the 2013/14 season. While the Quickstep isn't the Finnstep, it's the same style of dance if not the same steps, and gives you some idea of how the team might handle this stylistically and all that jazz.

Quickstep Together:

Kaitlin HAWAYEK / Jean-Luc BAKER

Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN

Anastasia SHPILEVAYA / Grigory SMIRNOV

Anastasia SKOPTCOVA / Kirill ALESHIN

Lorraine MCNAMARA / Quinn CARPENTER

Sofia EVDOKIMOVA/ Egor BAZIN

Junior ice dance is pain, so quite a few of the younger teams were competitive as juniors in 2013/14 season, but have had a partner(or two or…) since.

Quickstep Apart:

Natalia KALISZEK / Maksym SPODYRIEV

Betina POPOVA / Sergey MOZGOV

Anna YANOVSKAYA / Adam LUKACS

Marie-Jade LAURIAULT/ Romain LE GAC

Carolane SOUCISSE/ Shane FIRUS

Sofia SHEVCHENKO / Igor EREMENKO

Ksenia KONKINA/ Pavel DROZD

Section 1, Key Point 1: Lady & Man Steps 1 & 4 (XB-RF, XB-LF) and Lady Step 12 (LFO Tw1½)

Here are slow motion videos of Lady Step 12 (LFO Tw1½) from the BBC and NBC angles. I didn't bother showing steps 1 & 4, since they don't have an entry or exit edge, so pretty much every team should easily execute those steps, but you can see them in the first video of the entire Finnstep section. 

Here are gifs from the NBC angle. 

Meryl, Tessa, Elena, and Nathalie all met the key point feature: “Tw1½: correct Turn” because the LFO entry edge was correct and they completed 1½ rotations on their left foot without jumping or scrapping it, so they all received yes for this key point. However, Meryl did not clearly exit the twizzle on one foot like Tessa, Elena, and Nathalie. This falls under mistakes not listed under key point features, so while she still got credit for this key point the judges should have taken this into account for GOE. 

Section 1, Key Points 2 & 3-

Section 1, Key Point 2- Lady Steps 20-21: XB-LBO, XF-RBI/RBI Tw1½/RFO

Section 1, Key Point 3- Man Steps 20-21: XB-LFI, RFO-Sw3/RBI Tw1/RBI

The key point features for section 1, key point 2 are:

1. Tw1½: correct Turn 

2. XB-LBO: free leg crossed behind the skating leg below the knee 

3. XF-RBI: free leg crossed in front of the skating leg below the knee 

4. Correct Edge (RFO) after Tw1½

Meryl, Tessa, Elena, and Nathalie all met features #1-3. Tessa, Elena, and Nathalie all met feature #4 correct edge (RFO) after Tw1½, as well. Meryl is on a flat, so she didn’t meet feature 4. In the team event, she had this same error and got no on section 1, key point 2, which dropped D/W’s section 1 to level 3. However, the technical panel still gave her yes for this key point in the individual event and D/W got level 4 on section 1.

Team Event BBC angle (I can’t find NBC)

Individual Event BBC angle

The key point features for section 1, key point 3 are: 

1. Sw3, Tw1: correct Turns 

2. Sw3: correct swing movement of the free leg 

3. XB-LFI: free leg crossed behind the skating leg below the knee 

4. Correct Edge (RBI) after Tw1

When I first made this twitter thread with the videos and screenshots, I thought there was 1/6 key points that D/W executed well and it was section 1, key point 3. But after making and look at these gifs... rip this key point might have been questionable as well. Charlie’s RFO-Sw3 had a correct right forward outside entry edge and right back inside exit edge, but he may not have met feature #1 of correct turn on it because it may have been hopped. He doesn’t keep his blade on the ice the whole time like Scott, Nikita, or Fabian who did meet feature #1. This could have led to the technical panel giving Charlie no on this key point, but they gave him yes. I made a gif with just the RFO-Sw3 from both the NBC and BBC angle and took screenshots to verify and it does look like he hopped it.

Charlie, Scott, Nikita, and Fabian all met features #2-4. Nikita and Fabian got yes on this key point for meeting all 4 features. Though even though Fabian’s RBI was on an inside edge and enough to get credit, I think it could have been a little deeper/clearer. Scott got no on this key point despite meeting all 4 features, which led to section 1 of V/M’s finnstep dropping to a level 3. I really am not sure why he was given no when imo he actually executed this key point the best. He crossed his free leg below the knee on his XB-LFI; his right forward outside edge entry edge, right back inside exit edge, and swing movement of the free leg was correct on his right forward outside swing three turn and it wasn’t hopped; and he did a full rotation, had the best right back inside edge exit of all the men, and didn’t hop his single twizzle. 

Section 2, Key Points 1 & 2-

Section 2, Key Point 1- Lady Steps 32-33: LFO Sw-ClCho, RBI/RBO/RBO Tw1½/RFI slide into stop

Section 2, Key Point 2-  Man Steps 32-33c: LFO Sw-ClCho, RBI OpMo, LFI, RFI/RFI Tw1/RFI slide into stop

The key point features for section 2, key point 1 are:

1. Correct Edges 

2. Sw-ClCho, Tw1½: correct Turns 

3. Sw-ClCho: correct placement of the free foot 

4. Sw-ClCho: correct swing movement of the free leg 

5. Correct Change of Edge (Inside to Outside)

Tessa, Elena, and Nathalie all met features #1-5 and got yes on this key point. Meryl met features #3-5, but did not meet features #1-2, which were correct edges and Sw-ClCho, Tw1½: correct turns because her right back inside edge exit of the left forward outside swing closed choctaw was not correct. Her initial blade placement was flat, she leaned into an inside edge, leaned back into a flat edge, and then leaned into the inside edge once again. This should have led to no on the key point, but the technical panel gave her yes. 

They key point features for section 2, key point 2 are:

1. Correct Edges 

2. Sw-ClCho, Tw1: correct Turns 

3. Sw-ClCho: correct placement of the free foot 

4. Sw-ClCho: correct swing movement of the free leg

You can see in both the video and gif that Charlie’s execution of his right back inside open mohawk is very messy. He hops it and there is a lot of snow flying from his blades. This is specifically addressed in the technical handbook though and says that the technical panel will ignore this mistake when considering credit for the key point because “OpMo: correct turn” is not a key point feature. He did meet key point features #1-4, so he got yes for this key point. It should affect the GOE though. 

Fabian, Nikita, Scott met all 4 key point features and got yes on this key point. Nikita was on an inside edge for the right back inside edge exit of the left forward outside swing closed choctaw, which was enough to get credit for feature #1 correct edges and feature #2 Sw-ClCho, Tw1: correct turns, but I think it could have been deeper/clearer.

Scott’s RFI was on an inside edge and enough to get credit for feature #1 correct edges, but I think his RFI could have been deeper/clearer. 

All the teams met the correct swing movement of the free leg key point feature since the requirement is continuous movement and the distance of the free foot being more than one blade distance away from the skating foot. So this will not affect credit for the key point, but this is more aesthetic and has to do with the GOE.

Meryl and Charlie’s free leg unison could be better and both need to point their toes. Tessa and Scott’s free leg unison and toe point is excellent. Elena and Nikita’s free leg unison on the back swing is very messy and Elena’s free leg could be higher. I think both Elena and Nikita’s free legs could be higher on the swing forward. Nathalie and Fabian’s free leg unison could be better on the swing back and Nathalie’s free leg could be higher. Their free leg unison on the swing forward is excellent though. 

Another thing that wouldn’t affect credit for the key point, but is more GOE related since Tessa still had the correct right back outside entry edge to the 1½ twizzle, got all the rotations around without hopping them or turning them into checked three turns or pirouettes, and had the correct right forward inside slide to stop exit was that I think Tessa’s exit to the twizzle could have been a little smoother, especially if you compare the exit here to the exit at GPF for example.

Section 2, Key Point 3: Lady & Man Steps 64-65 (LFI XB-ClCho, RBO3/RFI Tw1½)

The key point features for section 2, key point 3 are:

1. Correct Edges 

2. ClCho, 3, Tw1½: correct Turns 

3. XB-ClCho: correct placement of the free foot 

Every team met feature #3 with correct placement of the free foot. Every team also had clean left forward inside edges, right back outside three turns, and right forward inside 1½  twizzle. The close call on whether this key point should get credit or not is if both partners are on right back outside edges on the exit of the left forward inside cross back closed choctaw. Scott is on a very deep outside edge even upon initial blade placement. Charlie, Nikita, and Fabian look to be on outside edges on initial blade placement and then lean into a deeper outside edge. Nathalie and Tessa look to be on shallow outside edges on initial blade placement and then lean into a deeper outside edge. Elena looks to be veering between flat and shallow outside on initial blade placement and then leans into a deeper outside edge. Meryl looks to be on a flat edge on initial blade placement and then leans into a shallow outside edge. It could have been a close call for all 4 teams, especially D/W, but the technical panel gave all 4 teams yes on this key point.