by Matteo Morelli
Finland welcomed again a Grand Prix occasion after final internet hosting one in 2018. Grand Prix of Espoo, that changed Rostelecom Cup, was the final occasion of the collection and closed all of the {qualifications} for the Grand Prix Final, with Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier and USA’s Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker securing the remaining two spots out there.
Rhythm Dance
The rhythm dance ended with a number of season bests and private bests achieved by the groups that skated on the necessary Latin type for this season.
Finland’s Yuka Orihara and Juho Pirinen entertained the native viewers with their rhythm dance, scoring 69.13, a season finest. They actually loved skating in a rink that they’re very accustomed to, and shared that they might really feel all of the love coming from the general public.
China’s Shiyue Wang and Xinyu Liu had been total proud of their rhythm dance, though they know that extra work must be achieved.
Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier (CAN)
“We know we can improve our rhythm dance,” Wang shared. “It is not an easy one, but we will keep working on it to show what we can do.”
Czech Republic’s Natalie Taschlerova and Filip Taschler had been total glad with their partaking programme primarily based on music by Shakira and Enrique Iglesias.
“We love performing this rhythm dance a lot, in fact sometimes we get too much into it!,” Taschlerova mentioned.
After the not so profitable rhythm dance they’d at Grand Prix de France, Finland’s Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis may redeem themselves delivering a private finest in entrance of their dwelling viewers and ending in fourth place.
“We were a bit shaky at the beginning, but then towards the end we really loosened up and tried to enjoy the home audience as much as possible,” Versluis mentioned.
“We know this rink very well, it feels so comfortable for us to skate here,” Turkkila added.
USA’s Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko led to third place with a season better of 76.20.
“We are really happy with today’s performances, we wanted to come in and capitalise from the momentum we created in Sheffield a few weeks ago”, Ponomarenko mentioned.
“We had a short period of time between the two grand prix events, we wanted to settle in the programme, grow the speed and performance and keep improving,” Carreira added. “We were really excited when we learned Latin was the style for this year, we both really like it.”
At their second look on Espoo ice in six weeks (after Finlandia Trophy), Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker secured a season finest and private finest with 80.93 and a second place end.
“We really enjoyed the performance and we wanted to find special moments for one another within it,” Hawayek mentioned. “We have received really positive feedback about the characters that we infuse into the programme, and we changed the lift to portray those characters even more, receiving better GOEs.”
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier took the lead within the rhythm dance with a rating of 87.80, a brand new private finest for them.
“We try not to focus on the scores this season. The elements are different and it is difficult to compare,” Poirier added.
Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker (USA)
“Coming back from skate Canada we wanted to up the level, and today’s performance took a lot of mental fortitude,” Gilles shared. “We settled in and gave everything we have, we are really happy with the development of the programme.”
“This is the third time we do Latin for the short dance,” Poirier shared. “We really wanted to take a different approach to it, do something more sophisticated and ballroom feeling, and by far this is the time I have enjoyed skating Latin the most in my career.”
Free Dance
The free dance noticed some modifications of positions from the rhythm dance outcomes.
A mistake on the rotational elevate for Shiyue Wang and Xinyu Liu meant they might not equal the rating they acquired at NHK Trophy and so they dropped a few locations total.
A mesmerising efficiency from Yuka Orihara and Juho Pirinen allowed them to safe one other season finest with 104.04 factors for his or her free programme and climb up one place within the total last rating.
Natalie Taschlerova and Filip Taschler delivered a stable skate on their programme that sends a message about our planet and nature. They secured 111.79 factors for it and a brand new private finest, ending with an total complete of 186.39.
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko’s stylish ‘Summertime’ programme rating was barely increased than what they achieved in Sheffield, however that wasn’t sufficient to retain their third place on the rostrum.
Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis actually felt their free programme primarily based on a piano sonata by Schubert and earned a private better of 116.73 and total 191.79 factors, permitting them to get a historic first grand prix medal in ice dance for Finland.
“The home crowd gave us a lot of energy to skate through the free programme, we enjoyed every second of our skate today,” Versluis shared.
Juulia Turkkila & Matthias Versluis (FIN)
“We know what we are capable of, we want to achieve even more and this is just the beginning!,” Turkkila added.
Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker’s free dance allowed them to earn 121.53 factors and a silver medal that secured their place right into a grand prix last for the second time of their profession.
“Today there were many moments when we had to zone in on each other and focus our energy, but we were really proud of showing the improvements that we have made this season,” Hawayek mentioned.
“The grand prix final is going to be very exciting, it has been quite a long time since we have seen so much movement in the top six area in ice dance,” Baker added.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier’s Evita satisfied as soon as once more, permitting them to earn 131.69 factors, one other private finest and the very best qualification marks for the Grand Prix Final.
“Evita is a programme that have been coming up for 11 years now, but never felt like it was the right time as it is quite a difficult one to choreograph”, Gilles shared. “Each moment we step out on the ice we are not looking for scores or medals, we are looking to create moments and this takes a lot of pressure off of us.”
“The next two weeks will be about managing our energy and making sure that we are not too tired entering the Grand Prix Final,” Poirier added.
Grand prix last official {qualifications}
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier and Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker took the final two spots out there to qualify for the Grand Prix Final to happen in Turin, Italy. Already certified are Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri, USA’s Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Canada’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sørensen, and Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson.