Nebelhorn Trophy Sept 27 - 29, 2012

The official site:

http://www.eislauf-union.de/Nebelhorn-Trophy-2012_Veranstaltungendetail_Zuschauer_44_kkdetail_view_verans.html


Practice groups:

http://www.eislauf-union.de/Practice-groups-Nebelhorn-Trophy-2012_Newsdetail_101_kkdetail_view_news.html

NT entries and results:

http://www.isuresults.com/events/fsevent00051395.htm

Time schedule:

http://www.eislauf-union.de/bilder/NebelhornTrophy_ColouredTimeSchedule20092012.pdf

Thank you hsuhs for starting this thread and for the above information. This competition will be exciting to see, a lot of first class skaters are entered. Will you be attending all of the disciplines? Have fun!

Shyla wrote:

Will you be attending all of the disciplines? Have fun!

Thank you, Shyla

I think I will, just not all the groups, especially not all the ladies and ice dancers. I tried to, last year, got stressed out fast.

We've been to the arena today. Saw Ralph / Hill, Sotnikova, Volosozhar / Trankov walking around (they didn't skate). Planning to go see practices tomorrow.

It's a real Indian summer over here, sunny and hot. We've been hiking and going out the last few days, I read it's going to rain come Thursday though.

Glad you are having good weather we are having Indian Summer here in the US too. I love this time of year beautiful weather not to hot or to cold. Then December comes and we have very cold weather lots of ice and snow too. Yuck. I don't do Winter Sports so I really do not enjoy the cold weather. Looking forward to your reports. I am very interested to see how Oda is doing after his knee injury last year.

Shyla wrote:

I don't do Winter Sports so I really do not enjoy the cold weather.

Me neither.

Just came back from an evening walk. Saw Denis Ten walking in the streets, looked like he was coming back from a practice at the arena (even though there's no official practices today).

A minute later (around 9 pm local) bumped into Evan Bates. He was having a work out (ran in the streets of the town, alone).

Then I saw a couple of Japanese female fans checking into a hotel. Looked like they just arrived.

Thanks hsuhs!

hsuhs wrote:

It's a real Indian summer over here

Yeah, I was catching my Indian summer too swimming in the sea, and I was the only one who was still swimming .

Japanese fans are following their guys everywhere. This time Oda and Imai. Or maybe they are supporting someone else. In Men I think Michal, Oda, Andrei, Menshov and Ten will be fighting for medals. But you know- you never know! Counting on you with updates, hsuhs!

Hi again, guys

Back from the men's practice at the main rink.

What can I say -- Oda-san is in an excellent shape. Saved quite a few off-the-axis jumps easily. Landed several 3As without a problem. Was having troubles with a 3A with a difficult entrance (a spread eagle variation) for some time, but finally landed that one too. Did a triple with both arms up.
Toward the end of the practice landed a couple of 4+3s (the triple might have been a tiny bit UR).

His mom (?) was in the stands.

Denis Ten appeared coachless today.

Michal and Tomas both look rather skinny (especially Misha!). Michal was there with Viktor Petrenko. Looks like they didn't change his jumping technique. Brezina attempted 4S several times. Landed beautiful fast 3As and 3Lzs(?). Loved his choreo.

The Russians were also there: Menshov looked .... polished (can't believe I'm saying this) in his Pina LP. Ivan was having problems with his 3A. Bariev's coach is a blond woman.

After the practice saw Stephen CARRIERE running in a busy street for a workout.

That's all for now.

Thanks hsuhs for the info about Mens' practice. Good news about Oda and Meshov looking polished, that is good news too!

Back from the evening practices.
Both rinks are rather cold and dark (the latter makes taking decent pics almost impossible).

Tomas Verner landed a quad after a couple unsuccessful attempts. Michal Brezina missed the practice. Stephane Lambiel was there with Denis Ten, Denis produced solid 3As, 3F... I wasn't paying attention. I didn't stay for Nobunari.

I've seen only a small part of ladies practice. Sotnikova looked enthusiastic, kept smiling and landing jumps (including 3+3, I believe).

Caroline Zhang was there with Karen Kwan. She, too, was all smiles and happy-happy-happy. Overdoing it a bit? Dunno, maybe she's always like that.

Went to see pairs too. Vera Bazarova fell on their sbs jump during sp run-through. Volosozhar-Trankov looked good and solid, they didn't skate their entire lp, just parts of it. They are going to win the Trophy, of course.

How did Caroline do? She usually isn't happy, happy unless she is skating well. lol

Vera has trouble a quite bit with her sbs jumps. I like Vera and Yuri's skating to me they are
very Russian in their presentation and I like that.

V/T will win the trophy in Pairs they are top notch skaters.

Thanks for the info. Sorry you missed Oda and that the rink was dark and cold.

Shyla wrote:

How did Caroline do?

She didn't do any jumps when I was there, only her spins and step sequence (I left for a different practice at another rink shortly after that), those looked nice.

Shyla wrote:

I like Vera and Yuri's skating to me they are very Russian in their presentation and I like that

.

Oh they are indeed lovely. I just wish they tried something other than their usual love / romance repertoire. Just once.

Shyla wrote:

Sorry you missed Oda and that the rink was dark and cold.

They probably save energy that way. There's enough lights in the arena and at the practice rink, but only the half of those lights are on.

Me missing Oda was a conscious choice, I'm afraid I'm not a huge fan of his skating, to be honest.

As you already know, Vera Bazarova WD from the pairs LP due to her hip problems.

I really enjoyed Ralph / Hill's SD yesterday, was unpleasantly surprised they placed 7th.

Nobunari Oda fell on the opening quad, but the rest of his program looked OK to me. Oda is very smooth and fast, his landings are cat-like accurate most of the times. I don't get his costume / his music / his acting, but sure he can skate. I kind of agree with all 7s in his PCS.

Nobunari was visibly nervous when taking the starting position.

Menshov could have done better, but 2nd after sp isn't that bad I guess. He got a pink teddy bear from his Japanese fans. (I believe he's the only skater who got a plush toy from the audience).

Keegan Messing was loudly supported by Team USA from the stands. His skating didn't look refined to me, but he had some interesting transitions in his program, like a Russian split.

Brezina, Verner, Ten didn't deliver. Tomas Verner's music stopped suddenly during his step sequence, he had to restart from where he'd stopped, a minute later.

Today we'are having a nice sunny day again over here, and I'm missing ladies sp (and am not sorry about that).

hsuhs wrote:

He got a pink teddy bear from his Japanese fans.

Ooohh! They do love Russian blond boys!

Thanks for the report, hsuhs.

let`s talk wrote:

Ooohh! They do love Russian blond boys!

Well, I, too, thought his looks had something to do with it!

Have been to pairs free today (saw only the final 3).

The French were so good in the short, I thought they were making a big progress. But they had many little mistakes in their long. Great they could catch the bronze though!

The Americans are skating to yet another overused piece of music this season, POTO, in their free. John looks elegant in his tuxedo-like costume. They totally deserve their silver in this competition, of course.

The Russians looked very solid and impressive for this early in the season. I'm not a huge fan, but hubby likes Russian pairs (Maxim's skating especially), insists on waving a Russian flag for them, and so we did.

We also stayed for the medal ceremony, it was lovely. I took pics.

The local cows have been passing by our garden all day long, they wear cowbells, those ring nonstop It's like having live music in your backyard

// Off to the 3rd and 4th groups of men's free.

Thank you hsuhs. Sounds like the Pairs FS was very good. Sorry to hear about Vera but she
needs to take care of herself. I heard she is going to have surgery? I like the Russian pair team and they have all of the tricks but for me something is lacking. I am an uber fan of the German team S/S who was not at this competition.

Glad you stayed for the medal ceremony that is always a favorite part of the competition for me. The skaters are so happy and proud of themselves as they should be.

Looks like Oda will take the men's competition unless he implodes. He has a ten point advantage. I am very interested to see his SP.

I see that Caroline Zhang came in 10th in the SP. I am sure she was not happy, happy with
that placement. I hope she improves her jumps before GP.

eta: I found Oda's SP on Youtube. His costume is atrocious. How did his wife let him choose that.
Not to crazy about his music or his choreography, although he did skate well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAh_mHiTwEM

Shyla wrote:

I heard she is going to have surgery?

That's what I read too.

Shyla wrote:

Looks like Oda will take the men's competition unless he implodes. He has a ten point advantage.

He did well in the free too.
He had a mistake on his quad landing today. Interesting that his both 3A's are in the first half of the program. He did do that 3A with a difficult entrance so well today.

Shyla wrote:

His costume is atrocious.

It looks even worse in person, tbh. His free program costume isn't much better, but will probably look better in videos, because it's black (with a shiny red sash).

Just like in the sp, I don't get his music choice. But ah, Nobunari won after all. Well done!

Being 29 y.o, can Menshov still be considered a late bloomer? Nice quad, 2 3A's etc. Not bad huh? But unlike his short, his free program looked rather empty and monotonous to me. I hope he'll improve.

Every time Keegan Messing is about to start his program, there's this woman in the audience yelling something incomprehensible. I wish I knew what that is about. Messing seems to have a personality, which is nice.

OMG. How stupid of me!
I was looking for the thread in a wrong place all this time!

Thank you very much for the thread and your reports, hsuhs!!

It's nice to hear about a competition again, that special atmosphare...
Now this is giving me the feeling that the season has started.

hsuhs wrote:

Shyla wrote:

I don't do Winter Sports so I really do not enjoy the cold weather.

Me neither.

What a pity. I love winter and its sports (not good at them though) AND live on an island in the tropics.
I'm sick of this scorching sun and tomorrow I'll go to an air show to get toasted just to please my family... (too much info!)

I'm a little sad about Caroline Zhang's result. Not a great fan or anything, but I was very impressed with her last 4CC FS performance.

I like Menshov too, not because of his blond look but for his .... weirdness.



The cow-bell story was soooo lovely!!

Thanks hsuhs!
I'm so jealous, autumn in Oberstdorf must be beautiful! (I love mountains) Do you also photograph the landscape?

Here are some videos from Nebelhorn Trophy:
Nobunari ODA:
SP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAh_mHiTwEM
FS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQNgHJ_uAaI

Konstantin MENSHOV:
SP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gc19kc3T8A
FS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY3oHWe8xfk

Michal BREZINA:
SP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1C_kinmd1g
FS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvp0R_HxrPM&feature=youtu.be

Tomas VERNER:
FS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtGiRaZDKdg&feature=youtu.beutu.be

Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR & Maxim TRANKOV:
SP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STpS4dGxLXo
FS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGGlJ_qfNxk

Maxim's hair! Reminds me of somebody

Twind wrote:

I like Menshov too, not because of his blond look but for his .... weirdness.

I don't really know what to think of him, have never spoken to him, he's a mystery to me But I totally approve he attempted a quad in the grand finale at gala (had a little mistake on the landing). To me it says he's ambitious.

Twind wrote:

The cow-bell story was soooo lovely!!

ilica wrote:

I'm so jealous, autumn in Oberstdorf must be beautiful! (I love mountains) Do you also photograph the landscape?

Oh guys the place is beautiful and very eco-friendly. The mountains, the meadows, the cows and horses, the farms...

Yep, I take all kinds of pics including landscapes. But it will take time to have them edited and uploaded.

ilica, thank you so much for all those links

Went to see the ladies lp. Sotnikova made one mistake too many and finished 2nd. She looked much more relaxed and happy in the Ex, where the difference between hers and the winner's skating skills, speed, posture, ice coverage, extension, musicality became especially clear.

Sotnikova should have skated like that in her free.

Haruka Imai's free looked clean, pretty and nice, live. But, if you check the protocols:

http://deu-event.de/results/Nebelhorn_2012/NT2012_Ladies_FS_Scores.pdf

you can see why her TES isn't as high as it could have been.

Chock & Bates's FD looks very impressive for this early in the season. They must have worked real hard this past off-season. I didn't expect them to progress so much so fast, my bad.

Their FD is to Dr. Zhivago, which isn't something very original or ground shaking, but they strike a right balance between drama and lyricism, and it works. It's simply beautiful.

Thanks for your report and thoughts hsuhs! I was quite suprised that the Canadian
Osmond won the Ladies competition but as you said to many mistakes from Adelina.
Up until this competition I have never heard of Kaetyln Osmond.

Glad to hear about Chock /Bates' FD. Their improvement does not surprise me since they left
with Igor Shilbhand when the breakup between him and Marina happened. I believe they are now
the number one ice dance team in their group and I bet Igor is spending a lot of time with them,
which is a good thing for them. Also I heard that the Italian ice dance team team C/L were training
with Igor too while in the US.

Thanks for the video links ilica!

Today was our last day in Oberstdorf, we're heading home tomorrow morning (will first stay in another vintage little German town for a night though).

I really enjoyed the competition, met nice people again, recognized some people from WCh in Nice too.

Today there was a traditional local market here in the town. The weather wasn't great for photography but good enough for walking. Saw Nobunari & mom at the market, saw Russian officials leaving.

There were local men wearing lederhosen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lederhosen
in the streets.


Here's my 1,5 year old pics of the place. This is Oberstdorf in February 2011 (nothing's changed):

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/375274/375274,1298347546,1/stock-photo-bavarian-alps-in-winter-71682862.jpg

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/375274/375274,1298934999,2/stock-photo-old-bavarian-village-in-winter-72176017.jpg

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/375274/375274,1299541370,1/stock-photo-alps-in-bavaria-germany-in-winter-72683119.jpg

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/375274/375274,1299172677,4/stock-photo-alpine-antique-town-of-oberstdorf-germany-72372325.jpg

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/375274/375274,1299172673,2/stock-photo-bavarian-town-of-oberstdorf-germany-in-winter-72372319.jpg

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/375274/375274,1299172672,1/stock-photo-vintage-town-of-oberstdorf-germany-in-winter-72372322.jpg

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/375274/375274,1299172676,3/stock-photo-aerial-lift-in-alps-72372295.jpg

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/375274/375274,1298934998,1/stock-photo-view-of-alpine-antique-town-of-oberstdorf-germany-in-winter-72176029.jpg

Thank you hsuhs for the pictures!

Thank you for the photos!