2013年雾笛杯 Nebelhorn Trophy 2013(索契冬奥会落选赛 9.26-28 德国 奥波斯多夫)
美丽的山谷小镇奥波斯多夫又将迎来一年一度的“雾迪杯”花样滑冰比赛。2013年“雾笛杯”花样滑冰赛将于9月26日-28日举行，由于今年的比赛也是索契冬奥会的落选赛，因此格外引人关注。在关注紧张的比赛之前先放松一下。一起来欣赏一段奥波斯多夫地区的旅游风光片，在美丽的青山翠谷间带着愉悦的心情，开始2013年“雾迪杯”比赛的旅程吧。
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjEwODExNDAw.html
在加拿大伦敦举行的2013年世锦赛中，中国队未能获得冰舞参赛资格，因此本次比赛将是中国冰舞选手冲击索契冬奥会冰舞单项比赛资格的最后机会。根据国际滑联提供的参赛名单，中国队目前派出的选手是黄欣彤/郑迅（于小洋/王晨，张依依/吴楠替补）期待中国冰舞的选手能够赛出自己最佳的水平。
本次雾笛杯的双人赛场格外引人注目。于2010年开始搭档的土耳其组合Olga BESTANDIGOVA / Ilhan MANSIZ 将出现在雾笛杯的赛场上。39岁的土耳其足球明星Ilhan MANSIZ为了女友的奥运梦想改练花样滑冰。他们能够在本次比赛中实现这个看似“不可能的梦”呢？我们拭目以待。此外，曾经备受关注的双人跨国组合高桥成美/Tran, 将和各自的新搭档参加本次比赛。虽然他们的参赛目的各有不同，但昔日搭档的直接对话也非常令人期待。
为了更好备战奥运赛季，许多没有资格赛压力的著名选手也将出现在本次比赛中展示自己的全新节目。这其中包括俄罗斯双人头号选手：Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR / Maxim TRANKOV，世青赛冠军，俄罗斯可爱的“收音机娃娃”Elena RADIONOVA，两届世界冠军安藤美姬，日本老将“小猴子”织田信成，还有美国男单超新星Jason BROWN等等.这些选手的参赛将使本次比赛更加精彩纷呈。
2013年9月18日 国际滑联对本次比赛的前瞻：
Nebelhorn Trophy - Olympic Qualifying Event - Preview
18 September 2013
The last remaining spots for the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, are at stake at the Nebelhorn Trophy 2013 in Oberstdorf, Germany on September 25 to 28. The traditional fall event Nebelhorn Trophy is the ISU designated senior international figure skating qualifying competition as it was in 2009.
The maximum number of entries for the Olympic Winter Games is 30 for Ladies and Men, 20 for Pairs and 24 for Ice Dance couples. 24 spots for Men and Ladies, 16 spots for Pairs and 19 spots for Ice Dancers were determined according to the results of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2013 (see ISU Communication 1791 for details). The remaining open entries (six Men, six Ladies, four Pairs and five Ice Dance couples) are available only to ISU members which have not earned an entry in the respective discipline. Only one entry per discipline and country may be earned in Oberstdorf.
A total of 154 skaters from 50 ISU members have been entered for Nebelhorn Trophy. The event is open to other skaters whose countries have earned entries for the Olympic Games already, but they are not eligible to qualify additional spots.
Overview over the competitors
A total of 34 Men have been entered, with 26 Men competing for an Olympic berth. The top contenders are Nobunari Oda (JPN) and 2013 World Junior silver medalist Jason Brown (USA). Both are not trying to qualify a spot for the Olympic Games.
The Ladies event features 36 entries. 29 of them are eligible to qualify an entry for Sochi. Two-time European bronze medalist Elene Gedevanishvili (GEO) hopes to qualify for her third Olympic Games. Two-time World Champion Miki Ando (JPN) and reigning World Junior Champion Elena Radionova (RUS) headline the field, but are not competing for an entry to the Olympic Games. Ando starts her comeback in Oberstdorf after sitting out the past two seasons while Radionova will debut at the international senior scene.
19 Pairs have been entered and 13 of them hope for a chance to go to Sochi. Among them are 2012 World Pairs bronze medalist Narumi Takahashi (JPN) and her new partner Ryuichi Kihara (JPN). The top contenders are reigning World Champions Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov (RUS).
Out of the 23 Ice Dance couples, 18 are fighting for a spot at the Olympic Winter Games. 2011 World Junior Champions Ksenia Monko/Kirill Khaliavin (RUS) and 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy Champions Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA) lead the field, but are not competing in the qualifying.
The schedule for Nebelhorn Trophy is as follows:
Thursday, September 26: Ladies and Pairs Short Programs, Short Dance
Friday, September 27: Men Short Program, Pairs and Ladies Free Skating
Saturday, September 28: Ladies Free Skating, Free Dance, Exhibition Gala
赛事官网： http://www.eislauf-union.de/Nebe ... il_view_verans.html
ISU赛事页面：http://www.isuresults.com/events/fsevent00051462.htm
刷分网址：http://www.isuresults.com/results/nt2013/
参赛名单：（点击链接，请以最终参赛名单为准）
男单
女单
双人
冰舞
比赛日程：（请以最终比赛时间为准，粗字体为北京时间）
日期当地时间
北京时间项目
9月26日 星期四
10:54:00
16:54:00女单短节目
16:25:00
22:25:00双人短节目
19:55:00
01:55:00（9月27日）
冰舞短舞蹈 *(黄欣彤/郑汛)
9月27日 星期五
08:30:00
14:30:00男单短节目
13:55:00
19:55:00
双人自由滑
17:55:00
23:55:00
女单自由滑
9月28日 星期六
08:54:00
14:54:00
男单自由滑
15:15:00
21:15:00
冰舞自由舞 *(黄欣彤/郑汛)
20:15:0002:15:00（9月28日）
表演
ISU提供的Youtube比赛视频在线
雾迪杯视频直播网址（非美国IP可以看）：
女单短节目：
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-n8wy_VUAc
双人短节目：
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-n8wy_VUAc
冰舞短舞蹈：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovI8NjccNPc
男单短节目：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36O3IqvAW3o
双人自由滑：
1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reu0rESV6Fo
2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BonVYpzG1Vg （最后一组+女单自由滑）
女单自由滑：（含双人最后一组）
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BonVYpzG1Vg
男单自由滑：
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0aeh3oWN3Y
冰舞自由舞(含赛后表演)：
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDqBP3-bjkE
２楼比赛信息汇总：
男单前三名女单前三名
双人前三名
冰舞前三名
ISU的赛后总结：
16 ISU members earned the last remaining spots for the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, at the Nebelhorn Trophy 2013 in Oberstdorf, Germany this week. Brazil and the Philippines will be represented for the first time in the figure skating event at Olympic Winter Games. The traditional fall event Nebelhorn Trophy was the ISU designated senior international figure skating qualifying competition as it was in 2009.
Australia, Israel, Romania, Philippines, Ukraine, Italy earn Olympic spots for Men
Athletes from Australia, Israel, Romania, Philippines, Ukraine and Italy earned the six Olympic spots for Men. Japan’s Nobunari Oda took the gold medal followed by Jason Brown (USA) and Jeremy Ten of Canada.
Oda led after the Short Program with an excellent performance to “Cotton Club” that included the only quadruple toeloop of the day (87.34 points). The 26-year-old followed up with a quad-triple toeloop combination as well as seven more triple jumps in his Free Skating to “Wilhelm Tell” (175.64 points) and posted a new personal best total score of 262.98 points. “I was very focused on my first quad and when I landed it I felt relieved. After that I did all my other jumps and I am very happy”, Oda noted. Brown started with a clean short to “The Question of U” into the competition as well (79.41 points) His Irish themed long program to “Reel Around the Sun” featured six clean triple jumps, but one triple Axel was downgraded (175.64 points). The World Junior silver medalist accumulated 228.43 points overall. Ten shone in the Short Program (76.49 points) and held on to third place with 205.56 points although he missed the triple Axel in the Free Skating (129.07 points).
Alexei Bychenko (ISR/5th), Zoltan Kelemen (ROU/6th), Michael Christian Martinez (PHI/7th), Brendan Kerry (AUS/8th), Yakov Godorozha (UKR/9th) and Paul Bonifacio Parkinson (ITA/10th) secured the Olympic spots for their countries.
Australia, Georgia, Norway, Austria, Czech Republic and Brazil take Ladies spots
Skaters from Australia, Georgia, Norway, Austria, Czech Republic and Brazil grabbed the six Olympic spots for the Ladies. World Junior Champion Elena Radionova of Russia took the gold medal at Nebelhorn Trophy in her international senior-level debut while Japan’s Miki Ando earned the silver and Ashley Cain (USA) claimed the bronze.
14-year-old Radionova produced a triple Lutz-triple toe combination in her Short Program to “Anna Karenina” (64.69 points) as well in her Latin-themed long program (123.52 points). The Muscovite hit five other triples in her long program but missed a double Axel. She scored188.21 points overall.“I am very pleased with what I did here. This is my first (international) senior event and I didn’t know what to expect. It was new to me and it is nice that I got these scores. I tried really hard”, Radionova said. Ando returned onto the international scene after sitting out the past two seasons. The two-time World Champion started off with a solid Short Program to “My Way” (59.79 points) and landed four triples in her Free Skating to “Firebird” by Igor Stravinski (103.07 points) to total 162.86 points. Cain, a former pair skater, hit four triples and underrotated to others in her long program and accumulated 162.39 points overall.
Brooklee Han (AUS/5th), Elene Gedevanishvili (GEO/6th), Anne Line Gjersem (NOR/7th), Kerstin Frank (AUT/9th), Elizaveta Ukolova (CZE/10th) and Isadora Williams (BRA/12th) took the Olympic spots. Brazil will be represented for the first timein figure skating at the Olympic Winter Games and overall 30 Ladies will compete.
Great Britain, Ukraine, Estonia and Israel qualify spots in Pair Skating
The four available spots in Pair Skating went to Great Britain, Ukraine, Estonia and Israel. World Champions Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov of Russia won the event, setting new personal best scores in Short Program and Free Skating. Germany’s Maylin Wende/Daniel Wende and Mari Vartman/Aaron van Cleave finished second and third.
Volosozhar/Trankov put out a clean Short Program to “Waltz Masquerade” that included a side by side triple toe and throw triple loop (81.65 points). Their long program featured a big triple twist, two more triple throws as well as a triple Salchow and level-four lifts and spins (150.31). The European Champions racked up a total of 231.96 points. “We are very happy to have won Nebelhorn Trophy for the third time. It is already a tradition for us to start our season here and we hope that this will be a golden season like the one before”, Trankov said.
Wende/Wende put out two solid programs to “November Rain” (61.00 points) and “Your Highness” (113.88 points). The husband-and-wife team scored 174.88 points and successfully returned to competition after sitting out the entire season due to injury. Vartman/van Cleave included the triple twist into their programs for the first time and earned 162.81 points overall.
Stacey Kemp/David King (GRB/7th), Elizaveta Usmantseva/Roman Talan (UKR/8th), Natalja Zabjako/Alexander Zaboev (EST/9th) and Andrea Davidovich/Evgeni Krasnopolski (ISR/10th) qualified the Olympic spots for their countries.
China, Turkey, Australia, Japan and Spain claim Olympic Ice Dance spots
Ice Dance teams from China, Turkey, Australia, Japan and Spain claimed the available Olympic Ice Dance spots. Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA) moved up from second to take their second Nebelhorn Trophy title. Russia’s Ksenia Monko/Kirill Khaliavin pulled up from third to second while Canadians Alexandra Paul/Mitchell Islam slipped from first to third place.
Hubbell/Donohue lost a few point on the twizzles in the Short Dance (59.06 points) but rallied back with a strong Free Dance set to “Nocturne Into Bohemian Rhapsody” by Lucia Micarelli. The Americans earned a level four for the lifts, the twizzles and the spin while the footwork sequences garnered a level three and two (90.58 points). Overall they scored 147.11 points. “For Madison and I it is a great experience to come to Nebelhorn. To be able to come back and win a second time is a big deal to us. It helped to boost our season the first time and I think it’s another great stepping stone for us to work our way up”, Donohue told the presss.
Monko stumbled on the twizzles in the Short Dance (55.90 points) but the Russians made no mistake in their dance to music by René Aubry and Gaetano Donizetti (86.24 points). The Muscovites picked up the same levels as Hubbell/Donohue for their elements and totaled 142.14 points. Paul/Islam took the lead with an excellent Short Dance to Quickstep and Foxtrot (59.06 points). However, both made errors in the Free Dance on the side by side twizzles that received no level (82.93 points) and they dropped two spots at 141.99 points overall.
Xintong Huang/Xun Zheng (CHN/4th), Alisa Agafonova/Alper Ucar (TUR/5th), Danielle O’Brien/Gregory Merriman (AUS/6th), Cathy Reed/Chris Reed (JPN/7th) and Sara Hurtado/Adria Diaz (ESP/8th) earned the Olympic spots.
The maximum number of entries for the Olympic Winter Games is 30 for Ladies and Men, 20 for Pairs and 24 for Ice Dance couples. 24 spots for Men and Ladies, 16 spots for Pairs and 19 spots for Ice Dancers were determined according to the results of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2013 (see ISU Communication 1791 for details). The remaining open entries (six Men, six Ladies, four Pairs and five Ice Dance couples) were available only to ISU members which have not earned an entry in the respective discipline. Only one entry per discipline and country could be earned in Oberstdorf.
Elena Radionova,Kiira Korpi, Elene Gedevanishvili, Elena Glebova, Ashley Cain 新消息是Eurosport会转播此次比赛{:1_297:}
British Eurosport转播时间表（和北京时间相差7个小时）
http://tv.eurosport.com/tvschedule.shtml
Thursday 26th September
14:30 Ladies' Short Program (1 hr 45 mins) LIVE on ESP
18:00 Pairs Short Program (1 hr 45 mins) LIVE on ESP
21:30 Ice Dance Short Dance (2 hr) LIVE on ESP
(30 minute replay of Pairs Short at 23:30 on ESP)
Friday 27th September
(60 minute replay of Pairs Short at 2:00 on ESP2)
(90 minute replay of Ice Dance Short at 9:00 on ESP)
(75 minute replay of Pairs Short at 10:30 of ESP)
11:45 Men's Short Program (2 hr) LIVE on ESP
15:45 Pair's Free Program (2 hr) LIVE on ESP
(15 minute replay of Men's Short at 17:45 on ESP)
(60 minute replay of Pairs Free at 19:30 on ESP2)
(30 minute replay of Men's Short at 20:30 on ESP2)
21:00 Ladies' Free Program (3hr) LIVE on ESP2
Saturday 28th September
(60 minute replay of Pairs Free at 2:00 on ESP2)
(90 minute replay of Men's Short at 10:30 on ESP2)
12:00 Men's Free Program (2 hrs 45 mins) LIVE on ESP2
(75 minute replay of Ladies' Free at 15:45 on ESP)
17:00 Ice Dance Free Dance (2 hr) LIVE on ESP
Sunday 29th September
19:30 Gala
科美女受伤退赛。。。 来自著名记者Tatjana Flade的推特信息，日本女单名将安藤美姬将参加雾迪杯的比赛。@squalloror @pooool
https://twitter.com/Tatjana21/status/379928901696229376
此外，icenetwork.com对于安藤美姬参加此次雾迪杯也做出了相关报道：
Ando to make competitive return at NebelhornTwo-time world champion replaces injured Korpi
http://www.icenetwork.com/assets/images/0/2/2/60843022/cuts/177199837_zrqq7mel_or7ij4c7.jpg
The German Figure Skating Federation announced Tuesday that Miki Ando, Japan's two-time world champion, plans to compete next week at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany.
It will be Ando's first competition since the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships in Moscow, where she defeated Yu-Na Kim to win her second world title. She won her first world title in 2007.
Following her victory in Moscow, she parted ways with coach Nikoli Morozov, returned to Japan and performed in shows. In 2012, she was nominated for two Grand Prixs but did not compete, saying she had not been able to find a coach in Japan.
On July 1 of this year, she revealed in a Japanese television interview that she had given birth to a daughter, Himawari, in April. Although Japanese media has speculated as to the identity of Himawari's father, Ando has declined to name the man, asking reporters to respect her privacy.
At that time, Ando said she planned to make her competitive debut at a small competition in Japan in October.
One motivation for her appearance at Nebelhorn is to gain the ISU minimum points required to compete at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. She would need to earn a technical element score (TES) of 20 in the short program and 36 in the free skate.
For the 2014 World Figure Skating Championships, which will be held in her home country, the minimum required scores are 26 for the short and 46 for the free.
Nebelhorn is the final qualifying competition for the 2014 Olympic Games; many countries that did not earn Olympic spots based on their skaters' finishes at the 2013 World Figure Skating Championships have entered competitors. Due to the high number of entries, the German Skating Federation maintained an unofficial substitute list. Ando was entered after Finland's Kiira Korpi withdrew Monday due to injury.
The 24-year-old Korpi announced via Facebook, "Doctor told me some bad news. My Achilles tendon was partially torn last Tuesday while jumping on the ice. I will go to Finland for further examination and rehab. I hope to get back on the ice soon and be stronger than before."
Korpi, a three-time European medalist, missed the last two world championships due to injury. She left her Finnish coaches in early summer and now works with Rafael Arutunian in Southern California.
In her place, Finland is sending Juulia Turkkila to Oberstdorf to try to secure one of six available Olympic ladies spots for her country. If Turkkila, who finished 31st at the 2013 World Championships, is not successful, Finland will not field a ladies skater in Sochi.
Juulia Turkkila 将代表芬兰参加落选赛，不过这位选手在2013年世锦赛仅获得女单第31名。面对现在的困难，芬兰媒体应该后悔当年逼得利萍斯托退役了吧。 女单参赛名单已经更新，Miki的名字已经写入，Juulia TURKKILA也进入正选
Entries
No. Name Nation
1 Brooklee HAN AUS 1
Chantelle KERRY AUS 1 S
Jaimee NOBBS AUS 1 S
Stephanie ZHANG AUS 1 S
2 Kerstin FRANK AUT 2
Victoria HUEBLER AUT 2 S
Belinda SCHÖNBERGER AUT 2 S
3 Kaat VAN DAELE BEL 3
Isabelle PIEMAN BEL 3 S
4 Isadora WILLIAMS BRA 4
5 Anna AFONKINA BUL 5
Daniela STOEVA BUL 5 S
6 Veronik MALLET CAN 6
Alexandra NAJARRO CAN 6 S
7 Crystal KIANG TPE 7
8 Elizaveta UKOLOVA CZE 8
9 Anita MADSEN DEN 9
10 Elena GLEBOVA EST 10
Helery HÄLVIN EST 10 S
Gerli LIINAMÄE EST 10 S
11 Juulia TURKKILA FIN 11
Rosaliina KUPARINEN FIN 11 S
Seidi RANTANEN FIN 11 S
12 Elene GEDEVANISHVILI GEO 12
13 Nathalie WEINZIERL GER 13
14 Isabella SCHUSTER-VELISSARIOU GRE 14
Georgia GLASTRIS GRE 14 S
15 Chelsea Rose CHIAPPA HUN 15
16 Ami PAREKH IND 16
17 Clara PETERS IRL 17
18 Danielle MONTALBANO ISR 18
19 Miki ANDO JPN 19
20 Alina FJODOROVA LAT 20
21 Inga JANULEVICIUTE LTU 21
22 Fleur MAXWELL LUX 22
23 Reyna HAMUI MEX 23
24 Michelle COUWENBERG NED 24
Kim BELL NED 24 S
25 Anne Line GJERSEM NOR 25
26 Alisson Krystle PERTICHETO PHI 26
Melissa BULANHAGUI PHI 26 S
27 Sabina MARIUTA ROU 27
Julia SAUTER ROU 27 S
28 Elena RADIONOVA RUS 28
29 Sandra RISTIVOJEVIC SRB 29
30 Dasa GRM SLO 30
Nika CERIC SLO 30 S
31 Lejeanne MARAIS RSA 31
32 Sonia LAFUENTE ESP 32
33 Isabelle OLSSON SWE 33
34 Tina STUERZINGER SUI 34
Anna OVCHAROVA SUI 34 S
35 Birce ATABEY TUR 35
Sila SAYGI TUR 35 S
36 Ashley CAIN USA 36
Kiri BAGA USA 36 S
Vanessa LAM USA 36 S
最让我期待的还是 ilhan大哥的双人组合
多么感人肺腑的爱情故事啊
据说ilhan大哥是33岁才开始滑冰的
不管结局是如何那份坚持和勇气是让人叹服的
Elena Radionova Gears Up for Senior Debut
http://ww3.sinaimg.cn/mw690/9e9f333bjw1e8wb7merj5j20dw0dw76b.jpgRussian prodigy Elena Radionova is getting ready for her senior level debut at Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany (Sep. 25-28). The Muscovite dominated at the junior level last season, winning every competition she entered including the World Junior Championships; the Junior Grand Prix Final, and skated into second at Russian nationals at the senior level.
“I am preparing to be able to present my programs well and to show what I’ve worked on this summer. I want to be in top shape for the Grand Prix,” said Radionova who has been assigned to Skate America and NHK Trophy.
Radionova has consistently landed triple Lutz-triple toe combinations in practice and, more just for fun, attempts triple Salchow-triple toe-triple toe combinations. “I‘m getting back into shape. I started to grow and obviously I have to cope with that,” she explained. “Inna Germanovna (Goncharenko, her coach) and my mother are helping me a lot with this. And so I am going through all this quite easily.”
For the new season, Radionova has two programs that are very different to each other. Her short program, set to the soundtrack of the “Anna Karenina” movie, is soft and lyrical while her long is to a selection of Latin music, which is upbeat and fun. Both programs, crafted by Ilia Averbukh and Elena Maslennikova, are well suited for the young skater and also show off her musicality.
“I live through music. When I am sad, I switch on some music and I feel better right away,” she said. “I love to dance. I like to skate my programs with music. I can work on elements without music, but I enjoy skating to music.”
“At the end of the program, when the footwork comes, I just want to dance. In the short program, I want to show all the emotions and the passion and in the free skating I want to bring across the cheerfulness,” the 14-year-old said.
Over the summer Radionova worked on all aspects of her skating. “I want to improve everything, to do the jumps nicer, to glide in a nicer way, to show my programs better, to express this dance, and the concepts of the programs that Ilia and Elena did for me. These are great programs and I want to do them better and perfect them,” she explained.
Radionova knows that many people have high expectations of her and are looking to see how she will fare against the top ladies at the senior level this season. But the cheerful teenager said that she doesn’t feel any pressure even after the stellar season she had.
“I don’t think that I am such a great athlete that won a lot. I just won the smallest one, Junior Worlds,” Radionova said. “In reality, there are competitions that are much more serious and more difficult. I don’t feel any pressure yet. I just think I have to work harder and more, because there is no limit to perfection.”
Radionova has that rare ability to impress with the big jumps and beautiful spins, but she also shares her joy of skating. “When I was younger I didn’t realize that I loved figure skating, but now I understand that I can’t live without it,” she said with a smile. “I was on vacation and I got bored because I had nothing to do. I wanted to be on the ice, glide, to do something. I feel drawn to the ice like by a magnet.” 年华小编 发表于 2013-9-23 12:20
Russian prodigy Elena Radionova is getting ready for her senior level debut at Nebelhorn Trophy...
Radionova , just go!
xuexileifengaaa 发表于 2013-9-22 07:22
最让我期待的还是 ilhan大哥的双人组合
多么感人肺腑的爱情故事啊
据说ilhan大哥是33岁才开始滑冰的
...
Olga Beständigova/Ilhan Mansiz 2013年9月在参加雾笛杯前夕在奥波斯多夫接受了媒体figureskating-online.com的访谈，讲述了他们从做出决定参加冬奥会征程以来的点滴故事。文中谈及了他们训练的艰辛以及和教练的合作备战信息等许多内容。
他们还讲述了本赛季两套节目幕后的故事：自由滑音乐将来自电影《最后的武士》原声。在Ilhan参加明星冰上秀的时候，《最后的武士》这个节目是他们表演最好的一个节目，这个节目对于这对伉俪也有着不同寻常的意义，是他们相识相知走到一起滑冰的经历的见证。为此他们讲选手这部电影的原声作为自己的自由滑节目，而且节目开头的设计都将与当年在明星秀时期的编排相同。短节目音乐是他们在观看了电影《舞出我人生4》之后被影片结尾处的双人舞深深感动，在经历了大量的音乐挑选之后，他们终于找到了这段心仪的音乐，来自“The Cinematic Orchestra”乐队的名曲“To Build a Home（建一个家）”，在这个现代舞风格的节目中 ，他们的服装将会非常别致。尤其是Ilha，将身着套头衫和类似牛仔裤的服装。
此外他们表示目前最大的目标就是尽自己所能提高节目质量。即使没有获得冬奥会的入场券也会滑完这个赛季。他们会争取突破欧锦赛和世锦赛的最低分数线，并将参加在女选手Olga Beständigova家乡斯洛伐克举行的B级赛 Ondrej Nepala，以及土耳其全国锦标赛，还有可能会参加在克罗地亚首都萨格勒布举行的Golden Spin比赛。
Ilhan Mansiz已经38岁，Olga Beständigova也已经34岁，他们将在这个赛季后结束滑冰生涯。
Interview Olga Beständigova/Ilhan Mansiz
September 2013, Oberstdorf
http://www.figureskating-online.com/mediapool/50/505569/resources/30900094.jpg
Q: Who of you first had the idea to continue with pair skating following your victory at the show “Skating with the stars”?
Oli: It was I think coming along together, we both had a kind of ideathat he would be helping me and I had a dream still to compete at Olympics.. So it was not my (idea) and it was not his (idea), it was just coming together.
Ilhan:First of all of course I know how hard skating was after the show, after the experience in the show. I thought maybe I can find (her) a partner and support them as a sponsor. But later on we figured out that I was doing big improvements in a short time. And to tell Oli like“ehI’m 32 so let’s try, I want be your partner, wouldn’t be a little akward, but she had the trust in me and saw potential in me and said so let’s try how far we can get. So we developed the idea together.
Q: Did you aim right away for the Olympic Games or when did you think about this goal?
Oli: The first and the most important idea was (to get to) the Olympics of course. I think that for this season we are open for other competitions as well. But there was the first idea to get to the Olympics.
Ilhan: Of course as an athlete you always want to reach the highest level, no matter what you are doing. Otherwise if she would ask me for adult skating, I would say …
Oli: I wouldn’t go for that either.
Ilhan: No offense to adult skaters, I appreciate what there are doing for their age and that they like what they do it and their commitment.
Oli: But we are a little bit more competitive.
Ilhan: We are competitive in our personal attitude, that’s why we said let’s try to get the Olympics.
Q: You first trained in Germany, then you went to the USA. Why? What was and is there better for you? What are the differences on practice on and off ice compared to your former coaches?
Ilhan: We had a lot of moves in the past three years. We started in Oberstdorf …
Oli: With Alex König.
Ilhan: Then it was kind of still the baby steps. It was the first time for us to try to work with a coach as a pair.
Oli: We were doing a little step before that with me, but I cannot see what we were doing together, although we started doing crossovers together and maybe some death spirals, but you need someone to lead you.
Ilhan: Then we moved to Garmisch. We were travelling like nomads, living like gypsies. We were not happy with the living situation here in Oberstdorf, that’s why we went to Garmisch. There we had Stefan Zins, another former pair skater, and we made another big step forward in our development like in basic skating. Meanwhile I had a job in Turkey as a commentator. I was working for a TV sports network. So I had to fly back and forth every weekend. I was leaving on Friday, coming (back) on Monday. I had like two hours of sleep. So of course the quality of our practices got worse, because of the job. But it was for the full soccer season. End of January we decided to move to Istanbul because of the travelling. But when we moved to Istanbul, we didn’t have enough ice time. So we weren’t on the ice for almost six, seven months. We were a couple of times on the ice, max two weeks in Istanbul, because the rink was already occupied. We had maybe once or two times a week a session at night.
Oli: In the Olympic (size) ice rink. They also have small ones.
Ilhan: We were able to use the small one, but on the small one, after two pushes you were done. So we weren’t able to do anything. Anyway, at the end of the season, that was last year, we decided we have to get far away to focus on our project, because we had a lot of distractions – the work, the travelling. That was basically the reason why we moved to the States. We went for our off-season preparation to Phoenix where I used to go when I was playing soccer, seven or six years ago. We had our skates with us and on our off-days we would go on the ice and we skated around. We met Doug Ladret, the former Canadian pair skater. He kind of knew us and knew the story, but we introduced ourselves when we got on to the ice.
Oli: After the session we basically just went to him and asked how does it look like with ice times, with coaching and everything. He said plenty of ice time, me – the coach, you’re all set. So we decided all together and we stayed there for a year and I think it was very difficult, but very productive. In the States, you have a different system of coaching. You have those 15 or 30 minutes lessons and the rest of the time you work alone. But we were not in the position to skate alone, we always had to fix something with someone, so we basically were working with more coaches. By the time the season was coming to the end the coaches that we have right now and here with us, Tiffany Vise and Don Baldwin, they were still skating at U.S. Nationals that season. After that they quit and we had a chance to work with them.
Ilhan: So to compare the States and Germany, of course I like the environment and the coaching system in Germany much better than in the States, but at the end we moved to the States. It was not wrong, it was hard, but in the end it was really productive.
Oli: It was worth it.
Q: Why did you choose the Nebelhorn Trophy as your very first competition and did not go to any other smaller event for a test?
Ilhan: We always prepared for competing at Nebelhorn. We didn’t want to rush to make it to another competition, because we already missed half a year on the ice. When we were in Turkey, we had not enough time to prepare. We could have done another competition in the States one week before we came to Germany, but we also had to move out of our place.
Oli: It (the competition) was not one week before, it was actually one day before. So with the packing and everything it was really rushed. We wouldn’t have been able to move out. So we decided not to go there.
Ilhan: It was like five or six hours away by car. Most of the people are asking – you never competed before, why you are choosing this one.
Oli: It’s not a choice, it’s the thing we want to do.
Ilhan: It doesn’t matter how many competitions I would do, because I’m just skating for two and a half years. I have always the same feeling to any other competition as well. I don’t even see it as a competition. We’ll just try our best to do the program and we will see what happens.
Q: It is the first time ever that a former soccer star became a figure skater - how did soccer fans and other players react?
Ilhan: Actually, when we started, a lot of people were asking if we were crazy. A lot of fans were complaining if I put that much energy into to making a comeback in soccer, I would play (soccer) again. The challenge was so big for Oli to skate with a non-skater, with a former soccer player, to trust him, and to do all the hard work, being patient and waiting that he can finally do something. For me, even when I was playing soccer, I said to myself, I want to do another sport. Of course, I was not thinking about figure skating. After I retired (from soccer) I wanted to start something else, but not figure skating. But it was destiny. We met in the show, we won the show, we had a lot of fun and then we got this crazy idea. So we started to work on it and committed to it. We don’t care what other people think about it.
Q: What fascinates you about skating?
Ilhan: What I like about it – it’s a big challenge. Even if you know you can do the elements, it doesn’t matter what, if it’s a jump, if it’s a spin – it can happen that you cannot do it on the second session on the day because of the coordination. It’s a really high-level sport. You have to be athletic, you have to be balanced…
Oli: Gracecul.
Ilhan: I’m not graceful. I skip being graceful, but you need strength, you need flexibility, so you need everything. That is a big challenge. And as I said, you come on the ice, you do your jumps, you go, you’re thinking, ok, I got it. Two hours later you have the next session and the whole feeling is gone. That makes it fascinating for me.
Oli: Not for me that much, because if something is not working, then sometimes it’s getting really mad. He is not used to being in a sport where coordination is very fragile and you have to work with that. You have to keep yourself calm even if it’s not working and it’s not always working. That’s what is amazing, like one day you feel like total crap, you think you cannot do anything, you cannot skate and the next day you’re coming not even thinking and bam, bam, you’re doing everything the best you can. That’s the amazing part about figure skating. I’m not saying I like those bad times, but then you’re appreciating those good times even more.
Q: What was and what is the most difficult part for you about figure skating?
Oli: To do your stuff when you’re tired, when your legs are getting a little tight.
Ilhan: The most difficult part is actually…
Oli: to work together (laughs). Sometimes it is not working.
Ilhan: Sometimes, yes. The coaches are forgetting that I’m not a figure skater. I don’t have the knowledge of a figure skater. So when they try to explain, what is natural for a figure skater…
Oli: He doesn’t have that stuff that… if you say, you can just show the arm or you say, “your arm”, a skater knows what to do with the arm, but he doesn’t. You have to explain to him everything in detail.
Ilhan: From the beginning, when we started doing spins, of course you start doing the forward scratch… and then we got to the back scratch. Because I was turning on the left inside, I was trying to do the back scratch on the right inside and I got always stuck. I was like, why can’t I do it?
Oli: And then we figured you, you have to go on the outside edge.
Ilhan: I was on the inside edge, so they had to tell me, if you go to the back scratch, you have to do it on the outside edge. If you say left or right in soccer, I keep the ball left or I keep it right, but in this case, I tried to push with left and standing on the right, but it was the other way.
Oli: There were plenty of things where we had to really explain the stuff from the very, very beginning. Not even kids think that way. They just go and do it.
Ilhan: When they said, do a three-turn…
Oli: He wasn’t doing a three-turn, he was turning three times in a row.
Ilhan: I turned three times and I was like why do I have to turn three times?
Oli: It’s called three-turns, because it is in the shape of the number three, so you have to do that. It was a funny thing.
Ilhan: This is the hardest part, because I don’t have the knowledge, nothing is natural for me.
Oli: And then you need trust when I make a mistake that when the coach is saying ‘try to do it this way’. I know I can do that, but he is not trusting that I can fix it. When he is doing stuff on his own and he’s been told like you have to fix this, he knows he can fix it. But he has difficulty to trust me in that way. You’re getting a little more intense. You said it.
Ilhan: No.
Oli: Yes, you did. He said it to Doug (Ladret, coach) that he doesn’t really have too much trust, but you feel better about fixing it yourself, because you feel responsible for yourself and then it’s hard for you that you are not in charge when I fix something. That’s what I mean – I have to be in charge, not you.
Ilhan: You have been skating for 30 years, how can I not trust you to fix some stuff.
Oli: Everybody does mistakes and you can be Olympic Champion, that’s fascinating about figure skating. You can be as good as everything and then you come to the ice and smack yourself, from nothing.
Q: Oli, how much courage did you need especially in the beginning to be lifted by Ilhan who had not much experience?
Oli: When we started the lifts in the show, of course we started off the ice. Ilhan had no problem to lift me. He is very athletic. That is the biggest advantage that we have. He is very, very strong. Sometimes the strength is overtaking the technique, but the technique now is getting where it needs to be. So there is a balance. But of course, when we started real skating and we started to learn to do the turns… of course, I trusted him always. I’m not saying I didn’t have the respect or I wasn’t afraid… I wasn’t afraid that he’s going to drop me or anything. I just knew he has no experience and there is nothing I can blame him for. But I can say I never was afraid, because even in the show he was very protective and he never let me fall. Until now, we never fell from a lift. I have to knock on my head. I was trusting him, even if sometimes when he was kind of off balance, he put me down as safe as he could have. It is really amazing. It kind of got from the point where we are very conscious or going very slowly into the lift, being careful, okay, we have to get through. And we got to the faster speed and everything and smoothness pretty easy. We were not forcing ourselves, it just got there. We used to do always like a row up, as a warm up, for the steps. We stopped doing it basically kind of naturally. Now I can say I’m not even thinking about being afraid or going into the lift having fear what’s going to happen. Now or already for some time I just concentrate on what I do. I’m not concentrating on what he is doing, because I know he is doing his job. Not an easy thing for both of us, but …
Ilhan: At the beginning, because I wasn’t able to see her, because she was overhead, but I heard from the coach…
Oli: I was like a potato bag and my eyes were dropping all the way down to the ice, like do not drop me, do not drop me.
Ilhan: That made the lift also harder, because if she was in a nice position already it would make it easier for me, but she was tense and not letting herself get in a normal position. She was giving me a hard time, basically.
Oli: It wasn’t easy for me either. I was afraid, but I trusted him. That was the most important thing. If I wouldn’t trust him, I wouldn’t even let him do that.
Q: How would you describe your character as a pair on the ice?
Oli: He is not allowing anybody, and this includes me, mostly to do anything.
Ilhan: Because I have the credit to do all the mistakes, not you.
Oli: He is a hard worker. He can get mad about things but at some point it just comes from his perfectionist part of the personality. We both have a temper but over the years as a pair skater I learned to control myself, because I used to be very explosive as well. I used to scream, yell and kick the boards, throwing the (skate) guards and things like that. When I yell, my voice is very high and it is not very beautiful. I can say that you cannot find a more patient and calm person in the entire universe right now. I’m just kidding. Sometimes it is boiling inside but it is ok. We both have our roles, we cannot both fight. I think it works that way. We just became better that way.
Q: Can you tell us about your programs? Which music did you choose? Who had the idea?
Oli: In the case of the music, I am the boss, yes! Of course, we were discussing the music, but we knew the long program from ever since we’ve started this project. The second show was “The Last Samurai”, the music from the movie, and it was basically our best performance from every single point of it. We had a (good) feeling with that music and we thought this is it. This is our story, this is how we started and we are together until now. And even the choreography in the beginning is exactly the same what we had in the show. As for the short program, it has been a little longer journey to choose the right music. We pretty much got three or four option until we settled. We already had a short program done with another music before we changed it to this one. We changed in March, because we had a pretty fast music. I think the judges would have been standing in their chairs. It was from Greyhound. And then we were watching the movie “Step Up Revolution “ and at the end of the movie is one song and those two people are dancing and it is a contemporary dance and we said, this is it. This is the music we should skate to. The other music was amazing, but we are not there yet to skate to something like this. With this one we are going to be a little more calm and settled. Judges like those love stories. It’s “To build a home” by Cinematic Orchestra. It’s kind of a slow, contemporary music and we chose maybe a little different kind of costume especially for Ilhan. It is not a typical figure skater’s (costume). He wears something like jeans pants, it’s not real jeans, there were made for skating. And he has something like a cardigan or pullover. I have pretty much a skating costume. Let’s see what people will say about it. I think we go pretty well with the music. They suit us and we can express ourselves with them much better.
Q: How did your training go, how satisfied are you with your progress and how do you rate your chances to get to the Olympic Games?
Ilhan: Of course, there are more pair teams than expected. Spain has a pair, North Korea, Sweden, Japan, Israel changed the partner, he has an American partner right now. They improved a lot. We saw him at Nebelhorn Trophy two years ago and now he has a better partner. It’s going to be a tough one. Our aim is to skate our best and get less deductions.
Oli: (Our aim is) to do what we can do, get less minuses and keep the GOE on a base level or where we are better, because we have some strong elements, to get the plusses on those and keep those elements strong not get the minuses.
Ilhan: So that we get at least the points (technical minimum score) for the European or World Championships, if we don’t qualify for the Olympic Games so we would kind of continue this season and finish it with a highlight.
Oli: Yes, because I think no matter if we make it or not – if we make it’s going to be amazing. If we don’t make it’s amazing anyway. As Ilhan said, we already won. We are pretty unique in what we are doing. There is no one else and that is what makes me proud of Ilhan and us. I’m not saying that pair skating is easy, it’s very hard, but nobody had the guts to get into it and try to do it a little differently. The way to get there was very, very long and I just saw a little, little light at the end of the freaking long tunnel. I knew that it can work. This is what makes this thing very interesting and challenging. For me it is to go out there and to do our best and the people are going to be blown away anyway.
Q: Do you want to compete at other events this season?
Ilhan: Yes, we are going to go to Bratislava, to Ondrej Nepala. Of course, it’s Oli’s hometown so it would be nice to skate there after the long work.
Oli: After the long time! I haven’t been competing in a long time, not only at home.
Ilhan: According to the results, we’ll see, we might go to Golden Spin in Zagreb. Of course we’ll do the Nationals.
Oli: Maybe even Bavarian Open if necessary.
Ilhan: So I can get the title as a National soccer champion and pair figure skating champion.
And Oli can get to be Slovak and Turkish National Champion.
Oli: I want to be Slovak and Turkish National Champion! I hope we get to Europeans and Worlds to get as much as we can out of it. It was a long –term project.
Ilhan: The last six, eight weeks we were not working on developing the elements, but to make them better. I don’t mean making them better as if we are going for a triple jump. We were keeping it on one level.
Oli: Not to make it at a higher level but improving the level we have, because in this system it is sometimes more important to go for the GOE, to go for plusses than to go for a higher level. Sometimes if you have a level four for something and get the minuses you’re getting even lower than the base value.
Ilhan: After these two competitions we’ll have time to develop the jumps.
Oli: Now we have no time to change anything. We’re trying to do the best we can with what we have. You’re always get to the points when you get closer to the competition you are thinking, ah, I wish we’d have another month or two months more. We should have worked here a little more, we shouldn’t have had this break. It’s always like this and you have what you have. This is what we have right now. We just have to do it. It is very easy. Just go and do it (laughs).
Q: When will you receive Turkish citizenship?
Oli: We were talking about this question with the Turkish Federation. It is a very difficult thing for me to talk about right now, because first we have to get the job done. We did the first paperwork to be able to skate for Turkey.
Ilhan: She got the clearance.
Oli: From the ISU. This was also big paperwork. And then we can do more paperwork.
Ilhan: The citizenship is only an issue if we qualify for the Olympics. She can represent Turkey without becoming Turkish in other competitions.
Oli: So even the lady that works for the Federation said one step at a time. Now we did this, the other paperwork will come in case you qualify. I’m not an official in Turkey, but it’s doable. The most important thing is to get out there and do our job.
Q: What are your plans for the future in general?
Ilhan: As we said we want to finish the season with at least one big event. If we don’t make it to the Olympics, we want to go to the Europeans and or Worlds. Then of course I am in an age…
Oli: We are in the age…
Ilhan: We were teasing ourselves about the next Olympics in four years. I like the life of being an athlete and I have another project, but first we want to finish this one before we think about the next step.
Oli: Also what we’re going to do depends on the result and the interest of the people. I think it is interesting, nobody ever saw that and they couldn’t believe in it. You never know what might come out of this and what kind of offers we get. It’s hard to plan the future right now. We might be a little smarter next week at this time.
Ilhan: We’ll be pretty much finished with competitive skating after this season. I turned 38 a month ago.
Oli: I’m 34.
Ilhan: My body is crying every day.
Oli: My body is also crying every day and I’m a skater.
Ilhan: I had a lot of injuries form soccer. Competitive skating will be over after this season for sure.
Oli: We might do some shows if it goes well and we get offers. In the shows you’ll do one to maybe three programs, but you don’t have to kill yourselves in the lifts. You can go maybe three, four times on the ice easy, maybe some throws, maybe some show lifts, but it’s not like you have to come to the ice three, four times a day. You can start maybe a normal life, because this is a kind of dedication and you are sacrificing basically your own life. For me, I was always in a different country, where I was not at home. I was stuck with Ilhan and we never had our own air to breathe. Being together 24/7, that’s tough. I am in this case an easier person than Ilhan and I’m also sometimes freaking out from being together all the time. I cannot go somewhere alone and basically still have nothing in Germany that I can fix on my own. When I am in Slovakia I do everything myself. There a still things that I have to do. So this was the hard part of it to be pretty much all the time together and be stuck on a conversation. We have nothing to say and we told each other it is interesting to meet someone else because then you finally can tell our stories to them. It’s really hard to pull out some stories for ourselves.
Q: How popular are you in Turkey? What are the reactions in Turkey that they now have a pair skating team and how do you think you can promote the development of figure skating in Turkey?
Oli: The Turkish fans, I have to say, I never saw fans as silly and crazy. When you see some celebrity or a famous person, you are excited, you go to the person, you take a picture, you are asking, how it is going, but they are literally peeing in their pants, they are like huuuh. In Turkey he has almost no privacy.
Ilhan: It’s been a long time, but of course it was hard to be there. On the one hand it’s nice to be famous, that means you’re doing a good job or you’re good in your job. On the other hand it’s pretty hard, because you don’t have a private life. You are always at the center of the attention. You cannot be yourself sometimes, and that’s pretty hard. That’s one of the reasons why I’m living abroad. I was born here (in Germany), it is more my home. I’m at home more here than in Turkey.
Oli: I think if we would do this in Turkey, it wouldn’t work. It would be very distracting.
Ilhan: I think most Turkish people still don’t know that Turkey has a pair team. Some of them heard about it and they were like, yes, sure, you want to go to the Olympics in pair skating, that’s ok.
Oli: But we have Turkish fans that are pretty cool.
Ilhan: If you go on the Turkish Federation webpage even they don’t announce the competitors, they don’t even say, at Nebelhorn in single skating he is trying, she is trying, dance, pairs. There is no announcement on our page. It’s not a strong country in figure skating or winter sports in general. Oli had already a couple of years ago before we started an offer to build up a Turkish pair team. The mentality in Turkey is pretty difficult. They want everything pretty much done right now. They don’t realize if you build up something you need time, money and invest in it. They want to get it now. If they get it now, they’re willing to pay, but if they have to wait and build up, they always back away. Maybe this will show them that you can do it, if you work hard, if you are patient, if you believe in it and invest in it. Maybe in that case, it can help. Afterward they can come and use us to advise them in the sport, because most of the people, the board members, they don’t even have a clue about skating or about the sport in general. It’s hard to deal with people that don’t know the sport. They maybe know economics and advertising.
Oli: It’s a general problem in sport, not only in skating.
Ilhan: It’s the same in soccer.
Oli: They’re expecting the results, but they are not willing to invest and pay to develop that. You have to first pay everything on your own. We are a totally different, but that might give a clue that …
Ilhan: … it might change.
Oli: The first thing is to believe in what you are doing and then work hard. You cannot say ‘this is not going to work’, because that’s the worst thing in general. I can’t do and this is not possible. If you want to do it, you go and do it. And if you have a little bit of potential it can happen. I’m not saying in our case that we are going to win Worlds or Olympics or anything but it’s just going to show that everybody is saying, even the kids – we’re calling them kids, everybody is kids for us – we are older, yes we are. But when you are saying, ah, I’m getting too old, my body… what? Don’t complain, just work. Maybe we work more. We have to work more for ourselves. We have a great athletic potential, but I can’t even image how Ilhan is feeling not being flexible from the very beginning, not even now. He got 50 million times better. I’ve always been flexible, but I have to work harder to keep me where I am at or to make me better. It’s not anymore so soft. It is still natural, but I have to care about myself way much more. The only thing we do for the Federation and which is maybe going to help is to show them in a different way how you can do it.
Q: Thank you very much for the interview and good luck!
1988年的卡尔加里冬奥会，冰舞组合Monica MacDonald / Rodney Clarke代表澳大利亚参加了比赛。他们获得了第20名（最后一名）。在那之后，再也没有澳大利亚的冰舞选手出现在冬奥会的赛场上。2013年澳大利亚又将向冬奥会冰舞比赛资格发起挑战。已经牵手15年的7届澳大利亚全国冠军Danielle OBRIEN / Gregory MERRIMAN将代表澳大利亚参加本次雾笛杯,向冬奥会发起最后的冲击。比赛前夕他们接受了澳大利亚ABC电视台的采访，讲述了他们的奥林匹克梦......
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjEzMjY5MTA4.html
9月24日Icenetwork.com对于本次比赛的展望：
Olympic spots up for grabs at Nebelhorn Trophy
Ando returns to competition; Davis, Brubaker make international debut
Posted 9/24/13 by Klaus-Reinhold Kany, special to icenetwork
A lot is on the line at the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy, held this week in the quaint Bavarian enclave of Oberstdorf, Germany.
Top skaters, like world pairs champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia and former Japanese champion Nobunari Oda, will test their programs in front of an international judging panel. World junior champion Elena Radionova of Russia and two-time world junior medalist Jason Brown of the U.S. make their senior international debuts.
Last week, organizers added another big name: two-time Japanese world champion Miki Ando, who last competed at the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships, where she defeated Yu-Na Kim to win gold. Ando, who gave birth to a daughter in April, joined the lineup after Finland's Kiira Korpi withdrew with an Achilles tendon injury. The Japanese star must gain minimum technical scores at an international event this season to have any hope of qualifying for her third Olympic Games.
In addition to Brown, the U.S. sends Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, the Detroit-based ice dancers who won this event in 2011. Ashley Cain had some solid performances this summer and will make her international senior debut. New pair Lindsay Davis and Rockne Brubaker, impressive at Skate Detroit in late July, will test the international waters ahead of their first Grand Prix assignment, Skate Canada.
Icenetwork will stream the last two groups in each discipline live to Season Pass subscribers.
Last chance for Sochi
First and foremost, Nebelhorn is a last chance for many countries to qualify entries for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, to be held in Sochi, Russia, in February.
Six spots are open for ladies and men, five for ice dance and four for pairs. Only one skater or couple per country in each discipline can compete for a spot. Countries with a second entry must designate which skater's result will count as the Olympic qualifier. (Israel and Finland both have two men entered.)
If a skating federation qualified an Olympic entry at the 2013 World Figure Skating Championships in London, Ontario, and does not use that spot in Sochi, the next country from the Nebelhorn qualifying result gets it. (Most notably, if Isabella Tobias does not secure Lithuanian citizenship in time for the Olympics, she and partner Deividas Stagniunas' ice dance spot will likely be awarded to the country thats owns the sixth-best ice dance result in Nebelhorn qualification.)
The addition of an Olympic team event in Sochi adds more incentive to several countries' Nebelhorn entries. In order to compete in the team event, a country must qualify Olympic skaters in at least three disciplines. For Japan, that means either ice dance siblings Cathy Reed and Chris Reed or new pair Narumi Takahashi and Ryuichi Kihara must qualify for the Games.
Gedevanishvili will stake claim for Georgia
Twenty-nine ladies will compete in Oberstdorf for the remaining six Olympic spots. Two-time European bronze medalist Elene Gedevanishvili of Georgia had a disastrous worlds, placing 29th and failing to qualify for the free skate. This spring, she left Toronto and coach Brian Orser to train in Massachusetts under Konstantin Kostin and Edouard Pliner. While she looked under-trained in the short program at the Liberty Summer Competition in July, she showed improvement in winning the Middle Atlantic Championships, held in New York earlier this month.
Other contenders include Australia's Brooklee Han, who placed 21st at worlds, missing an Olympic spot by just one placement. Han is a question mark, having withdrawn from the recent Skate Down Under event due to illness. Spain's Sonia Lafuente, 22nd at worlds, has a strong chance, as does Austria's Kerstin Frank, who will bank on her high jumps. Isadora Williams, who lives and trains in the U.S. but competes for Brazil, has several triple jumps and fine choreography.
With Korpi injured, Finland's chances hinge on two-time Finnish silver medalist Juulia Turkkila, who placed 31st at worlds. The Philippines enters Alisson Krystle Perticheto, who was 18th at the world junior championships last season and trains in Switzerland, instead of former U.S. competitor Melissa Bulanhagui, the 2010 Nebelhorn bronze medalist. This comes as a surprise, since Bulanhagui recently won a bronze medal at the Asian Open and has far more experience.
It's a toss-up for the men
Some 26 men, many close in ability and results, will compete for six Olympic spots.
Italy wants to qualify a man for Sochi to complete a team that already includes world silver medalist Carolina Kostner, European ice dance bronze medalists Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte and European pairs bronze medalists Stefania Berton and Ondřej Hotarek. Several weeks ago, four men competed at an internal monitoring event to decide which would get the Nebelhorn nod. The victor: Paul Bonifacio Parkinson, who trains with Tom Zakrajsek in Colorado Springs, Colo. Parkinson has a quad Salchow in his arsenal.
Former French competitor Kim Lucine now competes for Monaco and was allowed to enter late, since his federation had forgotten to register him on time. (Monaco's Prince Albert II is a longtime member of the International Olympic Committee.)
Brazil's Luiz Manella, who lives and trains in Florida, hit a triple Axel in winning Liberty, where he defeated 2013 Nebelhorn bronze medalist Keegan Messing. Korea's Jin-Seo Kim was 26th in London and hopes to join Kim in Sochi.
The Israeli federation must decide which of two men -- Alexei Bychenko or Stanislav Samohin -- it will nominate. The Philippines selected Michael Christian Martinez, fourth at the recent Junior Grand Prix in Riga, Latvia, over Christopher Caluza. Caluza skated to a fifth-place finish at the 2013 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Salt Lake City, while Martinez placed sixth.
With three triple Axels -- one in the short and two in the free -- Brendan Kerry of Australia won Skate Down Under with a score of 192.28. He trains under Tammy Gambill in California.
Other potential candidates for a spot include Denmark's Justus Strid, Romania's Zoltan Kelemen and Stéphane Walker from Switzerland. Ukraine's Yakov Godorozha, 23rd at 2013 worlds, just missed qualifying a spot last season.
Japan, Israel, Britain aim for Olympic pairs spots
Of the 19 pairs entered at Nebelhorn, 13 hope to gain one of the four available Olympic spots for their countries.
Japan's Narumi Takahashi has the most on the line. The 21-year-old from Chiba won the 2012 world bronze medal with former partner Mervin Tran but ended that partnership because Tran, a Canadian, could not gain the necessary Japanese citizenship that would allow him to compete with her in Sochi. Her new partner, Ryuichi Kihara, is a former singles competitor with no prior pairs experience. The team trains in Detroit under Jason Dungjen and recently gained 138.03 points at the Lombardia Trophy in Italy.
At Nebelhorn, Takahashi and Kihara will not try only to qualify a spot for themselves in Sochi but gain a minimum technical score and add themselves to Japan's powerful team.
The new Israeli pair of Andrea Davidovich and Evgeni Krasnopolski, who train in Hackensack, N.J., skated relatively well in finishing sixth in Salt Lake City. Davidovich, a former singles competitor on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, has solid jumps and has quickly learned two throw triples.
Eight-time British champions Stacey Kemp and David King, who aim to qualify for their second Olympics, had disappointing performances at Skate Detroit in July but earned far better scores at a recent event in Sheffield, England. Lyndon Johnston, who coaches the team in Ellenton, Fla., said they have stepped up their training in recent weeks and are in good shape for Nebelhorn.
There are a few wild cards. Nebelhorn is the first-ever international event for Austria's Miriam Ziegler and Severin Kiefer. Ziegler placed 26th at the 2010 Olympics as a singles competitor.
By far the most unusual entrants are experienced Slovakian pair skater Olga Beständigova and the 38-year-old Ilhan Mansiz, a famous former soccer player. Mansiz, who played in Germany and for the Turkish national soccer team, began skating at about the age of 30. The team has trained for two years with Doug Ladret in Arizona; Nebelhorn is their first major competition.
Japanese team hopes ride on Reeds
Some 18 ice dance couples are fighting for at least five, or perhaps six, Olympic spots.
No one is under more pressure than the Reeds, who placed 20th in the world last season. The brother and sister, who train in Hackensack under Galit Chait, have many years of international experience and should be able to earn Japan an Olympic ice dance berth.
Another couple who should qualify is Spain's Sara Hurtado and Adria Diaz, who placed 19th at worlds. They train in Montreal under former world silver medalists Marie-France Dubrueil and Patrice Lauzon.
The powerhouse ice dance coaching team at Detroit Skating Club, headed by Pasquale Camerlengo and Anjelika Krylova, bring several teams to Nebelhorn. All must not only qualify for the Olympics but also earn an ISU minimum technical score. They include Danielle O'Brien und Gregory Merriman of Australia; Xintong Huang and Xun Xintong of China; and Ramona Elsener and Florian Roost of Switzerland, who spent much of the summer in Detroit.
Former Italian world champion Maurizio Margaglio, Finland's national ice dance coach, will try to qualify a spot with Henna Lindholm and Ossi Kanervo. Poland's Justyna Plutowska and Peter Gerber put out polished programs to place ninth in Salt Lake City, but their coach, Igor Shpilband, admitted that the field at Nebelhorn presents a stiff challenge.
"There are many teams that are very close in ability," Shpilband said. "But defeated a few teams in Salt Lake City, who will also be competing at Nebelhorn, so I have hopes."
美国男单选手Jason Brown已经抵达奥波斯多夫，并在自己的twitter表达心情......
女单短节目抽签揭晓，安藤美姬第一组出场, Elena RADIONOVA最后一组打头阵。
http://www.isuresults.com/results/nt2013/SEG003.HTM