2016 Europeans: Welcome to Bratislava!
I have heard talks about the Ondrej Nepela Trophy for years. It's one of those ghostly competitions not part of the Grand Prix Series, but that still makes waves through the amount of great skaters attending it. In all honesty, I've never watched it. I've never even researched it. My only interactions with it have been glancing over some skater or another's season overview and seeing that they've won it. So when I noticed the venue for the 2016 Europeans was the Ondrej Nepela Arena I had an "Oh, goodie" moment as in "Oh, goodie, I finally have the opportunity to find out more about it."
For others like me, who don't really know who Ondrej Nepela was, here's what you need to know. He is basically the best skater Slovakia and the Czech Republic have ever had (no wonder they love him so much). Back in the day when Czechoslovakia was on the European map (1960s - 1970s), he won an Olympic gold medal, three World titles and the Europeans five times. So it's no wonder that not only a stadium, but also a competition were named after him. I wonder what Ondrej would say were he able to witness the astonishing talent that's going to step on the ice of his arena this week.
The boys' competition, in particular, has changed a lot since Ondrej's glory days. Javier Fernandez and Maxim Kovtun have both four quads in total planned for this competition. Then there's Mikhail Kolyada, who is a young Russian skater, which these days translates into "only God knows what he's capable of." That's even more applicable now that Sergei Voronov (bronze medalist last year) is not attending due to poor results at Nationals. I'm always going to keep an eye on Michal Brezina, but the Czech has had a bad season so far, so I don't dare to daydream.
The girls have come a long way since the 1970s as well and not only in the number of mouth-dropping talents out there. You just know this is going to be Russian Nationals 2.0 with Elena Radionova, Anna Pogorilaya and Evgenia Medvedeva. You also know this lot is extraordinary when you realise the current European champion, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, couldn't make it past them at Russia's championships.
For all their great representatives, Russia's had really bad luck in the pairs event. Two of their top pairs, Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov and Yuko Kavaguti/Alexander Smirnov have suffered injuries and can't participate. Fret not though, for their best pair ever, Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov are still competing and they'll face, who else but Aliona Savchenko/Bruno Massot. Yes, you heard me right. I've been waiting to write that phrase for too long and it finally happened. Germany's controversial new pair is making their official international debut in Bratislava. Are you as giddy with excitement as me?
Last, but not least, we're also looking to a comeback from Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron. The French ice-dancers have had to sit the first half of the season out due to Gabriella's concussion, but are going to give it their best to keep their European title. They'll face off against Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte and Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev. Truth be told, I find it very unlikely we'll be hearing anything but La Marseillaise Saturday night if Gabriella is one hundred percent recovered. Then again, I've never actually seen their routines this season, so who knows?
One never truly knows in figure skating how the skate will land, with a thud or a roar of applause, but one thing you can be sure of is we're living the Golden Age of figure skating. And this year, Bratislava is at the core of it.
For others like me, who don't really know who Ondrej Nepela was, here's what you need to know. He is basically the best skater Slovakia and the Czech Republic have ever had (no wonder they love him so much). Back in the day when Czechoslovakia was on the European map (1960s - 1970s), he won an Olympic gold medal, three World titles and the Europeans five times. So it's no wonder that not only a stadium, but also a competition were named after him. I wonder what Ondrej would say were he able to witness the astonishing talent that's going to step on the ice of his arena this week.
The boys' competition, in particular, has changed a lot since Ondrej's glory days. Javier Fernandez and Maxim Kovtun have both four quads in total planned for this competition. Then there's Mikhail Kolyada, who is a young Russian skater, which these days translates into "only God knows what he's capable of." That's even more applicable now that Sergei Voronov (bronze medalist last year) is not attending due to poor results at Nationals. I'm always going to keep an eye on Michal Brezina, but the Czech has had a bad season so far, so I don't dare to daydream.
For all their great representatives, Russia's had really bad luck in the pairs event. Two of their top pairs, Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov and Yuko Kavaguti/Alexander Smirnov have suffered injuries and can't participate. Fret not though, for their best pair ever, Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov are still competing and they'll face, who else but Aliona Savchenko/Bruno Massot. Yes, you heard me right. I've been waiting to write that phrase for too long and it finally happened. Germany's controversial new pair is making their official international debut in Bratislava. Are you as giddy with excitement as me?
Last, but not least, we're also looking to a comeback from Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron. The French ice-dancers have had to sit the first half of the season out due to Gabriella's concussion, but are going to give it their best to keep their European title. They'll face off against Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte and Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev. Truth be told, I find it very unlikely we'll be hearing anything but La Marseillaise Saturday night if Gabriella is one hundred percent recovered. Then again, I've never actually seen their routines this season, so who knows?
One never truly knows in figure skating how the skate will land, with a thud or a roar of applause, but one thing you can be sure of is we're living the Golden Age of figure skating. And this year, Bratislava is at the core of it.
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