Tag Archive for: 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy

Canadians win two bronze at Nebelhorn Trophy

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OBERTSDORF, Germany – Jeremy Ten of Vancouver and ice dancers Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam of Barrie, Ont., won bronze medals on Saturday at the Nebelhorn Trophy senior figure skating competition.

In men’s competition, Nobunari Oda of Japan took the gold with 262.98 points, Jason Brown of the U.S. was second at 228.43 and Ten followed at 205.56. He ranked third in the short program Friday and fifth in the long.

‘’This is quite exciting,’’ said Ten, 24. ‘’I’ve worked really hard over the summer and it’s great to finally see it pay off this early in the season. Today I wasn’t at my best so I know there’s a lot of room to grow. In the whole program there was a lot tweaking involved to get all the combos in. I didn’t let anything go and fought through the mistakes at the beginning.’’

Ten was coming off a tough 2012-13 campaign which included an eighth place finish at the national championships. Now he throws his hat into the ring as a contender for one of those three available Olympic spots after achieving the qualifying score Saturday.

‘’This off-season, I just needed to have a reset and reevaluate where I was in my career,’’ he said. ‘’I changed my training venue for a month this summer and that really set me up for the year. I remembered the reasons I was skating and fell back in love with the sport.’’

In ice dancing, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the U.S. were the winners at 147.11, Ksenia Monko and Kirill Khaliavin of Russia were second at 142.14 and Paul and Islam, the leaders after Friday’s short program, followed at 141.99.

“It was a tough ending to a really great competition for us,” said Islam, who joined forces with Paul in 2009. “There were some technical issues today that hurt us Still it’s a building block for the rest of the season and we have lots of positives to take forward.”

The couple were anxious to unveil their new programs to the international skating world.

“This year we’ve been really working on our performance,” said Paul. “We also got all new lifts which are more impressive and should bring us better technical scores. Today we gained a lot of confidence knowing that with a few mistakes we can still pull through.”

In the team standings, Russia ranked first, the U.S. second and Canada third.

Louis Daignault

Determined Mallet shines in international debut

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OBERTSDORF, Germany – Persistency has paid off for 19-year-old Veronik Mallet of Sept-Iles, Que., as she placed fourth in women’s singles in in her international debut Friday at the Nebelhorn Trophy figure skating competition.

Elena Radionova of Russia won the gold medal with 188.21 points, Miki Ando of Japan was second at 162.86 and Ashley Cain of the U.S. third at 162.39.  Less than three points back from Cain was Mallet at 159.67.

‘’I`m very satisfied,’’ sad Mallet.  ‘’I didn’t come here with expectations because I had never competed against such a field.’’

Mallet needed to improve her triple Lutz and triple toe flip over the summer to gain an international assignment.

‘’This is the first year I have those two jumps in my program,’’ said Mallet.  ‘’I trained really hard to achieve those jumps, and now I understand them and can do them.’’

In pairs, Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia finished ahead of three German couples to win the gold medal.

Natasha Purich of Sherwood Park, Alta., and Mervin Tran of Regina were sixth in their first competition together.  Tran,  born in the Saskatchewan capital, won a world championship bronze medal for Japan in 2012 with former partner Narumi Takahashi.

‘’We really came out here with a blank canvas and really wanted to show we can compete at the senior level,’’ said Tran.  ‘’Our big challenge this year is to show the unison that experience teams develop after many years.  We had a good start and really went for it today.’’

In Friday’s men’s short program, Jeremy Ten of Vancouver posted the third best score at 76.49.  Nobunari Oda of Japan leads at 87.34 and Jason Brown of the U.S. is second at 79.41.

In Thursday’s short dance, Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam of Barrie, Ont., topped the field with a personal best 59.06.

The free dance and men’s final are on Saturday.

Louis Daignault

Canadian Skaters Travel to Germany for Nebelhorn Trophy

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OTTAWA, ON: Canada will send six skaters, for a total of four entries to Nebelhorn Trophy, a senior international competition in Oberstdorf, Germany. The event is held from September 25-28, 2013, at the Eislaufzentrum Oberstdorf. Canada will be represented in all four disciplines: men’s, ladies, pair, and ice dance.

Jeremy Ten, 24, Vancouver, B.C., will be the Canadian entry in men’s. Ten placed eighth at the 2013 Canadian Tire National Figure Skating Championship and seventh at the 2012 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic last season. He is coached by Joanne McLeod and Neil Wilson at the BC Centre of Excellence.

Veronik Mallet, 19, Sept-Îles, Que., is the entry for Canada in the ladies category. This will be Mallet’s first international assignment. Last season, she placed fifth at the 2013 Canadian Tire National Figure Skating Championships. She is coached by Annie Barabé and Sophie Richard at CTC Contrecoeur.

Natasha Purich, 18, Sherwood Park, Alta., and Mervin Tran, 23, Regina, Sask., are the Canadian entry in pair. Both skaters have competed internationally with previous partners, but this will be their first international assignment together, after joining in February 2013. The pair train out of CPA Saint-Léonard and are coached by Richard Gauthier and Bruno Marcotte.

Alexandra Paul, 22, Barrie, Ont., and Mitchell Islam, 23, Barrie, Ont., will represent Canada in the ice dance category. Last season, they placed fifth at this event and won silver at the 2012 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic. Paul and Islam also placed fourth at the 2013 Canadian Tire National Figure Skating Championships. They train at the Detroit Skating Club under coaches Pasquale Camerlengo, Angelika Krylova, and Massimo Scali.

Skate Canada High Performance Director Mike Slipchuk will be travelling with the Canadian team as team leader.