Yatagarasu

He would look super intimidating though, which is a plus. And hot but you know...

You're right! I better not moan about it, or they'll take it all away

Unfortunately, I am probably going to miss most of Ladies short. Maybe I can catch the tail end of it but who knows what that means, considering the draw. The men I can watch but considering how the previous two went, I am sort of pouty that the schedule is not the other way around

True but the guards do have red on them so that bit confuses me then. Red, black and blue to be precise. So if Chopin is blue perhaps that leaves us with black and red. Hah, all this speculation, who knows what we'll see in about two weeks (and oi, talk about time flying!) No gold though

And with the boys, over 60, all on Thursday, plus the Pairs. It's going to be a long day

It's possible she feels like her programs aren't ready so she doesn't want to risk showing up looking "unprepared" considering the way Helsinki turned out. From that point of view, it'd probably be the best for her to come out of the gate as strong as possible, so maybe she weighed her options and chose to start with the GPs then.

Yup, there was but I think we can safely assume it's being held on purpose. As a new jump it'd be big news so if they're not showing it, something that would garner them interest and views, then there is a block on it. Presumably once it's being used, they might show it as a progression of a sorts.

2017 JGP Riga Cup - September 06 – September 09, Riga, LAT Time and Practice Schedule The rosters for the event are now out, and the following skaters will be participating: Men Ladies Ice Dance Pairs Darian KAPTICH (AUS) Yakau ZENKO (BLR) Alexander ZLATKOV (BUL) Corey CIRCELLI (CAN) Matyas BELOHRADSKY (CZE) Mihhail SELEVKO (EST) Maxence COLLET (FRA) Isaak DROYSEN (GER) Josh BROWN (GBR) Alexander BOROVOJ (HUN) Samuel MCALLISTER (IRL) Yuto KISHINA (JPN) Mitsuki SUMOTO (JPN) Nikita MANKO (KAZ) Kims Georgs PAVLOVS (LAT) Daniels ROSCIKS (LAT) Igors TATARINOVS (LAT) Kai Xiang CHEW (MAS) Jaeseok KYEONG (KOR) Makar IGNATOV (RUS) Roman SAVOSIN (RUS) Evan WRENSCH (RSA) Nikolaj MAJOROV (SWE) Ivan PAVLOV (UKR) Tomoki HIWATASHI (USA) Maxim NAUMOV (USA) Katie PASFIELD (AUS) Kim CHEREMSKY (AZE) Lizaveta MALINOUSKAYA (BLR) Presiyana DIMITROVA (BUL) Alison SCHUMACHER (CAN) Haley YAO (TPE) Klara STEPANOVA (CZE) Nastasya EREMINA (EST) Viveca LINDFORS (FIN) Kristina ISAEV (GER) Anna LITVINENKO (GBR) Hiu Yau CHOW (HKG) Dora NAGY (HUN) Kristin Valdis ORNOLFSDOTTIR (ISL) Sophie ABRAMS (ISR) Rika KIHIRA (JPN) Yuhana YOKOI (JPN) Zhansaya ADYKHANOVA (KAZ) Polina ANDREJEVA (LAT) Anete LACE (LAT) Arina SOMOVA (LAT) Greta MORKYTE (LTU) Aneeta LINGAM (MAS) Natalia PAULIN (MEX) Ellen YU (NOR) Diane Gabrielle PANLILIO (PHI) Hyun Soo LEE (KOR) Alisa FEDICHKINA (RUS) Daria PANENKOVA (RUS) Cassandra JOHANSSON (SWE) Thita LAMSAM (THA) Ilayda BAYAR (TUR) Anastasiia ARKHIPOVA (UKR) Ashley LIN (USA) Emmy MA (USA) Jessica PALFREYMAN / Charlton DOHERTY (AUS) Karina SIDARENKA / Maksim YALENICH (BLR) Yana BOZHILOVA / Kaloyan GEORGIEV (BUL) Alicia FABBRI / Claudio PIETRANTONIO (CAN) Valerie TAILLEFER / Jason CHAN (CAN) Gioia PUCCI / Kevin OJALA (EST) Loica DEMOUGEOT / Theo LE MERCIER (FRA) Charise MATTHAEI / Maximilian PFISTERER (GER) Shira ICHILOV / Vadim DAVIDOVICH (ISR) Sofia SHEVCHENKO / Igor EREMENKO (RUS) Anastasia SHPILEVAYA / Grigory SMIRNOV (RUS) Maria GOLUBTSOVA / Kirill BELOBROV (UKR) Caroline GREEN / Gordon GREEN (USA) Emma GUNTER / Caleb WEIN (USA) Ekaterina ALEXANDROVSKAYA / Harley WINDSOR (AUS) Chloe CHOINARD / Mathieu OSTIGUY (CAN) Evelyn WALSH / Trennt MICHAUD (CAN) Edita HORNAKOVA / Radek JAKUBKA (CZE) Cleo HAMON / Denys STREKALIN (FRA) Riku MIURA / Shoya ICHIHASHI (JPN) Kseniia AKHANTEVA / Valerii KOLESOV (RUS) Aleksandra BOIKOVA / Dmitrii KOZLOVSKII (RUS) Apollinariia PANFILOVA / Dmitry RYLOV (RUS) Greta CRAFOORD / John CRAFOORD (SWE) Anastasiia SMIRNOVA / Artem DARENSKYI (UKR) Laiken LOCKLEY / Keenan PROCHNOW (USA)

The Challenger threads in the Event section will go up soon too, so that will be available for discussion as well!

Great news, thank you! And now if I can just survive the potential mess of Zhenya's SP we should be good to go

We have one of the answers to our little Russian dilemma. Sasha Trusova has been given her second assignment - she is now on the entry list for JGP Baltic.

We're definitely thinking about it and keeping an eye on how much talk is being generated, as there is that to consider too. Once season starts, we'll see how it goes and split if necessary for sure. Thank you though and please feel free to poke us about it again

We did, at WTT (there is the old video of a 4Lz fall from 2015 too). The Lz is not something he started doing this off season. During Europeans last season, Max said his success rate was around 60% with it, so this has been cooking for a while. He's started fiddling with the Lz a good while ago, so it's coming. And the 4A is especially difficult, it's a Loch Ness jump for a reason so really, it's not happening now. It's simply too soon for it to be competition ready.

No BV assigned for a quint and I expect that the 4A is going to be a big thing even for Yuzuru to master well enough to put it into competition. Also with the current talk of even considering lowering the BV of quads, I think the ISU is going to be really reluctant to go there so while some may try them in practice (they have been, since the times of Plushenko so that's hardly new) I don't think it'll happen soon. There is also a lot of talk about how quads may influence health, imagine if we added quints to that so another thing to make ISU drag their feet. I am actually pleased about that because even with equipment advances, there is a limit to how much a human can do safely. Anyway, no 4A this season, I am sure of it. Even if he is Yuzuru, as I said, it'd take time for him to get that going consistently enough for an actual competition, never mind that we know he is working on a new quad anyway, the Lz.

I think most likely with all the problems she's had during the summer too, her jumps are simply not back. She needs to be full strength too, even if the injury itself has healed, and that takes time and those types of disruptions she had do not help with recovery. Wise choice for her to skip it, but I do wish her all the best and hopefully this is the last set-back she has to face in her run-up to the Olys.

Oh I am sure he will, he seems to be readying himself for his post-re-tirement career in coaching. But it's going to take a good while, even with that. In the meantime, I don't see anyone lurking on the horizon either, which is a shame but hopefully it'll happen and keep that momentum going, which is important. Once Javier stops appearing as a competitor there is only so much time that the gap can remain unfilled until interest he generated begins to die down. Fingers crossed for them.

@robin @turquoiseblue Done

Not much to wonder about Team Spain, they have one major contender for the upcoming Olympics in Javier Fernandez but in terms of the future, what will happen to Spanish skating after that?

Uh, that's a shame about Kovtun, not a good entry into the season, especially considering he has at least two people now gunning for those spots who are doing well. As Hannah said, no streaming but definitely videos after. We may also get some practice videos, we did last season so fingers crossed. @xeyra Me too and I admit Tarasova got me more hyped, even though I do take care to discard at least half of her enthusiasm as she's prone to exaggeration. But she seemed truly thrilled about that FS, that I cannot wait! I also want to see how Dima's doing and what he has for us!

Just a reminder that this coming weekend, we have more than just the JGP going on. Russian test skates are happening, 9-10th Sept. I cannot wait to be honest, so many programs that I am curious about!

Krasnozhon is already scheduled for Croatia, I figure they knew he was going to do well so from the spots in the remaining two, so Pulkinen is probably getting one. With Torgashev most likely. @yuzuangel In re to the girls, it's not just Eunsoo, it's You as well who has a good shot. You is going up against Mako, Gubanova (currently) and Vasilieva in Croatia, so we have to wait and see how that goes. Yelim is assigned to Belorussia, with Samodurova and Konstantinova. The last two JGPs are going to be very tense.

Like I said in the Austria thread, I am afraid Gubanova skated herself out of that 2nd assignment. Considering that there is her + 4 spots left in the last 2 JGPs, and one is sure to go to Trusova, and now another to Tarakanova, it would make sense for RusFed to withdraw that one from her and gain another free slot there, especially Guliakova is currently sitting pretty. Her jumps are good and she potentially has the 3A too, if her foot is fine now.

Men Ladies Ice Dance Pairs Alexei KRASNOZHON (USA) 15 Camden PULKINEN (USA) 15 Roman SAVOSIN (RUS) 13 Luc ECONOMIDES (FRA) 13 Egor MURASHOV (RUS) 11 Egor RUKHIN (RUS) 11 Joseph PHAN (CAN) 9 Basar OKTAR (TUR) 9 Yuto KISHINA (JPN) 7 Mark GORODNITSKY (ISR) 7 Alexandra TRUSOVA (RUS) 15 Anastasia TARAKANOVA (RUS) 15 Eunsoo LIM (KOR) 13 Anastasiia GULIAKOVA (RUS) 13 Mako YAMASHITA (JPN) 11 Riko TAKINO (JPN) 11 Akari MATSUOKA (JPN) 9 Anastasiia GUBANOVA (RUS) 9 Kaitlyn NGUYEN (USA) 7 Starr ANDREWS (USA) 7 Sofia POLISHCHUK / Alexander VAKHNOV (RUS) 15 Christina CARREIRA / Anthony PONOMARENKO (USA) 15 Ksenia KONKINA / Grigory YAKUSHEV (RUS) 13 Marjorie LAJOIE / Zachary LAGHA (CAN) 13 Elizaveta KHUDAIBERDIEVA / Nikita NAZAROV (RUS) 11 Natacha LAGOUGE / Corentin RAHIER (FRA) 11 Evgeniia LOPAREVA / Alexey KARPUSHOV (RUS) 9 Eliana GROPMAN / Ian SOMERVILLE (USA) 9 Chloe LEWIS / Logan BYE (USA) 7 Ashlynne STAIRS / Lee ROYER (CAN) 7 None yet

Good on her! Everything crossed, get better soon Gracie!

This is the same competition where Plushenko had his first students appear, right? I saw the vids on his insta. Not a bad start for him either!