2017 Bavarian Open Recap
by Anne Calder | Photo by Julie Gart
The Bavarian Open was held in Oberstdorf, Germany February 14-19. Fifty-five ice dance teams from 27 countries competed in Seniors, Juniors, and Advanced Novice.
Seniors
The podium included Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte (ITA), Olivia Smart & Adria Diaz (ESP) and Kavita Lorenz & Joti Polizoakis (GER).
Cappellini & Lanotte posted 76.06 for the blues and boogie-woogie short dance and 114.08 for the Chaplin medley free program. Their step sequences in both segments were level 3; the remaining elements were level 4. Their 190.14 was four points higher than at Europeans.
Smart & Diaz received 67.52, 104.18, and 171.70 short, free and total scores. Their lifts, spin, and twizzles were level 4.
Lorenz & Polizoakis, who previously trained at the host arena, scored 63.18 for the blues/ hip-hop and 93.46 for the free dance segment. Their elements were level 3 and 4, except for a level 1-curve lift glitch in the long program. The total 156.64 was their highest this season.
Cecilia Torn & Jussiville Partanen (FIN) were fourth (150.20), Adelina Galayavieva & Laurent Abecassis (FRA) placed fifth (145.48) and Lorenza Alessandrini & Pierre Souquet (FRA) collected a sixth place spot (143.00).
The new team of Russian former World Junior Champion, Anna Yanovskaya & Adam Lukacs (HUN) was 12th in their competitive debut.
Juniors
Russians Ekaterina Kuznetsova & Dmitri Parkhomenko won gold (141.22) by a narrow 0.02 points over 2017 Canadian National Champions Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha (141.20). Ashlynne Stairs & Lee Royer, 2017 Canadian National silver medalists were third at 136.20.
Kuznetsova & Parkhomenko built a lead with four of five level 4-element marks in the short dance and held on to the top spot in spite of a second place free dance.
Lajoie & Lagha fell behind in the short dance after a twizzle mishap. The Montreal-trained team was first in the free by four points with a Rachmaninoff program. They won the silver medal.
Stairs & Royer were second in the short dance, but fell to third in their Beatles medley free program. The Wing & Lowe students won the bronze medal.
Ria Schwendinger & Valentin Wunderlich (GER) placed fourth (133.64), Sasha Fear & Elliot Verburg (GBR) were fifth (129.92) and Emily Rose Brown & James Hernandez finished sixth (122.32).
Alina Efimova & Alexander Petrov (USA) were ninth in the short dance, sixth in the free program and finished seventh (121.90) in their international debut. They surpassed their US Nationals 118.90 score by three points.
Advanced Novice
The advanced novice teams performed two pattern dances – Kilian and Blues – and a free program. The USA entries led by Caroline Green & Gordan Green (89.92) swept the podium. Sophia Elder & Christopher Elder (79.04) and Katarina DelCamp & Maxwell Gart (74.10) were second and third.
Green & Green won all three segments and the gold medal. In the free program, the WISA trained team danced to a medley from the Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill soundtrackd and scored 56.43. Without the unfortunate error on the choreographed dance lift that lost points and also received a 1.0 deduction, their ten-point victory may have been wider.
Sophia Elder & Christopher Elder were second in both patterns. A twizzle mishap in the “Masquerade Waltz” and “Mazurka” program dropped them to third in the free dance with a 50.64 score. The siblings were the silver medal winners.
Katarina DelCamp & Maxwell Gart were fourth in both patterns, but a second place Bollywood free dance to “Latika’s Theme” and “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire scored 51.83. The total was enough to win the bronze medal.
Natalie D’Alessandro & Bruce Waddell, Canadian National Novice Champions (3-3-5) were fourth (70.44), Estonians Jesenia Tsenkman & Marko Gaidajenko (13-8-4) vaulted to fifth (65.99) and Anne-Marie Wolf & Max Liebers (6-7-6) finished sixth (61.87)