Nebelhorn Trophy: Results and Highlights

Young Russian wins the men; former world champion loses in the ladies to young Japanese upstart; top German pair show good programs even with bad jumps; ice dancers have a close competition.

Held third in the Challenger Series this year, the Nebelhorn Trophy in Obdertsdorf, Germany is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the Senior “B” events the ISU has combined to make this circuit. During the last decade, it became known as where German pairs legends

& Robin Szolkowy would start their season, and now Savchenko continues that tradition with new partner Bruno Massot. Next year it may even see crowds of skaters trying to quality for final berths made available for the 2018 Olympics, if the ISU keeps the qualifications at this event. This year, it was a smaller event than that, but still had multiple notable names making their season debut.

Men

Unlike the other three fields, the men in Obertsdorf had no huge known names. This provided an opportunity which young Russian Alexander Petrov took. He won both segments and the competition with two programs where he landed all of his jumps except his one quadruple toe loop attempt, which he doubled. He was also able to show his growing ability to express two very different kinds of music. The winning margin was ultimately nine points over Belgian Jorik Hendrickx. Hendrickx attempted no quads. He was fifth after the short, where he fell on a triple loop, but in his dramatic free program he was close to clean, making only two very small errors.

More ambitious with his jumps was American Grant Hochtstein. It served him well in the short, where he successfully landed a very impressive quad toe-triple toe combination. He then fell on a triple axel he underrotated so badly it was downgraded to a double. Even so he lost the segment by only .13 of a point. But in the free, Hochtstein rotated another quad toe only to tumble down on it, and then later two doubled and one singled jump dropped him below Hendrickx. Performance-wise, however, he might have been the strongest of the field. That helped him more or less match Petrov in presentation scores, which helped him hold on to bronze.

Ladies

A year and a half after she won the World title, Elizaveta Tuktamisheva is trying to rebound from her disastrous 2016 season. She didn’t skate at all badly here. She won the short program with a clean skate and a splendid triple toe-triple toe combination. But there’s an argument she shouldn’t have. Two points behind her was Mai Mihara, a Japanese skater newly up from juniors. She skated a beautiful short with a harder triple lutz-triple toe. Tuktamisheva’s advantage was mostly in the presentation scores, which she might have gotten because of her reputation and Mihara being unknown.

Tuktamisheva’s free was a very decent one. But again, she tried nothing harder than that triple toe-triple toe. She landed all her triples, but then she fell on her last jump, the double axel. When Mihara landed everything, including another triple lutz-triple toe, a handful of glitches and still lower presentation scores didn’t stop her from shooting past Tuktamisheva for gold. It’s a victory that puts Mihara on the map, and even into the conversation for Japan’s hard-to-make World team. It’s a defeat that doesn’t necessarily spell disaster for Tuktamisheva, especially when she still did well and easily won silver, but still doesn’t look good.

Below the top two, things were a little messier. Third in both segments for the bronze was Canadian Gabrielle Daleman. In the short, she went for the triple flip-triple toe, underrotated it, and then went for the solo flip and fell on it. Rotating it combined with superior presentation gave her the edge over those below her. In the free she was the only skater besides the top two to do a triple-triple.  It was a triple toe-triple toe, but it was also a gorgeous one she nearly maxed out her value on. Not all of the rest of the program was as beautiful; she fell on a lutz and singled a loop. But enough of it was that mistakes further down the field made the margin for the podium well over ten points.

Pairs

Aliona Savchenko & Bruno Massot actually didn’t skate their best. But neither did any of the other seven pairs competing. The Germans’ short was entertaining and ambitious. It included a fancy exit to their split triple twist that may have never before been done, and a throw triple axel. They also went for side by side salchows, but she doubled hers. The composition of their free to Patrick Watson’s “Lighthouse” impressed in its debut even when none of the jumping passes were clean. Their side by sides proved only doubles salchows and then double toes. Once again they went for the throw triple axel, but this time she fell. But on the other hand, they even got close to maximum available points on their triple twist, even without the fancy exit, and first lift.

Had Canadians Lubov Iliushechkina & Dylan Moscovitch skated clean, they might have slipped past them for gold. But they didn’t. They went for easier, if still less than easy, elements in the short, side by side triple toes with her also doubling, and a throw triple lutz, which she fought to hold on too. In the free, they landed the throw triple lutz again, if barely, and a throw triple loop. But they only managed to gain credit for the exact same side by side doubles as the Germans. They too might have lost silver had the teams below them skated clean.

But even the German team who won the bronze, Mari Vartmann & Ruben Blommaert, had huge struggles. The short had her falling on side by side triple toes and messing up on their side by side spins. In the free, they managed to rotate a sequence of two side by side triple toes, but she fell on the second one. Those were followed up by singled salchows, and doubled throws, flip and salchow. In both programs, their music choices were a little daring. Like their countrymen, despite the mistakes they expressed them well. This may have won them their medal, since they took it partly on their presentation scores and partly due to multiple mistakes especially from the two American teams that came in behind them.

Dance

In contrast to the pairs, the three teams at the head of the ten-team ice dance field all put forth their best performances. They took the ice with fun and energetic short dances, and even more so with strong and creative free dances. They were close to each other in their scores. There was barely a point between first and third in the short, and barely two and a half in the free. Nonetheless the final order was the same throughout. Italians Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte edged out Americans Chock & Bates in both segments, with Canadians Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier coming in third.

In the short dance, Cappellini & Lanotte did it mainly on the technical tariff. A level two on their blue-based steps and a point and half’s disadvantage proved decisive, even when their the Americans’ slightly higher energy got them the slight advantage in the presentation scores. In the free dance, Chock & Bates managed to match the Italians’ tariff, and their final technical score was less than a tenth behind them. The main difference there instead ended up being that this time Cappellini & Lanotte’s got half a point higher presentation scores. The deciding factor might have even been the a cappella opening of Chock & Bates’ free being too much for the judges. Gilles & Poirier matched Cappellini & Lanotte’s tariff in both programs. They could not quite match the quality of the top two teams, although they weren’t far off.

View full results here.