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2008 World Rollerskating Championships Australian Artistic Team
Progress updates & results
http://www.jaysonsutcliffe.com/2008worlds/index.html
The competition is over but the memories remain...
Saturday 22nd - Closing
On the final day of competition, we started slowly with a team debrief and performance reviews over breakfast, packing and napping during the day before the evening of competition. Some beautiful Couples Freedance and impressive skating in the final of the mens freeskating kept the crowd entertained before the final award presentations and closing ceremony. All the skaters are meeting in the hotel bar for a quiet drink to finish things off properly... fotos will come later!
Friday 21st - Solo Dance Freedance
Another early early start for Freedance practice from about 7 in the morning before the dancers spend the day resting in the hotel in preparation for the evening competition... due to finish at MIDNIGHT!
Well it went a bit later than that... anyway, both Phillipa and Rachel skated their freedances well, with only a few errors and the Italians going beserk in the marshalling area when they heard Rachel's music, to finish 11 and 12 respectively, in the field that continued to be dominated by the men... and the FRENCH! We also got to see the ladies long programmes and mens short programs, making it all up an exciting night at the rink!
Thursday 20th - Solo Dance
The dancers started the day with a 7.30am practice, tough when it takes an hour to get there and have competition the same evening. The girls rested up through the day in preparation for competition starting late afternoon...
Even with the out-of-shape floor and trying conditions, the standard in solo dance was tough, with the male half of the field dominating the top half of the placings, with our Phillipa and Rachel holding 9th and 12 respectively. Now we're all looking forward to the freedance to complete the event. In other news, the excitement of the pairs freeskating and brilliance of dance couples Original Dance kept a good crowd at the stadium until very late.
Wednesday 19th - Senior Figures
We took taxis to the rink to cut a few minutes off the trip and avoid the uncertainty of the buses. Again the girls dealt well with the crowds on the circles in the general warm-up (all 30+ on two circles) and ploughed into the first two figures, coming back stronger in the second two figures, after a few hours break to finish the gruelling 8am - 6pm competition in 20, 21 and 23rd. The local people again constituted a good crowd into the evening events, with most of us coming home early with Solo Dance practice scheduled early the next morning.
Tuesday 18th - more Senior Practice
Another early start for the figure skaters, arriving to find that floor had indeed been recoated overnight. Our team coped well with the change, adjusting wheels to suit the new conditions and laying down another good practice. The hours and hours of transport finally caught up with everyone having a well deserved restful afternoon and the solo dance skaters preparing for a late evening practice. Both Phillipa and Rachel felt better having finally tried the compulsory dances on the oddly-dimensioned floor, with Phillipa staying on until almost midnight for freedance practice in deteriorating floor conditions.
Back at the hotel, the organising committee put on an elaborate and equisite welcome function, including a dinner of local delicacies and various entertainment acts from around the world. We were all a little shocked by the whole thing and tried to make the most of it!
Monday 17th - Senior Practice
The Senior competition got underway with official practice for figures, mens and ladies concurrently on each end of the floor. The circles were packed with more than 30 girls on 2 sets of longs and 4 sets of loops, our girls coping with the crowds without any biffo, getting comfortable with the floor and wheel selection. By the end of the day the word was out that most of the other seniors were unhappy with the floor and some action was required, with rumours circulating of cancelled practice and recoating... we put those aside, focusing on rest in preparation for dealing with whatever happened the next day.
Sunday 16th - Inline, Opening Ceremony and Precision
Another early practice for our inline girls whilst the Seniors were at the practice rink. Inline long programs in the afternoon again had Aleesha in trouble with her items, but Kristen wowed the crowd, outskating the Italian and pullling up to 2nd place and a silver medal. Before that presentation ceremony, there was a small but decent field of precision teams, with our Ants friends coming back as ballarinas to take out the gold medal.
The opening ceremony was barely more than exciting chaos behind the scenes as some 500 or more skaters packed into the hallway. Once out on the floor the Australians were welcomed by a good crowd of local people Entertainment after the march-past included the "iron chef" show program, traditional dancing dolls, a great little inline boy and some impressive rhythmic gymnastics.
Saturday 15th - Inline 1
Good practice in morning, competition in evening:
1645 Small Show Groups
1745 Mens Inline Short
1845 Ladies Inline Short (Kris 1, Aleesh 4 of 11)
2030 Large Show Groups
Kristen put down a solid short program to hold third, behind the reigning World Champion, Silvia Marangoni from Italy and Argentinian Melisa Marcon. Aleesha had fantastic speed and presence on the floor but couldn't get her items to work to be left trailing the reasonably strong field. In other news, the Show Groups were fun and exciting, great entertainment, with the crowd favourite "Ants, the revenge".
Friday 14th - Finishing Junior
Busy day, a few taxis, some great skating and a beautiful team foto, which I can't put up until we get home later... We all have to stay to the end... For Stephanie to be awarded 3rd in the (Figures & Freeskating) Combined event!
Freeskating results
- ITA Sbei
- ITA Trani
- ESP Rey
- ARG Alegri
- SLO Pregelj
- ARG Soler
- AUS Campbell
- GER Jakisch
- USA McCullough
- SLO Vetrih
Thursday 13th - Overlap
Whilst the Senior team got into their first roll around practice session today, the Junior team was still in the heat of competition. With a great skate from Shenae and Cara in the solo dance, they finished their first Junior Worlds on a high and enjoyed the rest of today's competition. Amongst stiff competition and a high standard set early by Argy Estefi our Steph skated confidently to stand herself in 7th for the long.
Wednesday 12th - Competition (FINALLY!)
Competition got underway this morning with the figures, delayed by 2 hours due to poor floor conditions, but our crew took it in their stride and stepped out to some fine skating - see the results on Jayson's page.
Then the Seniors started rolling in and we had time for a few happy snaps on the induction tour - check them out - not bad after travelling overnight!
This evening we enjoyed the compulsories for solo dance and then the mad bolt for the bus, trying to get home before midnight! (Original schedule version finished at 8pm).
In other news the hotel has been inundated with Spanish and Argy Show teams - you can imagine the riot predicted for breakfast tomorrow!
Tuesday 11th - Official practice restarted
Another early start with figures for boys and girls combined (because they will compete concurrently on two panels and thus only use one end each.) This also gave more time for the freeskaters to catch up on some of the practice time they missed yesterday. Opening ceremony tonight so no more updates until late! (But hoping for some great fotos!!!) Ok yeah so it was a bit of fun and we did get some cool pics - hope you like!
Monday 10th - Official practice
Well it was a very early start today with the boy heading off at 7 (yes, I was up in time!) to spend 80 minutes in the bus and arrive just in time for the 8.30 start... I'm not looking forward to starting at 7.45 tomorrow!!! Well, not long after the figures, practice was canceled for the rest of the DAY when during free pairs the floor was deemed unsafe (due to being very slippery.) A shame for our girls that missed their practices today, but one of the many swings and roundabouts that we're rolling with as the organisation gets underway. So we're heading over the road for pizza and pasta and a quiet night in, in preparation for a big day tomorrow.
Late update: The floor is fixed now and we're back underway in full swing tomorrow... and it looks like dinner wasn't quite such a quiet affair after all!
Sunday 9th - Practice and Registration
Another day of more settled practice with the Kiwis and this time the Italians didn't stay to watch the whole time! Registration this afternoon was as smooth as we could hope for, with some fun fotos before the draw this evening - see Jayson's page for details of the draw. Official practice starts tomorrow!
Saturday 8th - Starting Practice
This morning we started out with a low key, low intensity session at the practice rink... SURROUNDED by the ITALIANS who had time before and after us, thus sat and watched us! Some great pressure to get things started! Now we're having a quiet afternoon and hope to get out to the markets this evening... if the darn rain stops!
Friday 7th - Arrival
The first half of us have arrived safely from Perth, Sydney and Brisbane - the rest are due in later this evening. (OK they made it.) We had time for a little walk around the local area to get some supplies before dinner at the hotel and a quiet night in. Check out the fotos!!! More soon...
TEAM FINALISED
Congratulations to all those selected, including the reserves and
those unable to accept selection
JUNIOR
- Stephanie Campbell (Figures & Freeskating)
- Shenae Kealley (Figures & Solo Dance)
- Cara Ioppolo (Solo Dance)
- Jonathan Young (Figures)
- Kristen Slade
- Aleesha Hanczakowski
- Tamera Russell (Figures)
- Karen Clough (Figures)
- Rachel Tonkin (Figures & Solo Dance)
- Phillippa Wan (Solo Dance)
MANAGER: Nigel Foster