2014 PARIS SLALOM WORLD CUP

DAY 1 - CLASSIC FREESTYLE

There's nothing new under the sun:

The same old effective schedule was implemented for this year's edition with the slalom competitions planned as following: Classic on Friday, Speed and Battle qualifiers on Saturday, and Battle on Sunday. To those competitions were to be added the Slides contest… and the Free Jump contest, making its comeback after years of absence, both scheduled on Saturday evening.

Victim of its success, the schedule of the event was tight with none the less than 162 competitors including 67 women and 95 men!

This year, the PSWC gathered 20 different nationalities: Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, China, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Poliand, Russia, Ukraine, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Belgium, Senegal, Thailand and Malaysia!

That first article will focus on the first day with the competition of Classic Freestyle for the Women's and the Men's categories.

The heavy number of registered freestylers was the occasion to apply the new rule in starting with qualification groups. Out of the 47 women and 51 men, the 16 top ranked skaters of each category were selected for the final phase, while the rest were divided into 4 qualification groups. Only the first skater of each group would be allowed to take part in the final, that would consist of 20 skaters, including the Top 16 and the 4 best qualified.

From a judge's view point, having qualifications with contestants being divided into groups was extremely positive for concentration and accuracy of judgement. Only 7-8 skaters per Q-Groups and 20 for the finals brought pondered relative rankings, with neurons still in working order at the end of the day. And yet, 106 runs of classic unfolded before our eyes in one afternoon!

The PSWC started on Friday at noon, with the qualification phases of the women's and men's categories...

Frozwheel's Yutube Channel

CLASSIC QUALIFICATION GROUPS

Belarus VASILISA MASLOVA (#61) seized the first qualification place in the 1st Q-Group with a daring music choice -- Michael's Smooth Criminal! By the way she will play her cards right in final, reaching place 7 with a cleaner run!

Russian OLGA MATTER-RODRIGUEZ (#125) qualified in the 2nd Q-Group in a 3 vs. 2 decision of the judges against Spanish BOHDANA HOTSKO (#261), whose heavy penalties cost her the qualification.

In the 3rd Q-Group, French CHLOE ARBONA (#62) also experienced a 3 vs. 2 win against compatriot EVA COCHEY-CAHUZAC (#42). She will honor her qualification in finishing 8th at the final ranking.

Italian LAURA LA VOLPE (#93) got the last open place for the final in winning the 4th Q-Group.

Amongst the skaters trying out at the qualifiers, were spotted a lot of Italians and French, but also girls from Belorussia, Spain, Russia, and -worth mentioning- the first ever Norwegian competitor! (She lives in Barcelona but forget I mentioned it.)

The Men's qualification groups were more heterogeneous than the Women's, with the featuring of some prestigious skaters whose rankings dropped for competition attendance reasons.

The first Q-Group was won hands down by Spanish TONI CASTRO ZAMORA (#28) with a promising run to a music-hall theme, which he is going to upgrade for the final phase to reach rank 9. Let's also note the smooth performance of Belgian ALEXANDRE DEL MARMOL (#47) who finished just behind, at the threshold of the final phase.

Argentinean GONZALO COBO (#32) took the qualification of the 2nd Q-Group thanks to a musical expression outdoing his opponents. He will finish at the 18th place in final.

Thai Junior KANCHANOK SAWANGSRI (#35) qualified unanimously in the 3rd Q-Group with a pretty technical performance that he is going to upgrade for the final, switching toe foot guns to toe christies, managing strong wheeling combos and precise footwork. But his lack of amplitude and body expression will send him down to the 11th place.

Last but not least, the fourth qualification place available went to Russian VIKTOR 'GENERATOR' MELESHKEVICH (#37) whose final performance will rank him 12th.

The Men's qualifiers were not just varied in levels, they were also varied in nationalities: France and Italy of course, but also Spain, Senegal (from Paris - representz), Russia, Germany, Belgium, Argentina, Thailand and Brazil were on the menu!

CLASSIC FINAL PHASES

The final phases were composed of 20 skaters, including the Top 16 registered skaters and the last 4 who qualified in winning their respective Q-Groups.

In the women's, you had to be in the World's Top 42 to be in the top group. Over, you had to go through qualifications.

In the men's, the competition was harder: the last selected to be part of the lucky 16 was World's #28.

In the women's category, the main fight was between the two favorites, who ended up, without much surprise, on the first and second steps of the podium. The real question was: in which order?

Polish KLAUDIA HARTMANIS (#3) won the Eiffel Tower trophy for the first time with a run without a single penalty, after an extremely tight decision of 3 judges vs. 2, relegating Russian DARIA KUZNETSOVA (#2) at the second place. The latter, having won the competition in 2012, had to make do with the silver for the second year in a row.

Last year's double champion (classic+battle), Chinese FENG HUI (#4), contrary to her male compatriots, couldn't make the trip this year for visa reasons.

Both performances were of high technical quality with great matching work to their musics. However, Klaudia had a better rate of success as for her wheeling combos and showed more commitment into her body expression than Daria, whose music expression has drastically improved but who still has to get rid of that shyness touch that prevents her to let go.

To everyone's surprise including hers, bronze deservingly went to Italian CAMILLA MORBIDONI (#15) for her smooth performance. Her musical expression and matching combos to the beat enabled her to outdo Polish ANGELIKA PRUCNAL (#10) who remained at the foot of the podium: her cleanliness was not enough to make up for her lack of amplitude.

CAMILLA MORBIDONI (ITA) "I didn't expect to be part of the strongest skaters here! Now I will train even more. I hope to reach the Top-10 one day."

French ZOE GRANJON (#7) did a counter performances, with heavy penalties due to uncompleted combos with lots of tapping and a fall to finish with. However, the quality and flow of her footwork secured her the 5th place.

On the other hand, German ANYA ZIERTMANN (#39) treated herself with a well-deserved 6th place for her comeback after a one-year absence: a clean and composed run with technique elements and combos that haven't been spotted in a while, that's all it takes!

Places 8th and 9th went to qualified Vasilisa Maslova and Chloé Arbona, as mentioned above, feats that deserve to be highlighted as they ranked in the first half of the final phase!

The men's final was more challenging than the women's, because there were more world class skaters present and because different styles were competing against one another… technical, theatrical, dancing, popping… there was something for everyone!

Since the introduction of WSSA Classic into the PSWC in 2008, the Men's Classic Title has always landed into Korean hands. This year was no exception: last year's champion, LEE CHOONG GOON (#3), may not have showed up, previous champion, superstar KIM SUNG JIN (#NR), may have retired, YU JIN SEONG (#4) was there to pick up the torch. He got the vote of 4 judges out of 5, which indisputably propelled him to the first place. Let's note that he managed to stay focused despite a disturbing laser beam which he was the target of during most of his performance.

Chinese Junior ZHANG HAO (#9) inserted himself at the 2nd place, downgrading Polish MICHAL SULINOWSKI (#5) and French ALEXANDRE CLARIS (#6), last year's 2nd and 3rd, to the 3rd and 4th places.

A personal soft spot for the latter who wisely chose a slower tempo than usual, enabling him to perform a more composed skating, with flow and creativity, and yet in the pure French vein...

A performance that made quite an impression on the Asian skaters, paying their respects with similar comments: "It was very good mix with good music, stylish dance elements and very high level tricks." (YJS) "Alexandre Claris had a good mix of music and tricks. He has improved a lot, he changed a lot his classic run. He really impressed me this time." (Guo Fang)

Let's note that Michal's run, full of up body popping moves which he integrates more and more naturally into his skating, could have been challenged by that of French TEDDY THIERRY (#15) if he hadn't done a counter performance. The French came up with a very choreographed run to a Ice Ice Baby Vs. You Can't Touch This mashup, but unfortunately wouldn't bring his technical tricks to a smooth ending… he even treated us with a fall that looked pretty painful. Nevertheless he didn't lose countenance and stuck to his program until the end. He was downgraded to the 17th place.

Little Russian prodigy SERGEY TIMCHENKO (#8) took hold of the 5th place just in front of Chinese GUO FANG (#11), one of the favorites of the competition. His skating is gaining in maturity although it would be more appreciated if his technical footwork remained in the cones and not wandered too much outside. His high rate of success in top technical tricks as well as his energy remain his main assets.

As for Guo Fang, he bet on ten-year old symphonic metal FM hit Bring Me to Life by Evanescence and did a pretty convincing and theatrical interpretation, but technical elements were too rare for him to reach the podium.

Let's also note the performance of DAWID JAWORSKI (#21) who remained first at the provisory ranking for a good while before being ousted by Guo Fang. He finished at the honorable 7th place with a dangerous hard rock choice of music, which he handled astonishingly well, thanks to his energy and technique, preventing the music to overcome his skating.

French ROMAIN LEBOIS (#1) signed a slow run with unconvincing footwork and, despite worthy technical feats including a { reverse shift + fish + seven } toe combo and a nice toe christie, he was relegated to the 8th place.

At the bottom of the final top 10 can be found the two Spanish of the final, Toni Castro (see above) and CARLOS NELSON (#14) with a performance full of smooth and flexible characteristic footwork but lacking cleanliness.

USEFUL LINKS

• PSWC SPEED SLALOM REPORT (Day 2)
• DOWNLOAD the FULL PSWC CLASSIC RESULTS
  
• PSWC Full Results on WorldSlalomSeries.com
  
• PSWC Youtube Playlist by SlalomTimTeam
• PSWC Videos by Frozwheel
• "PSWC DAY 1" Video by Frozwheel
• "PSWC 2014 Moments" Video by Sueb
• "PSWC 2014" Video by Mainline Skate
• "PSWC 2014 - Paris & Nothing Else" Facebook Photo Album by Tutti Photography