News

How are things going?

2011-06-13T12:13:00.002+02:00

We left you all quite a while ago with our *BIG* announcement, but we thought it was time to check-in with you all to see how things are going. In fact, quite well, though very slowly!

Fede and Massi are taking things very cautiously, and in fact Fede is still working on her full recovery from the injury she sustained before Easter, and the surgery she had undergo to repair it. After the last few years plagued with physical problems, they're determined not to take any risks with her health! So, for now, Massi is in the U.S., and will resume training soon, while Fede is still in Italy taking care of her recovery.
Of course, we can't wait to hear that they're back on the ice together again... and possibly get them to tell us which music they're choosing and studying! What will the new program/s look like? One or two? We're not telling you! We read on the internet that there was already some speculation on this point... but you'll have to wait some more to know this!

Still talking about the internet - we also got word that there was a bit of discussion about an article that came out on International Figure Skating Magazine a short while ago, talking about their retirement; just to clear things up - we want to confirm what most fans online have already guessed: the interview was a very old one, done back in March before any new decision had been taken... just another case of when too much time between the interview and going to press makes the information obsolete! So don't worry... they're here, planning ahead and almost ready to go... are you curious?

Federica and Massimo... the ice is calling!

2011-05-09T17:23:00.000+02:00

We left you quite a while ago, with a sad announcement about Federica's injury, and it is time now to catch up with what happened, and to give you a great big announcement!

As we told you, Federica sustained an injury at the end of March, which involved a broken vertebra in her back, which required surgery for the better healing possible. Luckily everything went well, and and we all took a great big sigh of relief knowing that our Fede will soon be back to health after this bout of bad luck.

Just as her convalescencewas progressing, we all sat watching the World Championships in Moscow, a bit resigned at not seeing them on the ice anymore.... but it is right now that they step up to surprise us with an announcement which fills us with enthusiasm!
This is their message to all the friends, fans and ice skating followers everywhere:

After watching the World Championships on tv, Fede and I had a long conversation, during which we also re-watched our performances and programs at the European Championships in Bern, and we realized we still have in ourselves something to give to this sport.

Our decision to retire came in a moment of sadness and delusion following the result of the European Championships, and tiredness, more mental than physical, after the previous Olympic season and all the physical problems which plagued Fede.
With the highest respect for all the teams that took part into the Moscow Worlds, we believe that our talent and artistry are stillamongs the best of these days on a world scale, and our passion for this sport proved to be an irresistible attraction.

For this reason, as soon as Federica will be completely healed from the injury she sustained, we'll start again training in Philadelphia. We won't make long-term programs regarding our carreer, and we'll take it year by year, the decision on the continuation of our adventure.

WHat can we say? We're more than thrilled for these news and this change of heart, and we are already imagining all the emotions that our champions will be able to give us all from the ice with their new programs... which we are already anxious to see, of course!
Stay with us for more of this fantastic adventure, and thank you to Fede and Massi!

March 24th, 2011 - Bad news

2011-03-24T10:52:00.000+01:00

A very short post today just to give you, unfortunately, some bad news:

Federica and Massimo will not be able to skate in the shows we mentioned in our previous post.
Federica and Massimo will not be in Aston, Torino and Prague, stopped by an injury.
More details as soon as possible!

And now? Looking back to the past... and on the future!

2011-03-12T17:06:00.000+01:00

Photo by Chiara Arienti

With the announcement of the convocations for the Tokyo Worlds, it was also implicitly announced Federica and Massimo's absence from this competition, and their retirement from competitive skating. (Here's the communication on the fisg website and on Artonice). After seven national titles, two European silver medals, one World bronze medal, the participation to three Olympic Games culminated in their fifth place in Vanouver 2010, ten Grand Prix podium placements, and countless emotions given to fans and friends, a long carreer has come to an end after almost ten years.

Foto di Chiara Arienti

But to tell you about this good bye, and to adress all the friends and fans that remained on their side through so many emotions and adventures, it's Massimo that takes the stage (or better, the keyboard) to tell you something.

As you all might know, we've arrived to the end of this long adventure; it was an extraordinary journey, made of passion, sacrifices, good and bad moments, tears, smiles and lots of emotions; it was a journey we faced first of all as persons, and only secondarily as athletes - a travel that changed us, made us stronger and allowed us to cross our path with those of some extraordinary people that suffered and rejoiced for us and with us; people that loved us, supported us, brought us into their enthusiasm and passion, and taught us never to give up.

The main reason that had pushed us to face this one more season was the dream of crowning our competitive carreer with an European gold medal, and that unfortunately didn't happen - but we have no regrets because once mor ein our lives we went for it, we tried and we fought till the end.

In addition to thanking everyone, from our families to our teams (old and new), from the choreographers to the medical staff, from the Federation to the judges to all our fans, what I really wanted to tell you is that after the Short Dance at the last Europeans it was really, really difficult for us to go on. It was maybe the first time in all our carreer that we felt we did not have any more energy to finish the competition, and not even the famous phrase "skate for yourselves" could work anymore; well, it's exactly in that moment that you all were our real strenght, we skated just for you, to thank you for being on our side for all these years, in the good and in the bad times.

As an athlete, I have always thought that we could reach immortality only with a gold medal, but now I have understood that the real immortality comes in the memories and the love of all the people that touched our lives.

Thank you to everyone... and now, we'll be ready to face a new fabulous adventure!

Foto di Chiara Arienti

Of course, we're now asking ourselves... and now? Won't we ever see them again? Federica will start working for the Police (and on a family!) while Massi has already starte working in Detroit with Pasquale Camerlengo and Anjelika Krylova's team... Well, don't worry! For a start, next month there will already some shows we can point out to you:

-Aston (Pennsylvania) April 1st and 2nd

-Torino, Italy - Gran Galà del Ghiaccio, April 9th (on Facebook, on TicketOne )

-Prague, Czech Republic - April 15th and 16th (the site, on Facebook )

Foto di Chiara Arienti

See you very soon, then!

To sum up Euros 2011

2011-03-12T16:35:00.000+01:00

Foto di Francesca Casiraghi

It's been a long time since our last post, and this one will be very quick just to sum up the results we all already know from Bern. After the Short Dance, and after a malaugurate mistake on a twizzle and a very strict judging, Federica and Massimo found themselves in ninth place - you can find all the marks HERE.

The morale was really, really low after this result, but Federica and Massimo were able to foind in themselves the strenght to show their best during the FD, presenting us with a thrilling interpretation of their Manolete FD.
For the rankings, it was clearly not enough at that point: with the fifth FD, they finished the championship in fifth position, with these marks.

What can we say? Surely, it was not the championship we'd been dreaming about at the beginning of the season, but we are extremely proud of the strenght and character that our guys were able to show off by offering us this last, gorgeous program. And now?

Foto di Francesca Casiraghi

European Championships: SD starting order

2011-01-25T16:30:00.000+01:00

Euros in Bern have just started, and the starting order for tomorrow's SD has been published:

Short Dance Starting Order

Warm-Up Group 1
1 Ramona ELSENER / Florian ROOST - SUI
2 Irina SHTORK / Taavi RAND - EST
3 Brooke Elizabeth FRIELING / Lionel RUMI -ISR
Warm-Up Group 2
4 Allison REED / Otar JAPARIDZE - GEO
5 Siobhan HEEKIN-CANEDY / Alexander SHAKALOV - UKR
6 Sara HURTADO / Adria DIAZ - ESP
Warm-Up Group 3
7 Isabella TOBIAS / Deividas STAGNIUNAS - LTU
8 Penny COOMES / Nicholas BUCKLAND - GBR
9 Nelli ZHIGANSHINA / Alexander GAZSI - GER
10 Federica TESTA / Christopher MIOR - ITA
11 Nadezhda FROLENKOVA / Mikhail KASALO - UKR
Warm-Up Group 4
12 Pernelle CARRON / Lloyd JONES - FRA
13 Sinead KERR / John KERR - GBR
14 Nora HOFFMANN / Maxim ZAVOZIN - HUN
15 Lucie MYSLIVECKOVA / Matej NOVAK - CZE
16 Lorenza ALESSANDRINI / Simone VATURI - ITA
Warm-Up Group 5
17 Ekaterina RIAZANOVA / Ilia TKACHENKO - RUS
18 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV - RUS
19 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI - ITA
20 Elena ILINYKH / Nikita KATSALAPOV - RUS
21 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT - FRA

As usual, we'll refer to Art on Ice to check the TV schedule.... and fingers crossed!

No Italian Championships

2010-12-17T12:20:00.000+01:00

Unfortunately Fede and Massi will not be skating in the 2011 Italian Championships that are taking place in these hours at the Forum in Assago.
A back problem is stopping Fede from performing their lifts, and is being taken care of by the medical team to prevent further problems while we wait for the next events in the season.

Withdrawing from Cup of Russia

2010-11-20T17:46:00.000+01:00

Bad news from Russia: lunbago got the best of Massi, and Federica and Massimo have had to announce their withdrawal from the competition... While we are sad of not being able to see them perform in competition tonight, most of all we wish Massi a quick recovery!

Cup of Russia, Video SD

2010-11-20T17:44:00.002+01:00

Cup of Russia, Short Dance Result

2010-11-19T20:06:00.002+01:00

Current Overall Standing

Pl. Name Nation Points SD FD
1 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 60.80 1
2 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 57.65 2
3 Nora HOFFMANN / Maxim ZAVOZIN HUN 57.24 3
4 Kristina GORSHKOVA / Vitali BUTIKOV RUS 51.97 4
5 Madison HUBBELL / Keiffer HUBBELL USA 50.59 5
6 Elena ILINYKH / Nikita KATSALAPOV RUS 49.14 6
7 Lucie MYSLIVECKOVA / Matej NOVAK CZE 48.45 7
8 Alexandra PAUL / Mitchell ISLAM CAN 45.75 8

Cup of Russia... ready to go!

2010-11-18T22:36:00.000+01:00

On Friday, November 19th, the 2010 Cup of Russia will be at its starting blocks... and as usual, we're here to share a few useful links to follow the event

We'll start from the official ones:

On the ISU website
Isu preview article

More articles:
Sottozero News
Blogosfere
Ice-Dance.com preview

Il programma di gara, con una nota: (nel momento in cui leggete) a Mosca... per noi in Italia contate cheMosca è GMT+3 mentre noi siamo GMT+1... son quindi due ore di differenza!

The event schedule - all the times are local from Moscow. To calculate when things will happen, depending on where you are: this is the local time in Moscow right as you read this!

Event Schedule (Subject to change)

November 19, Friday

15:00 Men, Short Program

16:50 Pairs, Short Program

19:00 Ladies, Short Program

20:50 Ice Dance, Short Dance

November 20, Saturday

14:45 Men, Free Skating

17:00 Pairs, Free Skating

18:40 Ladies, Free Skating

20:40 Ice Dance, Free Dance

November 21, Sunday

16:30 Exhibition

ISU starting orders/results Event page

The SD starting order:

Warm-Up Group 1

1 Alexandra PAUL / Mitchell ISLAM CAN

2 Elena ILINYKH / Nikita KATSALAPOV RUS

3 Lucie MYSLIVECKOVA / Matej NOVAK CZE

4 Kristina GORSHKOVA / Vitali BUTIKOV RUS

Warm-Up Group 2

5 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS

6 Nora HOFFMANN / Maxim ZAVOZIN HUN

7 Madison HUBBELL / Keiffer HUBBELL USA

8 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA

Will we be able to follow this event on tv?
We won't give out linfo on local or any transmission requiring subscriptions or fees (too complicated, it depends on where you live!) but one good almost-live option so far in the GP has been a Georgian site who has a steaming of a Russian channel which does broadcast these events... We have to say "almost-live" because there's a delay of more or less 5 minutes... but it's already something!
So far, we've been watching it here or here), but we'll try to share more links if we'll find something more!

Fingers crossed!

A last look back to the Cup of China

2010-11-16T15:32:00.000+01:00

Thanks to the great photos of a talented new friend of ours - Alek (he'll have soon his site HERE, so even if it says "nder contruction" for now, we know it should be ready soon... so keep an eye on it!) - we can get a last look back to the Cup of China before getting ready to focus on the Cup of China which is coming soon...

You can find a new albun dedicated to the FD HERE, and lots of gorgeous pics from the gala HERE.

Enjoy! We'll be back soon to talk about Moscow!

Cup of China, Day 3: the gala

2010-11-07T14:46:00.002+01:00

Video

2010-11-06T16:06:00.000+01:00

The FD video finally arrived on Youtube...

for some press coverage... see you later!

Cup of China, Day 2: Free Dance

2010-11-06T10:02:00.000+01:00

What can we say now? Fate played another trick on us today, and as impossible at it may sound, it was yet another skirt which determined the competition today - even more dramatically than yesterday as this time the fall was impossible to avoid and both Fede and Massi went down on the ice. A real pity, because apart from some imperfections on the twizzles, the program was going well until a lift (see photo) when Fede's skirt once more trapped Massi's skate, and this time there was no way out. With more imperfections, the compromised element and a double detraction for the fall, only the Bronze medal was left in their reach, after losing a position in favour of Bobrova/Soloviev.

The FD score was 82.31 (TES 37.86 + PCS 46.45 det.- 2.00) - HERE you can see the full PDF of the scores.

This is then the final result of the 2010 Cup of China:

1 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 159.59
2 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 145.39
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 139.52
4 Nora HOFFMANN / Maxim ZAVOZIN HUN 130.82
5 Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN 124.60
6 Madison HUBBELL / Keiffer HUBBELL USA 120.95
7 Kharis RALPH / Asher HILL CAN 119.51
8 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN 114.46
9 Xueting GUAN / Meng WANG CHN 105.91
10 Isabella CANNUSCIO / Ian LORELLO USA 101.83

And this is the ranking of the Free Dance alone.

This is the first quote from Massi, from the post-FD press conference:
“It was an interesting week. We had twice the same mistake twice with the skirt, but we are pretty positive, because we have pretty good feedback regarding our performances.So we know that this is the way to go and with more work and a shorter skirt, we hope we can do better next time.”

Video and articles

2010-11-05T15:48:00.000+01:00

For those who haven't been able to see it live... the video from the CoC short dance has appeared on Youtube.

Some infos on the scores and levels on this article on Ice Dance-com , while Wintersport News has a less detailed piece in Italian.

Cup of China, Day 1: Short Dance

2010-11-05T10:40:00.000+01:00

The SD at the Cup of China has been skated, and at the end of a performance stained by various little problems, Federica and Massimo are currently in second position.

Their score is : 57.21    (TES 26.28         + PCS 30.93)

Here you can find all the scores

So, the ranking after the SD is:

1    Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 64.12
2    Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI   ITA 57.21
3    Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 55.85
4    Nora HOFFMANN / Maxim ZAVOZIN HUN 52.69
5    Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN 49.70
6    Kharis RALPH / Asher HILL CAN 48.10
7    Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN 45.33
8    Madison HUBBELL / Keiffer HUBBELL USA 44.47
9    Xueting GUAN / Meng WANG CHN 40.19
10    Isabella CANNUSCIO / Ian LORELLO USA 38.34

This is the starting order for the FD tomorrow:

Warm-Up Group 1
1    Isabella CANNUSCIO / Ian LORELLOUSA
2    Xueting GUAN / Meng WANG CHN
3    Madison HUBBELL / Keiffer HUBBELL USA
4    Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN
5    Kharis RALPH / Asher HILL CAN

Warm-Up Group 2
6    Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN
7    Nora HOFFMANN / Maxim ZAVOZIN HUN
8    Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS
9    Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA
10    Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA

Now, thanks to a wonderful user of the Figure Skating Universe forum (cheriepopo - thank you very much!) we have the first quotes directly from the press conference after the SD:

question: the skirt problem...

Massimo: I stuck my skate with the skirt, that's the problem...this is our first competition this season and it's always hard to start out the season, it's really a bit of a shame that we lost a lot of points, but it's OK, I think tomorrow we'll be happy any way.

and there's a question to all the 3 about their goals toward Sochi...oops, it's so early isn't it?

Massimo didn't get the question, Fabian was explaining it to him!

Massimo - the biggest goals for us are Euros and Worlds, and we hope to get gold at Euros. But all three of us here have the chance to be on the podium of Euros, so we'll just have to work hard. the SD is interesting.

And now, let's talk about the Cup of China!

2010-11-04T12:42:00.000+01:00

The moment has arrived!! After much waiting (for us) and much training (for Fede and Massi) finally we're on the eve of the competition debut: the 2010 Cup of China starts tomorrow! Here's the usual, useful links to follow the event:

We'll start from the official ones:

Sito Ufficiale

Sul sito ISU

The event schedule - all the times are local from Beijing. To calculate when things will happen, depending on where you are: this is the local time in Beijing right as you read this!

Event Schedule (Subject to change)
Friday, Nov. 5 2010

14:45 Ice Dancing--Short Dance

16:30    Ladies--Short Program
18:25    Men--Short Program
20:20    Pairs--Short Program

Saturday, Nov. 6 2010

14:00 Ice Dancing--Free Dance

15:55    Ladies--Free Skating
18:05    Men--Free Skating
20:25    Pairs--Free Skating

Sunday, Nov. 7 2010
14:30    Exhibition

Here we'll find the starting orders and the results.

The starting order for the SD has already been published:

Warm-Up Group 1
1 Isabella CANNUSCIO / Ian LORELL USA
2 Xueting GUAN / Meng WANG CHN
3 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN
4 Nora HOFFMANN / Maxim ZAVOZIN HUN
5 Kharis RALPH / Asher HILL CAN

Warm-Up Group 2

6 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS
7 Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN
8 Madison HUBBELL / Keiffer HUBBELL USA
9 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA
10 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA

Finger crossed!

Here we are!

2010-11-02T15:33:00.001+01:00

Hi there! Did you notice something new?

Yes! As we do every year, the site got a new look to get ready for the new season - as finally after much waiting, the competitions are almost starting for us! Fede and Massi will be skating in the Cup of China, the third event in the GP series this year, which is being held in Beijing from November 5th to 7th.

But before concentrating on competition timetables, time zones and tv and web channels... we want to finnally talk about the programs we're about to discover! There's a lot to say!

For a start, you can begin with a jump over to Art on Ice (there's an English version!) for an interview in which Massimo starts to introduce us to the new programs - the "My Fair Lady" short dance, and the Free Dance inspired by Manolete the toreador.
Done? You can now continue with a more detailed description HERE, to discover more details and background.

Ok ok I know that reading an article or two is not enough... we want some visuals! So you can hop to the photo gallery area, where you will find the BACKSTAGE page with several new albums... there are previously unreleased photos from the summer training, a photoshoot we did in September while planning the new autograph postcards... and also some quite silly pics we took with our friend Toponiglio Franklin, who really got in his role as the "bull" of the Free Program!

Still not satisfied? Now you can have a look in the VIDEO section to see... lots of things! We have two practice videos of the programs (shot back in July when they had just been completed and still had to be polished and trained), an amateur video from the Summer Tour with part of the FD danced as an exhibition in August, and a video taken during the photo shoot we've mentioned earlier (can you hear the cameras clicking?!) in which Fede and Massi replicated lots of passages from the Fd on floor.

We also have to explain the transformation of Toponiglio Franklin in ToRoniglio... but for that, you'd better check out his blog!!!

A look back to the past, while getting ready for the new season!

2010-10-01T22:33:00.000+02:00

This season's competition debut is getting always nearer (just a month till Cup of China) and the curiosity gets higher, just as the desire to share all the new photos and videos... but we're still waiting for that, and right now we're looking back to the past season to remember all the emotions it gave us, thanks to the work of two fabulous photographic-friends who shared so many images with us.

So we're thanking Dave Carmichael e Caroline Paré, for all the images that they gave to us, and we'll direct you to the competition albums from last season... there are tons of pics from Tallinn and Torino!

The next update will finally be all on the new season! We've got...

-backstage practice pics, on and off ice (more to add to this smaller selection we already published - did you see them?!). We also have got videos from these summer practices, and photos and videos from a very special session on the dance floor..

-a dossier with lots of info on this season's program, to satisfy any possible curiosity!
-a very, very special section dedicated to our beloved Toponiglio Franklin (do you remember he's got a site, and a BLOG?) because, what can we say.... he really, really got into the spirit of this season's Free Dance....

See you soon!

Work in progress

2010-09-28T13:50:00.000+02:00

Just a quick word - in case you'll notice some weird things going on here on the blog look-wise... don't worry, we're trying new things for the new season... which means that we'll are getting ready to show some updates, finally!
We've saved lots of backstage photos and videos, some really gorgeous, other just funny, and all the info you might need about the new programs.... coming soon!

August 10th, 2010: the summer tour starts tonight!

2010-08-10T10:22:00.000+02:00

Ages ago we'd written about Fede and Massi skating in a series of shows this summer... and finally, they start tonight!! We are pretty excited... here's the list of dates again:

10 August – Alleghe (BL)
11 August - Corvara in Val Badia (BZ)
12 August – Cavalese (TN)
14 August – Pinzolo (TN)
15 August – Asiago (VI)
16 August – Courmayeur (AO)
18 August - Canazei (TN)
19 August - Folgaria (TN)
20 August – Cortina d’Ampezzo (BL)

We can't wait for the first reports from the show to arrive... even from our foreign friends! Maybe some of you are here on holiday?! The webmaster and Toponiglio will have to wait till Aug 16th to catch them in Courmayeur (stop by and say hello!) but till then... we'lll be waiting for all the reviews!
See you soon!

June 13th, 2010: the GP entries have been published!

2010-06-13T14:24:00.000+02:00

After waiting a little longer than usual, finally the ISU website publilshed the entries for next season's Grand Prix of Figure Skating; now we know that Fede and Massi will be skating the Cup of China and the Cup of Russia... here's the full calendar:

22 - 24 Oct    NHK Trophy (Nagoya, Japan)
29 - 31 Oct    Skate Canada Kingston, (Ontario, Canada)
5 - 7 Nov         Cup of China (Beijing, China)
12 - 14 Nov Skate America (Portland, Oregon, USA)
19 - 21 Nov Cup of Russia (Moscow, Russia)
26 - 28 Nov Trophée Eric Bompard Cachemire (Paris, France)
9 - 12 Dec    Grand Prix Final(Combined Juniors and Seniors) Beijing, China

For the full list of entries, myou can download the various disciplines' from this page: ISU GP

June 3rd, 2010: summer programs

2010-06-03T12:49:00.000+02:00

10 dates of shows in August, up through the mountains of northern Italy... we'll surely be there!

May 10th, 2010: interview translation

2010-05-10T22:43:00.001+02:00

Sorry if it took us a little longer than we promised, but finally here we are with the translation of the interview we annnounced a while ago. At the end of the post you'll also find the little slideshow of photos we mounted as a background for the original audio we were given by our friends at the radio, if you want to hear it in Italian...

Anyway, here's the transcript & translation:

Massi: "It 's a great joy, (because of how) we arrived here ... it was, I will not stop saying it, a very difficult Championship, because of all the tension, the fatigue, Federica’s illness ... we are very happy, this bronze is worth gold to us"

Speaker: Dear listeners, the voice you just heard belongs to Massimo Scali, who - with his long time ice partner Federica Faiella - won the bronze medal at the World Figure Skating Championships that took place on the last week of March in Turin.

Theirs is a story of pain, but also of great victory, in fact this bronze medal is almost golden for them. They have traveled, to Milan and then to the US as immigrants, but then, dancing their lives on the ice, they reached their dream.

Eleonora: as Massi was saying at the beginning, the path towards these championships has been difficult, the week before the event Massi and Fede almost decided to withdraw from the competition because Fede was very ill, they had trained very little, but then they decided to give it a try, to gather their forces, and to dance the story of their life – because their free program (which is the last phase of the ice dancing competition) tells their own lifestory. It 's a free program that was born from a reflection on the path that led them to this world bronze medal, on a music by Nino Rota aptly titled “The immigrants”, which in Fede and Massi’s program comes after a very suggestive introduction...

(the introductory spoken part of the program is played)

Speaker: "Our home is in a distant land, but this trip about us, now. It’s about our life, our memories, that slowly flow like ships in the ocean. It’s about what we will become".

Eleonora: with this program you have told the story of your last year, and also the sufference that comes with many difficult situation, with the need to adapt to being away and rebuilding a new life. Bringing this all on the ice was therapeutic in some way, did it help you?

Fede: it has helped us a lot. As you said, this program is our life, is what we faced in the last four years, and in our entire sports career by moving from Rome to Milano and then from Milano to America. It was born and it has been built around us, like a dress sewn right onto our bodies; for this reason, any time of the season we skated it, even in training, there was always a special emotion, an emotion that came from within ourselves because it is ours.

Speaker: This was the voice of Federica Faiella, who - with Massimo Scali – has won the bronze medal at the 2010 World Figure Skating Championships with a program that tells their story

Fede: to keep going in a moment that is difficult both psychologically and physically, what you need for sure is a lot of the determination that an athlete must possess, like anyone else actually, to go on with life – it is not just us athletes who have to face very difficult moments, both psychological and physical.
I think it is important to believe in yourself, and never take for granted anything, because in your life you can expect everything, all the joys and pains are part of this course... and so what is really important is to have near you those who love and support you, those who make you feel important. I think this has been my strength because I had Massi at my side, and all our coaches and all the medical staff, who made me feel important and pampered me; this is what really gave me the strenght to face this season that started on such already difficult terms.

Eleonora: what is harder to manage, victory or defeat?

Fede: both are difficult to manage. In my opinion an athlete must be prepared for everything, both victory and defeat, because when there is a defeat you must have the strength to get up and start working again, and anyway there’s always something to learn, even in the biggest losses. When you win, on the other hand, there is a downside: that we must be ready to find again the strength to go forward, because many times after a win you can relax too much, but that is not the right thing do. You can never really reach perfection, and even after a victory there’s always something you can improve.

Eleonora: ice skating is a though sport in terms of mental and physical stress. Do you have a psychological support that helps you face the challenges you meet?

Fede: we had it in the past and it helped us very much, because now we know how to manage our energy, how to manage the time before the competition, the competition itself, the post-competition, the training... now we say that we are our own teraphy, and we find our strenght in being a team.

Speaker: This was the voice of Federica Faiella, partner for many years on the ice of Massimo Scali. We have collected her impressions during the World Championships that took place in Turin on the last week of March.
Eleonora, you were there. Can you describe to our listeners the images that you remember the most, those who really took a place in your heart? I saw some pictures on youtube and they have a piece of my soul now.

Eleonora: surely one of the strongest images is this moment when, towards the end of the program, when part of the tension has already melted away, there is a reverse lift – the one where Federica lifts Massimo - and there I really think that all of us who were there following them so closely, we held our breath, and then the final moment when the tension broke and Federica burst into liberating tears. And then the image of Federica's mother in the stands, jumping and shouting and leaning over the balustrade so that security had to hold her back, as she gave the impression of being ready to jump down on the ice!The audience reaction was incredible, it seemed as if there were millions of people and that they were all celebratinf, applauding this result seeked with such dedication and intensity, and through so much sufference.

Speaker: that’s true, beyond the happiness we all feel for this bronze, there is the great lesson that comes from these athletes, the fact that you can do it, you can leave the pain behind, you can win. Life has a podium for us all, be it gold, silver or bronze, the important thing is to fight and win, and you can.

Thank you to Eleonora and the other friends at Psicoradio (www.psicoradio.it) for their collaboration!
Here it is our slideshow+audio piece of the interview... enjoy!

Apr 26th, 2010: Radio?

2010-04-25T23:25:00.000+02:00

Hi to everyone!
Just a quick note: our facebook and twitter friends might have read a post about a radio interview next Thursday (apr 29th)... but of course it will be in Italian, on an Italian channel... so we'll guess there's little chance of our international friends being able to enjoy it! But fear not! We'll be able to share the interview with you after it will have aired, and we'll write down a translation for you all!

April 24th, 2010: photos? Photos!!

2010-04-25T01:07:00.000+02:00

Not many words but quite a lot of images in tonight's update: the friends on Facebook (from the Group dedicated to Fede and Massi and the friends of Toponiglio Franklin) might have seen some preview on the social network... but now the full photo galleries are here on the site!
Massi just gave us a nice selection of off-ice photos from this season - from the Cup of China and from the Olympics, in the Village and at the Closing Ceremony! You'll find them in the Photo > Backstage section! Go check them out! and we'll be back on Monday with more news...

Apr 15th, 2010: dedicated to...

2010-04-15T10:11:00.000+02:00

Maybe you remember this photo from Friday night in Turin, taken at the little party we had to celebrate the medal just conquered...

Barbara Melica is giving to Feede and Massi two copies of a very special present which she created for them: a video where the magic of skating and dance melt together, the steps of this season's exhibition from Fede and Massi take a new life with Barbara's dance company.
This is Barbara's message to our champions, and this is the video she created for them:

...The "season" comes to an end... and this was a season of tensions, emotions, small defeats and great victories.
It all started in the "black gym" at the Agorà Ice rink, the gym that's really really cold and a little messy. I can picture in my mind Massimo and Federica,barefeet, stomping and clapping to the sound of the tambourine and the sweet voice of the Tarantella dancers... Massimo seemed to be "breathing the rhythm" and was slowly morming into a scugnizzo from Naples, with his sparkling eyes and the mischievous smile... Federica, playing the "noble dancer", with her ample movements and perfect coordination, stumbling and pouting, but just for the first half-hour, before becoming the noble "donna Concetta" with her "mossa" and her seducing eyes.
I can see again the train trip to Rome, to see my musician friend, with my pocket hiding the scrap of paper where I wrote the words of their "adventure", which started like this: our home is in a distant land, but this trip talks about us now...
And here they are, with huge headphones on their ears, behind a glass, serious and focused, reciting their lines like consummated actors...
I remember the huuuuuuge panino which Massimo bit into wile we were listening to their voices and the marvelous musical work done by my friend.
...Sacrifices, injuries, illness... but the dreams are always closer, cleaner, and finally a reality! Do you want to know, in all this, what was my greatest satisfaction? To share, and see their joy!!!
THIS DEDICATION IS FOR YOU:MASSI AND FEDE, AND FOR YOUR DREAMS.
with love
Barbara Melica

April 12th, 2010: a small but special update

2010-04-13T00:50:00.000+02:00

While we wait to tackle some more serious subjects as the present and the future... we keep adding our end-of-season updates with a little gem we just got: in the photo galleries > backstage (that's HERE ) you'll find a page of photos which we think are pretty special because they were given to us by someone who was always next to Fede and Massi in the key competitions, all these years... the Italian Team Doctor, Davide Tornese. Thank you so much Doc, you promised this to us in Talllinn and you came to Torino prepared!!

On a little side note, we also added a few more articles to the press review... you can have a look HERE

In the next few days.... we have still more exclusive photos, and a very very special video to share with you (but we won't say what that is yet!)... come back soon!

Apr 3rd, 2010 - time for the press review!

2010-04-03T15:27:00.002+02:00

Hi to everyone! One more step completed in our recap of Worlds 2010 (while we wait for the TON of photos our photographer friends will be sending us!), and that is the press review of what was said on the web/printed paper. Unfortunately it's almost completely in Italian... but you international friends can still have a look, don't you think?

It's all accessible from the Press review page you see in the menu here on the left (or: quick link ), and from there you'll access a special page devoted to the event, just like we did for Vancouver 2010.
But we added a few of articles from the rest of the season as well, so you can have a look around the main page too. We'll point out a couple of pieces in particular that are not related to a specific competition:

this interview:

and this article from IFS magazine:

This time around we couldn't attend all the press conferences with our cameras and recorders, but at least on the first day we managed to grab a soudbite from the mixed zone after the cd... Again, this too is in Italian....

what else is coming up now? we have some lovely pics (some new, some old!) that we got from the great team doctor Davide, and we'll be sharing them soon (thank you doc!!), plus some photos a stylist friend just sent us... and we are waiting to hear from the guys after Easter (they definitely deserved these holidays!!), and we'll see what news will come with them!
Come back here soon to see what's new!!

April 1st, 2010, update#2: Gala time on Sunday, March 28th

2010-04-01T14:58:00.000+02:00

On Sunday morning we get ready for the last event in these Championships, with the rehearsals for the Closing Gala:

In between the individual practices, all the skaters meet up to rehearse the opening and finale:

We love this relaxed, funny athmosphere!

At a gala everything is pretty ectic, the rhytms are crazy and the TVs wouldn't allow any lateness! But apart from a slight moment of panic when Massi realized he'd forgotten Fede's dress at the hotel (promptly picked up by a friend sent to their room, while the guys were on the ice for the opening!), the exhibition is perfect as usual, an ideal conclusion to these incredible days in Torino.
In the break between the two halves of the gala, Massi and Fede are kidnapped in the RAI studio for some more interviews:

And only after going off-air there is time to remember a promise made to our journalist friend Andrea Fusco... a photo with him and the Toponiglio:

Talking about Toponiglio Franklin... having had its facebook page mentioned on air must have had quite an impact, because as soon as we got back to the hotel after the gala, this is what we found:

are you a friend of Toponiglio already??

That's it for this update... next stop, it will be our press review of the event! Stay tuned!

April 1st:: still looking back in time: a medal celebration

2010-04-01T11:13:00.001+02:00

We're still re-living the last days at the World Championships in Torino, and now it's time to talk about the moment of celebration which reunited the team, families and friends around those two precious medals...

a speech was called for!

Thank you to the "docs"... Davide (between Massi & Fede) and Beppe (on the right)

Hooray!

Barbara Melica and the very special gift she gave to the guys... on these pages soon!

Could we not make a video??

As the video is in Italian, here's a short recap...

0.40> Barbara Melica tells Massi that it is her birthday, and Massi & Fede congratulate her
0.50>Silvia tells Massi that she's making a video (not taking a photo as they were posing) to which Massi answers "ohh a video! I'd been standing still for half an hour!"
0.59> Massi's speech.
I wanted to start by telling you the story of the Tarantella (it's a joke because he's been kind of over-enthusiastic about this in all the press conferences)... segue into general laughter
I want to thank all of you who are here tonight, this has been an very important medal for us, and I want to tell you that you are all part of it, because you have always loved us very much and are so close to us, you have always supported and "endured" us.
I want to thank in a special way our coaches, Natalia, Pasquale and Paola, and Gennady, Gennady who's at home. I want to thank Barbara and Maurizio who helped us as well this year, there are so many people to thank! A very special thank you goes to the "health department" (laughter) because this was such a complicated season, especially for them who had to handle all this.
This was a very complicated World Championships, specially for Fede, and I want to thank her because she really was the strenght behind this medal.

(then comes Linichuck's speech, but that's in English!)

With this, we can wrap up this long day... next episode: memories of sunday afternoon!

March 30th, 2010: where did we stop? Oh yes, the FD!

2010-03-30T16:12:00.000+02:00

Hello to everyone! Here we are again, catching up on the main posts. The rhythms of the championships took away aqll our time and energies, so we apologize for not fully updating the site, but we hope you checked out the tweets we sent to keep you updated in real time!
Now we'll retrace our steps till the last update needed - and we get to the day of the FD, Friday 26th!

The day started with a morning practice, pretty early, and then a looooooooong wait till the competition: Fede and Massi are scheduled to skate their programs at 22.06!
Rinkside, on the ramps, everywhere, we are holding our breaths while the voices of Fede and Massi resonate throught the Palavela at the beginning of the program... but once we're past the twizzles, we start relaxing a little... and after the reverse lift (the last of the program!) it is only time for happy tears and hugs!

The FD is just the fourth of the night (and we have a fraction of a second of doubt, before calculating that with the margin we had that's enough for the bronze!) but considering the conditions, we're perfectly happy and an extra applause goes to Federica for her amazing streght and determination!
The scores:Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI 97.84 (TES 47.10, PCS 50.74)

- ranking in the FD: here
- detailed scores: here

But apart from the *cold numbers*, here are some pictures that we got from the ITA team (thank you Beppe!) when the guys were coming up from the K&C... they might not be perfect, but they convey a lot of the emotions we lived in those moments!

Final standings (full: HERE)

1 Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR CAN 224.43
2 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA 223.03
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 197.85
4 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 194.39
5 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 189.11
6 Alexandra ZARETSKY / Roman ZARETSKY ISR 181.26
7 Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER CAN 180.30
8 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 177.23
9 Emily SAMUELSON / Evan BATES USA 168.77
10 Nora HOFFMANN / Maxim ZAVOZIN HUN 166.90
11 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA 164.52

And finally, the PODIUM!

The Palavela was full to its last row!!

From the benches on the left, the team enjoying the podium...

Pasquale, Natalia, Maurizio, Paola...

the next post will feature: the team celebration and toasts at the hotel after the competition! See you soon!

March 27th, 2010... celebrating the bronze

2010-03-27T19:41:00.000+01:00

yes, Fede and Massi did it... World Bronze medallists... we're so proud of them!!!
Details and photo coming soon...

March 25th, 2010: OD

2010-03-26T01:34:00.000+01:00

Sorry for another quickand late update (I hope you followed our twitter, we got the results and the draw in real time!) but as I wrote the days here at the palavela are wery long... but we're happy that Fede and Massi are still strongly in third position after the OD.
It was not a perfect performance as we saw in earlier competitions - a stumple on the twizzles was quite evident, but overall there was satisfaction and a positive outlook on the rest of the competition.
On a subjective note, it was a great emotion to see them performin in front of such a huge crowd in Italy: the Palavela was pretty full and there was a roaring applause and support for them.

Fede and Massi obtained a score of 59.16 (TES 27.90 PCS 31.26) for a combined total of 100.01.

Tomorrow they will skate second to last in the last group (19th), at around 22.14 local time.

OD result

Overall Standings

FD starting order

Photo page

Art On Ice article

Press conference from Art On Ice

March 23rd, 2010: third place in the CD

2010-03-24T00:40:00.000+01:00

I hope you've been able to check our short tweets to hear the results in real time and the draw as soon as it was made in the draw room, but anyway, I can finally sit down and write it in a better way.

Today Fede and Massi skated in the Cd competition, performin the Golden Waltz as last skaters of the pack, with the crazy chanting and applauses of hundred of schoolchildern who created a pretty unusual athmosphere for a normally quiet portion of the competition.
Fede and Massi skated a good waltz, which placed them in third place, earning a new personal best in this portion of the competition (the previous one was 39.88 at the Vancouver Olympic Games) with a total of 40.85 points ( 20.50 TES + 20.35 PCS).

The top then ranking reads as follows:

1 Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR CAN 44.13
2 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA 43.25
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 40.85
4 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 37.75
5 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 37.70
6 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 37.56
7 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA 34.05
8 Alexandra ZARETSKY / Roman ZARETSKY ISR 33.79
9 Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER CAN 33.32
10 Emily SAMUELSON / Evan BATES USA 32.61

The next step of the competition will be the OD on Thursday, starting from 12.45 local time. Fede and Massi, who picked to skate in the 21st place, will be on the ice at around 15.50local time.

OD starting order with times

Some articles we've quickly found online:

a page pf photo results from daylife.com

article on Blogosfere (italian)
article on Il Corriere della Sera (italian)
article on the Gazzetta dello sport (italian) and link to the homepage with a picture

see you soon!

March 22nd, 2010: tomorrow it's Waltz time! CD starting order (with times)

2010-03-22T23:06:00.001+01:00

Just a quick update with the link to the starting order of the Compulsory Dance, which will take place tomorrow in the Palavela from noon local time.

Fede and Massi will be the last skaters to take the ice, at 15.30 local time (that's GMT+1).

HERE is the full starting order

On a personal note (the webmaster speaking as usual!) I finally got a chance to see them practice in the afternoon session at the Palavela and they looked pretty good. They practiced parts of the OD, and seemed pretty happy at the end of their session! The morale is definitely high, and we're looking forward the competition tomorrow.

A full update will come only later into the night after all the day's events are over (sorry for that but I'll be working at the competitions!) but I'll try to at least tweet some results and comments on the feed you get on the right side of the page or on http://twitter.com/fswebm !!

March 21st, 2010: on the eve of the World Championships

2010-03-21T20:16:00.000+01:00

Fede and Massi skated today in the first official practices at the Turin ice rinks, and we're finally getting again in full competition mood!

The first event of the World Figure Skating Championships 2010 will take place next Tuesday at12.00 local time: the Golden Waltz will be the compulsory dance skated at this event.

Some useful links:

Event Official Site

Practice and Competition Schedule

Entry List

Stay tuned for more info coming soon!

Feb 28th, 2010: Did you enjoy the gala?

2010-02-28T23:12:00.001+01:00

YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images

We surely did, and we were so proud of Fede and Massi for skating among the best skaters in the world in this fabulous event, celebrating the best of our sport! A big applause for all the skaters in these great Olympic Games!
We've finished adding a few more articles in the press review, and we added a small gallery of photos from the gala (in the photo gallery > exhibitions section), again taken from the news sites... we'll have to wait till Worlds to meet our great friend Dave to get the photos he'll share with us! But then, Worlds are so close already.... we'll soon start talking about them!
See you soon!

Feb 26th, 2010: more articles, and.... tomorrow there is the gala!!

2010-02-26T22:52:00.015+01:00

First of all we'll point you towards some more articles added in the Olympic Press Review (which by now you surely know where to find!) and more will be hopefully (fighting out hardware!) added tomorrow... but you can already have a look!

The othe rimportant thing to say is... don't forget that tomorrow there's the last Figure Skating event of these Olys - the Exhibition Gala where Fede and Massi will be able to perform thanks to their fifth place finish!!!

The schedule says the Gala will start at 16.30 in Vancouver... don't miss it!!

Feb 23rd, 2010 - photo and press review

2010-02-24T01:05:00.000+01:00

A very quick update today, just to let you know that we've kept uploading new things on the site. From the menu on the left, you can find:

the Olympic press review
in the Press > press review section
the photo galleries (from the news websites)
in the Photo > Competitions section
the pdf with the results from the ISU website
in the Results > 2009-2010 section

See you soon!

Feb 22, 2010: the dream of the emigrants confirms the first place

2010-02-23T06:14:00.000+01:00

It was gorgeous and emotional the performance that Fede and Massi have given us in the Olympic final tonight, with a thrilling performance that gave us infinite emotions. Four minutes of history and poetry, which made us dream further than the final fifth place where Fede and Massi finished the competition.

These their detailed scores:
Total Score Executed Elements    Factored Program Components
99.11                        47.70 51.41

Executed Elements    Base Value GOE    Score
Straight Line Lift 4 5.00    1.10 6.10
Combination Spin 3                       4.00    0.60 4.60
Circular Step Seq. 3    7.20    1.20 8.40
Curve Lift 4 + Rotational Lift 4    8.00    1.00 9.00
Diagonal Step Sequence 3 6.20    1.40 7.60
Synchronized Twizzle 4    5.50                0.50     6.00
Curve Lift Curve Lift 4                   5.00                1.00 6.00
Lift + TRANS 0.00 0.00 0.00

Totals Executed Elements 40.90     47.70

Program Components             Unfactored Score Factor
Choreography/Composition 8.70    1.00
Transitions/Linking Footwork 8.30    1.75
Interpretation 8.75                            1.00
Performance/Execution    8.80 1.00
Skating Skills 8.50                             1.25
Factored Program Components       51.41

and HERE the scores of all the athletes.

The final standings:

Final Standings - 2010 Olympic Winter Games - Ice Dancing
1. 221.57 Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir, Canada (FD=110.42; 53.10+57.32)
2. 215.74 Meryl Davis/Charlie White, USA (FD=107.19; 52.80+55.39-1.00 ded.)
3. 207.64 Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin, Russia (FD=101.04; 48.00+53.04)
4. 203.07 Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto, USA (FD=99.74; 48.00+51.74)
5. 199.17 Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali, Italy (FD=99.11; 47.70+51.41)
6. 193.73 Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder, France (FD=97.06; 46.00+51.06)
7. 190.49 Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat, France (FD=94.37; 46.90+47.47)
8. 186.01 Sinead Kerr/John Kerr, Great Britain (FD=92.23; 44.30+47.93)
8. 185.86 Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski, Russia (FD=93.11; 45.50+47.61)
10. 180.26 Alexandra Zaretsky/Roman Zaretsky, Israel (FD=90.64; 45.20+45.44)
11. 174.30 Emily Samuelson/Evan Bates, USA (FD=88.94; 46.40+42.54)
12. 167.32 Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte, Italy (FD=82.74; 44.60+39.14-1.00 ded.)
13. 167.23 Nora Hoffmann/Maxim Zavozin, Hungary (FD=84.11; 43.40+40.71)
14. 164.60 Vanessa Crone/Paul Poirier, Canada (FD=85.29; 45.40+39.89)
15. 163.35 Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev, Russia (FD=82.88; 42.30+41.58-1.00 ded.)
16. 163.15 Anna Zadorozhniuk/Sergei Verbillo, Ukraine (FD=79.26; 39.20+40.06)
17. 159.60 Cathy Reed/Chris Reed, Japan (FD=79.30; 42.50+36.80)
18. 149.64 Christina Beier/William Beier, Germany (FD=72.91; 38.90+34.01)
19. 145.52 Xintong Huang/Xun Zheng, China (FD=71.27; 37.70+33.57)
20. 143.61 Penny Coomes/Nicholas Buckland, Great Britain (FD=71.60; 41.30+31.30-1.00 ded.)
21. 133.81 Kamila Hajcova/David Vincour, Czech Republic (FD=70.08; 41.30+28.78)
22. 132.32 Allison Reed/Otar Japardidze, Georgia (FD=63.45; 36.30+28.15-1.00 ded.)
23. 115.18 Irina Shtork/Taavi Rand, Estonia (FD=58.24; 35.10+24.14-1.00 ded.)

Feb 22nd: post-OD quotes

2010-02-22T18:26:00.000+01:00

From an audio file on the Gazzetta dello Sport site, which can be found IN THIS PAGE, we got the first quotes after the OD, which we can roughly translate (the interview was in Italian) as follows:

Federica: we are very happy with how the OD went, we knew we had to skate a clean program and we did that, we are proud of how we faced the competition

how much space is there in the rankings, how far can one go?

Massimo - the last step of the podium is quite close, but first we are now waiting the next group, where the couple preceding us will be skating, and then there's still tomorrow. The FD is a program we feel deeply, we worked a lot on it and it was built around us and our history. We'll give our best again tomorrow, and we'll do anything we can to reach that last step.

you have to go on the attack tomorrow?

Federica - Surely yes, and we are ready to do that.

There's just a few hours separating us now from the FD, and while we are adding new articles to the press review, we'll also remind you that HERE you can find the starting order with times... see you later!

Feb 22nd, 2010: the FD starting order

2010-02-22T05:54:00.000+01:00

The Fd starting order has been drawn, and Fede and Massi will be skating second in the last group.

HERE is the pdf with the starting orders with times

Here's a rundown of the starting order, with the music that will be skated by each team

1 CZE HAJKOVA Kamila/VINCOUR David - Edith Piaf Medley
2 EST SHTORK Irina/RAND Taavi -Nothing Else Matters by Metallica
3 GBR COOMES Penny/ BUCKLAND Nicholas -Pavane by M. Klass, Sarabande
4 GEO REED Allison/JAPARIDZE Otar -Crusaders of Light, Preliator

5 JPN REED Cathy/REED Chris -Angels and Demons (soundtrack)
6 GER BEIER Christina/BEIER William - Symphony No 7 and 9 by Beethoven
7 CAN CRONE Vanessa/POIRIER Paul - Nocturne, Bohemian Rhapsody
8 CHN HUANG Xintong/ZHENG Xun - Adagio by T. Albinoni

9 ITA CAPPELLINI Anna/LANOTTE Luca - Requiem for a Dream by C. Mansell
10 UKR ZADOROZHNIUK Anna/VERBILLO Sergei - Vivre Pour le Meilleur by J. Halliday
11 HUN HOFFMANN Nora/ZAVOZIN Maxim - So Excited, Hush Hush, Rock this Party
12 RUS BOBROVA Ekaterina/SOLOVIEV Dmitri - Adagio by Il Divo
13 USA SAMUELSON Emily/BATES Evan - Canto Della Terra

14 ISR ZARETSKY Alexandra/ZARETSKY Roman - Schindler's List by J. Williams
15 GBR KERR Sinead/KERR John - Krwlng by Linkin Park
16 FRA PECHALAT Nathalie/BOURZAT Fabian - Kika, Requiem for a Dream
17 FRA DELOBEL Isabelle/SCHOENFELDER Olivier - La Quete by J. Brel
18 RUS KHOKHLOVA Jana/NOVITSKI Sergei - Firebird by I. Stravinski

19 USA DAVIS Meryl/WHITE Charlie - The Phantom of the Opera
20 ITA FAIELLA Federica/SCALI Massimo - The Emigrants by N. Rota
21 CAN VIRTUE Tessa/MOIR Scott - Symphony No 5 by G. Mahler
22 USA BELBIN Tanith/AGOSTO Ben - Ave Maria, Amen
23 RUS DOMNINA Oksana/SHABALIN Maksim - The Double Life of Veronique

See you later!!

Feb 21st - an adventure in Folk

2010-02-22T05:43:00.000+01:00

Today was time for the OD competition at the 2010 Olympics, and this means for us time to bring out the Tarantella! Fede and Massi skated a brilliant od (a pity the lev2 on the twizzles!) and scored 60.18 points (28.60+31.58) which, added to the 39.88 points of the CD give a total of 100.06, securing them in their current 5th place standing.

Here's their scores details:

Total Score    Executed Elements     Factored Program Components
60.18 28.60    31.58 0.00

Executed Elements    Base Value GOE        Score
Curve Lift 4               5.00    0.70         5.70
Midl. Not Touch. Step Seq. 4    8.00    1.20 9.20
Sequential Twizzle 2    5.00 0.50 5.50
Circular Step Seq. 3    7.20    1.00    8.20
Lift + TRANS    0.00 0.00    0.00

Totals Executed Elements           25.20    28.60

Program Components Unfactored Score Factor
Choreography/Composition    8.35                             0.60
Transitions/Linking Footwork 8.05 0.80
Interpretation 8.45 1.00
Performance/Execution    8.40 0.60
Skating Skills    8.30    0.80

Factored Program Components    31.58

Here the full results on the Olympic website.

This is the OD top ten:

1 VIRTUE/MOIR CAN 68.41
2 DAVIS/WHITE USA 67.08
3 DOMNINA/SHABALIN RUS 62.84
4 BELBIN/AGOSTO USA 62.50
5 FAIELLA/SCALI ITA 60.18
6 PECHALAT/BOURZAT FRA 59.99
7 DELOBEL/SCHOENFELDER FRA 58.68
8 KERR/KERR GBR 56.76
9 KHOKHLOVA/NOVITSKI RUS 55.57
10 ZARETSKY/ZARETSKY ISR 55.24

This is the top ten OVERALL RANKING after the first two events:

1 VIRTUE/MOIR CAN 111.15
2 DAVIS/WHITE USA 108.55
3 DOMNINA/SHABALIN RUS 106.60
4 BELBIN/AGOSTO USA 103.33
5 FAIELLA/SCALI ITA 100.06
6 DELOBEL/SCHOENFELDER FRA 96.67
7 PECHALAT/BOURZAT FRA 96.12
8 KERR/KERR GBR 93.78
9 KHOKHLOVA/NOVITSKI RUS 92.75
10 ZARETSKY/ZARETSKY ISR 89.62

Here's a look at the first few photos we have found on the web...

Feb 20th, 2010: press review

2010-02-20T23:33:00.000+01:00

We have to say this: the Olympics in Vancouver are surely making life hard for Italina journalists - the CD competition, to name one, finished when here it was already 5am, and the papers were already printed and distributed in the newsstands... so we are still waiting to see if and what they will be saying about Fede and Massi's first competition phase at the Olys 2010!

Anyway, we wish to start collecting the material, and we'll start with a brand new page dedicated only to the Olympic press review (which you will reach through the usual press review page in the menu here on the left)... We already put in a bunch of articles from the last few days we had saved:

HERE YOU'LL FIND OUR PRESS REVIEW ON FEDE AND MASSI AT THE 2010 WINTER GAMES (and don't forget to come back & visit the page, we'll keep adding to it!)

Feb 19th 2010: let's Tango!

2010-02-20T06:58:00.000+01:00

Hopefully LOTS of you will have seen it already, as youtube links are not as easy as usual... but scroll down for a bunch of photos we searched as soon as the competition was over!

Fede and Massi skated a good Tango (but of course we had no dout about that!) and are currently in fifth place. They scored 39.88 point (TES 19.82, PCS 20.06 see below the details) which is also their new personal best in the CD, the previous one being 37.47 @ the CD in Tallinn, Euros 2010.

Executed Elements Base Value    GOE    Score
Seq 1 Steps 1-16     2.90    1.12 4.02
Seq 1 Steps 17-32 1.60    0.60 2.20
Seq 1 Steps 33-49 2.40    0.50 2.90
Seq 2 Steps 1-16     3.20    0.70 3.90
Seq 2 Steps 17-32 2.30    0.70 3.00
Seq 2 Steps 33-49 3.10    0.70 3.80

Totals Executed Elements                             19.82

Program Components Unfactored Score Factor
Interpretation    8.20    0.50
Performance/Execution 8.05                      0.50
Skating Skills    8.10    0.75
Timing                          7.80    0.75

Factored Program Components 20.06

Here's a link to the full results on the Olympic website, but for a quick glance,here's the top ten ranking:

1 DOMNINA Oksana /SHABALIN Maxim    43.76 ( 21.92, 21.84)
2 VIRTUE Tessa /MOIR Scott                         42.74 (21.40, 21.34)
3 DAVIS Meryl /WHITE Charlie    41.47 ( 20.46, 21.01)
4 BELBIN Tanith /AGOSTO Benjamin            40.83 (20.16, 20.67)
5 FAIELLA Federica / SCALI Massimo       39.88 (19.82, 20.06)
6 DELOBEL Isabelle /SCHOENFELDER Olivier           37.99 (18.44, 19.55)
7 KHOKHLOVA Jana /NOVITSKI Sergei      37.18 (18.28, 18.90)
8 KERR Sinead /KERR John                             37.02 (18.04, 18.98)
9 PECHALAT Nathalie /BOURZAT Fabian      36.13 (17.72, 18.41)
10ZARETSKYAlexandra /ZARETSKYRoman 34.38 (17.42, 16.96)

The next phase of the competition will be the OD, on Sunday 21st. HERE is the full starting order with exact timing, but here's a quick run through:

Group 1
1 REED Allison / JAPARIDZE Otar GEO
2 CAPPELLINI Anna / LANOTTE LucaITA
3 CRONE Vanessa / POIRIER PaulCAN
4 HAJKOVA Kamila / VINCOUR DavidCZE
Group 2
5 SHTORK Irina / RAND Taavi EST
6 HOFFMANN Nora / ZAVOZIN Maxim HUN
7 SAMUELSON Emily / BATES Evan USA
8 BOBROVA Ekaterina / SOLOVIEV Dmitri RUS
Group 3
9 BEIER Christina / BEIER William GER
10 REED Cathy / REED Chris JPN
11 HUANG Xintong / ZHENG Xun CHN
12 ZADOROZHNIUK Anna / VERBILLO Sergei UKR
13 COOMES Penny / BUCKLAND Nicholas GBR
Group 4
14 KHOKHLOVA Jana / NOVITSKI Sergei RUS
15 DELOBEL Isabelle / SCHOENFELDER Olivier FRA
16 KERR Sinead / KERR John GBR
17 FAIELLA Federica / SCALI Massimo ITA
18 DOMNINA Oksana / SHABALIN Maxim RUS
Group 5
19 DAVIS Meryl / WHITE Charlie USA
20 PECHALAT Nathalie / BOURZAT Fabian FRA
21 ZARETSKY Alexandra / ZARETSKY Roman ISR
22 VIRTUE Tessa / MOIR Scott CAN
23 BELBIN Tanith / AGOSTO Benjamin USA

and now, as promised... the first photos!!

(AP)

(Getty Images)

(Reuters)

Feb 19th, 2010: it's competition time! While we wait for the CD to start...

2010-02-19T19:22:00.000+01:00

Finally today the long wait will be over and the Olympic Ice Dance competition will kick off with the Compulsory Dance - it wil be our team-mates Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanote to dance the first Tango Romantica of the night!

So here's a little recap: this is the LINK with the CD starting order (Vancouver local time)

where you can see that Fede and Massi will be the 21st to take the ice, 19.39 local time, as the second couple in the last group.

More info and curiosities? We're liking these interesting articles on Ice-Dance.com:
- getting technical about the Tango Romantica
- random fun facts about the athlete competing tonight

and of course, you should bookmark the RESULTS PAGE on the Official Olympic Site

that's it for now, see you later!!!!

Olympic Practices: photos from Feb 17th

2010-02-18T14:21:00.002+01:00

Yesterday Fede and Massi took part in their first official dance practice session, and here are some of the first Olympic photos of Fede and Massi, who practiced their FD.They're looking great, don't you think?!
All images are (c) AFP/Getty Images - see each photo for the photog. details.

YURI KADOBNOV-AFP-Getty Images

SAEED KHAN-AFP-Getty Images

YURI KADOBNOV-AFP-Getty Images

Feb 17th, 2010: Compulsory Dance starting order

2010-02-17T21:57:00.000+01:00

Today was drawn the starting order for the CD - the Tango Romantica - and Federica and Massimo will be the 21st to take the ice, being the 2nd of the last group.

HERE the link to the ISU pdf with the time schedule (in Vancouver's local time), but we'll copy a time-òless version here:

Group No.1
1 CAPPELLINI Anna / LANOTTE Luca ITA
2 COOMES Penny / BUCKLAND Nicholas GBR
3 BEIER Christina / BEIER William GER
Group No.2
4 BOBROVA Ekaterina / SOLOVIEV Dmitri RUS
5 ZADOROZHNIUK Anna / VERBILLO Sergei UKR
6 HUANG Xintong / ZHENG Xun CHN
7 REED Allison / JAPARIDZE Otar GEO

Resurfacing of the Ice

Group No.3

8 HAJKOVA Kamila / VINCOUR David CZE
9 HOFFMANN Nora / ZAVOZIN Maxim HUN
10 REED Cathy / REED Chris JPN
11 SHTORK Irina / RAND Taavi EST

Group No.4

12 DELOBEL Isabelle / SCHOENFELDER Olivier FRA
13 CRONE Vanessa / POIRIER Paul CAN
14 SAMUELSON Emily / BATES Evan USA
15 ZARETSKY Alexandra / ZARETSKY Roman ISR

Resurfacing of the Ice

Group No.5

16 PECHALAT Nathalie / BOURZAT Fabian FRA
17 DAVIS Meryl / WHITE Charlie USA
18 DOMNINA Oksana / SHABALIN Maxim RUS
19 KHOKHLOVA Jana / NOVITSKI Sergei RUS

Group No.6

20 BELBIN Tanith / AGOSTO Benjamin USA
21 FAIELLA Federica / SCALI Massimo ITA
22 KERR Sinead / KERR John GBR
23 VIRTUE Tessa / MOIR Scott CAN

Feb 12th, 2010: the Olympics are here!

2010-02-13T02:06:00.002+01:00

Here we are, finally! A few hours from the Opening Ceremony and then we'll finally be in full-fledged Olympic athmosphere (here is a cute Yahoo! article about the Olympic village). The dance events, though, won't be starting until the 19th! So let's reviev the schedule for the Olympic dance competitions:

February 19, 2010 (16:45 Local Time) Compulsory Dance

We know that the CD will be the TANGO ROMANTICA, but the draw for the starting order will be held on Wednesday, February 17th. So, keep your fingers crossed until then for a good draw!
(here's an interesting article on the NBC Olympic site about the Tango)

The athletes will have one day of pause from competition, and then:

February 21, 2010 (16:15 Local Time) Original Dance

and

February 22, 2010 (16:45 Local Time) Free Dance

Just in case you need to check, here is a link to see what time is it in vancouver now?

And more links:

Official Figure Skating Olympic site

Figure Skating Results on the Olympic website

ISU entries/results page (no live results will be available, though)

We'll keep an eye open for news and articles and photos... so stay with us for these 2010 Winter Games!

February 1st, 2010: Happy Birthday Federica!

2010-02-01T00:12:00.001+01:00

We wish a great birthday to our favorite European silver medalist... Happy Birthday Fede!

Jan 31st, 2010: last update about Euros: THE PHOTOS!!

2010-01-31T23:51:00.000+01:00

Hello to everyone!

IT'S PHOTO TIME!!!

In the photo galleries we've added lots of photos from Tallin... from the beginning to the end:

We'll start from the compulsory dance from several news sites

Then we move on to the original dance:
- Silvia's competition photos
- competition and Kiss&Cry by several friends
- competition photos from news websites
and in the off-ice section:
- press conference and small medals from OD+CD
- coming back to the hotel after the original

We get to the free dance:
- Silvia's competition photos
- competition, Kiss&Cry and podium photos from friends
- competition photos from news websites
and in the off-ice section:
- coming back to the hotel and the Italian Team celebration
- the small medals ceremony for the FD

and for the gala: photo from the web

we also tidied up the videos we had posted in the blog, and you can now find them on the multimedia/audio+video page.. go and have a look at them, if you haven't already!

see you soon!!

Jan 27th, 2010: press review

2010-01-27T17:45:00.001+01:00

Here we are again, checking newspapers and websites, scanning and linking to see what was written during the week of Europeans....

This is an article we mentioned some time ago, on the dance magazine "Expression"... it is in Italian and we might provide a translation if someone is interested (write to webmaster@faiellascali.com and I'll do it!)... to have a look as it is, click on the thumbnail

but now let's move on to the Championships: the official program had a nice big photo of our guys (though one might object that last years' silver medallists are not exactly "dark horses"... but it doesn't matter, and the photo is cute!)...

Now let's move on to a bunch of links to sites and newspapers (in the press review page you'll find the articles scanned and mounted in jpgs to be easier to find later):

Here is one summing up the whole competition:
Ice Skating International Online

Some pieces on the FD:
GoldenSkate
Art on Ice (in Italian)

Absolute Skating
Icenetwork
La voce (in Italian)

Eurosport in Italian - Eurosport in English
Blogosfere (in Italian)

and some scans from Italian newspapers about the FD:

La Gazzetta dello Sport:

Corriere della sera:

Corriere dello Sport:

La Stampa:

let's rewind till the OD, and here are the:

Art on Ice (in Italian)

Icenetwork
La voce(in Italian)

Eurosport (in Italian)
Blogosfere (in Italian)

and the scans of:

Gazzetta dello Sport

Corriere dello Sport

and with one more step backward, the CD on Blogosfere (in Italian)

See you soon!

26 Jan 2010 - repost of Fede and Massi's message

2010-01-26T22:51:00.000+01:00

We put it on for download a couple of posts ago, but then we also decided to share it on youtube for easier viewing... this is a message Massi and Fede recorded with us after the FD celebration in the hotel, to thank everyone who supported them!

Jan 26th, 2010: interviews, press conferences and more!

2010-01-26T17:42:00.000+01:00

Now that we are back home, here are some videos we took!

We'll start from the mized zone interview after the OD - most of it is in Italian, but there are also a couple of questions in English towards the end. It is an audio file, but we chose to attach it to a photo montage to share it more quickly through youtube!

The same kind of montage, for the mixed zone interview after the FD (in Italian only, sorry!)

Our video of the FD press conference:

Then on Friday night after the competition, the Italian dance team meet up with fans and friends to celebrate the medal... of course there were a couple of speeches (ehm... in Italian again!)

On Saturday afternoon took place the award ceremony for the FD small medals... we got our gold medal!!

in the next few days: press review and photos!

Jan 23, 2010 - the medal may be small.. but it is Golden!

2010-01-23T17:18:00.001+01:00

Today were awarded the small medals for the single event phases - in this case for the FD - and thanks to their forst place in this segment of the competition, Massi and Fede received a golden small medal!

Just a couple of pics as a treat, but all the rest of the videos and pics in the next few days when we'll be safely back home!

2010-01-23T02:16:00.001+01:00

RESULTS FD

CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS

SCORES: CD - OD - FD

DOWNLOAD:

MIXED ZONE INTERVIEW (audio - in Italian only)

A FINAL THANK YOU (video - in English)

and more to come in the next few days!

SILVER MEDAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-22T22:19:00.000+01:00

We'll get into all the details later, with photos, videos and more, but we can say that with a fabulous FD which was judged the best of the night, Fede and Massi confirmed their silver medal, repeating the second place they conquered last year in Helsinki, this time placing behinf world champions Domnina Shabalin, but beating the 09 european champions Khoklova Novitski. Second overall, we said, but first both in the OD and in the Fd, with two perfect interpretations which captured the audience who in the end even disapproved the second place finish that was announced, expecting them in first place!
Later we'll have the audio of Massi and Fede in the mixed zone, right after the program, and the vids of the press conference, and a little surprise... but now just let us celebrate, there is too much joy and emotions, and this moment is dedicated to all the friends and fans and supporters of Fede and Massi, all of those who were crying with joy and pride in the Saku Suurhall... we'll come back latery tonight!

January 22nd, 2010: videos on the web...

2010-01-22T07:06:00.000+01:00

After a few hours of sleep, we are back surfing the web (on the fabulous Tallinn wi-fi) for some curiosities and videos: we haven't found the video of the OD yet, but we found some great curiosities!

A fabulous youtube user posted the vids from the press conference and the small medals ceremony (the medals that get assigned for the single portions of the competition, or, in this case, for the combo CD+OD)... here they are!
The first part of the OD is really funny but also really interesting, because Massi gets a little carried away in explaining their programs, and this really show us how much they "feel" the program they are skating, and how much they live it out there; the small medals ceremony is a little curiosity - possibly lots of people didn't even know they existed!

Press conference part 1:

Part 2:

Small medals award:

Jan 21st, 2010: interview!

2010-01-21T23:45:00.000+01:00

The last exclusive of today: HERE you can download the audio file of the interview Fede and Massi gave us after the OD! (the file has not been edited, so there's the Italian part first and the English part later).
Goodnight from Tallinn!

Jan 21st 2010: photos!

2010-01-21T23:13:00.003+01:00

From Tallinn....

the Kiss & Cry with Paola Mezzadri & Pasquale Camerlengo

OD press conference...

The Small Medals - silver for the combo CD+OD

Relaxing with friends

from the web (c) daylife.com:

January 21st, 2010: a silver Tamurriata!

2010-01-21T17:50:00.001+01:00

A folk day takes the stage in the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, with the passionate notes of the Tamurriata bringing Federica and Massimo in second place, with an overall total of 99.45, and a partial score for the OD of 61.68 (TES 31.20, PCS 30.48).

They scored the Best original dance of the night, with the best technical score.

Precise and moving, Federica and Massimo captured the whole arena, who clapped rythmically throughout the program accompanying the whole exhibition!

This is the OD top ten:
1 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 61.68
2 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 61.49
3 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 60.08
4 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 58.59
5 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 57.05
6 Alexandra ZARETSKY / Roman ZARETSKY ISR 55.92
7 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR 54.30
8 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 53.03
9 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA 52.83
10 Alla BEKNAZAROVA / Vladimir ZUEV UKR 51.22

QUI trovate la classifica completa

La classifica generale dopo obbligatori e original è quindi:

1 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 104.27
2 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 99.15
3 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 96.46
4 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 96.44
5 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 93.81
6 Alexandra ZARETSKY / Roman ZARETSKY ISR 90.55
7 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA 88.76
8 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR 86.90
9 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 86.36
10 Alla BEKNAZAROVA / Vladimir ZUEV UKR 83.37

QUI la classifica completa

mentre QUI trovate l'ordine di discesa per il programma libero di domani

a più tardi per foto, e l'intervista con Massi e Fede!!

Let's get back to yesterday.... a video!

2010-01-20T10:10:00.001+01:00

Sorry the battery-induced blackout of yesterday night, but today we are back after defying dawn and the snow to find a power adapter... and here is the vid from yesterday's CD!

see you later!!

January 19th, 2010 - Tango!

2010-01-19T21:41:00.000+01:00

The notes of the Tango Romantica accompanied us through the first portion of the ice dancing competition at the 2010 European Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.
Massimo and Federica take a steady third place, with the scoring of 37.47 (18.08 TES, 19.39 PCS), with barely 0.40 points separating them from the second ranked team of Khoklova/Novitski.

This is the Top Ten after the CD:

1 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS 42.78
2 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 37.87
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 37.47
4 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 36.76
5 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 36.36
6 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA 35.93
7 Alexandra ZARETSKY / Roman ZARETSKY ISR 34.63
8 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 33.33
9 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR 32.60
10 Alla BEKNAZAROVA / Vladimir ZUEV UKR 32.15

THIS the full ranking.

The next step of the competition will take place on Thursday, when Federica and Massimo will be the 22nd couple to take the ice (first of the last group).

THIS is the starting order of the Original Dance:

We met the guys after the competition to warm up to a cup of tea, and we found them in great shape and high spirits, really looking forward the OD to show the program to the best.
See you tomorrow for some backstage comment!

Euros 2010: for those stuck at home!

2010-01-17T12:50:00.018+01:00

Here we come to the key topic of these days for us: we are on the eve of the 2010 Euros, Fede and Massi have reached Tallinn from Philadelphia where they went back training after the Xmas break, but unfortunately not all their fans and friends can be there in estonia to follow the championships... so, for all of us stuck at home or work, here's a little guide with a bunch of links to TVs and streams where to have a look at the Championships.

ONE DISCLAIMER: it is an Euro-centric review, as in "if the site/feed/channel is not accessible from Italy - or just not available outside the US, or Canada, or Russia - probably I don't have it listed". Sorry about that. For more info on the subject, I'm sure there are useful info on Figure Skating Universe.

The European Figure Skating Championships 2010 will take place in Tallinn, Estonia, from January 19th to 24th, 2010: this is the official website of the event, but there's even an official page on facebook! (and don't forget the ISU website where to check the RESULTS!)

We also downloaded from the ISU website the TIME SCHEDULE of the competition, which we can try to summarize focusing on the ice dancing competition only:

Tuesday 19th - Compulsory Dance, from 13.30 local time (calculate your time here)
Thursday 21st - Original Dance, from 13.00 local time
Friday 22nd - Free Dance, from 18.40 the first 4 couples, and from 20 the first 12 ranked pairs (always in local time)

Now let's move on to some useful links!

Italian site Art on Ice has got a TV schedule (click on the single events for infos and links)

on the Facebook page of the Championships, there's quite a list of links to channels and sites which should be transmitting on the web or on tv:

- ETV and ETV2 (Estonian channels) live stream: (various schedules promised a quite extensive coverage on these channels)

http://www.err.ee/otse/etv

http://www.err.ee/otse/etv2

http://etv.err.ee/otse/?mis=etv2

http://etv.err.ee/otse/?mis=etvotse

- Sportbox.ru and ТК "Россия 2" (TK Rossiya2) live stream:

http://tv.sportbox.ru/sportbox-ru/2010/01/19/

http://tv.sportbox.ru/tk-sport/2010/01/19/

- TRT3 (Turkish tv) live stream

http://www.trt.net.tr/Canli/canli.aspx?kanal=TV3&slv=0

http://www.trt.gov.tr/Anasayfa/Anasayfa.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/wwwtrt/TvAkis.aspx

http://www.trt.net.tr/Canli/anasayfa...anal=tv3&slv=0

- Czech television ČT4

- SF2 (Schweiz 2) Swiss TV

- France 2 and 3

- RSI La2 (Televisione Svizzera Italiana 2)

- TSR 2 (Télévision Suisse Romande)

- NBC UniversalSports.com (on-demand)

EUROSPORT 's TV SCHEDULE is very poor this year:

Tuesday 20:05-22:00 - Pairs Short (Live)

Wednesday   22:30-23:30 – Pairs Free Skate (Taped)
Thursday      20:50-22:00 – Men´s Free Skate (Live)
                      22:00-23:45 – Original Dance (Taped)
Friday           20:50-23:00 – Free Dance (Taped)
Saturday       20:05-21:30 – Ladies Free Skate (Taped)

Sunday 22:45 - 00.25 - Exhibition (Taped)

Rai Sport Più (RaiSport+) (here the stream )

Tuesday 19 -       20:30/22.00    Pairs Short
Wednesday 20 - 16.45/18.00    Men Short
Wednesday 20 - 18.00/18.40 Pairs Free 1° part
                           19.30/22.00   Pairs Free 2° part
Thursday 21 -     12.00/14.30    Original Dance
                           17.45/ 19.15 Men Free 1° part
                       19.15/22.00 Men Free 2° part
(for the last three days the Rai TV schedule has not listed the programming yet. Keep an eye on that link!)

Of course we'll publish more news and links we'll find during the week... and we are waiting for photos and audio clips (if the web connection of out spies will allow it!) from Estonia, and, as usual, results, articles and videos!

Also: did you know that Fede and Massi also have a facebook group with which we are collaborating (come and join it!)? And don't forget that the results will be posted live on our twitter (follow us!).

January 16th, 2010: waiting for the European Championships - articles and photos

2010-01-16T19:06:00.000+01:00

On the Eve of the 2010 European Figure Skating Championships, we'll take a moment to point out a couple of articles that appeared recently, and we had not shared yet: you can find them in the press section and in these links:

-Corriere dello sport, 27/12/09

-University of Delaware Website, 11/01/10

In the Photo Gallery section there are the images from the OD at Nationals - the FD will follow soon!

We have also been told that the latest number of the magazine "Expression" - from the International Dance Association published a nice article on our guys and they choreographer Barbara Melica - but unfortunately the online version has not appeared as of today, and we're waiting to get our hands on a printed copy!

We'll get in an "Euros" atmosphere with the preview published by the ISU

... but we'll leave you on thie Estonian note; come back tomorrow for an article on all the useful info to follow Euros from home - when, where, which chanel , which site.... well, of course alongise our website, which will feature exclusive content from our reporters in Tallinn!

Dec 26th, 2009 - on the road again

2009-12-26T22:56:00.000+01:00

We're still in the middle of the holidays, but just like many other skating colleagues, Fede and Massi are already on the road again to take part in some holiday shows!

For the Italian public, we can point the Ice Gala in Bolzano on 29/12/09 (link ) which will then be aired on Italian channel "Italia 1" on January 1st, at 16.00 (GMT+1) (link).

On Dec 30th they will also be in Oberstdorf for the Eisgala (link) - which will be shown live on Eurosport from 8pm (link).

Giusto il tempo di tornare a casa, e ai primi di gennaio torneranno subito in America per ultimare la preparazione ai campionati europei di Tallin.

Dec 25th - our best wishes!

2009-12-25T20:35:00.002+01:00

Dec 20th, 2009 - Italian Nationals, Third day

2009-12-21T12:13:00.008+01:00

On Sunday afternoon the Free Dance competition took place in Brescia, and we could enjoy once more all the emotions that this very intense and personal FD that Fede and Massi have created can give us.... is it our favorite one? A difficult choice! What is you favorite program of theirs?

Thecompetition confirmed the ranking that had taken form through the previous events in this championships, and so the FD ranking reads:

1 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 99.42
2 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LA NOTTE ITA 94.17
3 Federica TESTA / Christopher MIOR ITA 78.13
HERE the pdf with the detailed scores.

(talking about pdfs... have you read ours, with all the info on this season's programs? can you tell what do the voices at the beginning of the program say, and did you know that they are Fede and Massi's voices? We'll give out the link again: http://www.faiellascali.com/eng/press%202009-2010-ENG.pdf )

So, the final result of the championships reads:

1 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI 198,00
2 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LA NOTTE 187,62
3 Federica TESTA / Christopher MIOR 152,94

CONGRATULATIONS TO FEDE & MASSI

FOR THEIR SEVENTH NATIONAL TITLE!

Reactions? This is Fede telling "how it went" to choreographer Barbara Melica who couldn't be here on the final day of competitions...

Massi is surrounded by friends and is giving out an interview to Art on Ice (which, in Italian, is HERE )....

now it's time to get ready for the gala...

Dedc 21st, 2009 - from the Championships Gala....

2009-12-21T12:13:00.007+01:00

Dec 20th, 2009: Italian Nationals, Third day -Practices

2009-12-21T12:13:00.005+01:00

Waking up for the sunday morning FD practice was quite chilly, as you can see from the car thermometer above, but it was worth it to film some practice bits:

Ready for the competition?!!

Dec 20th, 2009:Italian Nationals, Second Day

2009-12-21T12:13:00.004+01:00

On Saturday we had the OD at the 2010 Italian Nationals, and Federica & Massimo confirmed they leading positions in the ranking, even if with a performance that was not as clean as we'd liked (see: set of twizzles). Spirits are high, and considering the recent physical problems, the FD is waited for with enthusasm.

This is the OD ranking:

1 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI 58.57(TES 28.25 PCS 30.32)
2 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LA NOTTE 56.23 (27.65 28.58)
3 Federica TESTA / Christopher MIOR ITA 46.02 (23.15 22.87)

HERE you'll find the full pdf.

This is the ranking after the first two dances:

1 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI 98,58
2 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LA NOTTE 93,45
3 Federica TESTA / Christopher MIOR 74,81

Dec 18th, 2009 - Italian Nationals, First day

2009-12-19T00:02:00.001+01:00

Today was the day of the Compulsory dance at the Italian National Championships 2010, and while we wait for more details, we can give out the current standings:

1) Faiella / Scali 40,01 (TES 20,47 , PCS 19,54)
2) Cappellini /Lanotte 37,22
3) Testa / Mior 28,79
demonstrative : Guignard / Fabbri 28,86

ETA: the official PDF has been published HERE

See you tomorrow for the OD!

Dec 17th, 2009 - on the eve of the national championships

2009-12-17T15:33:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone!
Here we are again for a short recap, just in time before the National Championships: tomorrow it's already time for the CD.
We left you all after the withdrawal from Skate Canada, and we've been silent for a while. Fede came back to Italy and underwent several medical test, and started on a cure for her pains. After a few days, she joined back Massi in Philadelphia to resume training, and finally they came back to Milan this week to get ready for the Championships.
Being back home is always bound to bring tons of things to do (e.g. two days ago they spent the day shooting a promotional ad for the Olympic broadcasts on Italian Sky tv, and were interviewed by their news channel too), and we'll have a bit more time to chat and update at the championships, but so far we can say that everything's ok and we look forward the competition. Stay with us!

November 28th, 2009 - a comment

2009-11-28T14:18:00.000+01:00

As we promised, here's a letter from Massi and Fede:

We are really disappointed for not being able to compete at Skate Canada, for ourselves because we wanted to confirm the good results we had at Cup of China, and for all our fans who were waiting for us both in Canada and everywhere else in the world to give us the wonderful support that they always have to share.

Unfortunately Federica's health post-China did not allow us to train in the last two weeks preceding the competition in Canada.
So last week Fede left Philadelphia, where we were training, to come back to Rome where she's currently being checked by the CONI (Italian Olympic National Committee) doctors. Her condition is not serious but we needed to get it checked out an solved immediately, to face the rest of the season, as training to our max will be one of the key ingredients to reach the results we are aiming for.

A big hug to everyone, and don't worry: we'll be back on the ice soon, more determined than ever! See you at Nationals in Brescia!

A big heartfelt thank you
Massimo and Federica

What can we ad? See you in Brescia, if not earlier!!

November 17th - Skate Canada withdrawal

2009-11-17T14:16:00.001+01:00

Unfortunately it was just announced that Federica and Massimo have had to withdraw from their second GP event, which would have been Skate Canada, scheduled for the next few days.
The news has been confirmed by their staff, and the cause has to be found in some physical problems affecting one part of the duo, but we prefer to wait for their official comment before giving out more details.

For now we can only send them our very best wishes for a quick recovery, while we wait for their return back home.

on the Italian Federation website

Nov 1st - Cup of China, Exhibition

2009-11-01T20:09:00.000+01:00

The last day at the Cup of China brought us the Gala. Federica and Massimo performed the exhibition they debuted three weeks ago in Torino - a romantic piece on the song "Quel posto che non c'è" ("that place that doesn't exist") by Italian band Negramaro.

October 31st, 2009: Cup of China, Free Dance

2009-10-31T15:13:00.002+01:00

With the FD, this first competition of the season has come to an end: Federica and Massimo finish their seasonal debut at the Cup of China with a bronze medal, and the second best FD of the night! Good levels, all 4s except the step sequences on level 3... these are the top three scores in the FD:

1 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO (USA) 95.85 (48.10+ 47.75)2 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI (ITA) 89.96 (46.80+43.16)
3 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI (RUS) 87.79(45.40+44.39)

this is the full ranking of the FD

these are the final standings of the competition:
1 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 194.51
2 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 180.57
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 179.92

and here you'll find the pdf files with the detailed scores for all the athletes for
CD OD FD

foto (c) Getty Images:

Oct 30, 2009: Cup of China, Original Dance

2009-10-30T15:41:00.001+01:00

The OD at Cup of China finished just a few moments ago, and Federica and Massimo maintained their third position with a performance of the folk OD that earned them 54.59 points ( 27.20 TES - 27.39 PCS).

The podium after these first two events looks like this:

1 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 98.66
2 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 92.78
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 89.96

HERE you'll find the OD rankings, HERE the overall standings after the first two events

Next meeting time is tomorrow, when in Beijing will be 20.05 (calculate your time) and HERE you'll find the starting order and the marks.

We'll re-post this link from Raisat, where today we followed the OD wonderfully and without any commentary... hoping it will be useful tomorrow!

Last detail: if you want to read a bit about the OD details and also about the FD we'll see tomorrow, we're re-posting the link to a pdf with some infos, interviews and comments on this season's programs!

link pdf

Oct 30, 2009: Cup of China, 3rd after the CD!

2009-10-30T08:59:00.003+01:00

The first portion of the competition just came to an end in Beijing, where the compulsory dance was performed.
Federica and Massimo skated a good Golden Waltz, which got marked 35.37 points (17.96 TES - 17.41 PCS) and landed them in third position in the standings:

1    Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA    38.33
2    Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS   36.30
3    Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI    ITA   35.37

you'll find the whole ranking HERE

(c)AP Photo- Elizabeth Dalziel

The original dance will take place later today, at 21.15 in Beijing (calculate your time).

OD starting order

-------------------------

We'll leave you for now with a new link to check: ice-dance.com! On the site we already found the first practice pictures from yesterday, which give us our first glance of the FD costumes!!

Have a look here, here and here - and check the Cup of China album after the other parts of the competition!

Oct 29th - Cup of China is starting tomorrow!

2009-10-29T08:00:00.066+01:00

Here we are, finally: Cup of China is starting tomorrow with the compulsory dance (it's the Golden Waltz!), followed on the same day by the OD, and then the FD in Saturday 31st.
But let's have a look at the timetables: Beijing is GMT+8... what is your time zone? Maybe you'll find this link helpful in calculating your schedule of the competition.
This is the dance competition schedule, Beijing time:

Friday, Oct 30th
14:30 CD
21:15 OD

Saturday,Oct 31st
18:25 FD

Sunday, Nov 1st
14:30 Gala

Let's have a look at a few links - from the ISU website we find the announcement and the entries.

HERE you'll find the various starting orders, results & pdf. For now, there's the CD starting list up:

Group1
1 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN
2 Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN
3 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR
4 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE CAN

Group 2
5 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR
6 Madison CHOCK / Greg ZUERLEIN USA
7 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA
8 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS
9 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA

But one of the main questions is... will we see anything on tv?

In Europe, we'll mainly check this schedule on the Art on Ice site.
In Canada you might want to check the coverage by Skatebuzz
In the US there is Universal Sports
and of course we have to mention the subscription based Icenetwork
the Chinese CCTV5 channel will stream quite a lot of the competition, unfortunately for us focusing on the other disciplines... we might get the CDs and the Gala only!

One of the major sources of commentary and play-by-play will be Figure Skating Universe - the best international figure skating community for news, infos, gossip, updates and anything figure skating. Some clou parts dedicated to the current competitions will be open to members of the community and to paying subscribers only - but the all season access is around €7 for the whole season and absolutely worth it!

Here we have found an interesting article with Golden Skate's preview of the competition.

We'll finish off our preview with the video of the OD from the show in Torino, while we wait to see it in competition!

A domani con le gare!!!

Oct 28th, 2009 - photos, photos!... and tomorrow we'll talk of the GP!

2009-10-28T12:23:00.002+01:00

While Fede and Massi arrive in China, we're offering you a nice little surprise: yesterday we found the site of a fabulous photographer who was at the Golden Skate Awards in Torino, and very kindly he immediately accepted to share his pictures with us!
His name is Fabrizio Strobino and HERE you'll find the new photo gallery, while you can visit his website www.fabriziostrobino.it to admire the rest of his work!!
Tomorrow we'll be getting ready for the GP in China, checking the schedules, looking for useful links and more... come back to visit us!

Oct 20th, 2009 : an interview on Art on Ice and.......

2009-10-21T12:37:00.002+02:00

Here we are again, with a link for you: the Italian skating news website Art on Ice published today a nice interrview with Federica e Massimo as an anticipation of the season that will start for them in about ten days with the first competition...
The interview took place a few days ago during a break between training sessions at the Agorà Ice Stadium in Milan, and this is a little photo evidence::

now visit the site of Art on Ice to read everything!!

but this is not all!!

From the interview you'll get already several details on the new programs and lots of other comments, but.... HERE you'll find a pdf file with seven more infos on the programs that we are about to discover in competition, and the team behind them... we hope you'll find it interesting!

Oct 10th, 2009: Golden Skate Awards

2009-10-14T16:13:00.000+02:00

On Saturday night, in front of 7500 spectators in the Palavela and live on SkyUno, the new edition of the Golden Skate Awards took place, and for Fede and Massi it was the perfect chance to debut two new programs: first the new Original Dance on a folk theme (tamurriata and tarantella), and then a new exhibition on music by Italian band Negramaro.
HERE you can find the pictures we took at the exhibition (and waiting to go in, and during the post-awards interview), while here on the blog we're adding a few pics from the backstage!

Federica in the dressing room

Barbara Melica takes care of her hair

A picture with the "make up girl"

with Melania doubling as "seamstress"

...to stitch back on the flowers (from a costume used by ballet star Carla Fracci, we are told!) which came off

there is also Massimo, don't worry! Here's a dress rehearsal

and Massi again, with the Golden Skate Award, ready to come back to Milan at the end of the show!

We hope you've had the chance to see the programs, and we hope you like 'em! For now the new OD has had great feed back and we are all happy.The public was immediately drawn into the program, and the clapping started almost immediately along the beat... next step: the Cup of China!! There's not much to wait!

Oct 9th - a day at the rink, working with the choreographers

2009-10-14T15:31:00.000+02:00

Here we are again, with a new series of photos: two practice sessions that took place between the morning and afternoon of October 9th, the first one devoted to the OD under the guidance of Barbara Melica (HERE) and the second one working on the FD with Corrado Giordani. (HERE). As usual, it's fascinating to see how much care is given to every detail, no matter how small it may seem!

Oct 4th, 2009 - A glimpse of a practice session

2009-10-04T22:57:00.002+02:00

Today we spent a good couple of hours with our favorite skaters, following a mid.Sunday practice session in another rink... time well spent, we'll say, because the work was both interesting and productive. We've taken bunch of pics for your first peek at our guys this season (you'll find them all here) but unfortunately we're keeping things under wraps for a little more so no lifts are featured... we'll do a second upload of those at the right time!

see the rest here!

One little note to finish this post - you can see on the right a couple of new features: a box to see in a glance where there's something new on the site, and the Webmaster's Twitter (don't get confused: it is not and it doesn't want to pass for a Twitter from Fede or Massi, it belongs to the website!) which we want to use to share little news or details that would not get a full blog post on its own, or to give you quick results during the events, and such... the address is http://twitter.com/@fswebm and you can use it to follow us if you're already on that network, or you can read the latest tweets when you come to visit the site! We're hoping you'll like this news as well!

September 30th, 2009 - yet another new beginning

2009-09-30T15:14:00.002+02:00

Here we are once again, ready to start a new season after a very, very long period of silence.
For a start, we hope you'll like the new look of the site, that thanks to a few little technical changes we hope will be even faster to update - with the news in blog format, the new and faster to create photo galleries and during the main event we're planning on adding our Twitter as well!

To update you on what's going on, we'll pass the keyboard to Massimo, who'll tell us more about the programs we will soon discover...

We have been back in Italy for more than 10 days now, after a whole summer spent in our Detroit base working with Pasquale and Angelika.
As usual, we did create and build the programs in ItaIy with Paola Mezzadri and with the collaboration of Barbara Melica for the original dance and Corrado Giordani for the free dance.
Personally I feel the creative process was spectacular and we are completely in love with these programs, we are sure they will be a success and up to par for an Olympic season.
For the original dance our choice couldn't be anything else but a Tarantella, after the succes of the pizzica we did two years ago - so we'll be presenting a Tamurriata Napoletana and a Tarantella pizzicata Calabrese.
The music of the FD is the "Immigrants" by Nino Rota, and it tells the history of the Italian immigrants who lest their country in the last century to seek a better fortune in America - it is in some ways our story too, our travel, our sacrifices, and the hope for what we will become.

In these last few days we worked very intensely with our choreographer Ludmilla Vlasova, who is as usual completely fundamental in polishing our dances.
The Italian Federation asked us to remain in Italy more than the last few years to take care of us from closer, in this important season, and we also added to our already rich team the collaborations with Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio (with whom we already worked to study the new compulsory dance for last season - the finnstep). We'll then be, as usal, every day on the ice of the Agora' Ice Stadium.

We're of course waiting curiously to see the programs in full competition mode, with costumes and everything... but for now the practices didn't left us disappointed one bit! But we won't tell you anything more, we won't spoil the surprise for you all... there's very little to wait now!

May 31st, 2009 - The 2009 GP Entries have been published

2009-07-19T23:53:00.002+02:00

The ISU website ( www.isu.org ) published today the entries for the Grand Prix events for the upcoming season. HERE you'll find the Ice Dancing entries (HERE is the link to the page with all the disciplines' entries)

Fede and Massi were assigned to

Cup of China and Skate Canada

The calendar for the next season that is coming together is more or less lthis (more details might be added later on):

First National Competition (date and place TBA)
29 Oct - 1 Nov Grand Prix - Cup of China Beijing, China
19 - 22 Nov Grand Prix - Skate Canada Kitchener, ON, Canada
Italian National Championships (date and place TBA)
18 - 24 Jan European Championships Tallinn, Estonia
12 - 28 Feb Olympic Winter Games Vancouver, Canada
(Ice Dance is on Feb 19, 21& 22)
22 - 28 Mar World Championships Torino, Italy

Themes and programmes for the Olympic season have already been chosen and created, but we will have to wait a little more before announcing them, and to see them performed in competition... but we're already sure they will be able to give us infinite emotions as always!