2014-15 Russian, Japanese & Chinese National Championships
SYWTW FS
With the conclusion of the Grand Prix Series, many countries will be holding their national championships before the ISU Championships take place in the second half of the season. Three of them will take place this week, and for Russia and Japan, competition will be fierce.
Note: I am not 100% sure if the streams listed in this post will work until an event actually begins. I will update this post with more info as it appears.
RUSSIAN NATIONALS (Dec. 24-28, Sochi)
LIVE RESULTS (Russian)
Thurs. 12/25: Men’s SP 14:00; Pairs’ SP 17:45; Short dance 20:00
Fri. 12/26: Ladies’ SP 14:00; Mens’ FS 16:45; Free dance 20:00
Sat. 12/27: Pairs’ FS 15:00; Ladies’ FS 17:15
Sun. 12/28: Gala 14:00
Local time is Moscow Time UTC+3; convert to your time zone.
Website
Entries (Russian)
Disciplines: ladies, men, pairs, dance
Level: senior
Notes: Russian Nationals is one of the competitions used to decide the European and World teams. If the federation has not decided the World team after Nationals, the results of Euros may also become a determining factor.
How to watch: The competition will be broadcasted on Sport 2 and Russia 2 on TV, and sportbox.ru online. Sportbox.ru is geoblocked to Russia and will have to be unblocked with Hola or something similar. The official Russia 2 stream may or may not be geoblocked. Here is the broadcast schedule in local time (live broadcasts are marked):
Sport 2/Sportbox Fri. 14:00: Ladies’ SP (LIVE) (stream)
Sport 2/Sportbox Fri. 16:45: Men’s FS (LIVE) (stream)
Russia 2 Fri. 18:50: Men’s FS later groups (LIVE) (stream)
Sportbox Fri. 20:00: Free dance (LIVE) (stream)
Sportbox Sat. 15:00: Pairs’ FS (LIVE) (stream)
Sportbox Sat. 17:30: Ladies’ FS (LIVE) (stream)
Russia 2 Sat. 19:10: Ladies’ FS later groups (LIVE) (stream)
Sport 2 Sat. 22:45: Pairs’ FS (delayed)
Sport 2 Sat. 23:55: Ladies’ FS (delayed)
Sportbox Sun. 14:00: Gala (LIVE) (stream)
Sport 2 Sun. 16:55: Gala (delayed)
The Thursday events will not be aired, but it is very likely that fancams from all the events will be uploaded to Youtube. More options for streams: Sport 2 and Russia 2 (these should work anywhere in the world).
UPDATE: ESPN3 will show the competition live, including Thursday events but excluding the gala. This stream may be geoblocked to the USA.
JAPANESE NATIONALS (Dec. 24-29, Nagano)
Fri. 12/26: Men’s SP 16:25; Short dance 20:30; Jr & Sr Pairs’ SP 21:45
Sat. 12/27: Ladies’ SP 15:00; Men’s FS 19:10
Sun. 12/28: Free dance 13:30; Jr & Sr Pairs’ FS 15:05; Ladies’ FS 15:50
Mon. 12/29: Gala 17:00
Local time is Japan Standard Time UTC+9; convert to your time zone.
Website
Entries & results (Japanese)
Disciplines: ladies, men, pairs, dance
Level: all seniors; junior pairs
Notes: Japanese Nationals is one of, but not the only, deciding factor for the 4CC and World teams. JSF invites the top skaters at their junior nationals to compete at senior nationals; they must modify their programs to suit the senior layout. The gala is called “Medalists on Ice” and usually invites a couple of skaters from other countries to participate. Fans are not allowed to take video at Japanese skating events, so all videos will have to come from official sources.
How to watch: Fuji TV will broadcast the competition. The broadcasts will be slightly delayed from real time, but it is possible that the last groups may be shown live. Here is the broadcast schedule in local time:
Fri. 19:00: Men’s SP
Sat. 18:30: Ladies’ SP, Men’s FS
Sun. 19:00: Ladies’ FS
Mon. 18:00: Gala
Currently, I don’t know of any reliable streams for Fuji online. You can download software that allows you to watch Japanese TV channels:
Keyhole TV (really terrible quality) (download “viewer”, not “broadcaster”)
Niji TV (tutorial; only works for Windows)
jpPlayer (requires fee; only works for Windows)
These programs may be temperamental, and usually it is easier to just wait for videos from the competition to be uploaded to Youtube. They usually appear very quickly.
CHINESE NATIONALS (Dec. 27-28, Changchun)
Website
Entries (unofficial)
Disciplines: ladies, men, pairs, dance
Level: senior
Notes: Chinese Nationals is one of the competitions used to decide assignments in the second half of the season, though it doesn’t have as much weight as international events. Skaters receive “bonus” TES for executing difficult elements, such as 3-3s for ladies and quads for men.
How to watch: This competition will not be broadcasted. It is likely that fans will upload videos to Youku and other video sharing sites, though.