In 1996 Jaca has become an off season training base for the renowned Russian coach Alexei Mishin and his students. Since then, the team returned to Jaca for the next four summers. As the season approaches and it's time to return home to St. Petersburg, the Hielo Sport Club holds an exhibition that usually gathers the figure skating fans all over Spain. And there is nothing surprising about that: right here in Jaca the skaters debute their new programs to see the audience's response. The list of participants over the years included such names as Alexei Urmanov, Evgeny Plushenko, Alexei Yagudin, the promising young skaters -Andrei Griazev and Tatiana Basova. In summer Jaca becomes an international figure skating center where Alexei Mishin along with choreographer David Avdysh, polish the new programs working with their own students, consult Spanish figure skaters Jordi Pedro and Jon Garcia as well as young athletes from Netherlands, Great Britain, Israel, Switzerland and Austria...
Photo courtesy of Igloo Sport Club, Spain



 
Exhibition Ad
 Reports and Photos 2002
A few notes about the stage 2002:
This year the course has turned into “Alexei Mishin International Summer School” and welcomed 94 persons both skaters and coaches. The first of the three exhibitions counted on the participation of  Swiss Stéphane Lambiel (4th at last Europeans) as well as Laura Fernández and Artur Kltill, who repeated at the other two shows.
The three exhibitions got a big success in audience, but the people were especially expecting to see Evgeni Plushenko at the second show, and the ice rink was completely filled that evening.

Photo Gallery: Spanish Skaters
Rebeca García .Patricia Lafuente
.Estherde la Cruz.Ruben Barrera
.NataliaGonzález.Ines Ortiz
Artur Kltill (RUS)

Exhibition Report by Carmen Exhibition Report by Paloma

 
Stephen Bowell Victoria Stickelberger Andreas Fuch Naomi Miles Ross Tomsen
Cristiana Di Natale Kristine Grill Michaela Gross Joanne Webber Adrian Schultheiss



 Jaca is a small town located in the North-Eastern part of Spain, next to the Pyrenees Mountains and the French frontier. It belongs to Huesca Province and Aragón autonomy. This place used to be a stop-point to pilgrims en route to Santiago de Compostela. What can you find there now? History, beautiful landscapes, sports, traditions and folklore as well as very good cuisine. 
A few historical notes about Jaca:  King  Ramiro I proclaimed Jaca the first capital of the Aragón Kingdom in 1035. In 18th century during the Guerra de Sucesión King Felipe V gave the town the title "Muy noble, muy leal y muy vencedora." Jaca was occupied by the Napoleon's  Army in 1809 and ruled by France until 1814 when the  Royal Spanish has liberated it. 
 Jaca is especially interesting to tourists for it's numerous historical monuments that are located throughout the town. One of the main architectural attractions is the Jaca Cathedral that was built in the 11th century that also marks the beginning of the Romanesque Art in Spain. The town known for it's many churches that were built in 15-17 centuries.  The magnificent Palacio Epicospal is yet another jewel of the town. It was built in 17th century and belongs to the epoch of Renaissence. Puente de San Miguel on the other hand represents the glory of the Gothic style.  There are many opportunities for sightseeing around Jaca as well. The Monastery of San Juan de la Peña, Panticosa Spa and a small town called Canfranc which is famous for  its international railway station built at the turn of the 20th century. 
 Now Jaca ski resorts and ice skating rink also attract winter sports entuthiasts. For many Spaniards the name Jaca is assosiated with its ice-rink. It was built in 1972 the same year as Hielo Club was founded. Hockey and figure skating are the club's main priorities. Soon after, in 1974, the World Pro of Figure Skating came to Jaca for the first time, it became almost a tradition during the 70's and 80's. Jaca ice rink also hosted Winter University Games in '81 and in '95 as well as other national and international hockey championships. Since 1996 the ice rink has become an international stage of figure skating.

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JACA: SUMMER 1999-2000
MADRID: SUMMER 2001
SPANISH SKATERS INFO
OFFICIAL SPANISH FS SITE


Last update10/02/02
Site by  Liza and Paloma. Open since March 8th, 2001
Note: Some pages are still under construction
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Photos © Paloma. Translations & web design © Liza.
Sources of articles are specified under each translation.