SWEDISH BOYS NEED LOVE TOO
CAN'T GET ENOUGH SVENSK GOODNESS? WELL THEN DON'T YOU THINK IT'S ABOUT DARN TIME FOR A
~*KRISTOFFER BERNTSSON*~
APPRECIATION POST
KRISTOFFER BERNTSSON, born July 13, 1982 in Göteborg, Sweden, is the eight-time (and current!) Swedish National Champion, five-time Nordic champion, and the first Swede to land the triple axel in competition. He first started skating at age 5 when his parents put him in all-boys skate and hockey lessons--he found the skating lessons more fun and quit hockey after a year, and also did synchronized skating and ice dance in his early years of skating. He landed his first triple jump (salchow) at age 14, did his first Junior Worlds and Euros at age 17, and landed his first triple axel in competition at the 2000 Swedish Nationals. He also represented Sweden in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. He still skates at the same rink and has the same coach, Andrea Dohany, who also coaches the five-time World Synchronized Skating Champions, Team Surprise. Kristoffer's favorite music is rock and roll; he played guitar in a punk rock garage band and likes Guns N' Roses, and also professes to like Queen although he "does not own all of their CDs". His favorite cities are Dubai, New York, and Copenhagen <3. In addition to being a competitive skater, he is also simultaneously studying for his masters degree in Electrical Engineering at the Chalmers University of Technology, one of the most distinguished technical universities in Sweden. He recently decided to continue skating competitively for one more year AND started on his masters thesis! Kristoffer is scheduled to compete in Skate Canada in October 2010.
I KNOW RIGHT?! WHAT A BAMF. I can barely get my act together in uni and do a decent waltz jump...
Kristoffer Berntsson has brought unique, innovative, and strikingly original skating programs to the international stage even before the advent of our other favorite Swede, Insane In The Brain Adrian Schultheiss. He's a real entertainer and has a fluid, lyrical style that also plays to the crowd! Here are some of videos of his skating programs:
Click to viewThe earliest video of him I can find on Youtube, a very creative exhibition piece to "I Got Life" from 2003 Euros.
2003-2004 SP to some J.Timberlake. I love his spins and this program is one of the few times I've ever been mesmerized by step sequences.
2004-2005 SP from Euros. It's amazing how he really skates to the music. And yes, I'm having a hard time finding the names of his programs prior to 2007...
2004-2005 LP from Worlds. He attempts a quad toe here but switches it out to a triple-triple. Just look how expressive he is (using his arms and not just flailing about, etc)!
2005-2006 LP from Olympics "Between Heaven and Earth". He under-rotates a lot of his jumps in the end but he starts out with a really strong triple axel! But his facial expressions! And onesie + scratch spin makes a good combo :P
2006-2007 SP from Cup of Russia. Love that little scream at the beginning and his creative program intros. From what I gather he used the same SP from the season prior, but correct me if I'm wrong...
2006-2007 LP from Worlds. Saturday Night Fever! ~Salsa~ then Disco?! I can't even handle it. Like the commentator said, that second triple axel was PERFECT. Kristoffer received his highest placement at Worlds (9th) and won two spots for the Swedish men for the next year's World Championships in his (and Adrian's) hometown, Göteborg. [Incidentally, Adrian's 9th place finish at this year's Worlds also means Sweden will again have two spots for the men in the upcoming Worlds]. He uses this popular LP again the next season.
AND NOW ONE OF MY FAVORITE PROGRAMS OF ALL TIME!!!
2007-2008 SP, a.k.a the "Amelie" program. If you don't stan Kristoffer after watching this then I'm judging you, tbh. JK! But isn't he just amazing?! He also uses this SP for the 08-09 season.
Kristoffer treats us to more J.Timberlake with his 2008 Worlds exhibition piece, "My Love".
2008-2009 SP from Worlds in Los Angeles. Love the costume, and a interesting mix of music as usual (Axel F by Harold Faltermeyer, Moments in Love by Art of Noise, and lastly, Take On Me by A-HA) The video quality isn't that great for this one.
2009-2010 SP, "Conan the Barbarian" from Finlandia Trophy.
2009-2010 LP: Project Nocturne by Secret Garden and a string quartet version of Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics.
"Are You Gonna Go My Way" from Stockholm Ice. I read somewhere that wearing the sunglasses actually impeded Kristoffer's ability to jump (at least during practice) but he insisted on wearing them anyway :P
HAVEN'T HAD ENOUGH YET? HERE'S SOME MORE VIDEOS!
Kristoffer taking some "dancing lessons". From Swedish TV, 2007.
Bro-ing around with Tomas Verner during summer training :)
2005 Swedish TV fluff piece with bonus Ulrich Salchow footage--yep, the original Swedish Head BAMF.
Getting his hair did :P
Practicing the quad., Incidentally: Kristoffer and Adrian's "Race For The Quad" (in Swedish) article
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, A "MINI-PICSPAM" :)
I'm just going to start with this. SO CUTE AND ADORBS I CAN'T EVAN ASDKLJFGDLAKJ;...
BB Kristoffer.
Viktoria Helgesson (Current Swedish Ladies National Champion--she has two GP assignments this coming season, Skate America and NHK Trophy!), Adrian Schultheiss, Angelica Olsson, Alexander Majorov, Joshi Helgesson, Kristoffer Berntsson.
On vacation in NY with Filip Stiller, a fellow (now retired) Swedish skater and Kristoffer's main competition before Adrian arrived at the scene :). I ship it and it is embarrassing how much I tinhat these two .
Photo from the "quad" article. Wouldn't you just ~love~ to get in the middle of that?
Sources:
Kristoffer's Official Website Make sure to check out his blog! He writes semi-frequently about competitions and training and his optimistic attitude about everything is pretty awesome :) Plus there's also some photos up from more recent competitions and events.
AbsoluteSkating
ScandinavianSkating
Kristoffer Berntsson German Fansite
Kristoffer Berntsson Forum
Kristoffer Berntsson Fan Myspace
and if you missed out on it, my previous Adrian Schultheiss appreciation post :)
LET'S ALL CUDDLE!! KRISTOFFER AND FRIENDS TYFYT <3
EDITED FOR LESS HTML/FORMATTING/GRAMMAR FEJL. APOLOGIES FOR THE WONKY POST AND LOL NO, I DID NOT MEAN TO MAKE EVERYTHING SPARKLETEXT. I MADE THIS POST WHILE I SHOULD BE SLEEPING INSTEAD, LOL.