"In Partner Search" skaters

daphenaxa · May 20, 2015

So a few world class skaters are now IPS for different reasons. I know of:

- Nelli Zhiganshina and Chris Reed whose partners retired
- Ryuishi Kihara and Narumi Takahashi who split (here is Narumi's profil on icepartnersearch.com)
- Kamilla Gainetdinova who split with her partner as well (her profile on IPS)

I wonder if we have any news about them? Rumours of try-outs and stuffs.

PairSk8r123 · May 20, 2015

Narumi had a try-out in Detroit with Matthew Blackmer, and she has also been in Canada (I think trying out with Matthew Penasse, but not totally sure). She also came down to California to try out with David Botero. I don't believe she has made any decision yet.

daphenaxa · May 20, 2015

Thanks really interesting!

carriecmu0503 · May 21, 2015

PairSk8r123 said:
Narumi had a try-out in Detroit with Matthew Blackmer, and she has also been in Canada (I think trying out with Matthew Penasse, but not totally sure). She also came down to California to try out with David Botero. I don't believe she has made any decision yet.

Make of this what you will, but Matthew Blackmer is testing all of his pre-silver, silver, and pre-gold dances at DSC tomorrow with Alexandra Aldridge.

ice coverage · May 21, 2015

carriecmu0503 said:
Make of this what you will, but Matthew Blackmer is testing all of his pre-silver, silver, and pre-gold dances at DSC tomorrow with Alexandra Aldridge.

Thx. Aldridge/Blackmer performed together in a show a few weeks back. I think it was the one in Findlay, Ohio, IIRC.
I was wondering whether something more was going to come of it.

PairSk8r123 · May 21, 2015

carriecmu0503 said:
Make of this what you will, but Matthew Blackmer is testing all of his pre-silver, silver, and pre-gold dances at DSC tomorrow with Alexandra Aldridge.

I think Matthew is planning to pursue dance, but is still technically waiting for Narumi to make a final decision.

silverlake22 · May 22, 2015

I'm sure Narumi won't have problems finding a partner. She is very talented and very tiny (4'9" and 81 lbs!), so not many guys would be off-limits for size reasons and her experience and skills as a pairs skater make her a desirable prospective partner. It will be interesting to see who she ends up with!

ice coverage · May 22, 2015

PairSk8r123 said:
Narumi had a try-out in Detroit with Matthew Blackmer, and she has also been in Canada (I think trying out with Matthew Penasse, but not totally sure). She also came down to California to try out with David Botero. I don't believe she has made any decision yet.

PairSk8r123 said:
I think Matthew is planning to pursue dance, but is still technically waiting for Narumi to make a final decision.

Interesting that Narumi is trying out with non-Japanese guys now, but had split with Mervin in anticipation of Sochi. :think:

Sandpiper · May 22, 2015

golden411 said:
Interesting that Narumi is trying out with non-Japanese guys now, but had split with Mervin in anticipation of Sochi. :think:

Yeah, not quite sure what her goals are now? Perhaps, since she's already been to the Olympics, her focus is now more on her overall career.

burntBREAD · May 22, 2015

golden411 said:
Interesting that Narumi is trying out with non-Japanese guys now, but had split with Mervin in anticipation of Sochi. :think:

After watching her at 4CC and Worlds, I noticed that she seemed almost depressed and as if she'd given up. I understand that her solo jumps are still an issue, but she was starting to land throws much better and it seemed to me honestly that Kihara was the one that was STILL lagging behind -- even after several years their lifts and twists were still super basic and he struggled a lot. Maybe like Sandpiper said, she's satisfied with the Olympics, but I also think that she knows that coming in last place at Worlds isn't where she wants to be and there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of promise regarding male pairs skaters in Japan.

From what I've seen of Botero on YouTube, he seems like he'd be a great partner for Takahashi -- he is extremely polished and expressive, albeit not sure how good he is technically since he was skating Novice.

daphenaxa · May 22, 2015

She says her goal is now world championships. Yeah I guess that she wanted to go to the olympics + Japan really needed a pair for the team event in 2014.
But now the pressure is probably off from the federation since they have two years to make a Kihara-someone pair somehow competitive. As for her, she saw it didn't work with a single skater-turned pair skater so she wants to find someone experienced abroad.

Sandpiper · May 22, 2015

daphenaxa said:
She says her goal is now world championships. Yeah I guess that she wanted to go to the olympics + Japan really needed a pair for the team event in 2014.
But now the pressure is probably off from the federation since they have two years to make a Kihara-someone pair somehow competitive. As for her, she saw it didn't work with a single skater-turned pair skater so she wants to find someone experienced abroad.

This is going to sound very mean, but I'm not sure if a Kihara-anyone pair is going to be competitive. :slink:

I tend to agree with burntBREAD: basic lifts, tiny double twist, no great improvement on the pairs elements, ect. Narumi certainly didn't make things easier with her struggles on the SBS jumps (which are Kihara's strongest elements). But... let's just say there's a reason other girls who struggled with jumps (Bazarova, Peng) have been getting far better results.

I dunno, maybe they could pair him with a strong singles girl, and they can make up the points lost on the pairs elements with SBS 3Lz (which seems to be all the rage these days). However, if Japan actually wants to be competitive in the discipline (instead of just cobbling teams together for WTT), I hope they can find a guy who actually performs credible pairs elements.

daphenaxa · May 22, 2015

Sandpiper said:
This is going to sound very mean, but I'm not sure if a Kihara-anyone pair is going to be competitive. I tend to agree with burntBREAD: basic lifts, tiny double twist, no great improvement on the pairs elements, ect. Narumi certainly didn't make things easier with her struggles on the SBS jumps (which are Kihara's strongest elements). But... let's just say there's a reason other girls who struggled with jumps (Bazarova, Peng) have been getting far better results.

I dunno, maybe they could pair him with a strong singles girl, and they can make up the points lost on the pairs elements with SBS 3Lz (which seems to be all the rage these days). However, if Japan actually wants to be competitive in the discipline (instead of just cobbling teams together for WTT), I hope they can find a guy who actually performs credible pairs elements.

oh I agree. I don't mean competitive like medal wise or anything. But competitive enough to qualify for the olympics and have a pair for the team event...

shiroKJ · May 22, 2015

JSF's goal is to put together a "pair" that can met the TES minimum for qualifications (Olympics), nothing more. :disapp: I'm guessing Narumi is looking at it realistically. She knows that if she stays with a Japanese partner, all she'll be doing is filling up a empty spot and not really aiming to win anything, big or small. :slink:

JSF seriously needs a complete rehaul of their pairs and dance programs.

Sophie-Anna · May 22, 2015

silverlake22 said:
I'm sure Narumi won't have problems finding a partner. She is very talented and very tiny (4'9" and 81 lbs!), so not many guys would be off-limits for size reasons and her experience and skills as a pairs skater make her a desirable prospective partner. It will be interesting to see who she ends up with!

I agree with you. She is tiny which is good for pairs and she is able to do most difficult lifts and other pair elements, but I think the problem is still Japanese citizenship. It is very difficult to get Japanese citizenship for foreigners, and I think it would be maybe clever for Narumi to get other citizenship. I understand that she maybe doesn't want to give up her nationality and her country and culture. But if she will have non-Japanese partner I'm afraid it leads nowhere. She can compete with him but what about the Olympics? They will split? Or they will compete at all the competitions except the Olympics? I believe every athlete wants to compete at the Olympics and it would be really sad, considering there is no competition in Japan in this category. But the biggest problem is she has almost no chance to have Japanese partner because it is not easy at all to find partner in Japan. I am very sorry for her situation because I think Narumi is really working hard. This situation seems like vicious circle.

StitchMonkey · May 22, 2015

shiroKJ said:
JSF's goal is to put together a "pair" that can met the TES minimum for qualifications (Olympics), nothing more. :disapp: I'm guessing Narumi is looking at it realistically. She knows that if she stays with a Japanese partner, all she'll be doing is filling up a empty spot and not really aiming to win anything, big or small. JSF seriously needs a complete rehaul of their pairs and dance programs.

It really is odd, you see how competitive and hard working the singles skaters are, never being happy with less than their best, but for pairs and dance it is more "meh, good enough". I wonder what is going on.

PairSk8r123 · May 22, 2015

burntBREAD said:
From what I've seen of Botero on YouTube, he seems like he'd be a great partner for Takahashi -- he is extremely polished and expressive, albeit not sure how good he is technically since he was skating Novice.

Botero is a beautiful skater and although he is on the shorter side (5'8'' I believe), that is no problem for Narumi and technically, I think he has a strong enough base for her. Him and Setoyama did skate a little bit of Junior this year (competed at U.S. Challenge Skate) and Takahashi has the credibility and talent to take someone a little below her to her level.

mnm464 · May 23, 2015

I watched her and Tran's programs from Nice France 2012? and was impressed with the improvement of the death spiral. She is talented enough to have her pick. My best wishes in the situation.

actualrealliveanna · May 23, 2015

shiroKJ said:
JSF's goal is to put together a "pair" that can met the TES minimum for qualifications (Olympics), nothing more. :disapp: I'm guessing Narumi is looking at it realistically. She knows that if she stays with a Japanese partner, all she'll be doing is filling up a empty spot and not really aiming to win anything, big or small. JSF seriously needs a complete rehaul of their pairs and dance programs.

I agree! The ladies and mens skaters are very advanced and the JSF seems to support them tremendously, but their pairs and ice dancers don't get nearly as much attention as they deserve!

I hope both Narumi and Chris Reed are able to find partners and continue to skate!

pandaatlarge · May 24, 2015

Sandpiper said:
This is going to sound very mean, but I'm not sure if a Kihara-anyone pair is going to be competitive. I tend to agree with burntBREAD: basic lifts, tiny double twist, no great improvement on the pairs elements, ect. Narumi certainly didn't make things easier with her struggles on the SBS jumps (which are Kihara's strongest elements). But... let's just say there's a reason other girls who struggled with jumps (Bazarova, Peng) have been getting far better results.

I dunno, maybe they could pair him with a strong singles girl, and they can make up the points lost on the pairs elements with SBS 3Lz (which seems to be all the rage these days). However, if Japan actually wants to be competitive in the discipline (instead of just cobbling teams together for WTT), I hope they can find a guy who actually performs credible pairs elements.

Rumor has it that Kihara is exactly searching for a former single skater who can do a 3Lz. Rumor has it that he had several try-outs with Japanese girls in past month, including a 17-year-old who left us some impression in GP event, but no decision made yet. JSF stated clearly that it's going to be a pure Japanese pair.

Chris Reed is in a slightly better situation in my opinion, because there are more active ice dance couples in Japan, including some international couples with potential citizenship problem.

"In Partner Search" skaters

daphenaxa

PairSk8r123

daphenaxa

carriecmu0503

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605

PairSk8r123

silverlake22

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605

Sandpiper

burntBREAD

daphenaxa

Sandpiper

daphenaxa

shiroKJ

Back to the forest you go.

Sophie-Anna

StitchMonkey

PairSk8r123

mnm464

actualrealliveanna

pandaatlarge

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