I've thought SBS jumps are the most nemesis element in pairs, but lift dismounting in juniors look really dangerous. Just realized that junior male skaters are also in growth, so their arm and shoulders are not as strong as fully grown men's.
Duskova started struggling in part because of her growth spurts, so had a much worse performance earlier of the season. I think they would be content with the outcome. Congratulations to all medalists.
The Australians really didn't have a good performance. I must say that it looked as if Harley didn't even bother throwing Ekaterina into the jumps. Not impressed with the coach's reaction at the end either.
Thank heavens Juniors are streamed on YT, I had no problem with catching up on this event.
1. My heart is broken for Amina & Ilia. They really struggle this season. They scared me a lot with that lift fall, but you could see at replay Ilia really tried to make the fall as safe for Amina as he could. I'm really sad for this team, because I fell in love with them last season and they had to miss Junior Worlds due to injury and it seem this year they might not even be on the team. Hopefully, since there is still time to Junior Nationals, there is still chance for them.
2. Aussies had it rough too unfortunatelly. That aborted twist :hopelessness: Really not how they would like to perform at JGPF... Hope they won't give up, it really is refershing seeing Australian flag in Pairs
3. Boikova/Kozlovski did fairly well, but I'm not really into them. Good thing there were no scary moments.
4. Ustimkina/Volodin did okay, but didn't left any impression on me. They seem to skate a little more as a Pair than B/K...
5. Mishina/Mirzoev really saved the day Happy that winning skate was almost clean!
6. I love the speed Anna & Martin are skating with! :luv17: That performance was clearly a second place. They were not their best self, but it's getting better, they had worse performances at JGP events earlier in this season.
Most Pairs team struggle with jumps and we forget that other elements are hard too. And probably more dangerous. I hope all teams will work on synchronizing SBS spins, they are leaving the GOE points on the table and that's safer to practise that difficult lift positions, I think.