Pairs skating | Golden Skate

Pairs skating

ladyjane

Medalist
Joined
Jun 26, 2012
Country
Netherlands
Maybe I'm the only one, but I have always wondered why pairs skating seems to be the most unpopular event of the different individual competitions. Of course I realised Aljona and Bruno together have raised it's popularity again (for a while), but on the whole? I mean, generally there are less impressive crowds (in numbers) watching the Pairs competitions, people remember individual skaters but more often than not pairs winners pass them by, and so forth. I suspect we'll all remember Aljona and Bruno (yeah, that Free Skate won't ever be forgotten), and probably some of the other Olympic medalists too. But what boggles me, is that single skaters (both female and male) and ice dancers seem to be so much more popular. And, presumably, more watchable.

To me the pairs discipline is the most difficult of all - SBS jumps, throw jumps, dangerous lifts, synchronised spins, pair spins, choreography - and yet it's a discipline that few want to buy a ticket for. They'd rather see ladies, men or dance. While pairs are just so fascinating, falls can be really very dangerous = even more so than in singles - but it's not just the spectacularity to me. I've been following pairs for so long, loved the development in the discipline, enjoyed the Chinese revolution, but also the Russian domination in the discipline for many years, and just don't 'get' why it isn't admired more. Thoughts?
 

asp11

Just a dedicated fan - not a skater
On the Ice
Joined
Oct 31, 2014
Good question. I've wondered the same thing.
 

echeveria

3a-1/2lo-3f
On the Ice
Joined
Mar 10, 2018
I like pairs skating, and I do watch it, but I've never been as 'into' it as singles skating just because I have trouble focusing on more than one thing at once, it seems like I'm only ever watching one skater out of the pair so I feel like I'm missing out on something. Although, perhaps one reason not that many people actually go to pairs competitions is because the jumps and throws can be scary? I probably wouldn't want to buy a ticket to see it because I'd be really anxious about watching someone potentially be very badly injured, no matter how unlikely that is.
 

mau

3Lz3Lo3Lo3Lo3Lo
On the Ice
Joined
Feb 13, 2018
I have the impression that the Feds themselves don’t care enough about Pairs, except China and Russia.
 

Arriba627

TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPION 🔥
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 2, 2014
Country
United-States
I've always LOVED pairs. There's something about the riskiness of it and the need for impeccable timing that makes it so exciting. My experience at different competitions has been that the ice dance is the least popular, with pairs being a little more popular. Singles are definitely more popular.
 

Barb

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
I think it is because the best are Chinese and the good Russian team has almost zero charisma and horrible programs.

If you see the social media for SOI USA there are people angry because Alexa and Chris are not in the tour. They care about them just because they are American and the most important, they are white, in the olympic Team Event American people acted as if they saved the event :rolleye:, let´s be honest, they are not a great pair, no reason to prefer them when there are another amazing no american pairs. I guess chinese pairs are popular in China but with the restrictions for social media it is difficult to notice. It is necessary that the pair combine charisma and being from a powerful federation or at least a little interested in skating, like France who are more interested than Germany. T/M and D/R are from powerful federations but little charisma, S/H are charismatic but the chinese fan base is not so exposed.
 

perspicuosity

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 26, 2018
(All IMO) Pairs has only started paying serious attention to performance in the last ten years. (Maybe this is a good side effect of IJS?) Watch some of the old pairs, and it's crossovers -> throw -> crossovers -> SBS jumps -> arm movement. Not that exciting. The top 5-10 couples in the past ten years are so entertaining and have sophisticated choreography and an emphasis on character and transitions, but the discipline missed out on building the life-long fan base that only comes from having enrapturing skaters 20 years ago.
 

likevelvet

#Bless this mess
On the Ice
Joined
Feb 13, 2018
Country
United-States
I would argue that ice dance is the least-attended event, but i have many friends who are outright terrified of pairs elements. I went with a friend to Skate America - her first live skating event - and she couldn’t watch half of it, had to hide. I think she remembers the terrible urban legends that came from certain pairs disasters, Jessica Dube’s eye getting caught with a blade, etc. It’s certainly thrilling, but it comes with more danger than the other disciplines, and I think some people just prefer not to watch that.
 

NanaPat

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Country
Canada
Pairs is actually my favourite discipline, but I do sometimes have flashbacks to the Jessica Dube cut incident. If I see a pair drifting closer to each other on the SBS spin, I start yelling at the screen for them to get away from each other.

By the way, Jessica's eye was not cut, just her cheek and nose, and she looks fine now.
 

draqq

FigureSkatingPhenom
Record Breaker
Joined
May 10, 2010
I think it's just that the pairs event is not particularly popular in America or in Japan since we don't have strong teams in that discipline. That said, I don't think pairs is unpopular so much as the other disciplines are more popular.
 

asiacheetah

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 15, 2017
For a long time my favorite FS disciplines were Ladies and Pairs. I haven't really gotten back into Pairs since my favorite Shen/Zhao won. I don't know why. Maybe because there seems to be a HUGE difference in technique between the top teams and the lower ranking team. So the results seem like it's a competition between 6 or fewer pairs in any year and less changes and surprises? I noticed watching it live, the speed is the number 1 different between the top teams and rest of the field. Same goes with Ice Dance with even less changes and switches in the ranking.
 

asiacheetah

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 15, 2017
Because Americans aren't good at it.

You kind of have a point. I know they never broadcast Pairs unless it's part of Olympics and nothing else compete with it. If you're never exposed to it, how do you become fans of the discipline.
 

daphenaxa

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 17, 2015
I really love pairs!!
I think the thing is that in single skating, skater and programs can be really enjoyable whatever level they are. If the men don't have 3A or if the ladies don't have lutz etc. but that their program and music and costume are interesting, it will be pleasant to watch whatever the tech level. It is also a lot easier to let your personality shine when you are alone. But in pairs, when the team are of lower level, it is a lot more fastidious to watch in my opinion because you will see the problems and the technical weaknesses a lot more than in singles, some of the lower level teams are even scary to watch. So i always thought that was why pairs are less watched, because only the top teams are enjoyable.

But in recent years, I think it has evolved a lot. If you watch at worlds this year or at the olympics, pretty much all the teams, even the ones that didn't even make the free skate had a very high level and hence were really enjoyable to watch in my opinion. So maybe it will be more popular again?
 

girl in red

Rinkside
Joined
Sep 12, 2017
i used to not watch pairs at all because i thought it was so focused on technique and all those supper dangerous elements that it looked sloppy,without fluidity plus i thought no pair had chemistry,that x factor that would make every performance special.That until this year that i stumbled across one of sui and han s performance(yes i was sooo out of pairs that i didnt even know they existed,i only knew aliona and ksenia and a bit of the candy man) since then pairs is my favourite discipline.So for me is a matter of contenders.Sui and Han were so amazing that they managed to draw me into a discipline that for three years i was totally unintrested.
 

rugbyfan

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
For me through the 90s paid was always my favourite discipline, but I think it had a hard time adjusting to the New justifying system to the extent that I gotcompletely switched off it. I cannot think of a single pairs program from2002 to 2010 that I have rewatched, and really it is only since last year that I have seen programs that I really loved (Sui Han last year in particular) not even V and T really. As I write this I realise Kavaguti and Smirnov were my biggest exceptions. I love their programs, but if you think of the 90s with G andG, D and M, D and K, B and S and even Sale Pelletier's programs and Brasseur and Eisler's exhibitions somehow for me pairs since haven't caught my attention in the same way.... by the way this is also a plus for suggestions of what pairs programs I should reach from the last 15 years
 

LadyB

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2016
Stolbova/Klimov has had some of the best performances of all. They've been very unlucky over the past two years, but I hope they'll fully recover to show how wonderful pair skating can be.

The Protopopovs haven't been forgotten after 50 years, and I don't think Irina Rodnina will vanish in people's memories any time soon. As for Gordeeva/Grinkov, they're being mentioned on a regular basis.
Babylonia/Gardner was a great US pair and I think the recent international crop with Duhamel/Radford, Savchenko/Massot, Volosozhar/Trankov and Sui/Han has been enjoyed by many.
Let's not give up yet. I'm sure good things lie ahead. :cheer2:
 

NoNameFace

GS given name - Beatrice
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
I think that past quad kind of shifted some weight in Pairs' popularity - there were teams emerging that offered so much more than just required elements executed to classical/'Pairs-associated' kind of music (warhorses being main theme). Heck, I felt the shift way back in 2012 during Nice Worlds seeing young Sui/Han with that Flamenco FS - it was way more exciting than singles' competition for me, adding V/T SP spiral drama and medal-worthy recovery in FS with Aljona/Robin's AMAZING 'Pina' FS program. It was something new, exciting, fresh to see Chinese youth with daring attitude, Germans still going strong and challenging with that 'Pina' program, full of contemporary touches and V/T challenging them, just in their second season together. Also, Duhamel/Radford emerging and one of biggest losses ever in form of Takahashi/Tran, getting there that bronze, wowing audience.

After Sochi, the discipline got so much more interesting for me - firstly, Stolbova/Klimov and Duhamel/Radford, Sui/Han going strong and establishing themselves into the scene, then Aljona being back with Bruno, raise of Vanessa/Morgan, Evgenia/Vladimir entering the scene with that classical Pairs' touch (the only team I'd raptly watch doing only classical music programs), arrival of so many interesting pairs from smaller feds: Duskova/Bidar, Ekaterina and Harley, young Spaniards and Croatians...Valentina getting a new skating life in Pairs with Ondrej - and doing so brilliantly! - in another poster story to follow in Pairs. Then, we have Julianne/Charlie and Kirsten/Michael, Liubov/Dylan in Canadian scene who had their ups and downs, but always kept things interesting. Also, aside of Sui/Han, I've got hooked on Yu/Jin in juniors and the whole drama with mix'n'match played by Chinese fed happened...

From another angle, many teams pushed themselves technically, producing quad twist or quad throws, refining - and re-defining - a bit stagnated and repetitive Pairs' discipline look and opinion. Lifts got more creative, a lot more transitions, 'cool moves', dance-like quality was introduced into this hermetic world of required elements - and suddenly, Pairs became cool, exciting to watch, not for the elements, for the rivalry of top teams; the discipline became cool for its renewed depth, innovative, fresh perspective represented by teams, for competitiveness and poise represented not only by big feds (look at this World's cut-off points!). And moreover - the programs' construction, ideas, choices of music for them got changed from a bit of afterthought to something to think about 'on the front'; teams like James/Cipres made their signature, brand and recognition due to this contemporary, pop touch in their programs, for being a bit different than this traditional perception existing about Pairs. Aljona/Bruno's FS like 'Lighthouse' or 'La terre vue du ciel' introduced a new quality into how Pairs' program could look - and feel - like, with all its flow and space created to emote, perform, not just execute. Or look at Ksenia/Fedor's 'A man and the shadow' FS from2014/15 season - totally 'out there', unexpected and daring by choice, modernity of choreography, but so compelling and unique to see. Then we have Sui/Han's variety of programs with such amazing dance quality to them - 'Spanish Romance' and 'Blues for Klook' SPs being stellar examples of how to make an effortlessly flowing Pairs' program that captivates attention by performance.

For me, just so much individuality, character, particularity has been introduced into discipline for past quad or more - I started to see skaters with performances than just a mass of discipline with 'copy/paste' notion about elements performed.
 
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