2019-20 U.S. Pairs Figure Skating | Page 10 | Golden Skate

2019-20 U.S. Pairs Figure Skating

noskates

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
Hasn't Chris been bothered with shoulder and wrist problems? As tiny as Alexa is, both of those injuries can definitely be rough on a pairs team. I do think his inability to land a triple consistently is mental. But I also think they have the best chance of scoring high internationally but only if they can skate clean. They're beautiful on the ice and their obvious chemistry realy plays out in their skating. I would love to see them win Nationals.
 

Olympic

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
Going back to '19 Nationals will mean good things for CG/L

Yes. I realize that BOW encompasses the 2nd half of the past season. I'm not so sure it should, but in my earlier post, I was just giving my opinion
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
USFSA doesn't just make up the rules at this late date, though, do they? There's a system for measuring and deciding. I believe the "Body of Work" system says that the skaters' international and national performances from the previous January are all taken into account and tallied up. All the events are ordered and weighed. i.e. Nationals 2020 results will have 1st weight or priority, then other events are prioritized and the results counted, including 2019 Nationals, Worlds and 4CC results. ...

Whoever wins Nationals gets sent to Worlds, unless they have to w/d for some reason. The BOW system is for deciding if there's a question between whoever is 2d, 3d, etc.

2020 Nats, 2019 GPF, and 2019 Worlds are Tier 1 of USFS selection criteria. All events in the same tier receive equal weight.

And as of 2017, national champions no longer have been guaranteed a spot on the world team.

(Tier 2: 2019 GPs, 2019 Four Continents, 2019 Junior Worlds

Tier 3: 2019 Challengers and senior internationals, 2019 Nats, 2019 JGPF)
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
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Going back to '19 Nationals will mean good things for CG/L

Just as going back to '18 Nationals meant good things for Tarah and Danny last year.

Yes. I realize that BOW encompasses the 2nd half of the past season. I'm not so sure it should, but in my earlier post, I was just giving my opinion

Cool. Other people besides you were talking about only counting the GP/Challenger results as well. But I did quote you, so fair is far.

I was thinking later about why the BOW includes the whole year. One reason I can think of is, there are some skaters who typically start out the season slow, without some things ironed out and coming together, and their GP efforts don't reflect how well the skates are going to come together by Nationals, 4CC and Worlds. (Nathan Chen is one I can think of; he seems to plan it that way.) And including Worlds & 4CC gives a fairer picture of each skater's/pair's performances. Tarah and Danny also often start out in the fall quite slow, and then typically gain momentum.


2020 Nats, 2019 GPF, and 2019 Worlds are Tier 1 of USFS selection criteria. All events in the same tier receive equal weight.

(Tier 2: 2019 GPs, 2019 Four Continents, 2019 Junior Worlds

Tier 3: 2019 Challengers and senior internationals, 2019 Nats, 2019 JGPF)

thanks, ice coverage. I knew you'd know this. (fwiw, I did look half-heartedly for it). :thank:


And as of 2017, national champions no longer have been guaranteed a spot on the world team.

Whoa! That I didn't remember.
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
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Aug 12, 2014
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Since New Year's Eve, I've been watching entire Pairs programs via NBC Gold replays, especially the US championships. Really fun. I've come to some conclusions:

1. I really miss Deanna and Nate. Especially in their nationals performances, they brought so much energy and audience connection.

2. I miss Ice Network. For the 2018 Nationals, Brooke Castile, former national pairs champion, was the commentator, and she was so great. Very positive and also very discerning and able to point out where skaters needed to do more. I don't think I'd watched that entire event straight through before. It was fun.

3. I wish Tarah and Danny would skate to POTO for the next Olympic year. Their POTO programs bring out something so tender and joyful in them, especially Danny. And there's plenty of music to choose from! Here's their 2018 SP to All I Ask of You. The lift is my favorite ever of theirs. I haven't seen it since; I wish they'd put it in a program every year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04lvP__N5Ao

4. If the teams (especially the top 6 or 7) skate their best and everyone does what they're capable of doing, we are in for another incredible Nationals pairs event in a couple of weeks! :hap10:
 

Carolla5501

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 31, 2014
4. If the teams (especially the top 6 or 7) skate their best and everyone does what they're capable of doing, we are in for another incredible Nationals pairs event in a couple of weeks! :hap10:


And the odds of this happening are???

6 or 7 US Pairs having an outstanding skate at Nationals! Has that EVER happened?
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
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And the odds of this happening are???

6 or 7 US Pairs having an outstanding skate at Nationals! Has that EVER happened?

I have no idea! But I'm an optimist. I was leaning heavily into the words "if ... everyone does what they're capable of doing." Hey, I'm a pairs fan and I love the US pairs. Like I said, I've recently watched several past nationals events, so it is fresh in my mind what each pair can do at their best. I'm happy that our pairs field is stronger now than it has been.

The reality is that no matter what national event we're talking about ... Canadian, US, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Italian, and so on ... some are going to do their best and others will struggle. That's just what happens in any competition.
 

ladyjane

Medalist
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Jun 26, 2012
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Netherlands
I have no idea! But I'm an optimist. I was leaning heavily into the words "if ... everyone does what they're capable of doing." Hey, I'm a pairs fan and I love the US pairs. Like I said, I've recently watched several past nationals events, so it is fresh in my mind what each pair can do at their best. I'm happy that our pairs field is stronger now than it has been.

The reality is that no matter what national event we're talking about ... Canadian, US, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Italian, and so on ... some are going to do their best and others will struggle. That's just what happens in any competition.

Hi everybody, and Skylark especially, I love American Pairs (in fact I love all pairs wherever they're from), just to make a point: I think everybody's going to do their best, and sometimes they will struggle. Sorry to be such a nitpick, but I think the ones who struggle, will also be doing their best. They're not struggling on purpose, are they? Sorry.....
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
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Hi everybody, and Skylark especially, I love American Pairs (in fact I love all pairs wherever they're from), just to make a point: I think everybody's going to do their best, and sometimes they will struggle. Sorry to be such a nitpick, but I think the ones who struggle, will also be doing their best. They're not struggling on purpose, are they? Sorry.....

You're right. That's an important distinction. thanks for the correction, and no I don't think you're nitpicking.
 

Olympic

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
Top 6-7 teams clean? It would be great, but I guess we would need pairs like Serafini / Tran, Lu / Mitrofanov and Pfund / Santillan to lay down clean skates. S/T and P/S are on an upswing, so it's possible
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
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I was thinking of our Top Six as: Cain=Gribble/Leduc, Knierims, Denney/Frazier, Kayne/O'Shea, Calalang/Johnson, and Lu/Mitrofanov. Not necessarily that order.

Yeah, it's totally not realistic to think of that many clean skates at the top, but I'm at Dream Stage right now.

I have a real soft spot for Pfund/Santillan. It would be great to see them, Serafini/Tran and Digerness/Neudecker to do well also. Plus, another up=and-coming team could come through with unexpectedly great skates.

Then again, it's the nature of a Nationals competition to be high-stress, cause adrenalin and nerves, encourage the heights of performance and some real doozy-like errors. That's another thing that makes high-level competitions so interesting and exciting.

At 2017 Nationals, Cain-Leduc and Stellato/Bartholomay were the high points of the competition for me, and they were both only 6 months into their partnerships. So, anything could happen.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
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Feb 24, 2012
Hi everybody, and Skylark especially, I love American Pairs (in fact I love all pairs wherever they're from), just to make a point: I think everybody's going to do their best, and sometimes they will struggle. Sorry to be such a nitpick, but I think the ones who struggle, will also be doing their best. They're not struggling on purpose, are they? Sorry.....

ITA! No on wants to fail - unless it is like those badminton players/team and t hen again it was for their advantage at the Olympics.
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
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skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
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United-States
Here's a nice article about Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier that appeared in Fanzone several days ago. It's by a figure skating writer that I really like: Jean-Christophe Berlot. I like the direction he goes with his questions and his emphasis.

" ... we're learning to be in the moment through our choreography. Silvia has done an amazing job. Every day she tells us to remember emotion, to relate to one another but also with everyone in the audience; skate a program with a meaning," Frazier explained.

https://usfigureskatingfanzone.com/...q5exaicD_gDsas4mnEo_WFY7sbQj5oz34OQS75v6NOAxo
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
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Here are my thoughts about the Pairs Short Program at U.S. Championships.

Knierims. Beautiful, the best I've ever seen them skate! They really created a moment. Seeing them do the SBS triple toes was almost mystifying, particularly because I'd just watched Chris do double after double right in front of me during the warm-up! The program seemed like a miracle, so perfect.

Tarah Kayne and Danny O 'Shea. What a difference a Debussy makes. Wow. Such a transformation. K/O are a very good argument for doing (possibly?) a little less difficult elements, but doing them very well. I can't quite put my finger on why the difference was so dramatic, but it may have been inside them, just a lackluster feeliing in the GPs. A shine and an infusion of beauty may have been what they needed to be inspired.

Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy Leduc. Unfortunate mishap on the death spiral aside ... Ashley and Tim had the audience in the arena in a constant state of Ooooohs and Aaaahs. Literally. The effect of their program was electrifying. If you've ever been puzzled by what the judges see in them and why A/T earn such high marks, you oughta see them in person. Their height, their performing, how big and fast and passionately they skate, and their unison create this whole alternate reality.

Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson. From the moment they began their beautiful Light of the Seven program, one word leapt into my head: Artistry. There's something about the way Jessica moves to the music that Brian is able to complement perfectly. (Aside: he looks smaller in person than he does on video.) It did seem like adrenalin of the event was responsible for the SBS fall. She has a feisty personality, but there's no sign of that in her skating, which is smooth and ethereal.

Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov. They immediately brought a brand-new energy into the arena, as soon as they began their program. Their skating was sharper than anything we'd seen before, and their adherence to the accents of the music was something new from them, from what I've seen before. Especially Misha. If you've ever doubted the power of a beautiful smile on a skating performance, feast your eyes on Misha!

Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier. Lion King desperately needed ... Bring him on! Before their skate, I'd never seen such a good example of the saying "the falls took the air out of the program." They kept performing, but it was as though the sun had gone behind a cloud. Well ... the contrast between that and the LK program could be amazing.
 

SorrySkater

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 30, 2014
The Kneirims were sublime. Amazing. That was a world class performance. Hope to see them do the same in the long. K/O very good as well - best I’ve seen them skate in a while. Very disappointed for D/F. Hoping their long program is better.
 

TontoK

Hot Tonto
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The Kneirims were sublime. Amazing. That was a world class performance. Hope to see them do the same in the long. K/O very good as well - best I’ve seen them skate in a while. Very disappointed for D/F. Hoping their long program is better.

Yep, I had sort of lost interest in the K's.

But WOW, I thought that was amazing. They had a look about them. Really nice elements in a classy program.
 

princessalica

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 20, 2015
Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy Leduc. Unfortunate mishap on the death spiral aside ... Ashley and Tim had the audience in the arena in a constant state of Ooooohs and Aaaahs. Literally. The effect of their program was electrifying. If you've ever been puzzled by what the judges see in them and why A/T earn such high marks, you oughta see them in person. Their height, their performing, how big and fast and passionately they skate, and their unison create this whole alternate reality.

So I don't always watch pairs, or at least I don't always know what to look for.... I watched Tim and Ashley's and I was worried about the two foot on the throw jump, but what exactly what was wrong on the death spiral? It wasn't obvious to me. Can anyone give me a more detailed explanation?
 
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