Moore-Towers and Marinaro: 'It was difficult'

Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro secured their second Canadian national figure skating championship with a soulful performance set to “Carry You” by Ruelle. The 2019 Skate Canada International and NHK Trophy silver medalists delivered a throw triple Salchow, throw triple loop and side-by-side triple Salchows to earn a free skate score of 141.94 and total competition score of 215.67. Their only mistake came when Moore-Towers singled the the first jump on a triple Salchow-double toe-double toe.

“It was difficult,” said Moore-Towers of the skate, particularly following Liubov Ilyushechkina and Charlie Bilodeau who generated a lower-than-expected score. “You never know what to plan for. We had a lot of different scenarios and it’s difficult to hear a score before you skate and then to go out and deliver. We were planning on sort of the opposite scenario, hearing a really, really big score and having to kind of compete to it and it’s not easier to hear a lower score than you anticipated, because now the focus becomes not losing instead of pushing for it.”

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What are your thoughts on the Pairs event overall?

It was bit of a strange watch...seeing the first flight late last night, and the other two just this morning because I had to wait for the videos to come up. Rewarding though. I was impressed, so much talent in this particular field. Hurrah for Deanna and Maxime! Not a perfect skate by any means but great to see these two getting better and better. 5th Free Skate of the night, but they remained in 6th overall. Not bad at all. Lori-Ann and Thierry didn't do as well as they did in the short. A pity. I enjoyed Justine and Mark's skate. Also some things to work on but it's nice to see the name Brasseur back in the game anyway. It wasn't Lubov and Charlie's evening. The lifts were fantastic as always, but the throws were really bad (both with a fall). Did the nerves get to them, so much wanting to go to Worlds? Still in third, so they medalled at their first Nationals together. Long live Evelyn and Trennt! They had a great skate with really beautiful landings on the throws, and the overall impression was wonderful. The second jump in the combination SBS didn't count, but still very good indeed. It's the first time I've seen this programme skated this way, and now finally the excellent choreography stands out. Good for Eric too! Kirsten had another little bloop on her SBS jumps, in the combination, even if she did manage to jump the two toes after that, but for that it was just one great outing: good lifts, good throws, good everything really.

Not as exciting a competition as yesterday maybe but what wonderful skating. Loved it.

I enjoyed this event.

MTM2 - I know Kirsten's upset with her jumps, but I really enjoyed watching them none the less. Their last lift looked a tad wild to me. Over the years they have been slowly but steadily improving. I think they'll need some help getting on the world podium this year.

W/T - good for them! It was nice seeing them so happy. I hope they can build on this and skate well at 4CC.

I/B - ouch, those jumps. In general, they seem very focused on results, instead of focusing on improving their skating and letting the results follow. They have great lifts. I feel that has been a recurring them among pairs at all levels. At novice, junior and senior levels, there are pairs with phenomenal lifts and pairs elements, but the jumps are so problematic.

B/B - Interesting that they seem to struggle more with the throws than the sbs triples. I'd be interested if anyone with pairs experience can analyze their throws and what is going wrong. It seems like Justine was comforting Mark at the end, but it wasn't obvious to me what was going on. Great twist in the short. I really like this team and look forward to their development.

M/F - Another team that I'm looking forward to seeing develop. They seem to have decent speed, good attack and power and a nice quality to the elements.

S/D - lucky for Canada to get Deanna! It's getting crowded again in pairs. Give them some more time to train together...

One highlight was seeing how emotional Natacha was at the end of the performance. It was so unexpected to see them competing. Natacha never seemed to be with a partner for more than one season, which makes it hard to make any progress. Whatever their goals, it's nice to see them compete. It's inspiring to see the older skaters continue or come back and not feel like they have to stop competing just because they are "old" or cannot be competitive.

I was kind of cheering for Walsh and Michaud, so refreshing to see a young, talented team developing. I kind of figured Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro would win, but I'm not crazy about their music choice this year. Anyway, pairs discipline was fun to watch.

I still struggle with MT/M. They are the type of skaters where you can see them counting points on each element of the program as they're skating it. These lyrical programs don't suit them. W/M have a great connection on the ice when they skate well. I have to admit that I'm hoping I/B end up with the second spot though.

Belatedly, I finally got to watch the videos ... in order, so I could pretend I'm experiencing the fun as it happens!

I'm not sure I'd have felt the following if I'd watched it any other way, or already known the results. ... I felt that Evelyn and Trennt had The Moment of the evening. They improved so much over their autumn events! And it may be that technical improvement which gave their skates so much authority and Shine. But they also have a great connection, and it shows more when they get their elements. I'd never particularly noticed their throws before, but in the FS they were (kissing my fingers) plu-perfect. The way Trennt threw her, and the smooth, gentle way Evelyn landed., just gorgeous.

Kirsten and Michael I love, and all this year I've been cheering for them (actually since SA 2017). But I have to agree that in this competition, I could sense them calculating numbers as they went along. So it definitely felt out of step with the romantic intention of the piece. Also, I really missed Kirsten's ivory/buff dress ... and then I remembered that her zipper in back tore through at GPF. For me, the reddish violet dress changed the mood of the program.

Rod was going on and on about Lubov's flexibility. Tracy was notably silent after he queried, "has there ever been a skater as flexible as Lubov?" Finally, she said flexibility is a huge strength, but also a liability; "it's much more difficult to control your movements when you have that incredible flexibility." It was nice to hear the advantage balanced with the challenge. I am a bit prejudiced on the subject, though ... I get a little queasy when I see some of Lubov's positions in the lifts. I don't find them very attractive, especially compared to the extensions and gorgeous lift positions of others. I don't even like their head-to head "I" lift. But at least I'm consistent, I never liked Ina/Zimmerman's very similar lift either, although I adored I/Z.

Looking forward to seeing more from Deanna and Maxime, and also Justine and Mark.