For the first time I decided to watch in skate order unspoiled, after the event was over (partly due to the time difference and having difficulty watching live streams). But mostly I did this so that I would not already know the outcome while watching performances and could judge the scores as they came up and based on how I personally judged the performances. So for pairs, here are my impressions:
How in the X#@$$&!!! world did Vartmann/Blommaert pull a 63.45 skating first as a new pairing! :handw: Yes, they had a nice clean skate, and yes Mari is partnered with someone who matches her better, but that score is overly high and very curious.
Unfortunately I could not fairly assess Luba/Dylan without hearing their music (no vids available with sound due to music copyright restrictions). I did see Luba's bad fall on the sbs jumps, and I do think something is off with them this season. They seem to be trying to force things, and apparently aren't completely confident in their programs. I thought their music selections last season were better. Still, that score for Luba/Dylan is seriously quite low in comparison with the score V/B lucked out with. I think perhaps V/B should be somewhere closer to 58 - 59 range, and Luba/Dylan around 56+.
I love Ashtakova/Rogonov's programs this season. I feel they were low-balled at Skate America, and then they unfortunately had these odd mistakes in their sp here. I think A/R are better than both V/B and Luba/Dylan at this point, so hopefully they will skate strongly in fp. But sometimes apparently, no matter how you skate, the judges have already decided the placements! :furious:
Case in point: Even though I predicted the current top three placements in the sp, I totally disagree with these results. The judges appeared to have gone with the way they expected things to turn out without any regard to what actually happened on the ice. At the very least all top three couples should be percentage points apart! The problem is that Wang/ Wang skated better than anticipated, and then Ju/Yin put on such a show of excellence. Kavaguti/Smirnov looked really good out there too, but they did have a slight miscue on landing of the 3-twist and they were not quite as sublime as Yu/Jin. I think Yu/Jin's footwork sequence could have been better, as Eurosport guys mentioned too, but their overall performance was so beautifully performed.
Sui/Han did not quite live up to their best with a fairly flat performance and a hand down by Sui on sbs jumps. Sui's throw triple was fabulous and overall they were good, but that performance in no way deserved 74.40. Even S/H were surprised in the kiss 'n cry when their scores came up. They did not deserve a score that high. Again the problem is that the younger Chinese teams shined, but S/H is tops in the pecking order, plus K/S are the top Russian team and skated fairly well, so politically they were all slotted where they were anticipated to be, not based on how they actually skated.
This means that any hope of a real exciting battle in the fp becomes less likely because of the 2 pt gap between all the top three teams, whereas there should only be percentage point gaps between the top three scores. To be fair Yu/ Jin should be slightly in first, and S/H in second slightly ahead of K/S.
One thing is for certain, the surging young Chinese teams of Yu/Jin and Wang/Wang (who look similar on the ice and have great technical skill and superb budding artistry) are gonna absolutely shake things up in pairs. In fact, both should be overtaking Sui/Han, but I doubt that is going to be allowed politically. Granted Diva Sui ain't gonna allow it either. She and Cong are quite powerful with the technical elements and much improved in their presentation, but they just don't have the lovely lines and natural grace of the other two Chinese pairs hot on their tails.
How in the X#@$$&!!! world did Vartmann/Blommaert pull a 63.45 skating first as a new pairing! :handw: Yes, they had a nice clean skate, and yes Mari is partnered with someone who matches her better, but that score is overly high and very curious.
Unfortunately I could not fairly assess Luba/Dylan without hearing their music (no vids available with sound due to music copyright restrictions). I did see Luba's bad fall on the sbs jumps, and I do think something is off with them this season. They seem to be trying to force things, and apparently aren't completely confident in their programs. I thought their music selections last season were better. Still, that score for Luba/Dylan is seriously quite low in comparison with the score V/B lucked out with. I think perhaps V/B should be somewhere closer to 58 - 59 range, and Luba/Dylan around 56+.
I love Ashtakova/Rogonov's programs this season. I feel they were low-balled at Skate America, and then they unfortunately had these odd mistakes in their sp here. I think A/R are better than both V/B and Luba/Dylan at this point, so hopefully they will skate strongly in fp. But sometimes apparently, no matter how you skate, the judges have already decided the placements! :furious:
Case in point: Even though I predicted the current top three placements in the sp, I totally disagree with these results. The judges appeared to have gone with the way they expected things to turn out without any regard to what actually happened on the ice. At the very least all top three couples should be percentage points apart! The problem is that Wang/ Wang skated better than anticipated, and then Ju/Yin put on such a show of excellence. Kavaguti/Smirnov looked really good out there too, but they did have a slight miscue on landing of the 3-twist and they were not quite as sublime as Yu/Jin. I think Yu/Jin's footwork sequence could have been better, as Eurosport guys mentioned too, but their overall performance was so beautifully performed.
Sui/Han did not quite live up to their best with a fairly flat performance and a hand down by Sui on sbs jumps. Sui's throw triple was fabulous and overall they were good, but that performance in no way deserved 74.40. Even S/H were surprised in the kiss 'n cry when their scores came up. They did not deserve a score that high. Again the problem is that the younger Chinese teams shined, but S/H is tops in the pecking order, plus K/S are the top Russian team and skated fairly well, so politically they were all slotted where they were anticipated to be, not based on how they actually skated.
This means that any hope of a real exciting battle in the fp becomes less likely because of the 2 pt gap between all the top three teams, whereas there should only be percentage point gaps between the top three scores. To be fair Yu/ Jin should be slightly in first, and S/H in second slightly ahead of K/S.
One thing is for certain, the surging young Chinese teams of Yu/Jin and Wang/Wang (who look similar on the ice and have great technical skill and superb budding artistry) are gonna absolutely shake things up in pairs. In fact, both should be overtaking Sui/Han, but I doubt that is going to be allowed politically. Granted Diva Sui ain't gonna allow it either. She and Cong are quite powerful with the technical elements and much improved in their presentation, but they just don't have the lovely lines and natural grace of the other two Chinese pairs hot on their tails.
