2018 Rostelecom Cup Pairs Short Program

[LadyB]

They did!!! And their home audience loved it!

You bet! I'm not a fan of that type of music for them, but they skated fantastically and the atmosphere was great.

Seriously, what would Russian pairs be without Moskvina? T/M should have moved to her years ago, but obviously they chose to miss that bus.

Moskvina is the only true pairs coach. Mozer only managed Olympic golds and silver medals, world and European titles....
Considering that, yeah, T/M missed the bus. What a shame. All they've got are some medals and titles...
Don't get me wrong, I rate Moskvina very highly and even hoped earlier this year Stolbova/Klimov would team up with her.

 

[Seren]

I think Cain and Leduc have continued to improve technically this season- they got positive GOE on everything and their pair elements as a whole look stronger. The weird throw mistake was obviously not great but I am impressed how well they kept it together after the error. I really love their skating and hope they can move up in the long, I think they can if they keep their confidence.

 

[s_parks]

You bet! I'm not a fan of that type of music for them, but they skated fantastically and the atmosphere was great.


Moskvina is the only true pairs coach. Mozer only managed Olympic golds and silver medals, world and European titles....
Considering that, yeah, T/M missed the bus. What a shame. All they've got are some medals and titles...
Don't get me wrong, I rate Moskvina very highly and even hoped earlier this year Stolbova/Klimov would team up with her.

No duh, I know Mozer and co. have won all the big titles. But T/M lack a charisma and assuredness that V/T and even S/K to an extent had in spades, so half-baked programs aren't going to cut it, especially if they're not comfortable with it(if they really believed in their programs, especially Morozov, I don't believe they would've made the costly errors that cost them an olympic medal).

 

[skylark]

I think Cain and Leduc have continued to improve technically this season- they got positive GOE on everything and their pair elements as a whole look stronger. The weird throw mistake was obviously not great but I am impressed how well they kept it together after the error. I really love their skating and hope they can move up in the long, I think they can if they keep their confidence.

These are my thoughts exactly. In the past, a problem in the SP has lit a fire under them to do well in the FS, so that is my hope for them.

That's what I'd expect, but there was no smile or look of relief on her face at all so I was a bit surprised.

I wonder if that big "WHAT??" on Ashley Cain's face was positive or negative surprise. Any thoughts?

I was thinking about this while I swam laps. My opinion is that she was emotionally "in the moment," dealing with disappointment, real annoyance at missing an element completely, and probably some shock and disbelief as well. (plus that extra pairs "thing" .. letting the other person down.) So it was just hard, in that moment, to take in the scores. Plus, there have been other times that they've been surprised the other direction, so she'd prepared herself for the worst. I would wager that with help from her dad and Tim, she's now able to see what they did right and get confidence from that.

I think anyone (like me!) who loves their skating would see, or did see, so many things that are steadily making progress. On all fronts -- technical, GOE or quality, and PCS -- all the performance qualities. I was really impressed at how well both Ashley and Tim kept up their performance and interpretation. They were spot on.

 

[ladyjane]

I'm going to 'curse in the church' (Dutch expression) and mention that I very much enjoyed T/M today...not just because of their excellent skating and hitting the elements, but because to me they seemed to actually enjoy it themselves. Even Vladimir did, he showed more joyfulness than I have ever seen him do before. I realise quite a few of you won't agree with me, but I liked it a lot. And I'm not even a real fan of theirs!

As for Ashley and Timothy: of course I saw the big falter - missing a whole element is quite something - but I also saw how nice and kind Timothy was in the KnC. I really like it when in pairs (or dance) partners stick together, and don't do the blaming and shaming thing. That's what having a partnership is: not blaming but trying to get your act together again. And what was the matter with Deanna? I can understand why she would be upset, but she seemed to act quite contrary to her usual self - even after a bad skate and a nasty fall. Perhaps she really did suffer from food poisoning and just felt awful. Poor them.

Nicole and Matteo were great. Hoping they can keep it up in the free. It would be lovely to welcome an Italian pair at the GPF.

 

[skylark]

As for Ashley and Timothy: of course I saw the big falter - missing a whole element is quite something - but I also saw how nice and kind Timothy was in the KnC. I really like it when in pairs (or dance) partners stick together, and don't do the blaming and shaming thing. That's what having a partnership is: not blaming but trying to get your act together again. And what was the matter with Deanna? I can understand why she would be upset, but she seemed to act quite contrary to her usual self - even after a bad skate and a nasty fall. Perhaps she really did suffer from food poisoning and just felt awful. Poor them.

I so agree with you about Ashley and Tim. As for "what was the matter with Deanna?" I think that's something about "pairs mentality" that she doesn't quite get yet, still being pretty new to pairs. Nate was trying to be supportive by hugging her, but in my opinion she might be one of those people who doesn't want a hug when trying to process emotional distress. She needed space.

Having said that, I don't want to be mean, but I couldn't help thinking there was a bit of hard justice. In the last few competitions, Nate has been the one to mess up jumps, and Deanna has absolutely frozen him in K&C, and even before that. Really seemed to dislike him. Even if I sound harsh, I'm not unsympathetic. She's probably a perfectionist ... and that's got a lot of complications. At any rate, that is my answer to your question. But food poisoning is very bad news. I hope she feels better tomorrow.

 

[el henry]

TSL tweeted that Deanna had food poisoning. they just can’t catch a break.

Oh no, Jackie Wong tweeted that Deanna looked "off".:hopelessness:

They have all the elements, if they could just put it together

 

[CellarDweller]

Guys, I am very sorry, but Nina Mozer really is about that Elton John 80s look these days..., first glasses, now hair...

Thank you for saying what I've been thinking every time I see her!!!!


I keep saying to myself: "Oh, Elton grew breasts, and got skating credentials!"

 

[CellarDweller]

Ok, just finished the pairs program, loved the Italians!

As for the Americans, I think all our pairs need to sit down and figure out how to get their crap together.

 

[Seren]

Ok, just finished the pairs program, loved the Italians!

As for the Americans, I think all our pairs need to sit down and figure out how to get their crap together.

To be fair I think Ashley and Timothy are improving- they just made a really strange mistake here. But they didn’t fall apart afterwards.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Just catching up and watching the second group in full and I just want to say I'm in love with Vladimir's shiny red shirt, he totally didn't have it last time and it is the bomb!

Zhenya T looks terrific in her dress as well of course.

Update: OK I finished watching and OMG Zhenya and Vova slaaaaayed! As the resident bad taste holder of the board, I love that sort of music and I was cheering and waving my hands in the air in my house along with them. Suffice to say "I feel good!"

Our Aussie pair seems underscored though! Like...I understand the deduction for the stumble, but what about the stingy GOE for the SBS jumps? Those were awesome! Perhaps the judges remember the old days when Aussie judges scored everyone super harshly (it's true! I've noticed it when watching old 6.0 skates on YouTube) and are exacting some sort of weird revenge. Ah well.

I also like Miriam and Severin a lot, their program is very smooth and lyrical!

Ashley and Tim's big error was a shock, but I take my hat off to them for keeping in character and having so much energy for the rest of the program. That was really awesome! I also love that sort of music

I'm sad I won't be able to watch the FS live Why you so unfriendly European time zones?