2020 Four Continents: Pairs' Free Skate

[gsk8]

Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China bounced back after a subpar Short Program to defend and claim their fifth title at this event in Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday night. Teammates Cheng Peng and Yang Jin maintained second to win the silver, improving on their third place from last year, while Canada’s Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro pocketed the bronze.

Sui and Han immersed themselves in their dramatic routine to “Rain, In Your Black Eyes,” producing a very good level 4 triple twist, triple Salchow-double toe-double toes, a throw triple Salchow and throw triple flip. All lifts were very well executed and earned a level 4, as did the death spiral and spin. The only mistake was when Sui doubled the triple Salchows. The 2018 Olympic silver medalists scored 144.34 for a first-place finish in the free skate, and with a total score of 217.51, rose from third to first overall.

“It was pity because I was able to land it almost every time in training recently,” said Sui of the double Salchow. “But maybe because it went too well in the training, I got a little bit relaxed. A little bit of overthinking too much when in the program, then you do a double. We were very happy that we were able to get all level 4 on the elements. This never happened before and that shows the result of our recent training.”

“To be honest, recently it’s a bit difficult to train and to focus because we were concerned if we could go abroad to take this competition,” she added. “But thanks to our association, and thanks to our country that really protect us from the virus so that we can train and don’t have to worry about not participating in this competition.”

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Great comeback for Sui and Han after the Short! VERY proud of Calalang and Johnson in their debut!

What are your thoughts on the Pairs FS? Overall?

 

[Shani]

Kudos to Calalang/Johnson for a good competition. After Nationals I thought they were robbed of a spot at Worlds, even though I understood the reasoning for sending Cain/LeDuc. US figure skating should have sent Cain/Le Duc here also and made their Worlds team decision based on results. Especially after the withdrawal of Knierims. US pairs is always unpredictable. The Chinese teams were great here also. I enjoyed the silver medalists skate most. Shame about that freak fall for Marinaro,

 

[Silvia451]

Congratulations to Sui and Han for their 6th (!!!) 4CC gold!
But for the worlds they need clean performances.

 

[theharleyquinn]

Congrats to Sui/Han. I am really getting excited about Peng/Jin. I hope they bring the SBS 3S to Worlds. They can absolutely challenge for the podium this season.

Calalang/Johnson should be going to Worlds. That was true before 4CC and it's true now.

The vibe between MT/M post-skate when things go wrong is one of the most uncomfortable to watch. I've seen it too many times to just consider it a fluke at this point. It doesn't leave me with a good impression, particularly of her.

 

[gsk8]

Congrats to Sui/Han. I am really getting excited about Peng/Jin. I hope they bring the SBS 3S to Worlds. They can absolutely challenge for the podium this season.

Calalang/Johnson should be going to Worlds. That was true before 4CC and it's true now.

The vibe between MT/M post-skate when things go wrong is one of the most uncomfortable to watch. I've seen it too many times to just consider it a fluke at this point. It doesn't leave me with a good impression, particularly of her.

It's tough, but I've seen some vibes on other pairs when things go awry They work it out, though. They have to.

It was a little bit rough for us today,” said Moore-Towers. “We don’t perform like this today as we do in training, so it was a bit of a head-scratcher. I think we’ve been practicing really well and it’s become apparent that we need to translate what we do in training into how we perform at competitions.”

“We just need to keep on doing what we’re doing at home,” agreed Marinaro. “Our training is right on point. Now we just need to figure out the mindset and translate that into competitions and put down that program that we are extremely capable of doing at Worlds in five weeks.

“Luckily we have a few weeks, and Worlds for us is at home,” added Moore-Towers, “so we won’t be dealing with jet lag and the other trickier aspects that come with doing a big event in close proximity to Nationals that is very far away. It is definitely no excuse. We were very prepared to lay down a good performance today. So we will just do more of the same when we get home. We are training well and won’t adjust our training at home. We will just adjust how we translate that into competitions.”

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[ladyjane]

It's been some hours since, and after reflecting a bit on the Pairs competition here's my short review. I think Sui/Han deservedly won the FS today despite the double salchow in the SBS. But I'm not so sure about them being first overall. After all, Peng/Jin had a less glaring mistake, and had a great skate too. Despite that, I was happy for Sui/Han to win their 6th (!) 4CC and also happy for Peng/Jin who improved compared to last year (and they were good then). And they did 3S in their SBS! First time for me to see that this season. I sure hope they'll be able to keep it in. As I mentioned earlier when posting about the SP: I love this pair more and more. I had hoped for Kirstin and Michael to win (Why? Just because I like them, and I felt they were a bit underscored at the GPF), but they regrettably just didn't skate well enough. It's not the first time we see Michael having a fluke fall. What is going on? It is what it is, and they were lucky to even medal. Jessica and Brian did extremely well. This is a couple that was new for me this season, and ever since I first saw them, I realised they had potential. They so delivered this competition! Tarah and Danny - a couple I more often than not find pretty flat - also skated well, and actually managed to move me. Oh, not perfect by any means but a decent skate and their experience shined through in a good way today. I hadf hoped beforehand that there would be a big difference in standings and points between Evelyn and Trennt vs Liubov/Charlie, but it was not to be. 6th and 7th respectively with only 6 points of difference. Good luck to the Canadian Federation who have to choose which pair will go to Worlds (I know I would go for Evelyn and Trennt this time round and let Liubov and Charlie gell a bit more and perhaps get even better lifts if that is at all possible - their most spectacular feature). Riku and Ryuichi have been on my radar ever since I saw them for the first time. It's lovely to finally see a Japanese pair at this level. That last didn't apply to the Philippene couple. They were so joyful in the short which made up for their lack of technical base, but that lack was more glaring when the joy is replaced by anxiety (that's how it looked). Still, good for them to join in here and experience such a competition.

A pity Alexa and Chris withdrew, but when there's something negative happening in one's family, that should always be a priority. I felt very mean at first, when I didn't yet know the reason, thinking they had exaggerated an injury because their performance at the SP was not up to par (and they were held up somewhat by the judges), and then I found out there was a family issue at stake. Sorry Chris and Alexa. I would have loved to see you skate.

Well, that's all folks for now. Congratulations to the medallists!

 

[gold12345]

It was a bit of an odd pair event with strange errors from several teams. It was bizarre to see 3 throw doubles, including from Sui/Han. Their throw 3F in the LP was wonderful though. Their salchows were further apart and more off-timing than usual, so that needs ongoing tinkering. Lubov/Charlie also strangely did two throw doubles, which was a big reason they finished behind Walsh/Michaud.

Good for Peng/Jin for going for the SBS 3S. I don't know the last time they attempted and fully rotated the 3S in competition, so this was great for them. Without that stepout on one of their best elements (throw 3Lo), they may have come extremely close to winning. It was a beautiful program, and their confidence has really grown.

I felt for Michael Marinaro when he crashed out of nowhere. That was far from MT/M's best skate, and there could have been some nerves from being 1st after the SP. They don't have a big twist, the best throws, etc, so they can't afford errors as much as others might, but their programs are good vehicles for them.

Calalang/Johnson definitely skated much better than they had on the GP despite the mistakes. He doesn't have the ideal pair skater build but they look really nice together. Some good things and some room for growth.

It was really a shame the Knierims withdrew. They would have been able to challenge for a medal had they not had that spin debacle in the SP. As long as there's no major health issue, they have a good amount of time now to build back up for Worlds. If Arutyunyan is changing too much of their technique and really affecting their confidence, maybe ease up on it for now and reinsert the 3S into their SP, which has been Chris's more comfortable jump for years. Build their confidence and comfort level any way possible. 2 weeks ago they sounded and skated very confidently at Nationals, and they need to build on how they felt there. Their pair elements are all top notch.

Kudos to Calalang/Johnson for a good competition. After Nationals I thought they were robbed of a spot at Worlds, even though I understood the reasoning for sending Cain/LeDuc. US figure skating should have sent Cain/Le Duc here also and made their Worlds team decision based on results.

It would have been good to compare C/J and C/L again under international scoring. But this 4CC is a week after US Nationals, so you would basically be giving the skaters no time to recover between Nationals and an intense Skate Off for a Worlds spot. They would need to schedule the events further apart.

Calalang/Johnson scored 196 here, which is beatable by C/L. Who knows what would have happened to either team had they had a Skate Off. C/L haven't faced any big pressure yet, and we don't know how well they would have skated here if they had to fight C/L for a Worlds spot, nor do we know how they would respond to Worlds pressure. I don't think there was a clear-cut choice either way based on this season's scores, although lately C/J have had the clear edge.