2021 U.S. Nationals: Senior Pairs - Short Program

[moonvine]

Yes, at first the ISU said they wouldn't count GPs towards the minimums, but wasn't that before Four Continents got canceled, Europeans got canceled, and literally every other ISU competition except for Worlds was wiped off the schedule? Before the GP series, there was still hope of some international events actually happening.

But now that the entire competition schedule was canceled except for Worlds, it would be rather preposterous to barr a new pairs/dance team from Worlds for not obtaining a minimum when they were give no chances by the ISU to do so. Why punish the skaters when the season has already been almost entirely canceled? I would think the ISU would want the winners of their own GP events at Worlds. That makes sense for the good of the sport from a competitive perspective, a marketing perspective, everything. This is an unprecedented season where they've had to invent and adjust the rules as they go along, and I hope they do the right thing.

If they don't want to count GP scores toward the minimum, any Sr pair with a competitive ISU record should be allowed to enter (based on the number of entries their country has for Worlds). There are very few pairs in the world to begin with. And the tech minimum is so extremely low that GP winners would undoubtedly be able to easily achieve it anywhere under any judging panel. It should be waived for this season for new teams, especially given that Olympic qualification spots are on the line and federations need to have a fair shot at obtaining those spots.

It would be CRAZY for K/F to be unable to attend. Honestly IF worlds are held, which is in doubt - let any Fed send the athletes they want in any discipline regardless of minimums. For this instance ONLY. For instance Canada has had one athlete even have an opportunity to compete Internationally at all. If they feel they have an athlete who can be competitive at Worlds and has not had an opportunity to make tech minimums let them send them.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I can't believe that NBC Sports posted a video of C/J's less than stellar fp performance this year and yet a video of C/J's extraordinary winning fp from 2020 Nationals has never been posted. That's so messed up, I don't even know how to react. What's up with that?!

Both C/J and K/F have their fps this year posted.

It looks like NBC is only posting gold and silver programs, which means they failed to post Jason Brown's absolutely gorgeous short program. Again, how do they make these kinds of bonehead decisions. If JB's program is posted somewhere, I stand corrected, and please provide a link anyone who finds it.

Sadly, C/J's program at 2020 Nationals is no longer to be found, and also not accessible on NBC Sports Gold platform which has been shuttered. SMH

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Here's an article by Lynn Rutherford after the sp. I wonder if the skating journalists check out skating forum commentary. Most likely. Maybe she took some cues from comments in the sp thread. It's very important to recognize Jenni & Todd and their mentor, John Nicks. Not just kowtowing to Nina Mozer:
At Great Park Ice, it takes a village to build a pairs’ team - OlympicTalk | NBC Sports

And yet, Rutherford's knowledge of U.S. pairs history is questionable. I hope someone corrects her error. Tai & Randy are not the first nor the only U.S. pair team to win Worlds. They are the second. The Kennedy siblings were the first U.S. team and the first North American (non-European) team to win a World championships: in 1950. Study figure skating history for goodness sake! We'd all be a lot more knowledgeable if we did.

Begin with checking out Wikipedia's Worlds and Olympics stats for figure skating. Read books on figure skating history, including the excellent book on Tai & Randy: Forever Two As One, written in collaboration with Martha Lowder Kimball.

World Figure Skating Championships - Wikipedia

List of Olympic medalists in figure skating - Wikipedia

Karol Kennedy - Wikipedia

Peter Kennedy (figure skater) - Wikipedia

John Nicks - Wikipedia (Nicks also coached Tai & Randy, and he competed against the Kennedys)

Jenni Meno - Wikipedia

Todd Sand - Wikipedia

Forever Two as One by Tai Babilonia (goodreads.com)

Figure Skating: A HISTORY by James R. Hines (goodreads.com)

 

[ice coverage]

... Sadly, C/J's program at 2020 Nationals is no longer to be found, and also not accessible on NBC Sports Gold platform which has been shuttered. ...

If you are referring to Calalang/Johnson's 2020 Nats FS:

USFS did post the last minute of it, FWIW.

https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/2019-20-u-s-pairs-figure-skating.81892/post-2592164

Although not the whole program, the USFS video is better than nothing.

(Not sure, but I seem to have a vague memory that copyright for C/J's 2020 Nats FS music was particularly problematic for some reason -- maybe even for NBC?? Did NBC originally post the full video and then take it down??)

 

[labgoat]

rewatch

2021 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships: General Info

Joint interview with Nathan Chen and Mariah Bell is new on Fan Zone today. Brian Boitano and Rusty Kath conducted the interview. 8:11 in length. https://usfigureskatingfanzone.com/watch/?Archive=2269&type=Live Below is the link to today's press release from NBC Sports re its Nats coverage...

www.goldenskate.com