2022-23 GPF Senior Pairs Short Program | Page 10 | Golden Skate

2022-23 GPF Senior Pairs Short Program

TT_Fin

The second worst besserwisser in the world
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Not so many big mistakes. this was a good competition overall in average. I need to go now and do some evening stuff and watch men tomorrow morning. I want to sleep with a smile on my face, so it is best to stop watching now. Tomorrow will be exciting.
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
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I loved this pairs GPF.

Every skate had something to recommend it, even Emily and Spencer's semi-disaster skate.

Well worth watching:hap10:

And now off to my appointment I will miss my men. Cheer them for me. :clap:
 

TontoK

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What great skates by the top teams.

I thought the Americans were more powerful, and I thought the Japanese were more emotionally engaging.

A virtual tie after the short, and a LP shootout on the horizon.

Probably not a popular opinion, but I think the gap between these two and Canadians is warranted.
 

apgold

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Aww, just love M/K but I'm over Julie Marcotte's schmaltz. I hope they work with a different choreographer in the future. I think they were rightly in 1st place but it will be a close race with K/F for the gold. Queen Deanna and Maxime should get the bronze easily. I'm so glad she didn't have any horrible belly flops.

The two Italian teams did well and sorry for C/H and the botched lift. I wonder if Spencer's shoulder is still bothering him. They are such a lovely pair, I could see their potential when they started working together a few years ago.

It was a great competition : )
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
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Since I was too overinvolved to comment on the last two pairs, here goes. :)

Something occurred to me while watching Alexa and Brandon. Alexa does best with a fierce program that has her doing a character. Brandon, on the other hand, does best with a program that allows his emotions to play, and he's at his very best when he can underplay the emotion. So they're mismatched in this way. I'm tired of the overscoring of them, but it's nothing new, at all.

I'm American, and I much prefer Riku and Ryuichi. ❤️ (and also Deanna and Maxime ❤️).

It's partly about Riku and Ryuichi's technique, which is so seamless and so effortlessly similar. (well, no, not effortless, but natural).

But it's mostly about their ability to make their pair, and their skating, about more than great technique. This is their aim and purpose, and they never skate without attention to the emotion, their interpretation of the music. Their passion that encompasses several directions. Passion for life itself. This elevates their skating and their partnership to a whole 'nother level.

Minority opinion: I love this music for them, because it gives them opportunity to express a range of emotion that tells a story. And they do it so well. The final third of the program shows the joy that we all want to see from R/R ... and they've earned it, by "walking through a storm." Just fantastic. :points: I also love that you can see that Bruno values their skating and their programs on all these levels.
 

Skater Boy

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Really tight up at top; almost a tie. K/F really have looked good considering earlier on. They worked the program even if it is not a masterpiece. I think both Japan and USA 1 were overmarked a bit. Despite the nervousness of the Canadians I would have them up a point or two. Though the results allow for a battle for gold and bronze which gives Italy and the second American team hope they could be world medallist come world's. The most interesting team imho are the Canadians. They need to up their "amplitude" and tech. ONe would think with Deanna's single skating hopefully they could really good at a more difficult individual jump or at the least have huge GOE's on their single jumps but as we in the fs they have not master the 3salchow. the real winners of the sp are the Italians in 4th who have a shot at cracking the podium.
 

BlissfulSynergy

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Glad I could catch this on awful unhelpful Peacock (live only). I hope that some of Golden Spin videos might be posted, since there was no live stream.

Unsurprising results here. Some may not realize, but it's amazing that Chan/ Howe even skated on the GP this season. She has had an ankle injury, and he suffers from recurring shoulder problems. C/H started out well, but sbs jump, Emily couldn't manage, and Spencer apparently had issues on the lift, or else their timing was off, knowing they aren't at full strength. C/H are clearly a cut above both Italian teams in overall abilities and SS, but missing those sp elements will keep them in last place. Kudos to C/H for making the final.

I give the Italian pairs credit for their competitiveness and enthusiasm. What makes them good generally is being able to do what they can do most of the time, by staying in their wheelhouse and skating clean, especially Conti/ Maci who are a bit more polished than Ghilardi/ Ambrosini. However, both teams need more speed and refinement. That was a good score for C/M, and Sara seemed like she was hoping for more points. They still have work to do, IMO. As it is, they were given fairly on point GOE, and there's room for improvement. That goes for everyone truthfully.

Knierim/Frazier were very good, and it's too bad they are sometimes not given credit by fans for their strengths. I can see why they are in second place. K/F skated very well, and their twist is superior to Miura/Kihara's, but clearly M/K are talented, and favored politically (their result at 2022 Worlds with major mistakes proves that). In any case, Brandon leaned forward on his sbs landing, so the placements are fair.
 
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skylark

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Knierim/Frazier were very good, and it's too bad they are sometimes not given credit by fans for their strengths.

But figure skating and the enjoyment of the sport are subjective. The same strengths don't appeal to everyone, or speak to everyone. We each individually like what we like. De gustibus .... We're all entitled to be passionate about our likes and dislikes.

I disagree that Riku and Ryiuchi are only favored politically. I think judges are rewarding what they want to see in pairs figure skating when they give M/K high scores. One of those precious qualities is connection with each other and with audiences.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

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Really nice skates by a lot of the teams!

M/K definitely the class of the field. Pristine elements. Beautiful program and lovely highlights and PCS should have been at least a point higher than SK/F.

I love Alexa/Brandon, but that score was a massive gift. A personal best with an obvious error (hand down), and PCS shouldn't have been close to the Japanese. I did think their twist was super clean and could have gotten a few 4's.

I thought Deanna/Maxime were a bit hosed on their PCS and 3T GOE and they should have pulled 70 on that.

Conti/Macii were also wonderful and I'd have boosted their PCS above 30.
 

BlissfulSynergy

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Alexa does best with a fierce program that has her doing a character. Brandon, on the other hand, does best with a program that allows his emotions to play, and he's at his very best when he can underplay the emotion. So they're mismatched in this way. I'm tired of the overscoring of them, but it's nothing new, at all.
??? What are you trying to say exactly? A lot of skaters have been 'over-scored' this season. That happens often in this sport: over-scoring, under-scoring, rep-scoring, home-advantage scoring, political scoring. It's nothing new.

The rest of your critique sounds very odd and subjective. It's according to the eye of the beholder when talking about aesthetic issues. There aren't many pairs teams who truly connect. And a lot of what you seem to be talking about has to do with preferences, likes, dislikes, what you know about the skaters' personalities off-the-ice, and how long you have followed them. I admire Alexa/Brandon tremendously because I have witnessed their careers almost from the very beginning with their former partners as they overcame unbelievable odds. Alexa nearly died from an illness, yet she and Chris came back from that. Brandon's former partner, Haven Denney came back from a devastating knee injury, and he supported her unwaveringly in that effort. When Alexa & Brandon partnered, it seemed somehow fitting, since they were friends and competitors whose careers had gone through similar arcs.

The amazing thing about Alexa/Brandon is their similar sparkling athleticism, which was an asset from the beginning. Still, coming together late means they don't have a lot of time to explore the nuances of their partnership. That's one of the reasons they came back for another season -- to push themselves further aesthetically and technically. But they didn't make the decision to come back until July, so they had a late start. Another chief reason they came back is to help lead the U.S. discipline, which has lost at least 4 or 5 top pairs teams. I commend K/F for returning, and I understand some of the reasons why Ash/Tim and Calalang/ Johnson retired, which were huge losses.

Speaking of 'tired,' I'm fairly tired of fans whining about the pairs discipline this season, and I'm fed up with fans treating U.S. pairs teams with disrespect. Plus, I'm tired of U.S. fed not knowing how to effectively support their skaters and being so bad at politicking, which is an unseen, but crucial part of the sport. Furthermore, understand that Alexa/Brandon are the class of the field, as are Miura/Kihara. But Alexa/Brandon are defending World champions and that status was respected by the judges at SA, but offensively, not respected by some fans in the SA thread.
 

CellarDweller

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Hiya Golden fans!

I had to work today at the office, so I was not able to watch today.

Zamboni Dino is sad.


raptor-sad.gif
 

skylark

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a lot of what you seem to be talking about has to do with preferences, likes, dislikes, what you know about the skaters' personalities off-the-ice, and how long you have followed them. I admire Alexa/Brandon tremendously because I have witnessed their careers almost from the very beginning with their former partners as they overcame unbelievable odds.

You're wrong. I'm not talking about their struggles in the past or present, or off-ice personalities. I'm only talking about their skating. What I like and dislike is part of that. I've also watched their careers from the beginning of when they competed as seniors (in the case of Brandon, the famous Lion King with Haven, which I believe they skated as juniors.) My awareness of their careers doesn't change what I think about their skating now.

??? What are you trying to say exactly?

Just what I said. I don't like the over-scoring of them, in this and other instances, as compared to Miura/Kihara and Stellato/Deschamps. And yes, it's about likes and dislikes. I just had the lightning-thought today of a specific way that K/F seem to me to be mismatched; it's my privilege to share the thought.


Speaking of 'tired,' I'm fairly tired of fans whining about the pairs discipline this season, and I'm fed up with fans treating U.S. pairs teams with disrespect.

If you're accusing me of whining about the pairs discipline, you're wrong. I love our pairs and have posted about enjoying and appreciating several of them. I'm selective, though.

Furthermore, understand that Alexa/Brandon are the class of the field, as are Miura/Kihara..

No need to condescend.
 
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