Sorry State of Pairs Skating Under COP

Having watched the pairs skaters at Europeans it seems really clear that COP is making the pairs programs really boring and too similar. I suppose from a judging perspective it makes it easier to compare like for like (trying to find a positive).

Pairs used to be my favourite discipline but is fast becoming my least favourite.

The lift in the SP was identical by all bar about 3 couples. Hip lift goes up one-armed (or two armed transitioning to one arm) lady grabs blade of free foot, one armed (or two armed) dismount...repeat til bored. I actually sat up and took note of the (may have been Russian pair?) who had a great one armed hip lift with her practically round on her back - body facing the ceiling, with a nice summersault dismount.

I have ranted and raved about the poor death spirals before (though to be fair they seem slightly better executed this year but still ugly as sin).

The final thing I really want to rant about is the sorry state of the pairs SBS spins. Virtually no couples are capable of doing them ni synch anymore. There were maybe three pairs that did manage to, only 2 that actually did them with any speed. Most of the pairs aren't changing edge, position and even feet at the same time anymore. Some couples look like they are not even making an attempt to be in synch and are just happy with each skater comlpeting the level features.

Pairs spins (which were never my favourite element in pairs) now go on., and on...aaaaaannnnndddd ooooooon. Crawling round at no speed at all, jarring changes of feet and direction, ugly positions to try and rachet up the features.

I des-pair

Ant

How come dance spins are so much better than pair spins? Do dancers just have better skills or more time to focus on i? If ice dances can have nice and fast pair spins why not the pairs? Is it because of the low point value pairs leave spins on the backburner?

I mostly stopped watching the Pairs LP after Sokolova's injury (on a singles move I know, but it still was enough of a downer to make me want to stop watching).

I did dip in and out and found it mostly .... forgettable. I thought the Italian roller skaters had interesting lifts (and some other good features) but the Polish eurosport announcers were really hating on them. I didn't like M/T because it really seems that she can't stand him but maybe that's a Russian thing. I always got the same vibe from B/S and T/M and it never hurt them.

For whatever reason, the philosophy behind CoP is more damaging to pairs than any other discipline (it also hurts ladies a lot, less so men and dance).

Part of that philosophy was the explicit choice made in the beginning to ensure that quality GOE's could not compensate for levels. Doing a craptacular level 3 will give you more points than a superb level 2. Once that decision is made, the race is on to add more features and get higher levels without much thought as to whether the result is appealing or not.

Also, the balance between dance and pairs has really shifted over time. I remember when it seemed that Dance was the more boxed in restricted discipline and pairs was freer, but now Pairs seems to be entirely built around a few established tricks and CoP not really allowing for any innovation or new skills to develop.

I used to love pairs and now I can't stand to watch it either.

I was watching the Pairs SP at Nationals last night, and have to say that all the pairs did the EXACT same elements. I won't give away any spoilers, but 9 out of 10 did a star lift vs. any other type. a death spiral that switched hands, Similar spirals and paris spins and almost all did a flying camel S/b/S spin. I felt like i was watching complusories all over again!

I have to agree with tiny on this. I feel like since the COP I have a lost a little interest in skating. Don't worry I am still a fanatic but you know just a little something was lost for me. I think that it's because some of the originality is gone. I loved watching the artistry (is that a word???) of the programs and now they are so techinical...it's almost a cookie cutter feeling.