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Pairs' Free

gold12345

Medalist
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Keauna MCLAUGHLIN / Rockne BRUBAKER
I hope she gets her act together, I like them very much as a pair. But worst case scenario: is there somewhere in the US a small female pair skater who could skate with him, in case she doesn't get her act together?
They have great style, good speed (though somewhat frantic stroking), there is something lively about them that I often miss with younger Russian or Chinese pairs. His jumps look big and solid - hers unfortunately don't. Their lifts seem to have somehow regressed since last season, but that could very well be explained as early-in-the-season-problems.

Okay, I apologize in advance for writing a long-winded post defending this pair, but I cannot help it. Your post was harsh. :laugh: Someone has to defend them! I think M/B are wonderful, and have several qualities that cannot be taught. Some of their technical elements need tweaks, but that stuff can be taught to a team of this caliber. They are relatively inexperienced, young team that has a lot to work on, which is normal. At the same time, they are already quite good, and it's great that they are winning medals on the GP circuit on a regular basis.

I'm going to defend Keauna on this one. Obviously it's not a contest which partner can land more jumps and it doesn't matter, but in reply to your post, I will mention that she landed more SBS jumps cleanly in competition than Rockne did last season. Given this fact, I found it slightly amusing when the focus for some people this season was how she was going to jump. I, personally, was kind of interested to see how both of them would jump! I mean, sure, she's not yet jumping as consistently as, say, Savchenko or Volosozhar (even they have their moments), but generally for a pair girl, she's jumped decently in competition thus far. Whatever consistency she lacks right now, she makes up for a lot of that in other areas anyway.

The 3S Keauna landed in the SP here was very good. The LP one, not so much, but it's not really alarming. Two years ago, when M/B inserted SBS 3S into their programs for the first time, she messed up nearly all of them. Since that year, she has landed cleanly nearly all of them. Pair guys almost always have bigger and perhaps more consistent jumps than pair girls, so I don't see anything alarming here at all. I just thought it was good to see that Rockne's 3S at this competition looked much better than most of the 3S he did in competition last year. :clap: They are a team... It's normal if sometimes one partner struggles and sometimes the other struggles.

The only thing I found unusually inconsistent about M/B this week at COR were their throws. Even in the warmups, they looked more off than usual. Last year, they had a very consistent throw 3S in competition- they didn't miss any all season. The one they did today looked like it had too much rotation (the 3L looked the opposite, maybe not enough rotation). I, personally, have never done a throw in my life and may have zero idea what I am talking about, but I would guess it's just a matter of building more muscle memory to get them back to normal. M/B have been quite good at throws. They just have to get back in the groove, and it probably just takes a few adjustments.

As for the lifts, I, for one, would much rather watch Keauna's beautifully extended star lift than any lift Qing Pang ever does. (I appreciate P/T's good qualities, but lifts aren't one of them.)

One additional/unrelated note about M/B at COR. They looked SO serious when they came out onto the ice. I don't know if they were told to be serious when they came out onto the ice or what, but I think they should go back to smiling. :) Maybe it would help them relax more before their programs.
 
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astimegoesby

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 8, 2003
I don't even have to watch Pang & Tong I know they will finish first.

So I'm not watching, lol, seriously they don't move me, never have. She looks anorexic, but I know it's just her natural physique, but their appearance turns me off.

It's funny you should mention that, Nadine, because I actually thought Qing Pang gained quite a bit of weight since last season...and I consider that a good thing! :agree: If she has gained weight, it certainly doesn't seem to affect her skating in a negative way. :clap:
 

yqs100

On the Ice
Joined
May 21, 2009
Keauna MCLAUGHLIN / Rockne BRUBAKER
Both SP and LP have great potential. I like the music cut and the choreography. Love love their speed & ice coverage, spins and lifts. IMHO, they're the fastest pair out there.


Yuko KAVAGUTI / Alexander SMIRNOV
Qing PANG / Jian TONG

Both teams are very sloooow and have the ugliest lift positions.

To be honest, which of Yuko/Alexander's big trick elements is of high quality? I can't find any. I don't know why there's not any downgrade on 3twist. This team and D/D are no where near to get 3 rotations in air.:bow:

Oh dear,,,,,,,I think last season MCLAUGHLIN/ BRUBAKER had great speed,,,but last week the speed was even slower than P/T and K/S, which reflects on their PCS......
 

Binthere

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 28, 2008
Qing Pang has certainly been almost worrisomely thin. I think these days, it is much less distracting to see her looking shall we say "healthier" She is a real beauty in my opinion as well.
 

Audrey19

On the Ice
Joined
Jun 26, 2007
You know, I hate it when people refer to thin women as anorexic. Qing Pang's appearance doesn't have any signs of anorexia, she is thin and that's it. But it's really very insulting and disrespectful to call someone anorexic, I know what I'm talking about. BTW Qing is a very beautiful, healthy looking woman.
Had to get that off my chest, now back on topic.
Now that I've finally watched Pang & Tong's programs :bow: man I love them. The short is good, but the long is awesome! Almost perfect! How she hit the throws right on the note of the music...and the timing and sync were just perfect :love: So many beautiful moves... I hate to say that but this FS is much better than S/S...
I so hope they can medal in Vancouver!
 
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