Pairs Free Skate | Golden Skate

Pairs Free Skate

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
RESULTS:
1 Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY GER
210.72 1 1
2 Qing PANG / Jian TONG
CHN
189.93 2 2
3 Wenjing SUI / Cong HAN
CHN
179.04 4 3
4 Lubov ILIUSHECHKINA / Nodari MAISURADZE
RUS
177.44 5 4
5 Vera BAZAROVA / Yuri LARIONOV
RUS
176.80 3 5
6 Kirsten MOORE-TOWERS / Dylan MOSCOVITCH
CAN
169.57 6 6

S/S breaks the 200+ mark and we have two Chinese teams on the GPF podium for the fifth year in a row. Tough break for B/L, but nice skate for I/M. And I'm so good experience for M-T/M who didn't even expect to be here.
 

museksk8r

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Country
United-States
WOW! MASSIVE SCORE for Aliona and Robin! 136.32 for the LP and 210.72 overall!
Pang and Tong had the lowest TES of all the teams, but their PCS salvaged them the silver.

Current Overall Standing

Pl. Name Nation Points SP FS
1 Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY
GER
210.72 1 1
2 Qing PANG / Jian TONG
CHN
189.93 2 2
3 Wenjing SUI / Cong HAN
CHN
179.04 4 3
4 Lubov ILIUSHECHKINA / Nodari MAISURADZE
RUS
177.44 5 4
5 Vera BAZAROVA / Yuri LARIONOV
RUS
176.80 3 5
6 Kirsten MOORE-TOWERS / Dylan MOSCOVITCH
CAN
169.57 6 6


Segment Result Details

Pl. Name Nation TSS
= TES
+ PCS
+ SS TR PE CH IN Ded.
- StN.
1 Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY GER 136.32 67.48 68.84 8.57 8.21 8.57 8.79 8.89 0.00 #6
2 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN 121.30 55.20 66.10 8.29 7.82 8.25 8.39 8.57 0.00 #5
3 Wenjing SUI / Cong HAN CHN 117.55 63.28 55.27 6.71 6.57 7.11 7.11 7.04 1.00 #3
4 Lubov ILIUSHECHKINA / Nodari MAISURADZE RUS 117.38 60.99 56.39 6.96 6.89 7.18 7.21 7.00 0.00 #2
5 Vera BAZAROVA / Yuri LARIONOV RUS 112.94 57.40 57.54 7.36 6.96 7.11 7.39 7.14 2.00 #4
6 Kirsten MOORE-TOWERS / Dylan MOSCOVITCH CAN 110.84 59.21 52.63 6.61 6.46 6.57 6.68 6.57 1.00 #1
 

museksk8r

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Country
United-States
I believe I/M should have been 3rd. I feel they were underscored.

I completely agree with you. The young Chinese have all the hype around them though. Judges sometimes get swept away by hype factor. :rolleye:
 

Mirunna

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
I find it strange that S/H got a big score at CoC for an error filled program, at Skate America they were much better and yet their scores really dropped(they placed behind M-T/M) and here, again in China, their scores go up suddenly, despite their mistakes. They are talented, I agree, but so are I/M who really outperformed them today. Anyway, HUGE score for the germans. It's the third time in a row they skate a clean LP. Never happened before! I'm very happy for them
 

UnChosen

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
MT/M: Pretty nice skate other than the one fall. However, something about them irks me and I can't put my finger on it.

B/L: :cry:They looks so disappointed at the end. That double splat really hurt their entire performance after...their music choice made it even more obvious :no:

I/M: The music put me to sleep...but nice skate. Lower level and a relative front loaded programs really hurt them, like every other time they skated this season. I don't know why they have the death spiral (level 1) and the spiral sequence at the end when they could've moved them to the front and replace them with their twist lift and another lift. It shouldn't affect their choreography that much.

S/H: Technically stacked like it had never been stacked before. Their base point is nearly 5 points higher than even S/S or about 2 points if S/S did a 3S instead of a 2S. I give their choreographer credit for knowing how to work the system :laugh:. The fact that their music doesn't put me to sleep doesn't hurt either.

P/T: Better, but still way off. Qing really need to get her solo jumps in order. Their throw jumps are also less snappy in comparison to last season. And of course, they messed up one of their spins...again.

S/S: At this rate, they can't be touched at Worlds either. The music cut is really weird though.
 

evangeline

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Hurray for Aliona and Robin! They were great, and definitely the odds-on favourites for the world title this season. I'm still sort of meh about their LP this year but the basic quality of this pair is currently unmatched.


I too would've given the bronze to I/M, but man, S/H really know how to work the CoP.


About M-T/M--I like their enthusiasm, but they seem so unpolished and their programs are kind of empty...sort of like a junior team. Never understood why they were getting so much PCS during the Grand Prix series.
 
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oleada

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Aliona and Robin - wow! I love them, and admit, I can't be unbiased about them, but they were heads and shoulders above everyone else.

The situation at Russian Nationals will be really interesting. I thought B/L would be a lock for sure, but now it's far from certain. Soooo happy for I/M! They needed a FS like this.

P/T haven't landed a single clean side by side jump all season in the FS. I think they are really getting behind technically...all the other teams tried two SBS triples or something harder than a 3LoTh or both....and they didn't. Their lifts are weak compared to the other teams and their throws and twist don't look as big this year. I honestly don't think there's anything that special about hteir skating, but I've never been a fan.
 

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
Aliona and Robin - wow! I love them, and admit, I can't be unbiased about them, but they were heads and shoulders above everyone else.

The situation at Russian Nationals will be really interesting. I thought B/L would be a lock for sure, but now it's far from certain. Soooo happy for I/M! They needed a FS like this.

P/T haven't landed a single clean side by side jump all season in the FS. I think they are really getting behind technically...all the other teams tried two SBS triples or something harder than a 3LoTh or both....and they didn't. Their lifts are weak compared to the other teams and their throws and twist don't look as big this year. I honestly don't think there's anything that special about hteir skating, but I've never been a fan.

Yeah, Russian Nationals will be interesting, especially with Gerboldt and Enbert in the mix too. I thought B & L were the distinct Russian #2 for awhile, but I & M could take over that spot.

I agree with you about Pang and Tong. I really enjoyed them at the Olympics last year, but they seem lackluster this season (as they did in some other seasons, too). I did like their SP.
 
C

chillyfranz

Guest
Pang/TOng are very good but not realy enough to win here .For Russian Nationals, Gerboldt/Enbert have a nice package with the presentation skills still getting better. Give them the time. I'm excited to see what V/T will bring and Honestly though I would bank on Kavaguti/Smirnov for the win
 
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oleada

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
G/E are very good for the time they've been together, and in any other country, they'd be on the podium or winning, but I don't think their elements and skating skills are as strong as B/L or I/M.
 

oleada

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Sorry for the back-to-back posts, but watching the JGPF and the GPF (right now on UniSports), it has been really striking to see how inelegant and lacking in carriage the Canadian pairs ladies are....Moore-Towers looks really rough and unrefined comparing her to Iliuschekina who skates right after. I wish Skate Canada would encourage more ballet training among their pairs. I've never been a fan of Dubè and Davison, but I've found myself missing them, because they are so much more polished than the teams currently competing.

Sui/Han are cute and charismatic, but I hope they work on their basic skating. Very impressive elements. But I get the feeling that it's a child skating out there, which isn't really all that enjoyable to me. Or even fair to the other teams, when you consider it.
 

zizi

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 3, 2009
I believe I/M should have been 3rd. I feel they were underscored.

ITA!
Besides, P/T's PCS were too much overscored! I don't believe they can get so high scores in any other countries except home court,considering so many mistakes and so bad performance. The gap with S/S shouldn't have just been two scores!
 

UnChosen

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
ITA!
Besides, P/T's PCS were too much overscored! I don't believe they can get so high scores in any other countries except home court,considering so many mistakes and so bad performance. The gap with S/S shouldn't have just been two scores!

Other than downgrading their solo jump content...their actual performance is actually very good compared than everyone else. If anything S/S's pink panther choreo and interpretation is :disapp: in comparison to their SP. Thankfully the judges are more objective in comparison to my subjective opinions.

Sorry for the back-to-back posts, but watching the JGPF and the GPF (right now on UniSports), it has been really striking to see how inelegant and lacking in carriage the Canadian pairs ladies are....Moore-Towers looks really rough and unrefined comparing her to Iliuschekina who skates right after. I wish Skate Canada would encourage more ballet training among their pairs. I've never been a fan of Dubè and Davison, but I've found myself missing them, because they are so much more polished than the teams currently competing.

Sui/Han are cute and charismatic, but I hope they work on their basic skating. Very impressive elements. But I get the feeling that it's a child skating out there, which isn't really all that enjoyable to me. Or even fair to the other teams, when you consider it.

Oh god no no no. I don't mind MT/M getting more refined (along with S/H)...but I can't stand ballet style clones. They should do ballet only if they think can pull that style off well. Otherwise we'll just get mismatched choreographies, skaters not having connections to music at all, etc.
 

oleada

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Moore-Towers and Moscovitch don't have any relation to the music right now. Their LP could have been skated to anything.

It's not about being ballet clones. It's about knowing how to place your arms, having good posture and line, moving in an elegant way. Ballet will help with that. Right now she skates like a truck driver.
 

museksk8r

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Country
United-States
Other than downgrading their solo jump content...their actual performance is actually very good compared than everyone else.

No, the problem is not only their jumps. Pang's body lines need to show much better posture and stretch in the lifts. In comparison to Aliona and the Russian ladies, Pang looks very weak and juniorish in this regard. She has always been the weakest link in that team. Their spins are also very weak and sloppy for them to be such an elite team.
 

UnChosen

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
No, the problem is not only their jumps. Pang's body lines need to show much better posture and stretch in the lifts. In comparison to Aliona and the Russian ladies, Pang looks very weak and juniorish in this regard. She has always been the weakest link in that team. Their spins are also very weak and sloppy for them to be such an elite team.

Like I said before, I don't like the emphasis that is being put on lines and posture. Its only a portion of the PE score that's also a portion of the total PCS score anyways. I guess I'm an idealist in that I expect judges to follow the official PCS guideline perfectly...where stuff like "movement has to match the music", "relationship between partners" and a whole much of other stuff unrelated to lines and posture actually mean something.

The problem with the whole "line" thing is that...can you really move elegantly to more exciting music? Once skaters get used to elegant lines, they usually end up sticking with elegant music or else the choreo won't match (After S/Z improved their lines around 2003, they pretty much stuck with more elegant music as well). Times that by 10+ skaters and it makes for a complete yawn fest.

Its promoting skaters where their priorities are in a horrible order: Lines/Jumps first, doing transitions everywhere second, "base levels and contortion" third....but consistency / musicality / performance last :disapp:.

Note: I'm not directing my comments at any skaters in particular, I just don't like offhanded comments along the lines of "No Lines! Posture! Bad!" when figure skating is comprised of so many other aspects as well.
 

oleada

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
This is figure skating. Line and posture are important, whether you like it or not. 99% of the time, it makes someone's skating more appealing. I do think studying ballet often helps skaters understand the music better, and enhances musicality and performance. It also does that skaters use solely what you consider boring or elegant music. Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze had beautiful lines, but their Chaplin free skate was hardly boring. Savchenko has a nice body line, but Pink Panther is hardly traditional and she is also quite athletic. I'm really failing to see how improving posture and lines makes for lowered performance or musical ability, or lesser transitions. They're all part of a whole.

Of course figure skating has more aspects, but to me - and a lot of other people - line and posture are very important. If Pang improved her body line, their lifts would be much better, period. It shows how improving this aspect would improve their technical elements and GOE. Having her ugly positions on a lift takes you out of a performance, for me, anyway.

It's not just about line, either, why I think P&T are overrated. Her basics aren't very good, really. As for M-T&M, they show very really understanding of the music, could skate to anything and their basics are choppy.
 
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