2021 Golden Spin of Zagreb: Pairs Free Skate

[Lutzedge]

Wow. That was unexpected! But it's nice to see some young pairs with this good experience and to get on the podium.

 

[Lutzedge]

I just got about a 20 in predictions for Pairs.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Whoa-ho-ho-ho! Who showed up? Lu/Mitrofanov! Send Lu/Mitrofanov and Cain-Gribble/LeDuc to Worlds. The other U.S. teams are responding way too tentatively to pressure.

Golden Spin was not an exceedingly deep field. There were some names here, many of whom underperformed. After their silver at Warsaw, perhaps C/J needed to get back to the rink and work, work, work on their snafus. Both C/J and Knierim/Frazier possess the superior talent to go 1 and 2 in this field. Yes, that was possible. So was the possibility of James/Radford breaking out to skate clean sp and fp in this, once again, not that deeply experienced field.

Knierim/Frazier simply have no excuse and they know it. Yep, the judges do not do them any favors much of the time. But, they have got to show up and show out. Especially when the top scores in the sp were that close. I knew that the Georgian team (Safina/Berulava) who landed percentage points in first after the sp, are a nice team, but inexperienced and still developing. The judges like their elegant style. But personally, for me, I am much more engaged by the edgy difference of Metelkina/Parkman, so this Georgian rivalry will be so much fun to watch in coming seasons. Yes, M/P are a bit rough around the edges, but very interesting, and very talented.

It is different when you're young and hungry and going after reaching the top. But that transition has to be made when you are nearing the end of your career with a new partnership. A transition from young and hungry to experienced but new together. By now, K/F should have made that transition. They were in a great position, because again, Safina/Berulava were not a solid #1. All K/F had to do was block out that Lu/Mitrofanov skated great. Keep eyes on the prize! It was there for K/F for the taking. Oh boy.

I really wonder about how U.S. fed is gonna process this. They better not process it as K/F are still favored. Unless K/F come out blazing blades and hitting it like they want to win it at U.S. Nationals, they shouldn't be favored. I do love them, but they have disappointed time and again. Like I said, in this field, both K/F and C/J have the talent to go 1 and 2, with Lu/Mitrofanov 3 for that matter. But again, there was tight scoring among a lot of talented teams who underperformed in either the sp and/or the fp, including K/F and C/J. This is not looking good for how the Irvine teams present under competition conditions. I don't know what the underlying problems are in not fulfilling their tremendous talent. They have to believe they can do it. There aren't that many opportunities to break through to where the judges consistently reward you. If you keep freezing up with nerves when you can taste first place, or the podium in any number of competitions, you just aren't going to make the cut globally. Domestically, we shall see.

The extra sad thing is that Knierim/Frazier coming together so quickly over the pandemic season was hugely inspirational, I believe, for many teams (including the veteran pairing of James/Radford, and the coming together of a number of new partnerships internationally). Sadly, K/F were also tight at 2021 Worlds (as were Ashley/Timothy). The U.S. was so close to bringing back three spots for Worlds and Olympics, which the U.S. pairs discipline needs, because they are deep in pairs talent. But, there's only two spots available, so U.S. Nationals will be pressure-filled. The question is, which U.S. teams are on a roll with momentum and fierceness competitively?

In terms of the other top teams at Golden Spin, I'm happy that Metelkina/Parkman made the podium. There are some exciting partnerships developing in pairs worldwide. So I hope going forward we will see more competitiveness at the top against the Russians always running away in the scoring.

 

[skylark]

I just got about a 20 in predictions for Pairs.

Me too. Even though I was pretty daring in my predictions ... but not the right direction!

 

[skylark]

I just wish Alexa could vary her expression, with the plastered-on smile often augmented by the slash of red lipstick she favors. She always looks so brash and brassy, like she's doing a Broadway show stopper number, no matter what the theme/mood of the program is. They could relate to each other more, too.

Agree 100 percent. I tried to say this recently. But you have said it so much better. However much I admire K/F skating, beautiful elements, I just can't get on board with their expression, emotion, or performance.

 

[withwings]

I agree, too. However, I believe that most of the time there is no one who point out these important things to the skaters

 

[TontoK]

Well I am THRILLED.

I like Audrey and Misha, and good for them for keeping it together. This is an important win.

All great athletes have to have had a breakthough moment at some time or other, and perhaps this will instill the confidence necessary to polish their skills and presentation and take their skating to another level.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Congrats to L/M - flawless FS and they really deserved to win here. I actually think the margin of victory should have been a little greater and the PCS was a bit stingy.

While J/R were somewhat overscored in IdF with 69.21 PCS, they were arguably robbed of a silver here. 64.72? That's pretty crap - they were at least 67-worthy. Of course, it comes down to silly errors denying them a medal yet again like the twist in the SP, but they can at least take solace in being the #1 Canadian team and putting together a 130 FS. No major errors in the FS. Clearly they have the ability to do well in either program... now they just need to put together their IdF SP and their Golden Spin FS and they're suddenly a top 5ish team. What's shocking is that M-T/M are not just going to be pressed to defend their title, they are now going to potentially have to fight for their spot on the Olympic team because they have had really bad competitions as of late.

Shoutout to the M/P from Georgia for the silver too and a solid competition. Will be interesting to see which Georgian pair skates in the Olympics, even though S/B earned the spot at Nebelhorn.

 

[coldblueeyes]

The U.S. was so close to bringing back three spots for Worlds and Olympics, which the U.S. pairs discipline needs, because they are deep in pairs talent.

No. American pairs are definitely not in need of three spots if they keep skating like this. What are they gonna use those spots for? Clean your house and then try to win those spots. At the moment I feel like Georgia deserves two spots more than America deserves three. They might have talent in spades, but to go on a Challenger after none of them managed to qualify for GPF and still lose 2/3 spots on the podium is not something to be that much proud of. And mind you, all of the other teams besides L/M gave them plenty of change to make that podium.

 

[apgold]

I just got about a 20 in predictions for Pairs.

Me, too. I think most of us did not do well here. If anyone picked Audrey/Misha to win - they have my utmost respect!

 

[coldblueeyes]

While J/R were somewhat overscored in IdF with 69.21 PCS, they were arguably robbed of a silver here. 64.72? That's pretty crap - they were at least 67-worthy. Of course, it comes down to silly errors denying them a medal yet again like the twist in the SP, but they can at least take solace in being the #1 Canadian team and putting together a 130 FS. No major errors in the FS. Clearly they have the ability to do well in either program... now they just need to put together their IdF SP and their Golden Spin FS and they're suddenly a top 5ish team.

Definitely deserved more PCS here, but I'm not sure they're yet top 5. Although, the American pairs are giving them all the chances, and on the right day, they might even sneak into the podium and surprise one or two of the Russian pairs.

 

[gold12345]

Send Lu/Mitrofanov and Cain-Gribble/LeDuc to Worlds. The other U.S. teams are responding way too tentatively to pressure.

No, the last thing we should do is overreact to a Sr B and ignore the entire rest of the year. There's no numerical evidence that says that would be our best potential team. Alexa doesn't normally fall on her back on throws- K/F have never fallen on that throw. She grabbed the back of her neck after the program, so hopefully she's fine; it was an awkward slip after she was trying to save the throw. Calalang/Johnson habitually miss jumps under high pressure, yes, that's true. That, combined with the fact that they've never been to Worlds or even 2 GPs this season, and they're unproven in higher level competition.

No wonder Knierim/Frazier were tentative today-- we place these absurd expectations on them, where if they score lower than usual even one time in their entire partnership, it's the end of the world. How can a skater stay calm under that? They scored 186, their only score under 201 this season. They're still the most consistent high scoring US pair, by a good margin.

No US pair is skating under the expectations that K/F are. They've been the leading US pair for over a year-- it's a lot for fans to expect them to constantly beat the same US pairs over and over and over without ever having a rough skate. Everyone else, including Nathan Chen, is allowed to have a rough skate/competition, so why would we hold a US pair (that's relatively new, no less) to a ridiculously high standard where they can't ever have an off skate? They haven't had a bad skate all season. How many off skates have Tarasova/Morozov had over the years? I'm pretty certain the Olympics will be less stressful than having to prove yourself against the same US pairs over & over. It seems like no matter how many times you place on top, you still have to keep proving yourself.

In general, K/F have handled themselves well, and this skate was an outlier for them, not something they routinely do. And this was probably the worst they'd ever score, and it's very similar to what Lu/Mitrofanov scored on the GP 2 weeks ago, to keep this in perspective. K/F are in a much different position than L/M who have little pressure on them-- and frankly very little height on their throws, which makes it easier to skate clean. But it doesn't bring in a big score. It's not that L/M have been scoring so well this season, it's just that this Golden Spin FS kinda went terribly, so it allowed them to win. They are skating well lately, but their scores are not that great, and it's easier to skate well when nobody expects anything from you.

K/F could have easily skipped Golden Spin like Jason Brown and Mariah Bell and protected their undefeated record against US pairs, but as a newer pair it was good they came here for the experience, regardless of outcome. They shouldn't have to feel afraid of competing, as if it's the end of the world if they accidentally lose to another US pair. That's not how you develop a pair team. You want to keep putting a new pair out there in front of judges so that they can learn from any bumps along the way.

The arena at Golden Spin looked very nice, but the hotel shouldn't be an hour away. The warmup practice should be on competition ice, not in an entirely separate arena an hour away. Some of these pairs are just coming off of the GP series where they poured their heart into getting medals, great scores, etc, and it's not a big surprise that several of the better pairs here had off days.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

No. American pairs are definitely not in need of three spots if they keep skating like this. What are they gonna use those spots for? Clean your house and then try to win those spots. At the moment I feel like Georgia deserves two spots more than America deserves three. They might have talent in spades, but to go on a Challenger after none of them managed to qualify for GPF and still lose 2/3 spots on the podium is not something to be that much proud of. And mind you, all of the other teams besides L/M gave them plenty of change to make that podium.

Ha ha, sure. In terms of talent, the U.S. pairs discipline is deep in talent, whether you think so or not. It's not even debatable, so your dismissive attitude just is what it is. The testament to the U.S. being deep in talent is Lu/Mitrofanov winning Golden Spin of Zagreb, as the U.S. fourth-rated team. Honestly, K/F and C/J have tremendous qualities, which a lot of times is not fully rewarded. Still, both K/F's and C/J's overall quality in comparison to other teams in this field is what kept them relatively high in the standings, when they should have actually both made the podium. I'm saying 3 spots are needed for the U.S., based on the depth of talent. The bottom line is U.S. teams have to convince the judges. They have to earn it, even when the path is made harder for them. They have to believe in themselves when the opportunities arise to grab medals and competitive respect. Come prepared to do battle, or stay home. Easier said than done for every pairs team whether you think so or not.

You mention the Georgian teams. Both are nice-looking teams, but neither are completely polished yet. Both teams need to develop more speed and fine-tuning. The talent is there for both the Georgian teams, and that's exciting. But they need more experience. Quality for quality, C/J and K/F have more talent and experience than the Georgian teams. That's just a fact. You can overlook it because C/J and K/F didn't perform to their abilities at Golden Spin. Clearly, C/J came back from miscues at Warsaw Cup in the sp to beat a lot of teams in the fp (including Metelkina/Parkman, et al) because C/J possess top level talent, and they delivered, even with their sbs jumps in the fp (though that is a huge area of weakness for them that has to improve asap).

As I said, K/F were in a great position at Golden Spin to win gold and they faltered. They can't afford that. But for you to interpret this one competition to mean the U.S. doesn't have depth of talent in pairs, is ridiculous. You are being overly dismissive. Obviously, U.S. teams have to back-up their talent when it counts. But honestly, the judges never give U.S. teams any gifts, nor even a great deal of respect. They have to work hard for everything all the time. When K/F and C/J do what they can do, they have speed, power, pop, and great ice coverage (which the Georgian teams do not fully have yet). K/F have fabulous throws with huge height and distance, but they didn't show that asset here. Managing nerves is what they have to figure out. Plus, I'm not sure why K/F's twist isn't looking as good as it has previously. C/J have the best twist in the world, right up there with Tarasova/ Morosov, hands-down!

Obviously, no team, especially not U.S. teams can afford the butthead mistakes and lapses we've seen from K/F and C/J this fall. C/J came storming back at Warsaw Cup to take silver behind Tarasova/Morosov, so they should have called it a fall season, and went home to work on being prepared with their jumps for U.S. Nationals. Now, they end the fall portion of the season on a down note, along with K/F. What both teams need to do is to believe in themselves, because they should be scoring over 70+ every time out. They both have that level of talent, and we have seen it in competition. The judges are seemingly reluctant to reward certain teams in areas where they have quality, especially when they make mistakes. So consistency is the goal in pairs skating for everyone.

Except, Russian teams can get away with mistakes and still receive high scores. Case in point: I see that James/Radford won the fp at Golden Spin, but their score should have been at least 190 to 191. They were low-balled on PCS. The judges just didn't go with their performance the way they might have had J/R skated in the final group (which means not missing their twist in the sp). I also think that J/R's sp 56+ score was a bit low just for a missed twist. Yes, they made a mistake, but it shouldn't have taken them down that far. Apparently, it woke them up, and they came battling back in the fp. So I hope J/R leave Zagreb hungry to show up and show out at Canadian Nationals. I think J/R should have made the podium here over the Russians, Artemeva/Nazarychev. A/N had a fall in their fp, so they didn't skate clean in either program. I think A/N were given too much leeway from the judges because they generally have solid tech elements and they are Russian. Still, they aren't completely polished and mature. James/ Radford's polish, maturity and experience should count for much more when they skate well. The judges held back on them.

Kirsten looks like she's completely checked out. I don't think she should have taken J/R's pairing so hard, if that's what part of the problem is. It looks like Kirsten is the one having issues keeping it together in competition, not Michael.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

And mind you, all of the other teams besides L/M gave them plenty of change to make that podium.

Not really. The Georgian teams were received very well by the judges, perhaps more than they should be received in the scoring at this stage of their development. They are both exciting teams, but winning spots for Worlds is a slow and difficult process, as the U.S. pairs discipline can tell ya. So don't get ahead of yourself now. Hopefully, Metelkina/Parkman get sent to Worlds and do well, so that they win an extra spot for their compatriots. Still, both Georgian teams have a lot to work on. I feel once again that U.S. teams aren't always given their due, which adds to the pressure they face.

Plus, you also contradicted yourself by saying the Georgian teams deserve two spots more than the U.S. teams deserve three. That's incorrect. The Georgian teams will have to earn two spots, just as the U.S. teams will have to earn three spots. And then you're saying all the teams at Golden Spin, except L/M gave K/F and C/J "plenty of chance to make the podium." That's not exactly true either, because the judges were very partial to giving these young teams a lot of credit over more seasoned teams, in terms of PCS.

Metelkina/Parkman need some fine-tuning, developing more speed and dynamism, but they have something, and I'm excited to watch them. Their compatriots, Safina/Berulava are a bit more elegant, rather than edgy, but they have weaknesses too, which showed up in the fp. I think it was a bit much for S/B to be in front in the sp by percentage points anyway over K/F. The judging here was a bit tight, and overall not very good. A lot of the scoring depended on skate order actually.

 

[ladyjane]

I always thought the men were the most unpredictable discipline, but surely the pairs in this particular competition wanted to fight for that questionable honour. I was late home after work, so didn't start watching until more than two hours after the FS started, so I've only just finished watching. And there were so many surprises! The big bonus was that most of the couples didn't look as tired as they did yesterday. Phew. However, there was a camera man/woman who decided to have a break in the midst of Jessica and Brian's programme during which the viewer saw more of the ice than of the skaters who were skating on and off screen while you missed some elements. I don't know what happened there exactly, but it is a bit of a bummer when you miss the important moments (whether executed successfully or not) because they take place off camera! All scores were relatively low, just like yesterday. The judges were rather consistent in that.

Vanessa and Eric had a fantastic FS (well except for the less than synchronised SBS jumps, but they jumped and landed them), and actually won that part of the competition. It wasn't enough to rise up to a medal (they were 4th overall), but it must have felt really satisfying after that rather bad SP yesterday. I just wish the other Canadian pairs would have had such a little success story as well (I like both couples), but that was not the case. In fact they dropped in placements.

Of the Americans Audrey and Misha skated the best, winning the competition. They were third yesterday, second today and that was enough. Unexpectedly Alexa and Brenda had an off day, and did not skate very well (strange fall too). And Jessica and Brian had the usual problems with the jumps (although we couldn't see all of it) and somehow didn't manage to show their - also usual - beautiful very together movements.

Surprisingly, of the Georgians it was the number 4 from yesterday who got a medal (silver): Anastasiia and Daniil skating to Rain in your black eyes. Did I keep thinking of Sui and Han despite watching a totally different programme? I did. It was a bit like watching another pair than Aljona and Bruno skating to La Terre vue du Ciel. Still, they skated well. Which cannot be said for their compatriots who were last to skate but a bit of an anti-climax because it wasn't very good.

I'm still enjoying the fact that there were three (!) Australian pairs. Sure, Campbell and Lachlan are still at the beginning of their seniors career (and lagging a bit behind the rest) but it was good to see Harley again who is making a new start and Anastasia and Hektor impressed me again - just like they did at Nebelhorn. Really looking good for the Aussies, in my view, for the next quad(s).

It was good to see Lana and Antonio skate fairly well (not perfect) but it was really uplifting to hear the audience supporting them.

There was a lovely Italian pair - Irma and Riccardo - who aren't there yet, but it's just great that Italy is continuing to liven up the Pairs scene. I really liked them.

Balasz (swoon) is really nice to look at - I can be really shallow sometimes - and it's good to see him picking it up with his new partner Maria and skating for Hungary. Looking to see a nice future for them too in the next quad.

Hailey and Evgeni did not do so well, but at least today both of them made mistakes. But they looked unhappy in the KnC.

Last but not least: the Finnish. Not last in the standings and you can see they're still getting used to being a pair. But for all that, a truly great effort!

Edit: I mustn't forget Iouliia and Mikhail from Russia of course. They had a good skate if with a fall, and Iouliia is pretty good in getting up immediately so there is no hitch or imbalance in the programme overall. And...they got themselves a medal again!

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

No, the last thing we should do is overreact to a Sr B and ignore the entire rest of the year. There's no numerical evidence that says that would be our best potential team. Alexa doesn't normally fall on her back on throws- K/F have never fallen on that throw. She grabbed the back of her neck after the program, so hopefully she's fine; it was an awkward slip after she was trying to save the throw. Calalang/Johnson habitually miss jumps under high pressure, yes, that's true. That, combined with the fact that they've never been to Worlds or even 2 GPs this season, and they're unproven in higher level competition.

You are exactly right. In the heat of emotion, I definitely over-reacted. This is a nice win for Lu/Mitrofanov, but they don't need to be placed in a position where they feel undue pressure to perform well. The judges at Worlds are unlikely to receive L/M with high scores. And L/M would have to skate in the first or second group, which would be another drawback. The real problem I feel is that the competitive set-up of the sport is just faulty. It's very hard for teams to fully develop with the dearth of competitive opportunities and narrow windows to make an impression, and there are as you indicated, huge expectations and high technical demands placed on the top skaters chosen for competitive berths throughout the season. Moreover, the scoring system sucks.

Honestly, with their quality, K/F are not being fully respected by the judges, which probably adds to their nerves. I was just so disappointed to see them not win in this relatively middle to lower-tier field. Especially, when first place was in their grasp. Also, they need to fix whatever is going wrong with their twist. Something is off there. I understand all the issues you outlined with C/J. That's why I think they should have ended their high note at Warsaw Cup and called it a fall season, gone home and prepared for U.S. Nationals. I've spoken about the unfortunate loss of momentum and bad luck C/J have been up against, when they should have two appearances at Worlds under their belts by now, if not for the pandemic, and that Murphy's Law drug-related mishap.

Obviously, I don't know what's going to happen at U.S. Nationals, keeping in mind that U.S. fed often makes decisions based on favoritism. But I agree K/F deserve to go to Worlds and Olympics. The issue is that despite all the pressure on them, deep inside they gotta decide what they want, find a way to be centered, and go after their desire to win with precision and a mixture of calm intensity. That requires believing they can do it when it matters. Of course, they shouldn't beat themselves up, but they just have to accept the judges aren't going to give them anything, and find a way to be calm and relaxed under pressure, in order to perform the way they can. Pairs is tough, and it's high stakes. If you can't stand the heat, you ain't gonna make it in the heat of battle, on the cold, cold ice. No excuses, not even about injuries. It's dog-eat dog tough, and that's an understatement.

Check out what it takes from true champions at the highest level: Savchenko/Massot were in 4th place after one tiny mistake in the sp at the 2018 Olympics (Bruno performed a sbs double instead of a triple). With that one mistake, they still knew they had a chance. They didn't entertain any other notions, or worry about the judges and their competitors. They knew what they could do and they believed they could do it. That's what enabled them to come out and perform the way they did in the fp, in iconic style (backed up by training and years of experience and hard work). However, Savchenko's focus and desire truthfully is something very rare. Bruno raised his level, because he was determined to help her finally win Olympic gold (for himself too).

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I guess it's been mentioned, but this was a low-rent competition, with apparently a long ride to the rink for skaters. It's nice that the livestream was provided to fans, but it wasn't left up for on-demand viewing. And it's a sad comment on the entire event when the winners of the pairs competition had their fp interrupted due to the stream faltering. That's unacceptable, and it happens too often.

Oh yes, and as @ladyjane mentioned, the camera guy took a lunch break in the middle of C/J's fp. Unforgiveable technical snafus. But overall figure skating is apparently a low-rent, low-prestige sport.

 

[gold12345]

No. American pairs are definitely not in need of three spots if they keep skating like this. What are they gonna use those spots for? Clean your house and then try to win those spots. At the moment I feel like Georgia deserves two spots more than America deserves three. They might have talent in spades, but to go on a Challenger after none of them managed to qualify for GPF and still lose 2/3 spots on the podium is not something to be that much proud of. And mind you, all of the other teams besides L/M gave them plenty of change to make that podium.

Saying Georgia deserves 2 pairs spots more than the US deserves 3 spots right after 3 US pairs just placed ahead of the 2nd Georgian pair (with one of those US pairs scoring drastically lower than they usually score) doesn't make much sense. But I agree Georgia deserves 2 pairs spots... and the US also deserves 3 spots. The way the ISU allocates spots is faulty and turns Worlds into an enormous pressure cooker when it doesn't need to be; skaters shouldn't be responsible for earning Worlds spots for other skaters. The magic number of "13 to get 3 spots" is random. Why not 2 skaters in the top 10 to get 3 spots? Spots should be based on something like world ranking and representation on the GP. The US pairs don't always score great, but they score well enough to have the right to send 3 skaters to compete.

In the grand scheme of things, a Challenger event in December isn't that crucial. This is the skaters' brief moment of downtime before the second half of the season ramps up. You don't want your best skates here; it's okay to have an off day. I'm assuming for newer pairs like Knierim/Frazier and James/Radford, coming here was more about gaining another competitive experience than anything else. I wouldn't call these events practice events, but higher level skaters have referred to them as warmup events for bigger events, a way to get your feet wet or test things out. You really don't want to peak here. The Olympics is 2 competitions in one with the team event, so this time of year has to be for conserving some energy, both mental and physical.

I also wish we wouldn't knock countries for not qualifying to the GPF. Because it's based on placement not score, there's a decent amount of luck involved in making GPF based on what each GP field looks like. It can be very difficult to qualify for the GPF in pairs because Russia has many pairs that score high whether they skate that well or not. Oftentimes Russian pairs deserve big scores as they are able to make up for mistakes in other areas (their quality, strength of elements, etc), but when Boikova/Kozlovskii are scoring 130+ with 2 falls and Artemeva/Nazarychev are scoring 130+ with a big error and some of the smallest pair elements out there, it becomes that much more challenging for other countries to make the GPF.

 

[moonvine]

Whoa-ho-ho-ho! Who showed up? Lu/Mitrofanov! Send Lu/Mitrofanov and Cain-Gribble/LeDuc to Worlds. The other U.S. teams are responding way too tentatively to pressure.

Golden Spin was not an exceedingly deep field. There were some names here, many of whom underperformed. After their silver at Warsaw, perhaps C/J needed to get back to the rink and work, work, work on their snafus. Both C/J and Knierim/Frazier possess the superior talent to go 1 and 2 in this field. Yes, that was possible. So was the possibility of James/Radford breaking out to skate clean sp and fp in this, once again, not that deeply experienced field.

Knierim/Frazier simply have no excuse and they know it. Yep, the judges do not do them any favors much of the time. But, they have got to show up and show out. Especially when the top scores in the sp were that close. I knew that the Georgian team (Safina/Berulava) who landed percentage points in first after the sp, are a nice team, but inexperienced and still developing. The judges like their elegant style. But personally, for me, I am much more engaged by the edgy difference of Metelkina/Parkman, so this Georgian rivalry will be so much fun to watch in coming seasons. Yes, M/P are a bit rough around the edges, but very interesting, and very talented.

It is different when you're young and hungry and going after reaching the top. But that transition has to be made when you are nearing the end of your career with a new partnership. A transition from young and hungry to experienced but new together. By now, K/F should have made that transition. They were in a great position, because again, Safina/Berulava were not a solid #1. All K/F had to do was block out that Lu/Mitrofanov skated great. Keep eyes on the prize! It was there for K/F for the taking. Oh boy.

I really wonder about how U.S. fed is gonna process this. They better not process it as K/F are still favored. Unless K/F come out blazing blades and hitting it like they want to win it at U.S. Nationals, they shouldn't be favored. I do love them, but they have disappointed time and again. Like I said, in this field, both K/F and C/J have the talent to go 1 and 2, with Lu/Mitrofanov 3 for that matter. But again, there was tight scoring among a lot of talented teams who underperformed in either the sp and/or the fp, including K/F and C/J. This is not looking good for how the Irvine teams present under competition conditions. I don't know what the underlying problems are in not fulfilling their tremendous talent. They have to believe they can do it. There aren't that many opportunities to break through to where the judges consistently reward you. If you keep freezing up with nerves when you can taste first place, or the podium in any number of competitions, you just aren't going to make the cut globally. Domestically, we shall see.

The extra sad thing is that Knierim/Frazier coming together so quickly over the pandemic season was hugely inspirational, I believe, for many teams (including the veteran pairing of James/Radford, and the coming together of a number of new partnerships internationally). Sadly, K/F were also tight at 2021 Worlds (as were Ashley/Timothy). The U.S. was so close to bringing back three spots for Worlds and Olympics, which the U.S. pairs discipline needs, because they are deep in pairs talent. But, there's only two spots available, so U.S. Nationals will be pressure-filled. The question is, which U.S. teams are on a roll with momentum and fierceness competitively?

In terms of the other top teams at Golden Spin, I'm happy that Metelkina/Parkman made the podium. There are some exciting partnerships developing in pairs worldwide. So I hope going forward we will see more competitiveness at the top against the Russians always running away in the scoring.

What? You would send them to Worlds off the result of a single Senior B?

I can’t make too many other comments as I fell asleep again and the stream is blocked…but I doubt (hope) that USFS doesn’t do anything off the results of a single competition.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

What? You would send them to Worlds off the result of a single Senior B?

I can’t make too many other comments as I fell asleep again and the stream is blocked…but I doubt (hope) that USFS doesn’t do anything off the results of a single competition.

Nope, I was just overly emotional in the moment, and I posted without thinking it through for a beat. This was such a good chance for K/F. The win was up for grabs. Not that it's so important a competition in the scheme of things. But hopefully, K/F learn something to get themselves on track when they need to be. It's up to them. K/F, C-G/LD, and C/J are excellent teams, but they all have to believe in themselves. Lu/Mitrofanov are coming on strong, but they are still developing and gaining in experience. It's really nice to see L/M coming out of their shells and having programs that show their maturity and that they can perform well.

The judging wasn't great here. Plus, a lot of technical snafus and probably conditions for the skaters weren't that comfortable with the long commute to the arena.