2021 Golden Spin of Zagreb: Pairs Short Program

[lariko]

Nope, Rostelecom men were far more random, especially after the short

No, I mean, on the whole between all 4 disciplines

 

[gold12345]

The results don't feel that random aside from James/Radford. Artemeva/Nazarychev are one of the top pairs here, but they also scored as low as 61 on the GP, so it wasn't a big shock for them to score that here. The Georgian pairs did well, but didn't score anything far from their usual.

Knierim/Frazier could easily be leading by a good margin, but they had a couple fluke things happen- a rough twist and a q call for their solid 3Ts. They're both good about finishing their jump rotations in the air, so I'm not sure who the q was for even after going back to review it, but in any event, that's a fluke call for them. They were given Level 3 on the twist, go figure-- they did it much better in their France LP but somehow got Level 2 there. But regardless, they took a GOE hit here and are easily capable of a much better twist. On the lift they had a weird issue trying to grab her blade. Overall it was a stronger SP than their last event, but it wasn't their peak performance. They tend to skate a little freer in the LP.

Artemeva/Nazarychev's twist GOE were again too high given how low their twist is. The judges who gave it +1 were more accurate than the +3s. But given the various twist errors in this event today, even doing a basic clean twist felt like a success. The Georgian pairs have been good this year (they're actually Russian, but it's nice to see more country representation), but I noticed a similar thing with Safina/Berulava (who train with A/N) where their twist barely clears the man's head.

Lu/Mitrofanov have been skating clean SPs throughout their career. But their GOE are relatively low on their non-jump elements- rightfully so, they are average across the board. The twist, the death spiral, the throw, not their strong suits. But it's concerning how many lower scores Calalang/Johnson have had in the SP this season, two scores as low as 61. And it's helping make L/M look better merely for being steady even if it's not resulting in a huge score.

 

[lariko]

The results don't feel that random aside from James/Radford. Artemeva/Nazarychev are one of the top pairs here, but they also scored as low as 61 on the GP, so it wasn't a big shock for them to score that here. The Georgian pairs did well, but didn't score anything far from their usual.

Knierim/Frazier could easily be leading by a good margin, but they had a couple fluke things happen- a rough twist and a q call for their solid 3Ts. They're both good about finishing their jump rotations in the air, so I'm not sure who the q was for even after going back to review it, but in any event, that's a fluke call for them. They were given Level 3 on the twist, go figure-- they did it much better last time but somehow got Level 2. But regardless, they took a GOE hit and are easily capable of a much better twist. Even on the lift they had a weird issue trying to grab her blade. Overall it was a stronger SP than their last event, but it wasn't their peak performance. They tend to skate a little freer in the LP.

Artemeva/Nazarychev's twist GOE were again too high given how low their twist is. The judges who gave it +1 were more accurate than the +3s. But given the various twist errors in this event today, even doing a basic clean twist felt like a success. The Georgian pairs have been good this year (they're actually Russian, but it's nice to see more country representation), but I noticed a similar thing with Safina/Berulava (who train with A/N) where their twist barely clears the man's head.

Lu/Mitrofanov have been skating clean SPs throughout their career. But their GOE are relatively low on their non-jump elements- rightfully so, they are average across the board. The twist, the death spiral, the throw, not their strong suits. But it's concerning how many lower scores Calalang/Johnson have had in the SP this season, two scores as low as 61. And it's helping make L/M look better merely for being steady even if it's not resulting in a huge score.

Yes, I expected US pairs and Canadians to show stronger. I know TM/M had troubles but was hoping they will have a better showing here. S/B looked great in JGP, I but I haven’t seen them in Seniors (and I am happy for them, since JGPF spots conundrum made me feel for these guys).

 

[SkatersWaltz]

Sunday in the Park with George! Passion! I’d love it as long as we didn’t just get 50 Send In The Clowns.

Oh God. Don't remind me of that god awful 'Send in the Clowns' with Savchenko and Szolkowy. Talk about completely missing the point of the song (hint: it's not actually about clowns)

 

[4everchan]

for those interested... watch James Radford in slo-mo. The twist issue is due to Vanessa missing her pick .. she tried it a second time, but clearly Eric didn't feel safe to just throw her up... Someone put this in the comments on the youtube archive of their SP and I actually was able to really see the problem in slo mo thought i am no expert we learn.. we learn.... i am relieved because before reading seeing this, I wondered if there was an injury issue and it seems that it's not the case. fluke error... Considering they have had a great twist at a precedent event, it should work out fine int he LP... I guess the reshuffling of Canadian pairs is making the top teams very nervous. Hopefully it generates improvement for all of them in preparation for the O Games.

 

[gold12345]

Yeah it didn't look like an injury thing for Vanessa & Eric, just a really unlucky mishap. It happens. It's kind of been happening to the Canadian pairs a bit frequently this season. It reminded me of Kirsten & Michael's lift at one of their GPs not going up at all because something was off before it even went up.

I imagine it's not easy for the top Canadian pairs, as well as the top US pairs, to have to face each other over and over again in competition. They've competed against each other a lot in the past year (especially the US pairs). It might be more relaxing to go against international pairs than each other at this point lol.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

So I guess the livestream gets blocked if you don't watch it in real time?

 

[skylark]

So I guess the livestream gets blocked if you don't watch it in real time?

If you open the livestream at any time that it's on in real time (like now) and leave it on, you can then move it forward or back however many hours you need to. As far as I can tell, they're not posting the events individually after the fact.

Hope this helps.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

^^ Thanks @skylark. There are a few individual sp performances posted by a fan, but not all of the teams are posted that I would like to see. I guess I missed my opportunity to see the sp livestream.

 

[skylark]

for those interested... watch James Radford in slo-mo. The twist issue is due to Vanessa missing her pick .. she tried it a second time, but clearly Eric didn't feel safe to just throw her up... Someone put this in the comments on the youtube archive of their SP and I actually was able to really see the problem in slo mo thought i am no expert we learn.. we learn.... i am relieved because before reading seeing this, I wondered if there was an injury issue and it seems that it's not the case. fluke error... Considering they have had a great twist at a precedent event, it should work out fine int he LP... I guess the reshuffling of Canadian pairs is making the top teams very nervous. Hopefully it generates improvement for all of them in preparation for the O Games.

Thank you! I'm so relieved. I was worrying about an injury too. I'm planning to watch it slo-mo on youtube later, after my morning laps.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

True but it will probably mean Jessica and Brian get to skate in the final group for the free. And we know those in the final group have an advantage.

Yeah, I didn't get to see Calalang/Johnson or Kirsten/Michael, so I can't speak directly to the sp performances at this event. But based on what I do know about both teams, and judging by their results so far this season, C/J would have an edge in overall skill set, especially with the trouble K&M have been having with their twist, their confidence and their consistency this season.

Regarding C/J, if not for their sbs jump issues, they should be right up there over 70+ points, as should Knierim/Frazier, but both teams make a bit too many errors here and there that they shouldn't be making with their talent and ability, and experience. Everyone knows C/J have problems on their sbs jumps, but their twist is one of the best in the world. Plus, they have excellent SS, with great speed and ice coverage. All of those things matter. C/J always get high GOE on their twist.