2021 Skate Canada: Pairs Short Program

[MaiKatze]

Waking up to Sui/Han Number One and /Seegert third? Well, I think pairs might actually be the discipline I will like best this season! Ha!

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Wow, what a crappy feed!?#%&! At Canada's GP, two Canadian teams' programs are botched. Unbelievable. On Peacock, just as M-T/M were introduced on the ice, the feed abruptly quit and went to a black screen, and then it said "Coverage Concluded." No effort to come back with some recovery of those last two programs???!! I guess it's a symbol of everything breaking down these days, with absolutely no accountability.

Apparently, the ISU feed came back for at least part of Sui/Han's short program. Looking at the placements, I suppose M-T/M made an error to be behind Hase/Seegert, in Canada. I'll have to check the protocols. H/S did perform very well.

I like Vanessa's new sp dress, the style and the white color look great on her, and her hair was nice too. Unfortunately, the fallout and 2-footed landing on the throw happened, plus they were out of sync on the sbs spins. Being out of sync on sbs spins is surprising for J/R, because they'd been very good on sbs spins in all their initial training clips. I think they were also fine on sbs spins in some of their early comps. It just looks like being new partners to each other is still taking a bite out of them. J/R have lovely qualities, so I hope they can get it together. I would really like to see them at their best, and bringing some stronger competition and excitement to what is so far a fairly same-old, same-old pairs field globally (aside from a few bright spots).

As usual, the Americans can't afford any mistakes. We saw at Finlandia Trophy, when Ash/TImothy skated so well, the judges kept them down around 64+ in the sp! I feel they should have been scored at least 66 to 67 in the Finlandia sp. Ash/Timothy are obviously not being rated highly at all. I guess part of it is political, in that Ash/Timothy aren't being seen any longer as a top U.S. pairs team, and that's sad. Due to a less stacked field at Finlandia, and because Ash/Timothy skated both programs clean, they ended up in third there with a bronze medal. That should have provided them with a boost of confidence. They have lovely programs, so the lowballing at SC is very unfortunate. I would have had Ash/Tim scored at least 63.50 in the sp, for their quality elements. The 61+ score is an undeserved punishment. Ash/Timothy have wonderful lines and their sbs spins were very nice and in sync. They performed their triple twist very competently without any mistakes, and it's just a lovely program with interesting music.

What I saw of Sui/Han was good, not spectacular. Maybe they are healed from their injuries, but they aren't bringing anything at all exciting with their programs and music selections this season, which is too bad. I thought their sp score was overly high at 78+. Maybe 76 to 77 is more in the ballpark, even including the spotting of extra points for rep that they always receive. At least, they didn't make any major mistakes.

I like Pavliuchenko/Khodykin of Russia. I enjoy them more than Boi/Koz these days. P/K had a fun program, and Daria looks more mature at age 18. They had some sharp elements, and I thought they'd be scored higher. Maybe they would have received 70 had Daria not fallen when Khodykin threw her over his back. I'm not sure what happened, because it's unclear how she was supposed to land (e.g., with legs far apart or closer together?) -- possibly she lost her balance, or her blades slipped. Anyway, the fall didn't happen on a money element.

I can't believe that Hase/Seegert will be managing to pull off a third place victory over the top two Canadian teams at Skate Canada. H/S are a lovely team to watch, but I don't think their elements overall are as high quality as higher second tier and top tier teams. They do often get the job done, though and they always seem in sync and happy together. They seem to pick nice songs formerly used by other teams (J/C's Say Something previously; now C/J's You Are the Reason).

I didn't get to see much of Matte/Ferland's program due to the botched feed. It looks like a fairly clean performance, with their usual vibe. Similar for Great Britain's Jones/Boyadji -- they had a few miscues, but skated with joy and passion despite not having top-notch quality elements.


Also, I wonder if it's Skate Canada who decided to not to show the TES score box on screen. I don't think any scores were shown, only heard from the in-arena announcers.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I do have Opera

Opera did not show M-T/M, only part of Sui/Han's sp is up at the very end of the ISU video (after a black screen for minutes).

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

This might be more worrisome than Hubble/Donahue's FD lift.

Yeah, Pav/Kho's creativity on the 3-twist dismount seems risky. Interesting and unexpected, but not that well-executed, and is it legal?

 

[GoneWithTheWind]

Yeah, Pav/Kho's creativity on the 3-twist dismount seems risky. Interesting and unexpected, but not that well-executed, and is it legal?

From my reading of the technical handbook, it seems to be legal.
It gives this description of a twist lift:

The Woman must be caught in the air at the waist by the Man prior to landing and be assisted to a smooth landing on the ice on a backward outside edge on one foot.

And I'm guessing Daria and Denis are doing the overhead cartwheel (not sure how else to describe it?) to emphasise this feature:

Catching the Woman without her hand(s), arm(s) or any part of the upper body touching the Man

As he clearly catches her without her touching him and then cartwheels her around before landing her, which shows great control.

However, there's no extra feature listed for 'difficult exit' so other than to add a touch of uniqueness, I'm not sure of its purpose, although, I do think it will look awesome once they can do it more cleanly.

Tech Handbook (pg26-27): https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/...0-tp-handbook-pair-skating-2020-21-final/file

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Haven't watched the whole thing - I just watched Zoe and Chris so that I could write a report for their Fan Fest. But, I saw this conversation when looking for comments about them, and just had to respond to it.

as strange as it may sound i don't have any child in this competition

Yes, that is strange.

Does that mean that you don't think anybody here is cute?

(Just remember, I have two daughters in this field. So, be careful what you say!)

I think you should set your eyes on Zoe. You would not only get another child but also three lovely grandchildren. A real steal!

Erm, I've already adopted Zoe.

The only one of my children who is older than me...

or she could adopt me and get something like 20 grandchildren. it's a great deal

But then, that would make me your grandfather. And that would just be weird. Plus, no matter what you might say, I'm not old enough to have great-grandchildren!

maybe you could adopt each other?

not even the best soap operas have dared so much

Hey, sometimes real life can be even stranger than the soaps.

I know if a certain sportsman (not a skater) who only revealed a couple of years ago that he had secretly been in a relationship with his step-sister for 11 years, since they were 14. And nobody suspected a thing. Sure, everybody saw her about, but they just though "oh, there's his sister". They are now married and expecting a baby.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Seven Sisters]

Just popping in with a report live from Vancouver of yesterday’s proceedings. This was my first time seeing any of these teams live. Quick notes—
S/H awesome, look to be already in mid-season form; though she’s a stunner, live, he is the one you watch—a pairs man of the absolute highest order
P/K—SP packed chock-full of incredibly difficult wow elements, which with more mileage and smoothness will be fabulous and tough to beat
MT/M—noticeably overscored, there was not one element that looked clean. One plus: Mike is noticeably better looking live—I guess he’s one of those folks who doesn’t photograph well
J/R—their newness together shows, understandably. Noticeable timing issues. Vanessa in last lift looked scared or at least, seemed unconfident
CG/LD—White Crow program is actually decent, except for abrupt ending that could use reworking. looked better live than I thought it would. Good ice presence!
M/F—very nice music choice

 

[s_parks]

S/H awesome, look to be already in mid-season form; though she’s a stunner, live, he is the one you watch—a pairs man of the absolute highest order

Thanks for the live report. And I'm always here for some Cong Han love. Just pure quality in every possible aspect of pairs men. (Rylov being a close second for me)

 

[labgoat]

2021 Skate Canada Pairs SP as shown by CBC
You will need a VPN to Canada to see some of the skates missed by the blackout of the ISU feed

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Also, I wonder if it's Skate Canada who decided to not to show the TES score box on screen. I don't think any scores were shown, only heard from the in-arena announcers.

Must have been an additional technical glitch during the sp, since the tech box and scores in the kiss 'n cry were shown in other disciplines.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Must have been an additional technical glitch during the sp, since the tech box and scores in the kiss 'n cry were shown in other disciplines.

OK, thanks. I thought it was maybe just Peacock on demand. I was madder than a wet hen. No Sui and Han!!!!!! Hanging offense. And no scores on screen before that.....just bad quality audio......sounded like Charley Brown's parents in his cartoons

 

[CoyoteChris]

Waking up to Sui/Han Number One and /Seegert third? Well, I think pairs might actually be the discipline I will like best this season! Ha!

Loved Sui and Han since they were knee high to a grasshopper......PaulE and I saw them ...where? 2010 Skate America Portland where they came in third.....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Skate_America
Not alot of fans...they announced you could stay for the gala if you were already inside.....wonderful group of skaters for me....