2023 Cup of China Pairs Free Skate

[ladyjane]

Tatarata! Just watched the pairs Programme at CoC and I had a good time. I love Deanna and Maxime, better last time but still wonderful, good to see the Chinese are still doing good in pairs, as are the Italians - Rebecca and Filippo are always fun and I find Anna and Manuel endearing. The Americans a bit underwhelming, but still a beter FS than their SP. Great evening again.

 

[Ares]

Is 1st+4th enough to make the GPF?

Most likely it won't be enough.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Most likely it won't be enough.

I've looked it up and am now slightly less worried - 24 (with the highest tie-breaker) hasn't been enough only twice in pairs (2017/18 and 2019/20), so while there's definitely a chance (and pairs has been a bit messy and chaotic this season, I must admit), I wouldn't say most likely quite yet.

We'll see, we'll likely know after GP Espoo. If Conti/Macii and Pavlova/Sviatchenko go 1-2 in any order, H/K are out. If Hase/Volodin take first or second over either of the teams mentioned prior, H/K are probably in.

 

[rain]

Interesting to see both Deanna and Max and Piper and Paul having a tougher time here after their light's out skates at Skate Canada. Max and Deanna still clearly the class of the field. Love the program more all the time. Their speed is much, much improved. Little glitches. You know she won't be happy with that, lol.

I'm now totally convinced that they plan for Rebecca Ghilardi to fall on the side by side triple sals. She doesn't look anywhere close to landing.

While not the only ones to have lift problems, Wang and Zhu scared the crap out of me at the end of that program. Zhang/Yang and Peng/Wang both have potential, but you can see that China is rebuilding a pairs program almost from the ground up. I wonder what happened.

 

[Skater Boy]

I am cheering for Deanna and Max but they really need to up the speed/finish and amplitude and get one element at least which is like super wow. They have no ultra C elements like a throw quad, quad twist, individual triple lutzes or flips. or say 3 sal 3 sal 2 axel. Look how well the second Italian team did against them here. The judges don't seem to like them that much looking at the scores. I say that because I compare them to Alexa and Brendan and the marks they got. Even when clean or near clean Deanna and Max struggle to get mid seventies and are definitely not getting near 80. THe win this week was not so decisive. I feel even with errors they could be getting higher scores including pcs. So I think the judges are saying they are willing to give the Italians or Japanese the gold.

 

[Ruthypegs]

Yes, it's great for her as Matteo is a great partner. And in her situation she was not forced/coaxed by anyone or forced by some circumstances to do that afaik - it was her own decision to do Pairs unlike in uhm ... certain teams that were formed in the past. But I still have a lot of sadly unflattering associations when it comes to such teams from the past and it also makes me wonder how long they can continue skating together given that he's 35. But maybe Rebecca can find some other partner if/when Matteo decides to retire.

Or Matteo can do a Deanna, and keep skating into his 40s? I think that he and Lucrecia already have loads of potential, (but for me, their free is difficult to watch because of the "Cats" theme/music )

 

[Sk8swan]

Yes, it's great for her as Matteo is a great partner. And in her situation she was not forced/coaxed by anyone or forced by some circumstances to do that afaik - it was her own decision to do Pairs unlike in uhm ... certain teams that were formed in the past. But I still have a lot of sadly unflattering associations when it comes to such teams from the past and it also makes me wonder how long they can continue skating together given that he's 35. But maybe Rebecca can find some other partner if/when Matteo decides to retire.

When they teamed up age difference was a ? in everyone's mind. But in the end they matched extremely well physically. For Lucrezia, Matteo is the best partner she could ask for. He has been doing pairs since he was 6/7 years old, basically his whole life. And if anyone is a bit familiar with roller skating, you might know how intricate and difficult pair lifts are and were already in the 90s. Thanks to his huge experience as a pair skater, I'm sure Lucrezia felt safe with him during the lifts despite the really freaky accident she had a few years back when she tried pairs for the first time. This match will help her develope more and more as a pair skater and I'm sure she will have all the chances to keep going with another partner even after 2026.
P. S. I read a lot of appreciation for all the Italian pairs lifts... Well you have to thank the best roller skating pair coaches (Venerucci, to name one) for passing on their experience to ice skating coaches