2023 World Junior Pairs Free Skate

[lariko]

exactly,because there was absolutely no interest in pairs and dance in japan... but things are changing quickly... nobody would have ever believed that daisuke would pick dance up... it is creating a lot of interest.. the team event has also contributed a lot to this...

pioneers are needed ! Shin Amano was a pair skater by the way... Mervin Tran and Narumi Takahashi won a bronze medal for Japan a long time ago... they split because he was canadian and couldn't get citizenship... Kihara skated with her a while back.. they were not a good fit... he was quite weak... It was a huge surprise for me when he managed to become such a good partner... I surely didn't expect it.

I think it's possible that with their recent success with the team event and world medal, they may decide to invest on pairs a little more... they are contenders for Team gold if they can secure 3 out of the 4 disciplines and not do too badly in dance... opportunities bring more opportunities

Tbh, I kinda hoping to see China more in FS again than Japan blocking everyone else in all disciplines.

 

[4everchan]

Tbh, I kinda hoping to see China more in FS again than Japan blocking everyone else in all disciplines.

well, it's up to China to rebuild. An was a nice discovery for me. I am not sure why they lacked so much vision after the home Olympics... Sui Han winning gold seemed to be the biggest goal, and once achieved, instead of building on it, they basked in the glory and forgot that worlds were around the corner and didn't send peng and jin... It's super weird. At least we saw young pairs at 4CC and words this year. Chinese skaters can be wonderful... I recommend you watch Lu Chen at her prime... of course, you probably already know Han Yan. Since you like pairs, you can watch Vancouver 2010 olympics... and see the triumph of Chinese pairs. It was a special moment. Just for the records, my hope for Japan is not that they block everyone else but that they start developing dance and pairs with the same serious they develop the singles skating...

 

[lariko]

well, it's up to China to rebuild. An was a nice discovery for me. I am not sure why they lacked so much vision after the home Olympics... Sui Han winning gold seemed to be the biggest goal, and once achieved, instead of building on it, they basked in the glory and forgot that worlds were around the corner and didn't send peng and jin... It's super weird. At least we saw young pairs at 4CC and words this year. Chinese skaters can be wonderful... I recommend you watch Lu Chen at her prime... of course, you probably already know Han Yan. Since you like pairs, you can watch Vancouver 2010 olympics... and see the triumph of Chinese pairs. It was a special moment. Just for the records, my hope for Japan is not that they block everyone else but that they start developing dance and pairs with the same serious they develop the singles skating...

You know me. Skating starts now, but I loved Han Yan. Also, An was sublime in SP, but I think lack of experience might have gotten to her in the free, but I was an instant fame as well as of the pair and dance team. The pair’s male partner had so much charisma and the dance team had ‘it’ that makes watching from beginning to end worth it. With Y. Chen, their junior team was extremely strong/promising/loveable this year and I can’t wait to see these guys in JGP again. And, I hope, politics doesn’t prevent them from competing in JWC next year!

 

[4everchan]

You know me. Skating starts now, but I loved Han Yan. Also, An was sublime in SP, but I think lack of experience might have gotten to her in the free, but I was an instant fame as well as of the pair and dance team. The pair’s male partner had so much charisma and the dance team had ‘it’ that makes watching from beginning to end worth it. With Y. Chen, their junior team was extremely strong/promising/loveable this year and I can’t wait to see these guys in JGP again. And, I hope, politics doesn’t prevent them from competing in JWC next year!

yeah.. i know you don't like watching the old stuff but here is something to consider : if Chinese pairs were so dominant, taking their program from nil to the Olympics gold and silver in 2010, they can do it again.. if they want to ..

 

[skylark]

well, honestly, the Japanese pairs scored well in juniors because they are excellent singles skaters. Their jumps earned them tons of points.. but the rest was pretty basic. In juniors, their SBS jumps have contributed to keep them in top 5 but in seniors, where other team do triples, even if they don't have lutzes or 3-3, they would not be super competitive with their basic throws and lifts... As they are both single skaters, they can keep training pairs on the side, and keep competing in singles until they are age eligible... or they can make new partnership...
Actually, if Japan were smart, they would split them up and make two good pairs with them, one junior and one senior.

Actually, if Japan were smart, they would learn from their own experience and not assume that a team that works well together can just be split up and shuffled. Not with a guaranteed good effect, anyway.

I kept an eye on Narumi Takahashi and Ryuichi Kihara for years, since Kihara was teamed with Takahashi immediately after the break with Mervin Tran. Neither found partnerships that worked well together until Kihara was teamed with Miura.

Just seeing Ryuichi and Riku together at NHK in 2019 was such a revelation. All of a sudden, Ryuichi could jump! I think it's related to what Ryuichi said recently in an interview, that their skating skills are so similar. The most difficult part of pairs for nearly everyone is the SBS jumps, and it's not because the individuals can't jump individually. It's really hard to match with a partner, and then you add in the difficulty of preparing and executing jumps so close to another skater, and then add in the stress of competition. Some pairs (ahem, Duhamel/Redford, sorry not sorry) don't seem to even try for unity or beauty. But I'm really happy that most do!

I hope that a couple other people may enjoy this tangent (and rant) as much as I did. If not, that's okay.

 

[4everchan]

Actually, if Japan were smart, they would learn from their own experience and not assume that a team that works well together can just be split up and shuffled. Not with a guaranteed good effect, anyway.

You know, I am simply suggesting this, not because i want them to split, but because of the age difference that will sideline them anyway... There have been many good new pairs coming out from other partnerships recently.. so why not ?
Kihara and Takahashi were ill-matched... he just needed to find his gem and he did. Happy for him.
The rest of the post, not sure I agree about some of it so I purposely only quoting the top part which is relevant to the discussion about these two