- Joined
- Jul 11, 2018
- Country
-
2023 World Team Trophy Pairs Free Skate
- Thread starter dorispulaski
- Start date
I believe Tara Lipinski once said in an interview she tried something similar at home while aspiring to be an Olympic skater.The one I'm building out of milk crates so that the skaters don't miss out on their moment of glory!
CaroLiza_fan
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2014
- Country
-
Gala is Sunday.
Tomorrow. Even earlier.
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2012
- Country
-
Nope. It's tomorrow. At an even earlier time - 6am here!
https://results.isu.org/schedules/WTT2023_ColouredSchedule.pdf
CaroLiza_fan
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2015
- Country
-
tomorrow i will be sleeping... there is no way I am watching a wtt gala... i never watch galas as i find them tacky... imagine the WTTT gala ... yes, i added a T for you know what word
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2015
- Country
-
i did a sage smudging before the LP at worlds and it backfired for Keegan... so yeah... I guess i could try again... but i may start getting superstitious
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2015
- Country
-
note the 9.75 given to KF despite a fall... judge 5 : you need to requalify
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2014
- Country
-
I'm sure we'll see the photo of this pop up around the web after the event is finished.
Why the heck are Knierim/Frazier splitting so soon. They haven't even been skating together for 3 years yet. US Figure Skating is such a mess. I'm just not impressed by their ability to keep skaters motivated, even ones who are having tremendous success. K/F's throws are better than ever, they are better than ever, the judges have really gotten on board with them in the past year and their potential is obvious. They score so well even with mistakes, mistakes that are fixable. It's frustrating they want to quit so much without reaching their full potential.
Alexa skated so well otherwise, but I'm sad for her she fell on the 3S, it's unusual for her to fall. It wouldn't be a big deal if there was another competition coming up, but who wants a fall on their last ever attempt at an element.
This was such a great competition for them, beating Miura/Kihara in both segments. And they still are very capable of doing better. It's just very frustrating that even a lot of immediate success doesn't motivate them to stay together.
Alexa skated so well otherwise, but I'm sad for her she fell on the 3S, it's unusual for her to fall. It wouldn't be a big deal if there was another competition coming up, but who wants a fall on their last ever attempt at an element.
This was such a great competition for them, beating Miura/Kihara in both segments. And they still are very capable of doing better. It's just very frustrating that even a lot of immediate success doesn't motivate them to stay together.
Last edited:
As much as I want K/F around for another year, I do think Alexa is done. I think she and Chris are moving to Chicago due to a coaching job and she may want to start a family. She and Brandon have accomplished a lot in the past few seasons. And if Russia is allowed to compete under a neutral flag, the field will be more competitive at the top.
Alexa already moved there. I know she's done, I just think it's borderline crazy, she's skating better than she ever has in her life and is just on the brink of skating up to her full potential. Knierim/Frazier are monumentally better matched than Knierim/Knierim, and all the results support that. K/F's first Olympics came right at the start of their partnership, 2026 would likely be their best Olympic chance. They should have at least one more really great World medal chance next season. K/F have accomplished a lot, but they're also still pretty new. They haven't even gotten to do a fully clean free skate in competition yet. I know Miura/Kihara stated a similar goal for next season. M/K have been together longer than K/F, but are more motivated for the future.
That was a strange part of this-- Alexa moving out of state for her husband's job as the season was occurring. Why was he taking a job as she was still invested in her skating career? The obvious answer is money, but there's only one K/F, but there are always other jobs. It seems like it put unnecessary pressure on her to make sure she stops skating and not consider otherwise with Brandon. I just hope this decision is coming from her and her alone.
As for having kids, she's always said she wants that, but there's more flexibility in that than this skating partnership which is truly "now or never". You definitely don't have to be pregnant by 31 to have children. But she will do whatever she wants. I just hope she and Brandon feel no regrets later in life when they look back.
If Russia can compete, I assume they'll have 1 spot for the next Worlds, so it'd still be another fantastic World medal opportunity. I'd say teams like K/F and M/K have established themselves enough as top pairs that they shouldn't back down from all the Russians. It's a good challenge to go against good teams. For example I feel the close competition between K/F and M/K has helped make both pairs better.
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2014
- Country
-
Alexa is 31 years old. She suffered a life threatening illness in 2017. She has moved back to Chicago, her hometown, to live with her husband. She has been skating senior pairs for 11 years.
If she wants to retire, it is completely understandable, and no one deserves it more.
Did I tear up watching an obviously emotional Alexa and Brandon after their skate? Yes, I did. If they are retiring, I will miss them.
If she wants to retire, it is completely understandable, and no one deserves it more.
Did I tear up watching an obviously emotional Alexa and Brandon after their skate? Yes, I did.
If they are retiring, I will miss them.
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2013
- Country
-
Interesting scoring. Despite finishing just behind the Italians, Max and Deanna won the judges 5 to 4 in the race to finish third.
The big difference appears to be with the Japanese judge, who found a nearly 8-point difference between the two pairs.
@4everchan will be delighted to know the Canadian judge scored the Italians ahead. LOL
The big difference appears to be with the Japanese judge, who found a nearly 8-point difference between the two pairs.
@4everchan will be delighted to know the Canadian judge scored the Italians ahead. LOL
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2015
- Country
-
HAHA well, it just confirms what I and others have been saying all along... our Canadian judges just don't favour our own skaters... It's been like this for as long as I have followed the sport... but it's getting much more obvious and discussed with the tools available now ...
Regarding the Japanese judge and Korean judge, the ones with the biggest gaps in favour of the Italians, maybe we should kick out their teams from training in Canada
(just kidding)
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2015
This is completely true. I wish nothing but happiness for both Alexa/ Brandon. They have both already given such a large part of their lives to figure skating. They should absolutely make whatever choice will contribute to their happiness and future goals.Alexa is 31 years old. She suffered a life threatening illness in 2017. She has moved back to Chicago, her hometown, to live with her husband. She has been skating senior pairs for 11 years.
If she wants to retire, it is completely understandable, and no one deserves it more.
Did I tear up watching an obviously emotional Alexa and Brandon after their skate? Yes, I did.
As a fan, it is just hard to accept that such a wonderful team who has been together for such a short time and continue to make progress at every competition is done. They were an amazing technical match from the beginning but this year they really grew artistically. Their program choices were more interesting to me this year than other teams especially their SP. I hope other teams will be inspired to try something unique and less sappy, sad pop. If that happens, then this team will have had an incredibly important influence on the sport despite their short time together.
Pairs has been the highlight of the season for me. ( Men's skating was also
) The season started out a bit depressing with the absence of some of the top pairs. However, so many new teams emerged as contenders while other slightly older teams made impressive progress. The pairs event at Worlds and WTT was , honestly, an improvement from the last four years. I just hope to see more interesting choreo next year especially from the Japanese and Canadian pairs. Please try another choreographer!
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2018
I would agree that Knierim & Frazier finished the season strong—but it occurs to me that they may have been able to do so precisely BECAUSE they knew that the end was in sight.
They can be proud of having gone out on a high note, and of honoring their coaches in a way that touched many hearts.
They can be proud of having gone out on a high note, and of honoring their coaches in a way that touched many hearts.
Deanna Stellato is 39 years old. She was competing internationally before Alexa even knew how to figure skate. There have been recent Olympic Champions in pair skating in their mid-30s, as well as many other pair skaters in their early-mid 30s. Many, many top pair skaters in recent memory have been in pair skating longer than 11 years.
If competitive skating no longer makes Alexa happy/fulfilled, she shouldn't do it, but I would hope Knierim/Frazier aren't intimidated by their age or how long they've been here with previous partners and don't allow it to dictate when they must retire. K/F have had a very short partnership so far, they've only been competing together for 2 and a half years, and have only gotten better with time. They are progressing extremely well as a pair.
As for Alexa's illness of 2016, not only has she fully recovered and has had a perfect health track-record since in terms of showing up to all her events, but she is in the best shape of her life and is doing the best skating of her life. She has gotten substantially stronger since that mystery illness that was never identified.
It's very unusual that a skater would have already moved out of state for their husband's job and would have agreed to it months before the season even started. It seemed to ensure K/F wouldn't have any real chance to consider a competitive future together past this season, and it's frustrating that they were not afforded that opportunity. If Alexa is leaving skating, I hope it's because she's no longer happy and/or motivated to compete and train, and not because she feels she has no choice at this point. You don't want to see anyone leave the sport because of issues involving money, although sadly it does happen.
Of course you wish for every skater to be happy with their choices, but it's still devastating to lose such an outstanding well-matched pair that has had a very short partnership, is still improving/building momentum, and is having a lot of success, more success than any US pair in decades. I think if one does not feel any frustration over this, they probably didn't care much in the first place. It's not even just about the skaters, it's a frustration with US Figure Skating who is in charge of supporting them, helping them to stay motivated, and providing them with incentive to continue. The money in US skating is pretty spread out, the top skaters probably aren't getting enough of it. We send random skaters to any random competition all over the globe, but don't make sure to keep our top World competitors in the sport.
K/F were able to skate strongly because they're an extremely talented pair. They've been skating very well since the 2022 Olympics onward. They took much of last summer off, so they had a bit of a slower start to the season, which was perfectly fine. But as they've been able to train and compete more, they've steadily improved throughout the entire season. It could be a lot of added pressure to skate when you think it's the last time, it might make you tight as you try to force a perfect last skate. And they still skated very well anyway. They've improved nicely since winning 2022 Worlds. It would be great if they were able to continue building on their momentum and take advantage of all the opportunity right there for them, but their heart would have to be in it.
Last edited:
Similar threads
- Sticky
- Sticky
