Some weeks ago I was updating Sequin & Bilodeau's OP and when I saw the results of the 2014/15 JGP Final, I was surprised to notice that 4 years later neither of the six pairs that qualified to the Final and skated in Barcelona exists any more (http://www.isuresults.com/results/gpf1415/CAT007RS.HTM). The only ones who survived the transformation to seniors and skated until last season were Julianne and Charlie but even they didn't manage to overcome the injuries or problems with consistency. This season only Chelsea Liu and Brian Johnson are still active, although both with new partners (Liu with Ian Meyh and Johnson with Jessica Calalang with whom he forms part of the US Reserve Team).
It's quite sad, but it also demonstrates how difficult pairs are from longevity perspective. There are many splits and partner changes and it's quite common for a skater to have had at least two partners even in their junior career. I went through the biographies of some of the top pair skaters and ice dancers and, without digging more deeply, I discovered that in ice dance the duos that succeed most are the ones who have skated together all their lives or most of their competitive career (Virtue/Moir, Papadakis/Cizeron, the Shibutanis, Davis/White) while in pairs switching partners does not seem to affect the future success so much. Surprisingly, it quite often leads to better results or at least more interesting/funny/mature programs. What’s more, in pairs big results may come even after only one or two seasons together. The most obvious examples are Volosozhar/Trankov and Savchenko/Massot, but also Zabiiako/Enbert or Peng/Jin are more successful now than some years ago with their previous partners.
Switching partners in senior ice dance is much more risky and the first results may be seen after several seasons together (the most recent example would be Sinitsina/Katsalapov) or even never (the first couple that comes to my mind is Tobias/Tkachenko, but surely there may be some better example as these two weren’t that bad together). I wonder why it is so. Do you think it’s more difficult for ice dancers to gel than for pair skaters? Or Pair skating isn't in the end so difficult as everybody claims? Or maybe it’s a question of reputation which is more difficult to gain in ice dance than in pairs?
It's quite sad, but it also demonstrates how difficult pairs are from longevity perspective. There are many splits and partner changes and it's quite common for a skater to have had at least two partners even in their junior career. I went through the biographies of some of the top pair skaters and ice dancers and, without digging more deeply, I discovered that in ice dance the duos that succeed most are the ones who have skated together all their lives or most of their competitive career (Virtue/Moir, Papadakis/Cizeron, the Shibutanis, Davis/White) while in pairs switching partners does not seem to affect the future success so much. Surprisingly, it quite often leads to better results or at least more interesting/funny/mature programs. What’s more, in pairs big results may come even after only one or two seasons together. The most obvious examples are Volosozhar/Trankov and Savchenko/Massot, but also Zabiiako/Enbert or Peng/Jin are more successful now than some years ago with their previous partners.
Switching partners in senior ice dance is much more risky and the first results may be seen after several seasons together (the most recent example would be Sinitsina/Katsalapov) or even never (the first couple that comes to my mind is Tobias/Tkachenko, but surely there may be some better example as these two weren’t that bad together). I wonder why it is so. Do you think it’s more difficult for ice dancers to gel than for pair skaters? Or Pair skating isn't in the end so difficult as everybody claims? Or maybe it’s a question of reputation which is more difficult to gain in ice dance than in pairs?