I observed an interesting phenominon that there seems to be a lot of pressure on female skaters to keep thin. When you see a female skater starts to struggle with her jumps, the first reaction usually is: She seems to have gained some weight this year, maybe that's why her jumps are no longer consistent.
But people seldom comment on what kind of impact several extra pounds can have on a male skater's jumping capability. Here's my random observations of several male pair skaters.
1. Zhang/Zhang, Hao Zhang(M)
2. Maria PETROVA / Alexei TIKHONOV, Alexei TIKHONOV(M)
3. Dorota SIUDEK / Mariusz SIUDEK, Mariusz SIUDEK(M)
4. Rena INOUE / John BALDWIN, John Baldwin(M)
All four male pair skaters seem a bit out of shape(you can argue Hao Zhang is more on the beefy side), and all four guys have problems with their sbs jumps this season.
In fact, I have not seen TIKHONOV and Siudek landing any clean jumps this season. Does this have anything to do their weight? Should they start to be on diet?
On the other hand, Hongbao Zhao is already 33 years old, but he is in much better shape than all three 'old' male pair skaters, he also has the most consistent sbs jumps this season despite having to recover from that horrible archilles tendon injury.
In fact I read a diary on shen & zhao's blog back in September on how both shen & zhao took strict measures at the beginning of the season to lose some extra pounds gained during off-season.(they are actually in pretty good shape even during off-season). Zhao commented that losing weight is beneficial for his jumps.
Don't you think male pair skaters need to control their weight in order to keep their sbs jumps consistent? or if I can change the question a bit, Do you think weight is one major reason why those male pair skaters can not land clean sbs jumps?
But people seldom comment on what kind of impact several extra pounds can have on a male skater's jumping capability. Here's my random observations of several male pair skaters.
1. Zhang/Zhang, Hao Zhang(M)
2. Maria PETROVA / Alexei TIKHONOV, Alexei TIKHONOV(M)
3. Dorota SIUDEK / Mariusz SIUDEK, Mariusz SIUDEK(M)
4. Rena INOUE / John BALDWIN, John Baldwin(M)
All four male pair skaters seem a bit out of shape(you can argue Hao Zhang is more on the beefy side), and all four guys have problems with their sbs jumps this season.
In fact, I have not seen TIKHONOV and Siudek landing any clean jumps this season. Does this have anything to do their weight? Should they start to be on diet?
On the other hand, Hongbao Zhao is already 33 years old, but he is in much better shape than all three 'old' male pair skaters, he also has the most consistent sbs jumps this season despite having to recover from that horrible archilles tendon injury.
In fact I read a diary on shen & zhao's blog back in September on how both shen & zhao took strict measures at the beginning of the season to lose some extra pounds gained during off-season.(they are actually in pretty good shape even during off-season). Zhao commented that losing weight is beneficial for his jumps.
Don't you think male pair skaters need to control their weight in order to keep their sbs jumps consistent? or if I can change the question a bit, Do you think weight is one major reason why those male pair skaters can not land clean sbs jumps?