Why are there not so many pairs teams left?

[skylark]

^^^Is that referring to Vanessa James??

that's the only person I could think of, but I haven't heard of her & Eric's plans going forward. Again, I may be out of the loop.

ETA: LOL, I must have posted at almost the exact moment as @SubRosa did, answering above.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Anyways, the only thing I'll state is the US has not recently dominated ice dance by any stretch.

The U.S. has a lot of strong dance teams. They have had two or three highly competitive, podium-worthy teams at the top in ice dance for a very long time.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Before, pairs used to be for single skaters who could jump a triple or two but couldn't get the full arsenal of jumps. So it was an "easy" switch in search of more success.

Now it seems, pairs is even more difficult than singles given the required level of difficulty in all their elements. For smaller federations with limited skaters, there may be be very little appeal to be a pairs team if there are enough international opportunities to go around.

That being said, I think there may be more boys/men looking to join pairs, especially in bigger feds, as getting a quad seems essential to success and there is still only a small subsect of men who can acquire one.

^^ Today, I think that's less true, especially not in the sense of pairs being a lesser than afterthought. You are right that there is an increasing interest in singles skaters considering pairs as an option. The U.S. has been actively recruiting and promoting singles skaters to think about pairs as a viable career. Pairs has always been a difficult discipline due to the unison that's required. A lot of jumping wasn't required initially, but pairs began incorporating jumps or hops and lifts much earlier than I had realized. Pairs has increasingly become very athletic intensive, with difficult and dangerous moves. Certainly, for some athletes, moving to pairs is felt to be a good option for extending their careers. For example, it's a great alternative for someone like Nic Nadeau, who has suffered injuries that hampered his progress as a singles skater. And being so tall, Nic is a great fit for being a pairs skater, if he can master all the skills that are necessary, which I'm sure he can.

In certain eras, it might be the case that some skaters considered pairs because they couldn't advance their skillset in singles. This might be especially true for some skaters in the U.S. However, it takes a specific set of skills to be successful as a pairs skater too. So, the main thing is that it's normal for people to become pairs skaters after starting out as singles skaters, simply because most people learn to skate singly. Sometimes young athletes may be paired up for ice dance, or for pairs early on when they're still developing. A small number of skaters enjoy competing in both pairs and singles for the growth experiences they can gain. Johnny Weir, for example. skated pairs briefly, along with singles, when he was younger. Ashley Cain-Gribble was started out in pairs by her father. So, she learned pairs first, and then she later skated singles for awhile, competing in both disciplines. When Josh Reagan split their partnership (they won 2012 U.S. Nationals in junior pairs), Ash decided to skate singles only, until she was paired with Timothy LeDuc in 2016.

Also, the development of pairs and ice dance was fairly allied. Early pairs teams resemble ice dancers in the joined arm holds they do. The main difference was that ice dancers were not allowed to experiment with overhead lifts; dance patterns on the ice took precedence. Still, from the history I have been discovering (read James R Hines' Figure skating in the formative years), ice dance and pairs grew by adopting inspiration and moves from each other. Especially, in recent years, there's been such an obvious and refreshing cross-fertilization between pairs and ice dance, yet there are still very distinctive trademark differences that set these disciplines apart.

In his book, Hines indicates that both pairs and ice dance came about organically as a result of women entering the sport competitively, in the early years. It also wasn't unusual in the very early elitist days of competitive skating, that some gifted athletes would compete in both speed skating and figure skating, or e.g., in tennis and in figure skating, and at a high level too. (I recently learned that Axel Paulson was a speed skater before he became a figure skater). Anyway, there were not deep fields in these sports back then, and no real monetary rewards either. A lot of these athletes came from wealthy or well-to-do families in the first place.

There's a fascinating thread on this forum about pairs lifts and the development of pairs skating. Everyone with an interest in pairs should check it out. I'm going to post some interesting info regarding the twist lift, along with a fascinating YouTube podcast episode that took place in December 2020, but I only saw it for the first time two days ago.

Sorry for my overlong post. I'm just excited and passionate about the pairs discipline. Maybe you already knew that!