- Joined
- Mar 14, 2007
Wouldn't that still be Alexa and Chris? Not that they scored great at Worlds but they scored higher than the other US pair. And I believe they have scored higher than any other US pair this year?
2018-19 U.S. Pairs' Figure Skating
- Thread starter skylark
- Start date
Wouldn't that still be Alexa and Chris? Not that they scored great at Worlds but they scored higher than the other US pair. And I believe they have scored higher than any other US pair this year?
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
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There can be a lot of reasons why someone tears the roof off a place, some of which are completely unrelated to skating quality. Adelina Sotnikova's 2014 Olympic free skate tore the roof off of the stadium, was definitely greater than the sum of its parts, and had everyone buzzing--what an emotional once-in a lifetime performance in her home! On the other hand, Yuna's performance was just another one of her superb skates, not particularly emotional. Did Adelina's emotional performance deserve to beat Yuna's superior technique and skating? (no) Similarly Z/B's performance delivered on an emotional aspect, especially after their struggles (much of which has to do with time and place), but on element quality and skating skills, D/B were stronger. In my opinion, if the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, we have to ask why. The PCS should only reflect it if has to do with skating quality.
(And most certainly, whether you get the audience going should not affect levels. I don't think this needs to be supported, but unfair levels are really what did D/B in.)
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2012
Overall, Alexa & Chris have the highest scores. Tarah and Danny have one score that's about 1 point higher, from GP France, but their other scores weren't too good. Alexa & Chris beat Tarah & Danny by 26 points at NHK.
Alexa & Chris, please, please, bring it at Nationals!
Alexa & Chris, please, please, bring it at Nationals!
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
All good points.
Still, if I were in the business of offering advice to figure skaters, I would say: Sell it, sell it, sell it! If you do, the audience will like it and the judges will, too.
Even if you fall, get up and give 'em hell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w44ibqiPJtE
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2018
Where can I watch live?
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2007
NBC Sports Gold.
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2014
I don't know; it's a mystery.
Back in the 80s, pairs were required to do (only) a double twist in the SP and could do double, triple or quadruple in the long. Don't know why.
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
I don't know; it's a mystery.
I think it is because the original idea of the short program was that everyone should do the same list of elements, and whoever did them best would be the winner of that segment. So if only a few teams could do a triple twist at all, that element could not be in the list of elements that everyone is required to do.
Same with a double Axel being required for ladies for a long time. Even though there were one or two ladies who could do a triple Axel, that was not an element that everyone can do in order to compare one skater against another in terms of quality.
Little by little, the ISU abandoned that notion of what the short program was intended to be. Now it is just a long program, only shorter.
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
The more I think about it, the more I am coming to believe that this is the best explanation I have heard about the 2014 Olympic results. Sotnikova gave the skate of her life. Kim added another outstanding performance to her long list. The international judges, representing many different countries, each the cream of the judging crop in terms of ISU experience and expertise, went with Sotnikova.
Sarah Hughes gave the skate of her life in 2002, beating a relatively ho-hum performance by a superior skater, Irina Slutskaya .(Michelle Kwan took herself out of the running with technical mistakes.)
I guess this is the way it has always been in figure skating judging. The more the ISU tries to refine the scoring system, the more everything stays the same. :yes:
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2014
I'd like to ask everyone to send 
good thoughts to all the US pairs. If I'm waking up in the wee hours thinking about (the suicide*) how much worse it is for all who loved him. He was a positive force to so many of our pairs teams.
Ashley Cain has written an eloquent IG post. The first half is about how she's processing her grief. I hope all the skaters who loved John will read it. Her story about him makes me feel the impact. I hope you'll click the link, read it all, and watch the throw, but here's part of it.
In the comments there's a post from teammandmskating. I haven't figured out who that is, but here's part of their post:
ETA: Duh ... I clicked on their name in the comment. They are Morgan Hilbrich & Michael Poland, as of this week, as they said, they're the 9th best juvenile team in the nation.
* ETA 1/23/19: GS staff has asked us to keep his name out of posts, so I'm complying.
good thoughts to all the US pairs. If I'm waking up in the wee hours thinking about (the suicide*) how much worse it is for all who loved him. He was a positive force to so many of our pairs teams. Ashley Cain has written an eloquent IG post. The first half is about how she's processing her grief. I hope all the skaters who loved John will read it. Her story about him makes me feel the impact. I hope you'll click the link, read it all, and watch the throw, but here's part of it.
(In 2015) .... At this point I hadn’t done pairs since 2012 and thought that I would never do it again, I thought my body would have forgotten how to throw or be lifted. But you looked at me and made me believe that I could do it. When you lifted me up into the air(see video) it made me fall in love with pairs all over again. Then later that day, you gave me the confidence to try a throw triple sow, something I hadn’t done in 4 years. You looked at me and said “I’ve got you, just do your technique.” You threw me and I landed and I immediately started crying. It was this overwhelming sense of pride in myself. YOU made me feel that way, you made so many people feel this way.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs3vRiWFDHU/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs3vRiWFDHU/
In the comments there's a post from teammandmskating. I haven't figured out who that is, but here's part of their post:
Our hearts are breaking. He was more than our coach. He was everything. He is the reason we do pairs. He's the reason we made it to Nationals this year. We are at a loss and don't know what to do without him. Who is going to teach us now? If we were learning new element then one lesson with John and we had it.
ETA: Duh ... I clicked on their name in the comment. They are Morgan Hilbrich & Michael Poland, as of this week, as they said, they're the 9th best juvenile team in the nation.
* ETA 1/23/19: GS staff has asked us to keep his name out of posts, so I'm complying.
Wait, what? This is the first that I have heard of this request... Could you (or anybody) please point me to where GS requested this? Thanks!
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2014
I may have misunderstood the request. It's the last post in the now closed thread titled "What Happened to TSL." What do you think? Maybe I should pm GSk8 to clarify.
https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?78702-What-Happened-to-TSL/page6
You can also watch on NBCSN (online or on broadcast tv if you have cable). In addition, if you pay approx $35 for a monthly Youtube TV account (if you don't have regular cable), that's also a way to be able to access NBCSN broadcasts online via your Youtube TV account. NBCSportsGold package is $59.99 a year I believe, unless they are offering season discounts at this time.
The request appears to be asking not to discuss the allegations against John Coughlin at this time, since it only leads to undue speculation in the absence of any specific, confirmed information. Some of the U.S. pairs skaters wore red Kansas City sport team hats in honor of Coughlin's memory. Not to derail this thread though with any further conversation about Coughlin.
There's another thread available in The Edge to discuss the 2019 U.S. pairs short program results. I shared some of my thoughts about that exciting and dramatic competition there.
Thank you skylark, for the link; it definitely clears things up! I don't want to debate any of this here as I agree with Art&Sport that this isn't the time or place, but I do appreciate getting to read the request so I actually know what they are asking. (And no, I don't think you need to pm the admins; I think the linked post makes clear that they don't want him mentioned at all; it's not about just avoiding his name.)
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2014
Bringing moonvine's post from Pairs SP thread over to here:
Never say Never!
I believe that Ashley and Tim are our very best chance to bring in a Top Ten finish at Worlds. The last six weeks have refined them, by fire which no pairs skater would ever wish. But by diligence, passion, desire, ambition, and compassion for each other, they've raised themselves to a new level.
They're skating like champions
. No one can say for sure whether this shine will carry forward, but my money's on Ashley and Tim! 
ETA: And they ^^ were on this road all season before the accident.
I think it would demoralize the whole competition, and the country, no matter who they were, if 7th-place Nationals finishers in any discipline were bumped up over six competitors to go to worlds. In this case, those six other teams skated brilliantly or very well in one or both programs. Ashley and Tim skated brilliantly in both.
I'm astonished that K/K competed in the FS. After that horrible mishap :eeking: in the SP, and knowing he was injured, I'd have thought the team would reconsider. It may be down to the fact that Jenni and Todd are new coaches to them, so all those wrinkles in communication, etc. haven't been ironed out yet. Someone in another thread said (sorry, I can't find it now), in an argument about K/K going to worlds, that Chris would never risk hurting Alexa. Well, sorry, but that's what he/they did. I'll be the first to say that he/they probably didn't realize what a grave risk they were taking (which their FS lift errors proved), but now they know.
Deanna brought up something. It's interesting to see how strategically she thinks! She said this is a good year for us to get 2 spots back, because there will only be two Chinese teams at Worlds. Conversely, because of Aljona/Bruno, there will be two teams there from Germany ... but not teams at A/B's level. So it's a great time. Honestly, I had the sense that all our pairs teams were/are striving together, as a group, and want the best for whoever gets sent. I also think that our top 5 or 6 teams raised their game because they knew how tough this competition would be. It worked!
Back to Ashley and Tim ... in the Press Conferences, they mentioned that for the first two weeks after her concussion, the only thing Ashley was allowed to do was visualize the programs in every detail, exactly how they wanted to skate their Nationals programs. They both did the visualizations.
One reason this strikes me is that I believe it. When I haven't been able to play a challenging piece to my satisfaction in practice the day before performing, I take the music to bed with me, read through the music and visualize playing it perfectly on the piano. It works like a charm.:luv17: And if I were to really dedicate myself to such visualizations the way Ashley and Tim did ... well, it's something to consider. I hope they continue the practice!
Never say Never!
I believe that Ashley and Tim are our very best chance to bring in a Top Ten finish at Worlds. The last six weeks have refined them, by fire which no pairs skater would ever wish. But by diligence, passion, desire, ambition, and compassion for each other, they've raised themselves to a new level.
They're skating like champions. No one can say for sure whether this shine will carry forward, but my money's on Ashley and Tim! ETA: And they ^^ were on this road all season before the accident.
I think it would demoralize the whole competition, and the country, no matter who they were, if 7th-place Nationals finishers in any discipline were bumped up over six competitors to go to worlds. In this case, those six other teams skated brilliantly or very well in one or both programs. Ashley and Tim skated brilliantly in both.
I'm astonished that K/K competed in the FS. After that horrible mishap :eeking: in the SP, and knowing he was injured, I'd have thought the team would reconsider. It may be down to the fact that Jenni and Todd are new coaches to them, so all those wrinkles in communication, etc. haven't been ironed out yet. Someone in another thread said (sorry, I can't find it now), in an argument about K/K going to worlds, that Chris would never risk hurting Alexa. Well, sorry, but that's what he/they did. I'll be the first to say that he/they probably didn't realize what a grave risk they were taking (which their FS lift errors proved), but now they know.
Deanna brought up something. It's interesting to see how strategically she thinks! She said this is a good year for us to get 2 spots back, because there will only be two Chinese teams at Worlds. Conversely, because of Aljona/Bruno, there will be two teams there from Germany ... but not teams at A/B's level. So it's a great time. Honestly, I had the sense that all our pairs teams were/are striving together, as a group, and want the best for whoever gets sent. I also think that our top 5 or 6 teams raised their game because they knew how tough this competition would be. It worked!
Back to Ashley and Tim ... in the Press Conferences, they mentioned that for the first two weeks after her concussion, the only thing Ashley was allowed to do was visualize the programs in every detail, exactly how they wanted to skate their Nationals programs. They both did the visualizations.
One reason this strikes me is that I believe it. When I haven't been able to play a challenging piece to my satisfaction in practice the day before performing, I take the music to bed with me, read through the music and visualize playing it perfectly on the piano. It works like a charm.:luv17: And if I were to really dedicate myself to such visualizations the way Ashley and Tim did ... well, it's something to consider. I hope they continue the practice!
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2011
can you fill me in on what happened with them? i was so baffled at their FS, i had no clue what was going on. i've never seen them skate like that before.
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2014
Yes, I was baffled too. I think everyone was.
In an interview after the FS, it was revealed that Chris has been injured since (March? May? Maybe less. I'm not sure). He/they/the team didn't for whatever reason take the time for him to heal. Not sure if surgery was needed before, but it's needed now. I think someone said it's a torn ligament in his wrist. So it makes sense why they made mistakes on two lifts ... one incomplete and one aborted ... when lifts are usually their strongest element.
This is the way I remember reading it, but I may have gotten some details wrong. I can't remember what thread this information was in, but I think at least some of it was in moonvine's posts. Sorry, I don't have time to search for it now. Real life awaits.
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2014
Stereotypical thhought patterns are bad! Be open-minded.
Personally I like Asley & Tim very much and they totally deserved their national title! And Ashley's hight makes this pair more special, provides them stylish and unique look. I like how their elements look like because of Ashley bein tall girl with long limbs... For me they totally destroyed some kind of stereotype that the pair must have only one look - tiny girl and big tall guy and nothing another... So - well done Ashley and Tim! And hope that they will make a podium on 4CC and Top-10 at Worlds!
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