2024 Finlandia Trophy Pairs Short Program

[Ruthypegs]

A few thoughts from the rink:
It was great to see how supportive Lachlin was towards his partner and the other teams. He and Naomi were clearly having a great time and enjoying the experience.
Laurin and Ethier have really improved.
Deanna and Max were stand-out - I've never seen them skating in real life before, and they were phenomenal. Deanna is utterly remarkable - it's beyond belief that she's 41.
Fillipo and Rebecca were also fabulous (Fillipo is adorable).
I was sitting right next to the K&C, and the person in the row below me must have been an ex-figure skater, as both Fillipo and Deanna recognised her and knew her by name ("Hi Lena/Elena").
I spotted @NoNameFace crafting her crowns in the distance!

 

[withwings]

A few thoughts from the rink:
It was great to see how supportive Lachlin was towards his partner and the other teams. He and Naomi were clearly having a great time and enjoying the experience.
Laurin and Ethier have really improved.
Deanna and Max were stand-out - I've never seen them skating in real life before, and they were phenomenal. Deanna is utterly remarkable - it's beyond belief that she's 41.
Fillipo and Rebecca were also fabulous (Fillipo is adorable).
I was sitting right next to the K&C, and the person in the row below me must have been an ex-figure skater, as both Fillipo and Deanna recognised her and knew her by name ("Hi Lena/Elena").
I spotted @NoNameFace crafting her crowns in the distance!

Thank you!
...it is amazing how different skatings events are when to watch from the rink.... I dare to say that from the screen, in front of the screen the truth; the real aura, the real performance and etc is sort of... obscure, it fades away. Lucky you to be there!
Glad to hear that Dianne and Max in real life makes such an impression and that L/E has improved.

 

[ice_tulip]

Why don't Chan/Howe just do SBS double axels like G/A? Chan rarely fully rotates and cleanly lands SBS triples. You'd think while Spencer was out with injury, she would've worked on her triples, but I haven't seen any progress in her technique whatsoever.

I used to be excited about this team but at this point I don't see them ever rising to the top tier. Their programs are quite generic and they don't really have any identity as a team, nor do the two of them show any chemistry. Neither skater evokes genuine emotions when performing -- it all seems so sterile. I'm just over them.

As for Stellato/Deschamps, I've also soured on them. Other than the Dracula program last year, all their programs look the same. It's always Stellato with the same facial expressions and same fake emoting. They always skate to the same generic type of music, and the SP music is absolutely unbearable, especially with the "uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, uh-ooh!" at the beginning. I have to mute it. I don't see the Canadian team as the favorites for the gold at Worlds this year. With the Germans (H/V), Japanese, and even the Georgians, they'll be lucky to get bronze, imo.

 

[rain]

Just managed to catch Stellato-Dudeck/Deschamps and haven't seen the rest of the field yet, but they looked like world champions here. Everything was squeaky clean and of the highest quality. Deanna's dress is gorgeous. The music annoyed me less this time. It's still not my favourite, and I'd like to see them ooze it a little more, but this was a top quality performance, much improved from Skate Canada, and they've given themselves a huge lead.

I'll probably have some more thoughts later after I've watched the rest.

 

[readernick]

SD/D were great here. The program isn't great IMHO but she sold it well. I think the Japanese and German teams have some technical advantages if clean over SD/D, mostly because of the throws which the Japanese and Germans do better in terms of height and length, but I also wouldn't count them out.

I find the Italians so charming. They are limited in scoring potential but if they hit and others fail , who knows? They hit here...

I want to like P/S more than I do. I appreciate how driven she is. Perfect pair girl energy but I find that they often lack quality and their music choices arejust plain bad.

I do like L/E. They don't have the most quality elements either but they are more interesting with their music choices (even if this is ripping off Alexa/ Brandon)

C/H aren't in 5th place because of the mistake on the SBS. They are there because they got no credit for the spin. If they had gotten credit, they would have been comfortably in third. This was an improvement in many ways from previous performances but that spin error really hurt them.

The lower ranked teams seemed happy to just be here. That was nice to see.

 

[4everchan]

SD/D were great here. The program isn't great IMHO but she sold it well. I think the Japanese and German teams have some technical advantages if clean over SD/D, mostly because of the throws which the Japanese and Germans do better in terms of height and length, but I also wouldn't count them out.

Throws go to Japanese and Germans but Twist, DS and SBS Spins go to SD/D
It's pretty even.

I find the Italians so charming. They are limited in scoring potential but if they hit and others fail , who knows? They hit here...

It's too bad they like warhorses

I want to like P/S more than I do. I appreciate how driven she is. Perfect pair girl energy but I find that they often lack quality and their music choices arejust

plain bad.

yup

I do like L/E. They don't have the most quality elements either but they are more interesting with their music choices (even if this is ripping off Alexa/ Brandon)

I don't really think they are ripping off anyone.. they have always had interesting musical choices. They are a bit weird to understand for me. Of course, she's super young and the team itself is still growing but at times, they are showing high quality elements, like their twist and SBS triple loops... and then, some other times, the twist is crashy and the jumps fail them... I hope it's just because they are working on their elements and everything will come together at some point.

C/H aren't in 5th place because of the mistake on the SBS. They are there because they got no credit for the spin. If they had gotten credit, they would have been comfortably in third. This was an improvement in many ways from previous performances but that spin error really hurt them.

Of course the spin is why they are lower in the ranking but they won't get much higher if they cannot land their jumps. The short program at big events : a tiny mistake and you are in the third to last warm up group.

The lower ranked teams seemed happy to just be here. That was nice to see.

agreed

 

[NoNameFace]

A few thoughts from the rink:
It was great to see how supportive Lachlin was towards his partner and the other teams. He and Naomi were clearly having a great time and enjoying the experience.
Laurin and Ethier have really improved.
Deanna and Max were stand-out - I've never seen them skating in real life before, and they were phenomenal. Deanna is utterly remarkable - it's beyond belief that she's 41.
Fillipo and Rebecca were also fabulous (Fillipo is adorable).
I was sitting right next to the K&C, and the person in the row below me must have been an ex-figure skater, as both Fillipo and Deanna recognised her and knew her by name ("Hi Lena/Elena").
I spotted @NoNameFace crafting her crowns in the distance!

Ah, hope you've had the most fun!!!
I was, well, working while watching because I wasn't able to make everything at home

 

[rain]

Thoughts on some of the rest of the field:

The Finnish pair looked like they started skating together yesterday — very out of synch with each other. She also looks like a significantly better skater than he is, at this point, and I'm not just saying that because he fell on the jump.

Laurin/Ethier did look much better here than at Skate Canada. They still need refinement.

Chan and Howe: the beginning of this program I finally, finally! saw what fans and judges have been seeing in this pair. Great musicality. But her jump was nowhere near rotated, and of course the problem on the spin.

The Italians have a lot of interesting bits and pieces in their choreography. I enjoyed it.

 

[aroundtheworld778]

Laurin/Ethier did look much better here than at Skate Canada. They still need refinement.

As a casual fan, I feel like there is something off in their aesthetics. Like their body types don't match or something.
The Stranger Things music was fun.

 

[withwings]

As a casual fan, I feel like there is something off in their aesthetics. Like their body types don't match or something.
The Stranger Things music was fun.

...I rather would say that there is... a disconnection in the energy level; there are too separate skaters who do they very, very best but... they are not yet on that level to skate 'like a pair, like a one". So, perhaps it makes you to feel them like "aesthetic". Just mho. Laurin/Ethier have to learn to blend together, to be like a one not two separate skaters. Kelly Ann seems to be an amazing, amazing pair girl, with a lot of potential and Loucas with no less potential than Kelly Ann.

 

[aroundtheworld778]

...I rather would say that there is... a disconnection in the energy level; there are too separate skaters who do they very, very best but... they are not yet on that level to skate 'like a pair, like a one". So, perhaps it makes you to feel them like "aesthetic". Just mho. Laurin/Ethier have to learn to blend together, to be like a one not two separate skaters. Kelly Ann seems to be an amazing, amazing pair girl, with a lot of potential and Loucas with no less potential than Kelly Ann.

Yeah I think that's it. To me they look more like a pair that got together last year rather than five years ago. However, I just noticed that Kelly Ann is 19 and so she's been growing up these five years. Loucas too is relatively young. So maybe they need more time to gel and get used to their new bodies?

 

[jorge2912]

Rebecca and Filippo were amazing , solid and classy with Tango de Roxanne and Moulin Rouge , timeless choice and Deanna Stellato and Maxime was great and even better than past competition i liked their SP more now