2025-26 U.S. Pairs Figure Skating | Page 4 | Golden Skate

2025-26 U.S. Pairs Figure Skating

ramurphy2005 said:
It's more that Chan/Howe are not ready, and they had to make an initial pick based off who is in form now. Things could still change after John Nicks. The entire sub list is competing there aside from Plazas/Fernandez, so we'll see what happens.
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Again, I get your take, or the party-line take. Still, it is what it is. U.S. fed are backing Shin/Nagy as their full-on future pairs 'stars'. The now is for Kam/ O'Shea, of course, especially for the '26 Olympics. Efimova/ Mitrofanov (as U.S. champs and burgeoning pairs stars) are obviously appreciated, too, and will be sent to '26 Worlds with K/O and most likely S/N, albeit that Chan/ Howe, Plazas/ Fernandez, and McBeath/ Parkman will be vying for that available U.S. third pairs spot at '26 Worlds. S/N are U.S. fed's faves though, which means they are being fully backed and prepped. Sure, if S/N are unable to shine, as desired, other teams will have a shot. But make no mistake that S/N are being given full advantage to grab this season's available opportunities.

The top hope for U.S. pairs at 2026 Olympics are Kam/ O'Shea. And S/N are being pushed to excel (especially among teams who both have U.S. citizenship). Most likely, K/O will retire after 2026 Olympics, unless Danny feels fit enough for another season or two. I would expect Efi/Mit to do well at 2026 Worlds and to continue for the next quad, if all goes in their favor physically. C/H and Plaz/Fern, I'm not sure of their future plans and desires, aside from shooting for the 2026 Olympics. I would imagine that McBeath/ Parkman are hopeful of obtaining his U.S. citizenship in time for 2030 Olympics, if possible. If not, they are surely eyeing Worlds and other major opportunities over the next quad.

However, U.S. fed have not been investing in Shin/ Nagy for no returns. It would be nice to see every team being given full resources, advantages, and multiple competitive opportunities. For sure, there's an outside possibility for others to upset the U.S. fed applecart and to affect the current domestic pairs landscape, so we'll see.
 
Spencer joined this military program back in February, so clearly at some point, he would have known this would set them back. Army boot camp is about 10 weeks, and when he did that interview, he hadn't been back on the ice very long after returning from boot camp.

PV2 Spencer Howe

Figure Skating
www.armywcap.com www.armywcap.com

Right after Worlds, Chan/Howe were my immediate first pick, but that was before I knew anything about Spencer's off ice commitments. Actually, I didn't know he'd committed to this back in February until today, since I was reading a thread elsewhere about Emily and Spencer's readiness, and that link popped up.

We're left with this as I knew it to be after Champs Camp:

Chan/Howe - behind their normal training schedule
Shin/Nagy - only team to do a full domestic summer comp at Glacier Falls
McBeath/Parkman - did an SP, withdrew from the FS at Glacier Falls
Flores/Wang - were supposed to do Robin Cousins, but the senior pairs got nixed, and still wished they'd done an early NQS since they haven't done a senior FS in competition yet, not that I'd send them anyway.
Plazas/Fernandez - coming off of surgery

So, for an initial pick, you're rolling the dice with Shin/Nagy and McBeath/Parkman, and I get picking the team who could potentially use the spot in the end over a team that can't use it at all.

All those things as I know them to be are also why I think nothing will truly be set in stone until after John Nicks. I think they'll go with the hot hand, and let the chips fall where they may.
 
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ramurphy2005 said:
Spencer joined this military program back in February, so clearly at some point, he would have known this would set them back. Army boot camp is about 10 weeks, and when he did that interview, he hadn't been back on the ice very long after returning from boot camp.

PV2 Spencer Howe

Figure Skating
www.armywcap.com www.armywcap.com

Right after Worlds, Chan/Howe were my immediate first pick, but that was before I knew anything about Spencer's off ice commitments. Actually, I didn't know he'd committed to this back in February until today, since I was reading a thread elsewhere about Emily and Spencer's readiness, and that link popped up.

We're left with this as I knew it to be after Champs Camp:

Chan/Howe - behind their normal training schedule
Shin/Nagy - only team to do a full domestic summer comp at Glacier Falls
McBeath/Parkman - did an SP, withdrew from the FS at Glacier Falls
Flores/Wang - were supposed to do Robin Cousins, but the senior pairs got nixed, and still wished they'd done an early NQS since they haven't done a senior FS in competition yet, not that I'd send them anyway.
Plazas/Fernandez - coming off of surgery

So, for an initial pick, you're rolling the dice with Shin/Nagy and McBeath/Parkman, and I get picking the team who could potentially use the spot in the end over a team that can't use it at all.

All those things as I know them to be are also why I think nothing will truly be set in stone until after John Nicks. I think they'll go with the hot hand, and let the chips fall where they may.
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I don't have any major disagreement with anything you have said @ramurphy2005. 🙂 Yep, there are a lot of relevant factors. Spencer joining the military and how he spoke about that on TWIS demonstrated to me his well-roundedness as an athlete and a human being. I personally wouldn't look at him accepting the military opportunity as 'detracting' from his athletic career. Yes, he would not be able to train with Emily. But at the same time, he was able to get fit in a rigorous military training program that offers benefits beyond skating. It was an athlete-focused military opportunity. Spencer cleared his decision with Emily beforehand, and she gave her full support.

Even despite not being able to train together on the ice, Emily surely focused on ways to improve her skills in Spencer's absence. Yes, it was a sacrifice, but skaters are always having to make sacrifices. This was just another sacrifice that offered future life benefits for Spencer. I doubt he saw the opportunity as a career setback. Certainly, it affected their on-ice training regimen. But I side-eye anyone forefronting Spencer's military training program as the reason why he and Emily are 'not ready' to be sent to Beijing. For sure, it will take time to be ready in part because they are still regrouping after Spencer's surgery/ rehab.

I believe U.S. figsk have always desired to send a team they would also want to send to the Olympics for the third spot, if they won it in Beijing. As it is, if the third spot isn't won in Beijing, the second U.S. spot will be battled out among Shin/Nagy, Chan/Howe, and Plazas/Fernandez, due to Alisa and Daniil not yet being U.S. citizens, which means Alisa/Misha and Katie/Daniil are not in the running for the Olympics. I doubt any skaters don't realize that Shin/Nagy are being fully backed by U.S. fed to succeed. S/N are certainly being given competitive chances to build experience. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just not an equitable system. Skaters have to carve out their own careers, mostly.

We saw Chan/Howe in the Summer Sizzler. They didn't look bad, and they didn't look super strong either. Last season, C/H did not have great results, so they are still on a comeback trail, as I said. 2022 - 2023 was an unexpected gift season for C/H, which they have mentioned in interviews. They have both struggled with physical issues and weren't even sure they would compete that season. In fact, even prior to partnering, they had both considered retirement! They ended up making a good showing on the '22-'23 GP in a transitional year. They have many good qualities, and could possibly win a third Olympics spot with a strong showing in Beijing. They could just as easily have jump inconsistencies (their weakness) that shut them out. It depends on how strong the rest of the pairs field are in Beijing. Politics, too, is always a factor in judging.

So, Shin/Nagy are favored, without any doubt. And they have been given every opportunity to be ready. They looked decent at Glacier Falls, but still have things to work on, clearly. Maybe they will hit a home-run. We'll see.
 
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TontoK said:
Well, well, well.

Here's something I didn't see coming. A very nice SP debut from Chelsea Liu and Ryan Bedard.

3 twist solid, 3S nicely around, throw 3Loop, landed well. Spins and steps look pretty synched up to me. An excellent start to this partnership.

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Nice job! I thought their SBS pair spin was very well synched, especially for a new Pairs team.
 
TontoK said:
Well, well, well.

Here's something I didn't see coming. A very nice SP debut from Chelsea Liu and Ryan Bedard.

3 twist solid, 3S nicely around, throw 3Loop, landed well. Spins and steps look pretty synched up to me. An excellent start to this partnership.

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Cool. Thanks for sharing. I'm not surprised. Their quick inclusion on the ISP signalled that they had been vetted and performed well together. Chelsea Lui is an excellent pairs athlete. She took to pairs right away when she was young, shining in juniors after 3 seasons with Devin Perini. From the beginning, sbs jumps were not Chelsea's strong point. But she always exhibited skill and a lovely quality with other pairs elements. Chelsea has been remarkably good with every partner she has had (which I will detail further in a separate post). It was a surprise to see Chelsea come back again, but I think it shows she has a passion to skate.

Ryan Bedard had been with Isabelle Martins since childhood. They were competitive in juniors, but often in pairs, as a team matures, they may not grow in ways that are compatible. Martins & Bedard split for awhile as Isabelle completed high school in Chicago, and Bedard searched for a partner in California. When neither could find a good match, they teamed up again to moderate domestic success. Ultimately, they split for good. I wonder if Chelsea's former coaches reached out to her for a tryout with Bedard, or if she reached out to them?

In any case, Ryan & Chelsea look good together in the Golden West clip. They seem confident and they executed their elements very well, aside from Chelsea slightly double-footing the throw landing. The sbs jump was handled fairly well by Chelsea. It looks like she's trying to perfect a landing technique she had been attempting previously to avoid problems with her free leg touching down or slightly scraping the ice. Her throw landings still seem problematic with the double-footing. I have always felt there should be a way for Chelsea to overcome these issues because she is hugely talented in every other aspect of pairs skating. She's always excelled in lifts, twists, death spiral, spins, and aesthetics.

I looked closely at the Liu/ Bedard 3-twist. The clip did not show a close view, but it was performed well. Chelsea can get up effortlessly with huge height, as we've seen in the past. However, Ryan's confidence in throwing her very high is a factor. So, while there is not the great height with their twist that Chels had with Balasz, still it looks moderately high (more diagonal than horizontal) and well performed for a recently paired team. The unison on Liu/ Bedard's spins is remarkably good for a new pairs partnership. ⭐️

I never saw Chelsea skate with her Chinese partner, Xie Zhong, but she was especially good with Ian Meyh, Danny O'Shea, and Balasz Nagy. All four of these partnerships, for different reasons, lasted only one season. Her earliest two partnerships (with Perini; and Johnson) lasted about 3 to 4 seasons. Hopefully, Chelsea and Ryan Bedard (7th partner) will go the distance. 🍀
 

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Devin Perini was a bit older than Chelsea. Their partnership worked for about 3 1/2 years, until she partnered with Brian Johnson, with whom she enjoyed success in juniors for three seasons, along with an additional senior season prior to splitting. Chelsea and Brian grew in experience together, but they were not well-matched physically. Brian went on to a magical, lovely, but star-crossed partnership with Jessica Calalang, while Chelsea went to China and partnered with Xie Zhong for one season as Liu Jiaxi. Chelsea's time in China may have been a worthwhile experience, but her sbs jumps did not improve. Her increasingly long legs seemingly made timing and clean landings more difficult.

Chelsea later returned to her original coaches in the U.S., Meno/Sand, and teamed up with Ian Meyh for one season. They looked very good together, so I'm not sure why they split. Meyh briefly was slated to partner with a rehabbing Nica Digerness. Eventually, Nica & Meyh trained together, but never competed. Meyh then paired with Ellie Kam when she switched from singles to pairs. Ultimately, Meyh retired, apparently due to injuries. Ellie, of course, went on to successfully partner with Danny O'Shea, who had been Chelsea's 5th partner for one season, after the split with Ian Meyh. A freak accident and resulting concussion split up Chelsea & Danny.

Chelsea recuperated for one season and then decided to make a comeback with Balasz Nagy (2023-24). Wow! The Liu/Nagy partnership will remain memorable for their sexy vibe and their spectacular, effortlessy high 3-twist, very reminiscent of Calalang/ Johnson's amazeballs 3-twist. So easy-looking, like floating on air.
 
As mentioned in new partnerships thread, Timmy Chapman has found a new partner in Dauria Romanenko, a former junior singles skater, affiliated with Palm Beach FSC. In checking some of Dauria's recent domestic singles comps, she has style and pizzazz, but weak jumping ability. Hopefully, she can perfect her double axel technique and find a reliable triple jump she can effectively master, in addition to aceing difficult pairs elements.
 
It is concerning for Ellie and Danny. They just had a short clip of their SP (I think) where they did their great lift. Maybe Ellie's not completely healed for doing jumps? And Danny well his recovery from surgery is very quick. If it's a major problem with them we'll know soon enough.
 
Spiralgraph said:
It is concerning for Ellie and Danny. They just had a short clip of their SP (I think) where they did their great lift. Maybe Ellie's not completely healed for doing jumps? And Danny well his recovery from surgery is very quick. If it's a major problem with them we'll know soon enough.
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They released a clip of their FS, but that was filmed back in July.
 
Flores/Wang are out of Nebelhorn Trophy. Not really surprised after how they skated at John Nicks tbh...
 
BlissfulSynergy said:
As mentioned in new partnerships thread, Timmy Chapman has found a new partner in Dauria Romanenko, a former junior singles skater, affiliated with Palm Beach FSC. In checking some of Dauria's recent domestic singles comps, she has style and pizzazz, but weak jumping ability. Hopefully, she can perfect her double axel technique and find a reliable triple jump she can effectively master, in addition to aceing difficult pairs elements.
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This doesn’t sound super promising actually. I love Timmy and want him to have a partner with jumps.
 
Aside from their jumps (which I CAN NOT WAIT for pairs to drop a jump from the free skate next quad) I thought Plazas/Fernandez looked good for missing the last year and a half with injury. They were always one of my favorite junior teams when they were doing the cute beauty and the beast program.
 
crystalspin said:
Aside from their jumps (which I CAN NOT WAIT for pairs to drop a jump from the free skate next quad) I thought Plazas/Fernandez looked good for missing the last year and a half with injury. They were always one of my favorite junior teams when they were doing the cute beauty and the beast program.
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I liked the “Maria” program the best.
 
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