For Tayside Trophy congrats to Liu/Bedard on the bronze medal, also I was checking scores and looks like this might be his highest score ever achieved. They have really gelled so well together quite fast, helps a ton that Audrey is a great pairs girl. Both them and Plazas/Fernandez had basically the same score around 179 points which honestly for USA pairs is a great score. P/F beat their first event by 12 points, L/B also beat their John Nicks score by a good amount.
Coming up for USA pairs is McBeath/Parkman and Shin/Nagy at GP France. I really think M/P have a good shot at 2nd or 3rd depending on the Canadians and Hungarians of course. I had S/N 5th in my predication but took them out because I felt like I was jinxing it.
Now I know they will get a great score.
Yes, I've been listening to a few of the podcast reviews. I especially enjoy Jackie Wong with his sidekick, Michelle Ellis (on Rocker Skating podcast). While they have strong opinions, they are generally fair-minded and I appreciate their camaraderie and honest takes that at the same time they are not overly aggressive about, as they seem to recognize that things can change on a dime in figure skating. They have a light-hearted approach that is generous and understanding, which allows for the fact that other fan perceptions can and will differ.
I wasn't able to find Liu/ Bedard's sp at Tayside, which I'd love to see, as I heard they skated clean. L/B didn't perform as well on the sbs in the fp. But they ended up with a higher score than Kam O'Shea got at Trialeti Trophy! As well, Val & Max had a higher score at Tayside than K/O at Trialeti. Plus, Chan/ Howe had a clean sp at Trialeti (scoring 71 in the sp)
That has to be C/H's highest international score. C/H went back to their usual sbs jump issues in the fp. Their first throw in the fp was lovely, but Emily landed forward on the second throw. Their clean sp helped them to a 193.70 overall, which is highly competitive.
I am so bummed for Kam/ O'Shea. They laid down two great seasons in a row with beautiful, influential programs and costumes. Their collaboration with Marie-France and Co at IAM paid dividends to the point where at least two top international pairs teams made a bee-line to IAM for choreo: Miura/ Kihara last season and this season, working with M-F; and Conti/ Macii, working with Romain H this season. I have not been able to find K/O's sp to
Hallelujah by k.d. lang. I did see on YT K/O's disappointing fp at Trialeti to
Sweet Dreams/ Everybody Wants to Rule the World (+ one other selection). Maybe this music & program would have been something for them to explore a few seasons ago. But not in an Olympic year. Not after the absolutely gorgeous programs, costumes, and movement style they patented with M-F's help the past two seasons that has had so many teams trying to emulate and learn from them!
I realize that K/O had a very late start due to Danny having surgery and rehabbing. Plus, podcasters have indicated that Ellie suffered a concussion this summer. That would be why they pulled out of their first Challenger event. I wish they had kept their fp from last season. But, perhaps they wanted something fresh and slightly easier because they didn't have the usual amount of time to learn and train new programs.
One reviewer remarked that they seemed slightly out of sync in their fp. Again, I'd attribute it to lack of sufficient training time over the summer. I hope K/O can pull it together in time to be stronger at U.S. Nationals against burgeoning teams like L/B and Val/Max. Even vs the recently struggling Shin/Nagy whom U.S. fed truly have been over-favoring for assignments. Plus, K/O need to perform decently well on the GP, too.
K/O and Alisa/ Misha helped get a third spot in pairs next year for Worlds, and also the opportunity for a third spot in pairs at the '26 Olympics, which U.S. fed threw away trying to get Shin/ Nagy to earn for themselves, when McBeath/ Parkman were the better team to send to Beijing, no matter that M/B aren't eligible for the '26 Olympics. It would have been great to see the U.S. send 3 singles/ teams in every discipline at the 2026 Olympics. In fact, the U.S. needed and deserved to send 3 pairs teams to the 2022 Olympics. It was so unfair to Calalang/ Johnson having to sit at home. U.S. fed miscalculated in not making a concerted effort to urge C/J to come back for at least two more seasons.
There was a very good chance at the recent Beijing qualifier to secure 3 pairs spots had U.S. fed went with the more consistent eligible team in M/B. Even the experienced Chan/ Howe would have been a better choice than recently paired Shin/ Nagy.
Three men repping Italy, and only two U.S. guys?! 
