Madison is quite diminutive in stature (have crossed paths with her a few times) and if the skirt is shortened slightly it will probably help with skating the elements at a higher level. I am sure there will be other costume tweaks as the season progresses.
2025 Cup of China Free Dance
- Thread starter dorispulaski
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- Dec 7, 2017
I wouldn’t really call that tea? It is going to be interesting this year - and as I said earlier, of course all the teams are going to be miffed about the pairing of two top ice dancers. That’s totally natural as it’s going to affect all teams - not just the ones at IAM…
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- Dec 5, 2015
IMHO, C/B were not dropped by the judges. They got good PCS and decent GOE despite the fact they were far from their best. They will likely easily win their next event. Then, they just have to be at their best for the Grand Prix Final. They know they have time to peak later. They had the fourth lowest base value among the teams here. That is the reason for the score. Now, the Italians who actually skated very well in the free dance last week but were dropped have a real reason to be upset. C/B shouldn't be too worried yet. And, honestly, another Gold Team medal and, likely, a personal Gold or Silver medal in the Olympics is not a failure. Their programs are good. They just weren't performed well. So, the only thing I would definitely change is her costume. It just isn't practical.The rest is no reason to worry. Now, I have a lot of opinions about what happened to the Italians. But, I've already expressed those.
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I'm sure if they get an olympic silver or bronze, it'd still have been worth it (especially with 3 world championship wins + all the other wins the past 3 seasons). They have a stacked trophy cabinet from this quad.
It is funny to read the comments about insidious coaches who favoured FBC and gave C/B a piece of crap.
At IAM skaters come with their own music and ideas. Chock and Bates had a renowned choreographer on top of their insidious coaches. And of course, they got a US federation who certainly saw the dance. So even if Marie-France wanted FBC to win, there were guardrails to limit her influence in that matter.
In my opinion, what happened is quite simple. First, the idea of flamenco was bad. The last three FD were driven by the incredible flow from Madison. She was flowing like hot wax in Evan's hands. But it doesn't work in flamenco - even the last lift, from their first gold winning FD, where she slowly lifts her leg - it worked perfectly back then but is a complete miss here.
Second, Najarro is overpraised. He's just not an ice choreographer. He may have good ideas but they don't work on the ice.
Third, yes, I guess there was some politicking behind. Chock already got three gold world medals and quite frankly, it's a lot. Piper and Paul, equally good, haven't gotten even a single one.
So now the judges are certainly moving pieces on the chessboard. Of course, Chock will not lose to Lilah, but at least it opens a road for Piper.
At IAM skaters come with their own music and ideas. Chock and Bates had a renowned choreographer on top of their insidious coaches. And of course, they got a US federation who certainly saw the dance. So even if Marie-France wanted FBC to win, there were guardrails to limit her influence in that matter.
In my opinion, what happened is quite simple. First, the idea of flamenco was bad. The last three FD were driven by the incredible flow from Madison. She was flowing like hot wax in Evan's hands. But it doesn't work in flamenco - even the last lift, from their first gold winning FD, where she slowly lifts her leg - it worked perfectly back then but is a complete miss here.
Second, Najarro is overpraised. He's just not an ice choreographer. He may have good ideas but they don't work on the ice.
Third, yes, I guess there was some politicking behind. Chock already got three gold world medals and quite frankly, it's a lot. Piper and Paul, equally good, haven't gotten even a single one.
So now the judges are certainly moving pieces on the chessboard. Of course, Chock will not lose to Lilah, but at least it opens a road for Piper.
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- Oct 31, 2006
It was just a rough outing for Chock and Bates and they haven’t had the time to work on their competitive programs to make them sing yet. The potential is definitely there I think for their FD! They just lost too many levels in both programs here and their technical base mark really took a hit as a result and they are definitely not totally comfortable with their material yet. FB/C have had the advantage of being able to use all of their time since they teamed up in January 2025 to work through preparing their Olympic programs whereas Chock/Bates and Gilles/Poirier have been touring all spring and into the summer and have only had part of the summer and early fall to work on their competitive programs. To say Laurence and Guillaume have a head start is an understatement. The teams just need more time. You also have to keep in mind that no one has ever seen the French compete outside of France yet; all they and we have been exposed to is overinflated scoring in their favor.
Who says shinutanis will go? They haven't shown anything better than many of the other US teams yet. Their names will only get them so far when they haven't competed for 7years.
I doubt they came back for the fun.
I think they were asked to do so. To help in the Team event, so that C/B don't have to skate four dances.
It's a guaranteed gold medal for Shibs, so everyone is happy.
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- May 2, 2015
That makes sense, but still, the red door is highlight then
Im sure they believed they can beat the current US teams to go the olympics, I just dont think they will. Literally any other team can help C/B so they don't skate 4 programs. Shibs in videos so far haven't shown they have the level of Emelia and Vadym or Carriera and Ponomarenko. The only reason would be if shibutanis were better than those teams, which they could be if they found their 2018 form. But they are far from that form so far, and have lost a lot of the political power they had in 2018 (also with the growth of montreal).
I just don't see shibs being a top 3 US team as it stands, and could even struggle to be top 5.
I liked that C/B did something new - would they have not, there would have been talk that they don't do it. G/P reuse their Vincent program, FB/C are where C always was more or less (including weak lifts - ok, it's not all about lifts but the difference between the teams really putting work into them and the feature hunting creations for C is striking and not really reflected in the score. Lifts are a very spectacular element of ID, so ... That said, this program needs speed, power, mileage, it's not last year's program. And that was absent (as was intricacy, there needs to be (like in the RD) more going on, they, especially Madison, were focused on moving through the choreography. Shirt must be long to create the desired effect, but not THAT long. They lost last year at 4CC - but this year is different, and they have really to vamp it up quickly if they do not want to get a very great margin to FB/C at GPF.
Madison Chock doesn't have the skating skills to pull off a Flamenco; she's too soft, not sharp enough. And they have to learn to blend the softness and sharpness. Zin/Kol have no romance, no softness in their FD, but all the drama and attack. I prefer the Swedish version, but the program is solid. I'll get used to it. The last good Najarro FD done using the Flamenco theme was given to I/Z in 2015. But most importantly, Gold will go to FB/Ciz, barring injury or grave error. The real battle is for Silver and Bronze, it can be anyone's, even the Italians have a chance, if they play their cards right.
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- Joined
- Feb 22, 2016
Realistically the Italians need to change or at least to modify their programs for this season to stand a chance IMHO, especially the RD.
They will definitely change the slower middle part given judge feedback. Probably won't do too much to the first and last parts with time constraints...
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- Dec 7, 2017
I think CPom are still US #2 at the moment - it feels more like the Z/K, S/S and G/P are battling it out for 3rd place.
I think Lala will be fine. The whole ice dance field is so competitive so you never know what can happen but last year they had an injury at the start of the season and played it kind of safe with their FD. This year they’ve gone back to White Crow which they didn’t get to perform at Worlds in 2023 cause Canada only had 2 spots, and they’ve updated the programme with new and interesting details. The judges really reward innovation (unless you are like FB/C who have have such darn good skating skills that even the simplest of things they perform at a high grade of execution (ahem except for lifts IMO)). So I have faith!!
Really surprised to see Chock and Bates pick the Flamenco as their FD. They excel with a lyrical, high-flying athletic performance. It will be interesting to see how this stacks up head to head with the Brits and French.
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