Blumberg is the tech specialist for TEB.
Tessa and Scott winning this competition is not my worry- they are going to win 99.99%
My worry are the scores they are going to receive- they need to grow their scores to in order to try and close the gap and be competitive with Meryl and Charlie.
The tech specialist determines the levels for all elements and when the race for ice dance Gold is between and American and Canadian team, and the tech specialist is an American, bias (which is uncontrollable and part of our human nature) is going to play a role and visa versa (if there was a canadian on the panel)
Monko/Khaliavin - Former Junior World Champions. I thought they were very promising. Unfortunately, under Zhulin's tutelage they seem to be going nowhere. Pretty generic choreography. A jarring, sudden music change in the program. The middle part had very different character to the first and third and they didn't seem to go well together at all.
I don't think this is Zhulin's fault. They switched from Kustarova and they look hopeless then too. She is too tall for him.
However, don't forget that pangtongfan has predicted that M/K will get Russia's third spot for the Olys, and that he is always right in his predictions since joining the boards!
Papadakis/Cizeron - Good performance skills, some nice detail in the choreography, but some of the elements a little insecure. They have the 'it factor' though. I hope they can improve technically with time.
I hope not. Riazanova/Tkachenko aren't exactly looking great this season but even they are much better than the mediocrity M/K present at the moment.
Yeah my post was kind of a joke since pangtongfan insists his predictions are always right (there is a gem of a post in an Evan L thread about this). (Un)fortunately now I don't remember where I read his prediction about M/K (though I'm sure it was today that I read it) and now I can't find it so maybe I am mistaken. I also much prefer R/T and I also prefer S/Z despite their major errors last week.
Papadakis/Cizeron - this team will make it big. His face and body line is so beautiful.
Papadakis/Cizeron - Good performance skills, some nice detail in the choreography, but some of the elements a little insecure. They have the 'it factor' though. Really explosive presentation. I hope they can improve technically with time.