2016 Autumn Classic Pairs Free Skate

ruffledgrouse said:

What's going on with them? Not just the elements, but there are all sorts of little stumbles on the transitions, too. Are C/T sick?

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I don't know, but they were so happy with skating a great SP yesterday, maybe the pressure to put two programs together got to them. Or, maybe just an off night.

I was tired of this program last year, but at least I enjoyed it tonight ... except for all the stumbles. Gosh, they both stumbled on both SBSs.:sad21:

ruffledgrouse said:

What's going on with them? Not just the elements, but there are all sorts of little stumbles on the transitions, too. Are C/T sick?

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Mervin and Marissa can be really messy (it's not something new). Plus he suffered a concussion not too much time ago and they lost some training unfortunately.

My prediction was spot on Mango. I'm still surviving with a 20 % battery left on my phone. They will start men at 7:20. I've taken so many notes from the first events. I cannot wait share with those interested my first experience live. It's almost good Patrick is not here as I would have fainted. I'm ecstatic already. PS. Patrick. I'm cheating on you. I've found a new lover for details, you'll have to read my report later tonight or tomorrow. Hahahahahahaha

Re pairs: it's really scary to watch live after so many lifts were a mess in ice dance. But in the end, it was okay. I now have the best seat in the house. Center. View on knc. The door opens right where I am and I see the before knc which is much more interesting than the knc itself. Marvin just passed by me. Oh Lord. Maybe I'll cheat on Patrick with him too. Hahaha. Don't mind my fanboying. All in good fun

tulosai said:

Something you do have to appreciate is that they truly don't give up on the performance.

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They said in an interview that the music is like their journey to their dream, so I hope to see they finish their performance with a joy and excitement after they hit every elements in other competitions especially at Nationals (which means you can have a chance to go to 4CC and Worlds), I can assure that I would cry like a river for them.

4everchan said:

My prediction was spot on Mango. I'm still surviving with a 20 % battery left on my phone. They will start men at 7:20. I've taken so many notes from the first events. I cannot wait share with those interested my first experience live. It's almost good Patrick is not here as I would have fainted. I'm ecstatic already. PS. Patrick. I'm cheating on you. I've found a new lover for details, you'll have to read my report later tonight or tomorrow. Hahahahahahaha

Re pairs: it's really scary to watch live after so many lifts were a mess in ice dance. But in the end, it was okay. I now have the best seat in the house. Center. View on knc. The door opens right where I am and I see the before knc which is much more interesting than the knc itself. Marvin just passed by me. Oh Lord. Maybe I'll cheat on Patrick with him too. Hahaha. Don't mind my fanboying. All in good fun

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You should get one of those battery packs. They are really handy at competitions! Glad you're having a great time!!

Crossover said:

They said in an interview that the music is like their journey to their dream, so I hope to see they finish their performance with a joy and excitement after they hit every elements in other competitions especially at Nationals (which means you can have a chance to go to 4CC and Worlds), I can assure that I would cry like a river for them.

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Oh, I like that. I must have missed that interview, or part of it.

4everchan said:

.... .. They will start men at 7:20. I've taken so many notes from the first events. I cannot wait share with those interested my first experience live. ...

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Thx for giving us the new time, 4ever.

I took the liberty of copying it into the Men's FS thread.

Look forward to your post-competition report .

Did Marissa and Mervin hang onto 3rd?

blue_idealist said:

Did Marissa and Mervin hang onto 3rd?

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Yes.

Princessroja said:

You know, that wasn't too bad from Paris and Matthew... I didn't feel as scared for them as I usually do. Three falls still though.

Edit: It really wasn't bad--a new PB for the FS by 4 points and overall by ~9. Good job guys!

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Paris is probably more physically suited to singles or dance with her stronger build, compared to the other pair ladies competing.

There isn't much of a height difference between this team either, and Matthew used to skate with a much shorter girl about 5 years ago. So, adjusting to someone new can always be a challenge.

I don't know if they have any more qualifying internationals left this year, but they are so close to making the minimum TES for Four Continents, it would be a shame to not get that and send two teams. Especially as Alexandrovskaya & Windsor will likely get the Four Continents and Worlds TES next weekend at Finlandia.

invisiblespiral said:

This is a completely random question, but how many Dodds siblings are there? :scratch:

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Four brothers - all skaters. Matthew, Andrew, Jordan, and Ryan. Until a couple of years ago Matthew, Jordan and Ryan all double-dipped as both pairs and singles skaters, then Matthew quit singles to focus on pairs and Jordan quit pairs to focus on singles. Ryan still skates both with his partner Jessica.

ice coverage said:

karne, lest you think you messed up:

The pairs comp did start earlier than the pre-announced start time of 18:15 -- meaning that should have been when the warm-up for the first group started.

The first pair (the Aussies) already were well into their FS before 18:15.

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:no: Thanks for that, ice coverage.

edwinaskater1943 said:

I think we've all been waiting that for some years - they look unfit when you compare our JGP gold medalists who've not been together for a full 12 months [emoji23]

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:scowl: :scowl: :scowl: They work hard and try their best. I'm sorry that's not good enough for you, Your Majesty. I've always been taught that spirit and tenacity were part of Australian life. You on the other hand display that other hated trait that sometimes creeps into our culture - tall poppy syndrome!

essence_of_soy said:

I don't know if they have any more qualifying internationals left this year, but they are so close to making the minimum TES for Four Continents, it would be a shame to not get that and send two teams. Especially as Alexandrovskaya & Windsor will likely get the Four Continents and Worlds TES next weekend at Finlandia.

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The good news: Paris and Matthew got the 4CC TES for the free skate here! :yay:

The even better news: They still have other opportunities to get the SP minimum! Last year they went to a January Senior B - the Mentor Cup, I think it was. They could do that again this year! They only needed another 0.34 points at Salt Lake City!

Report from the venue 3/4

So, while I was swooning over Nikolaj (cf to Ice Dance thread), I realized that despite my magnetic attraction to the Dane, I should have a look at the pairs.

I have to admit : I was a bit scared. With all the missed lifts in dance, I thought, OMG... what's going to happen here. Then, I tried to calm down, thinking that the pairs must work very hard on the lifts as they are so dangerous and everything will probably be fine.

OUPS... sorry folks... Australians were finishing up when I got there. I guess perhaps that it was a good thing I spent so much time admiring Sorensen... because I had heard concern about the young Australian pair. I have broken many bones... in various incidents, so perhaps I am abit over-sensitive about injuries in the making.

Kim and Kam from Korea showed up on the ice. It made me think that if I had arrived earlier for Australia, it may have been Tim and Tam on the ice. (australian cookie joke for karne).

Then ( I told you I am becoming more and more ADD as the day goes on), I thought about the wonderful North Korean team we saw last year and wondered when we would see them again. 4CC I guess? I doubt they are on the GP circuit... are they? Then I remembered that Alex is actually from New Zealand. I was finally ready to watch them.

What is the most striking about this young partnership is his musicality. (oh and he likes poutine... Spotted him eating some after his skate). I couldn't stop watching him... and sure he is cute but all the fanboying I had for that day was already invested you know where. His connection with the emotion of the music reaches directly to the crowd. I just forgot his partner was there.... well almost.... there was no way I could forget about her in the laboured lifts they had. Good news for them : they seem to train with Marcotte who welcomed them in the pre KnC


Ruest and Wolfe got on the ice. Some people have mentioned how classic their look is, almost like the celebrated pairs from a couple decades ago. For me, the striking resemblance was to Joannie. Ruest looks so much like her. Must be the blonde pony tail and the profile. The more I watched them, the more I agreed with the classic pair look however. Perhaps it is because Wolfe used to do ice dance and is very aware of his lines. Their opening was indeed beautiful. Perhaps that's how they will use his dance experience. He carried her quite often (like easier versions of dance lifts) throughout the program and it was just beautiful. Their twist is just a double for now. However, they are brand new together and I am pretty sure they will acquire the triple in time for perhaps next year. They have a lot of time ahead of them. Landing the 3T-2T was a huge boost for the them and the crowd. Their elements are a work in progress... but they are already doing triple SBS and throws. They will start landing them gradually I think. There was a beautiful element at the music change. My notes are blank and my memory thinks it's their Death Spiral but I am no longer sure. In any case, it was nice to see that their team has invested in them nicely.


WARMUP group 2

OMG... now this is scary.... skating fast to try SBS. Throws... lifts.... lots of twists... and of course, often they pop the elements on purpose but sometimes they don't... so it is super scary. Julianne is struggling on the SBS in the warm up. Mervin, even more. It's like he cannot land a thing. BUT OMG.... He is a close second, tied with Scott and behind Nikolaj for 4everchan's fanboying which is probably starting to be fannoying to some of you!!! HAHA

Vanessa (who like Mervin is also Canadian)and Morgan hit the ice. I am always so excited when they are on the ice. They are explosive. She's an ideal mix of power and elegance. And well..... if I weren't afraid to upset PChiddy, (muahaha) I'd add him to my special list. He is extremely fit. LOVE THE SONG. (don't remember what it was) Love the soft opening. Yup... all pairs seem to start soft and then BANG but their opening is particularly nice. The SBS combos are great. WOOT!!!!! RIght in front of me : and almost good 4Sthrow. It was rotated but two footed/turned out. The crowd was like OMG!!!!!!!!

Their pair spin used her flexibility, which was also well used in their lifts. They did a M/D position which is cool! But the really striking move they had today was their rippon throw 3flip. That was just amazing. The crowd gave them a huge standing ovation. Vanessa seemed surprised but couldn't stop smiling and smiling. It was so nice to see her react so positively to the love the crowd was given them. And there was a lot of love from a crowd that was obviously clearly hoping for a good outing from S/B but was still recognizing an exciting and great skate from the French!


Julianne and Charlie were next. I was hoping to see the SBS 3Loop but for some reason, it's only in the SP? weird....maybe it's a question of stamina as they want to do their combo first and don't have enough juice to do a loop later in the program? I told you Julianne was having issues in the warm up with the SBS... however, she was dead on when it counted. Sign of a true champion! Their program was very well skated all way through. I was surprised to see how refined it was already. However, perhaps, since she was injured for so long that they did the programs earlier than others because they finished their season so early? I was honestly thinking : what will they work on? It's there. Are they maxed out already? If I heard correctly, they scored 136 (just checked score.. yup 136.9) what can they do to improve this score? Do they have other elements they are working on to increase the BV? A cool highlight : Julianne has a delayed rotation on her TH3Lz! It's very impressive to see live. They also got a standing ovation... the music was not even done and everyone was cheering already!

With the uproar from the crowd, I wondered how Mervin would do with Marissa. Would he land his jumps? He struggled so much.

I lift my eyes and of course they spot a certain Danish ice dancer who is now watching the pairs

From seeing their costumes, I am expecting a tango or a flamenco ... NO.... costumes are very nice, however i have no idea how they relate to the music... which once again, I forget about. They have a lot of difficulties. Rough dismount on the twist. Step outs for Mervin on SBS. Popped throw.

My prediction has been confirmed : they finish third. (told you so Mango! )

Ha! I knew James/Cipres has higher scoring potential than Castelli/Tran! They went for quad throw, like I thought, and that tano throw was amazing! Of course, with clean Seguin/Bilodeau they had no chance. Btw. I love how consistent couple they are! The only thing I didin't like about them is Julianne's pink dress. The lady herself is very fair skinned and the dress make her look even paler.... Castelli/Tran made lots of mistakes, but clean C/T wouldn't won over clean J/C anyway. The French has upped their game

cathlen said:

Ha! I knew James/Cipres has higher scoring potential than Castelli/Tran! They went for quad throw, like I thought, and that tano throw was amazing! Of course, with clean Seguin/Bilodeau they had no chance. Btw. I love how consistent couple they are! The only thing I didin't like about them is Julianne's pink dress. The lady herself is very fair skinned and the dress make her look even paler.... Castelli/Tran made lots of mistakes, but clean C/T wouldn't won over clean J/C anyway. The French has upped their game

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I LOVE Julianne's dress, I think it's perfect Otherwise I agree.