How's this for weird
Spins and twizzles are stronger for D/W than V/M, but V/M outscored them here.
Lifts tend to be basically equal - I don't think there's a trend; D/W won that.
Footwork - V/M outGOED D/W by 0.01, but that pales in comparison to D/W's out levelling them on one step seqence (1.5 points difference right there).
D/W are clearly working like maniacs this year to avoid a repeat of last year. Very curious what happens at Worlds. I think D/W are the heavy favourites at this point.
a little surprised by the fact that V/M were marked higher on spins and twizzles...
but back to issue everyone seems to be having, that i think is being blown out of proportion (a bit) since D/W were clearly having a much better skate and i believe would have won even without V/M's issues...
However, i was kind of upset/disappointed that Scott and Tessa didn't try to skate through whatever breathing issues Tessa was having. I'm sure that they wouldn't have stopped unless Tessa was having a breathing issue, but i would have liked to see them fight through and continue especially since they looked like there were going to continue when the music picked up again after they glided for the 10 sec of the lift...but then they stopped. As someone who has suffered a panic attack and has hyperventilated before, it's NOT fun and quite serious, but it also is a lot more severe than what Tessa had going on...they just looked like they stopped and there was no visible reason for them to stop. I understand if Tess needed to catch her breath and they skipped the lift all together and lost those points entirely (then yes, they would not have finished on the podium at all, but at least we'd understand an aborted lift). I do think that with the referee letting go back tot eh beginning on the lift to receive the points, was not in the best interest in preserving the integrity of figure skating...but what's done is done. I just hope we're not going down somewhat slippery slope after this incident. There are numerous skaters with documented asthma problems, and we haven't EVER seen something like this...and this should NOT be a reason to set precedent...here are some examples in the past where skaters have fought through the end...
- Charlie White has asthma, that's why he normally looks so out of breath at the end of D/W's FDs (just see today and really any other performance when he leaves it all on the ice) but they fight through it...even when 4CCs is in Colorado Springs like it was last year
- Yuzuru Hanyu has really bad asthma and more often than not looks like he's going to pass out after as FS/or botches jumps in the second half of the program b/c he's tired/or having difficulty breathing...and let's be real, last year's 4CCs was a little too close for comfort when he had to get oxygen...
-Alex Shibutani skated with bronchitis (iirc) last year at 4CCs in Colorado Springs...he spent what felt like minutes on the ice on his knees after their FD and Maia was supporting him as the left the ice
and i'm sure there are more skaters who have skated with asthma problems/other health issues that one could argue that if they had gotten to have a "break" they would have had better skates and won medals...there's a REASON for the bonus after the halfway mark for singles and pairs...it is difficult to breath (for anyone, regardless of health) when you skate, spin, jump at full speed for over 4 minutes that's why figure skating is a sport. And I really hope the integrity of figure skating is protected/continues even after this incident in terms of us NEVER having to see something like this again (barring a circumstance when a skater is actually having a breathing issue serious enough to warrant medical attention - which Tessa didn't need during the "break" today).
EDIT: fine if the problem was with Tessa's legs, then we won't go comparing apples (breathing problems) to oranges (leg problems), but this almost makes me REALLY not buy the fact that V/M HAD to stop especially there was no indication that they were having problems prior to the stop. Maybe i'm being overly harsh/judgmental, but it's one thing to stop a program (IMO, it looked like it was Scott's decision to stop since Tess was ready for the lift, but he just didn't lift her...) and another to fight through it and give a subpar performance b/c of leg cramps and not come out on top...
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