That was such a good pairs competition. I wasn't expecting an event that good on the GP this year- several strong skates from strong teams. I think a solid Sui/Han could outscore a perfect Stolbova/Klimov, but they opened the door a little with a somewhat shaky 3STh and SBS 3T combo, and a Lvl 3 lift. It definitely seems that PCS is affected by how the team executes their technical content. S/H absolutely have better throws and twists, but S/K's SBS jumps are bigger with better flow. S/K had a more seamless quality today, and that throw to end the program is impressive. But both teams were great, and Wang/Wang were strong as well, even with watered down jumps. The only bigger concern for W/W down the road may be the 10 yr age difference, especially since she's still very young.
For US pairs, it was great to see Scimeca/Knierim skate well and set a personal best, with still a good amount of room to improve. Hopefully that will help their confidence, because sometimes they have appeared a little too tense, maybe because they haven't skated together very long. I find them promising in part because Alexa has such a natural athleticism and spring to her elements, and Chris lifts her with ease. US pairs are often a little mismatched, but they look right for each other. It's a shame that they couldn't medal here, as today's good skate would have been enough to medal at pretty much all the other GPs this year.
James/Cipres were strong today, but were more shaky in the second half of the program and really slowed down in the final lifts. Scimeca/Knierim have a much better twist, stronger throws, better ice coverage on lifts, a better death spiral than J/C... If anything, I thought S/K's TES today could have been a tad higher. Far weaker twists than theirs get +1s, and yet today they had a few +1s mixed in with their usual +2s, +3. But at least something like that didn't affect the overall outcome.
Yeah, it seems like a missed opportunity there. Maybe Moore-Towers feared that someone else would partner with Marinaro if she had waited 1 or 2 more seasons to see if she could get on the world podium with Moscovitch. It might have been worth that risk though, especially since there were unlikely to be many other partner options for Marinaro in Canada. Moscovitch has also stated that he wants to compete another full Olympic cycle, but it sounds like Moore-Towers was convinced that he wouldn't hold up that long and that Marinaro was a better long-term option. There's probably more to this than we will ever know. When you're training with someone every day, there must be a lot more to weigh aside from just what immediate competitive results you can get.
For US pairs, it was great to see Scimeca/Knierim skate well and set a personal best, with still a good amount of room to improve. Hopefully that will help their confidence, because sometimes they have appeared a little too tense, maybe because they haven't skated together very long. I find them promising in part because Alexa has such a natural athleticism and spring to her elements, and Chris lifts her with ease. US pairs are often a little mismatched, but they look right for each other. It's a shame that they couldn't medal here, as today's good skate would have been enough to medal at pretty much all the other GPs this year.
James/Cipres were strong today, but were more shaky in the second half of the program and really slowed down in the final lifts. Scimeca/Knierim have a much better twist, stronger throws, better ice coverage on lifts, a better death spiral than J/C... If anything, I thought S/K's TES today could have been a tad higher. Far weaker twists than theirs get +1s, and yet today they had a few +1s mixed in with their usual +2s, +3. But at least something like that didn't affect the overall outcome.
Yeah, it seems like a missed opportunity there. Maybe Moore-Towers feared that someone else would partner with Marinaro if she had waited 1 or 2 more seasons to see if she could get on the world podium with Moscovitch. It might have been worth that risk though, especially since there were unlikely to be many other partner options for Marinaro in Canada. Moscovitch has also stated that he wants to compete another full Olympic cycle, but it sounds like Moore-Towers was convinced that he wouldn't hold up that long and that Marinaro was a better long-term option. There's probably more to this than we will ever know. When you're training with someone every day, there must be a lot more to weigh aside from just what immediate competitive results you can get.
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. Specially Belle and Danse Mon Esmeralda.
