Well, they were only 16/19 in the 11-12 season(senior gp debut the year before), which is incredibly young for a pairs team. Plus the fact that they've been competing in seniors since early in their careers, which made their lack of skill/maturity all the more obvious. It's amazing how far Sui in particular has come in skating skills.
2015 Skate America Pairs Free Skate Oct 24
- Thread starter dorispulaski
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Well, they were only 16/19 in the 11-12 season(senior gp debut the year before), which is incredibly young for a pairs team. Plus the fact that they've been competing in seniors since early in their careers, which made their lack of skill/maturity all the more obvious. It's amazing how far Sui in particular has come in skating skills.
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LOL, Han signaling to Sui that she needs to lower her bouquet, so he can get in the picture.
Thanks, I always forget that that competition exists.
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ITA!
And I think we didn't watch the same performance as wordsworthgirl because, apart from the mistakes on the sbs jumps, the program was nowhere near crisp or even clean (please watch again her landing on the throw 3 sal!). Yes the 4 twist is impressive, but there's nothing else great about them. I did like the music but the choreo was rather non existent, the execution "robotic" as you said, and I'm really surprised to read they're a couple off the ice as I didn't see any connection/chemistry between the two of them either.
If they have improved, I'm glad I never saw them before (that performance and skating were messy enough for me). 4th in the FS is about right for them, but they received way inflated components for that skate.
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Stolbova/Klimov in 4th after completing a new technical breakthrough for pairs skating with a SBS 3Toe+3Toe+2Toe.
That is shocking.
She got a << call for her 3S, that was too harsh I think. It looked slightly past forwards in the slow-mo. It's actually only a .3 difference in the total score for pairs when you are falling on it, so it didn't change the final placement, but hmm.
That is shocking.
She got a << call for her 3S, that was too harsh I think. It looked slightly past forwards in the slow-mo. It's actually only a .3 difference in the total score for pairs when you are falling on it, so it didn't change the final placement, but hmm.
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I liked Astakhova/Rogonov's FP! It told us a story and for a bit, I thought the story was real. Very clever.
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I really love that program too!!!
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They were also once 3rd at the senior GPF way back in 2010-2011... although that was while they were still junior.
And they won 4CC twice.
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double post
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Actually in the slow motion, the flat of her blade is clearly on the ice past 180 degrees when she lands. It was quite obviously downgraded, looking at it in real-time and in slow motion... she simply didn't get the lift she needed... unfortunate error after such an awesome opening SBS combo.
As far as completing a technical breakthrough, that's huge for them for making pairs history with the triple-triple, but they also had a stepout on the throw 3S and unison issues on their spin. Not to mention the whole program was one big buzzkill... Ksenia was essentially emotionless for most of it, and they didn't even look like they wanted to be there (not that being in 5th would make them chipper). They also had minor errors here and there (lifts looked laboured, she stumbled a bit near the boards right after their triple twist - which itself wasn't very high).
4th place was definitely where Stolbova/Klimov should have been, even with the 3-3-2. 3 technical errors in their SP, 3 technical errors in their LP... the only shocking thing is that the judges didn't prop them up into 3rd over S/B (who definitely deserved the podium), and actually gave Stolbova/Klimov PCS that reflected their performance instead of boosting them on the back of their World/Olympic silvers. Scimeca/Knierim were overscored on PCS (home ice, obvs), but the quad twist and SP lead saved them and justified them staying on the podium.
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Maybe laboured wasn't the right word, but they weren't as crisp and confident as we've seen from them before... particularly on the exits of the lifts.
I'm also not a fan of their lift positions this year either... the final one shows excellent flexibility with the hyper extended biellmann, but none of their 3 lifts show any extension -- essentially all her positions have one or both legs bent, and she should consider a star or split position as she's done in the past.
The fact that you are not a fan does not make it less crisp. They always have had great lifts and so did tonight.
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Agreed! I quite like this team, and I think the judges were rather harsh on them at this competition. Ondrej Nepela was a far better indication of their talent. A shame about their reverse lift too.
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Outside of the botched SBS jumps & scratchy landing on the throw 3S, everything else in the program was clean and their quad twist is one of the best by far. Like WWG stated they have great speed & flow and their lines & extension are much improved, the problem with their FS is that it needs more transitions I think more transitions would help the program look less robotic. With regards to performance aspect, Alexa is very expressive & emotive while Chris is not, while off-ice in regard to their personalities, Alexa is very bubbly, fiery, & outgoing while Chris is cool, quiet, & laidback which shows up in their on-ice performance, I do think some work with a drama/acting coach would help them with selling the performance more which will showcase their chemistry & connection they have as an off-ice couple as well.
Actually they have improved, if this is your first time watching them then I suggest you go back and look at their performances from seasons past (archived in their fanfest thread here: Alexa Scimeca & Chris Knierim fanfest thread so you can see how far they've come since their debut as a pair back in the 2012-2013 season. They do deserve their components and I wouldn't say that those are "waaay inflated" because of the improvements they've made and also they are the #1 US pair and remember this is Skate America and there is always a bit of home team PCS inflation at every senior GP event.
Their quad twist is only one of the best by virtue of the fact that they are one of the few teams attempting it. Their crashy catch on it does NOT make it a good twist. Admirable that they do one, but not fantastic in quality by any means.
Improvement or not, Scimeca and Knierim were overscored in the FS. They should have been 3rd overall or 4th at best.
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Yes, the catch on the quad twist could've been cleaner, but no one else gets the massive height that they do in theirs.
Looks like improvement from where they were in the past doesn't seem to matter to you. If they were over-scored then so were quite a few other teams, no team was pristinely clean & crisp in the FS, like I stated before Sc/Kn are the #1 US pair and remember this is Skate America & there is always a bit of home team PCS inflation at every senior GP event.
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Yes but it's still shocking that a team of this level, who went to such lengths to prepare for the season, is having such difficulties.
I just saw the 3S on a better feed and yes that was forward actually. Too bad.
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