2015 Trophée Bompard Pairs SP

[Kinga]

I liked Tatiana in the Bollywood SP, but not Maxim. He was sloppy overall and he is really weak in pair spins. The costume is not greatest either.

About Stanislav Morozov (Tatiana's ex partner) - I have heard that he is actually a really nice guy, his outward appearance might be misleading.

 

[Mista Ekko]

really? level 4 brings 0.5 points more. I think that should be worth it.

in 2013/2014 they have usually got level1 for the BoDs and I have never come to know why.

Maybe he didn't go low enough in the knee,
I really can't remember

 

[TheGrandSophy]

I appreciate it TheGrandSophy and thanks for clarifying...but beyond the music theme, I do not see how the two are related...?

I believe if I recall that someone said V/T's choreo was more authentic as Bollywood and others disagreed. One of those things that comes up in threads. Lol

 

[euroskate]

generally i love the choice for V/T the costumes should receive a bonus point. BUT they look slow and i always had davis withe in mind who really SKATED bollywood. and they are just ... i don´t know. but perhaps it grows. at least it is something different and entertaining

 

[Bumdid]

Not sure if someone had posted this before. But I love the original dance for V/T music; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLIQzxgFeNE

 

[sses1]

V/T: a stronger performance here in comparison to Neblehorn. Tatiana absolutely sells this program. I know its a hit or miss program for a lot of people but I love it.

M/C: see what happens when you can skate cleanly? I hope they kill it in the LP too.

S/B: Good for you baby canadians. Keep being consistent!

-P/C have a beautiful program.
-T/M

 

[euroskate]

Castelli and Tran were much better than the canadians. Can't understand the PCS. Canadians are slow and their lift is freaky, ugly and very slow.

agree. dont understand the canadians being up there. for me this was just boring. sorry

 

[gold12345]

Volosozhar/Trankov were the class of the field as expected, with room to improve. The throw triple flip does not appear to come as naturally to them as the other throws, but it's a good upgrade for them and you can tell they are fighting hard to try to make it look as impressive as their other throws. That was really their only glaring issue today.

Tarasova/Morozov skated very cautiously and nervously, but they still have a chance to make it up in the free skate tomorrow. I remember them having a really rough time at their second GP last year, so I think it could be some nerves. Maybe their shaky short here could actually help calm the nerves a bit for the free skate.

It does make things a bit boring when they all do the twist as the first, or nearly the first, element.

The twist takes a lot of explosive energy, especially for the teams with really powerful twists. That's probably a big reason why nearly every team has it as their opening element. Peng/Zhang's twist would likely be a little more explosive if they did it earlier, but I do like the uniqueness in having it later, and they certainly have enough quality in their twist to do it well at that point in the program. But for most pairs, it probably wouldn't work out well.

 

[SashaJuliaSpins]

That's the correct pronunciation of her last name in French, and she's French-Canadian.

Are you sure? Cos I am Canadian and have never heard it pronounced Seguan! Then again who knows...my students with the name could be playing tricks on me!:confused2: I don't really think so though!

 

[ice coverage]

Are you sure? Cos I am Canadian and have never heard it pronounced Seguan! Then again who knows...my students with the name could be playing tricks on me!:confused2: I don't really think so though!

Listen to how Canadians Scott Russell and Ted Barton pronounce Julianne's last name:

https://youtu.be/sF4lZqfQq6A Scott Russell

https://youtu.be/2oIyoKEPMtU Ted Barton

 

[[email protected]]

V/T are just magnificent. It's their first big competition and they are in the first group. That's why their pcs is only 1 point higher than D/R. Should be much higher - just a different league skating skill wise.

Also loved James/Cipres. She is just wow! That's their problem as well - she draws all the attention.

Canadians were quite good as well.

 

[QuadThrow]

The twist takes a lot of explosive energy, especially for the teams with really powerful twists. That's probably a big reason why nearly every team has it as their opening element. Peng/Zhang's twist would likely be a little more explosive if they did it earlier, but I do like the uniqueness in having it later, and they certainly have enough quality in their twist to do it well at that point in the program. But for most pairs, it probably wouldn't work out well.

really good comment. There has been some pairs showing other elements at the start.

S/S has got the 3FTh, because it was a real consistent and impressive cracker.
K/S show their individual jumps, because they want to work off their shaky SBS before they start their quad-attemps and choreography.
P/T showed their indiviual jumps too. They want to work them off to have enough room to be free to feel the music.

 

[ice coverage]

Are you sure? Cos I am Canadian and have never heard it pronounced Seguan! Then again who knows...my students with the name could be playing tricks on me!:confused2: I don't really think so though!

And here is Canadian Pj Kwong pronouncing Julianne's last name:

https://youtu.be/d7cyOz9PbHg​

Pj has been an announcer at the Olympics for figure skating, so I would think/hope that she would be a stickler for using correct pronunciations.​

 

[MaxSwagg]

The best! I thought a fair score for Tat and Max. They just need to skate a little faster, particularly in the step sequences...needs more energy. Best twist ever. Love the creativity in their lifts and Ds entry. Great emotional commitment...looks authentic and not forced. Comparing to D/W? Maybe if you want to come across with as much personality as wax figures... *cueScottysface<-----*

 

[gold12345]

really good comment. There has been some pairs showing other elements at the start.

S/S has got the 3FTh, because it was a real consistent and impressive cracker.
K/S show their individual jumps, because they want to work off their shaky SBS before they start their quad-attemps and choreography.
P/T showed their indiviual jumps too. They want to work them off to have enough room to be free to feel the music.

Good examples, there are a few teams that don't do the twist first. I can't think of anyone who has done the twist as the sixth element (out of 7) in a short program like Peng/Zhang did today though. Interesting that they are doing it basically at the end of the program.

Castelli and Tran were much better than the canadians. Can't understand the PCS. Canadians are slow and their lift is freaky, ugly and very slow.

The Canadians' lift did have a couple issues, and the GOEs were mostly 0's. I think Castelli & Tran are mostly hurt by a lower level of difficulty in their throw (and they had a little footwork stumble today). They're doing throw triple salchow, whereas all the other pairs are doing throw lutz/flip or loop. The content of the programs does impact PCS. I thought the Canadians delivered their program pretty well though, despite the lift not looking the best.

 

[lauravvv]

What a good pairs SP. Five really good skates out of eight, and Peng/Zhang also still good, even though not at their best.

V/T have a deserved lead, but I thought they could be a little faster - seemed slowish for their standard (at least on TV). I understand that the part of the SP in close hold is more difficult than what many other pairs do, but they have managed to do it faster before.

What I find a bit strange that all pairs except Ziegler/Keifer got level 3 for their death spirals here (Z/K got level 1). Is that a coincidence? Has to be so, but strange indeed.


P.S. I am asking myself how is that that I am able to think and write about the pairs SP here when such things are happening in France. I have CNN on right now in the background (changing channels from CNN to Euronews to BBC and back), but I just can't think about that all the time. Still trying to distract myself so selfishly. Telling myself that I won't be able to help anyone there by putting my life on pause.

 

[SashaJuliaSpins]

Listen to how Canadians Scott Russell and Ted Barton pronounce Julianne's last name:

https://youtu.be/sF4lZqfQq6A Scott Russell

https://youtu.be/2oIyoKEPMtU Ted Barton

Honestly, they both pronounced it differently! Scott Russell pronounced it closer to what I am used to hearing and Ted Barton closer to what the Eurosport guys said. So which one is correct?

 

[Art&Sport]

Oh Wow, after watching Ladies and Pairs in skate order without being spoiled in advance re the placements, I'm almost afraid to look at Mens and Ice Dance.

For starters, IMO, Angela Wang should be at least in 6th, maybe 7th. But above all, she was low-balled in the scoring. She paid heavily for landing triple/double and for skating first in the first group.

Regarding pairs, it just shows that when not much separates teams, the politics comes heavily into play. Again, U.S. skaters get low-balled in sp for skating first in first group. I thought the score between Seguin/ Bilodeau and Castelli/ Tran should have been slightly closer, though I agree with S/B ahead of C/T. Kudos for James/Cipres skating one of their best performances ever (and in France too), so I can understand their high score. But just to be quite honest, Castelli/ Tran and Seguin/ Bilodeau have better quality stylistically than both James/ Cipres and Della Monica/Guarise. The main thing J/C and DM/G have going for them is having been around longer and the politics, plus they performed to their best. Still the overall style and quality of J/C and DM/G is really not higher than that of C/T or S/B. Apparently, C/T politically, as a new team and representing U.S. in pairs have those strikes against them. And, should C/T make the slightest mistake, they are gonna be punished more heavily, as opposed to teams who have been around longer.

The scoring was a bit screwy, especially when Tarasova/Morosov did not skate to expectations and had to be slotted lower than in the predetermined rep position behind V/T. In this case, it would have looked really bad to have T/M with numerous errors ahead of all the lower rep teams who skated cleanly. Since the event is in France, the judges elected not to place T/M in second or third with their errors. Also, Peng/Zhang made errors, but are considered one of the top teams. Their program concept and music did not help them much here, but the political clout of Chinese fed and rep of Chinese pairs did.

Of course, Volosozhar/Trankov merely had to show up and perform reasonably well to achieve a high score out the wazoo. I would have rated V/T only around 69 or 70 for that performance. Yes, V/T generally have quality elements, but to me they have only had over the course of their careers perhaps 3 programs that had some extra oomph to them. Other than that, they are just another average to above average Russian team who judges, fans, and skating establishment love to fawn over. Tarasova/ Morosov are in the same vein of Totmianina/Marinin: great line and traditional Russian elegance, but boring programs, lack of charismatic presence, and no connection with each other. V/T over the course of their career were only a bit of a level above both T/M pairs in my opinion. The thing that helped V/T was how they developed a chemistry very quickly after being partnered, their explosive 3 twist, Trankov's diva skills, and the fact they had innovative champion pairs skaters Savchenko/ Szolkowy challenging them. At this point, I see nothing special with V/T's sp for this season. I don't think the concept works for them stylistically.

On overall style, C/T and S/B were the class of the field. And even J/C had a program that suited them better than the Russians and Chinese teams. For Tarsova/Morosov, nothing has been found yet for them choreographically or musically that suits or motivates them. As far as Peng/Zhang -- they benefit as well from being a known quantity. But I see nothing very special about their sp this season, plus Peng doesn't look as if she has grown in maturity or consistency from last season, and the age difference between these two is still very noticeable. Again, mistakes by top teams who have reputation generally give them high points, while any mistakes by new teams who have great overall quality will still have them dropped in the scoring. In this case, Marissa and Mervin skated very well (slight bobble on step sequence by Mervin) but were kept down mostly due to skate order, politics, and being a newbie team. I think C/T should have scored higher on Performance Execution and Interpretation, and their overall score should have been more like 63.95.

 

[Art&Sport]

A throwback to Meryl and Charlie's OD

Not even close. No thanks. No comparison really. This style does not suit V/T in my opinion. Their overall skill is still present, but they really are not so special as to be receiving such a high score with this effort. Something is missing with them. They have a dynamic between each other, but I find them only a tad more interesting than T/M 1 and 2, and that is mostly due to Maxim's diva-ish drama.

Indian dance is completely different from ballet - so it's not easy for any figure skater, because they all have ballet training. But they're improving. Better than Davis / White some years back.

My God, how do you come to such a conclusion? First of all, D/W are ice dancers, and their iconic Bollywood dance V/T clearly wish they could copy and make work for pairs. But no cigar and V/T don't come close either.

 

[Serious Business]

Having seen Tat/Max's huge score before watching the program, and knowing how amazing this team can be, I was decidedly underwhelmed. It wasn't bad by any means, but it didn't have the kind of zip, unison, power and command they used to have. The whole thing was a bit tentative. I'm surprised it's ahead of the rest of the field by that much, when most of the other teams skated great (and IMO, some of them skated better).