2016-2017 Grand Prix selections

[cathlen]

why is everybody so surprised of the withdrawls. it´s the same Story EVERY YEAR.

Maybe because there were many for months and they keep coming? It's like neverending story. If we count right from July there would be like a lot. And GP sereis has not even started, so we'll probably see more.

 

[tulosai]

why is everybody so surprised of the withdrawls. it´s the same Story EVERY YEAR.

I don't think an entire field has ever been decimated like the pairs has this year.

 

[Yatagarasu]

Has there been any explanation in regards to Ten? I looked and all I can find is a simple, he withdrew, nothing more.

 

[xibsuarz]

Has there been any explanation in regards to Ten? I looked and all I can find is a simple, he withdrew, nothing more.

It's probably due to injury

 

[Ice Dance]

I don't think an entire field has ever been decimated like the pairs has this year.

At Skate America or in general? I think most of us, including whoever selected Sui & Han for the event, knew there was no way they were going to be able to attend. (Thereby making the podium more accessible for the host teams). But as far as the larger Grand Prix is concerned, yes, the pairs field has really taken a hard hit. Without S&H and Stolbova & Klimov. And losing two Chinese teams in one go. V&T were to be expected after an Olympic gold so perhaps their disappearance for the season is not a surprise. We are, technically, gaining Savchenko & Massot, two Chinese pairs teams, and regaining Denney & Frazier and Kavaguti & Smirnov (hopefully). But injury to S&K from the U.S. and Moore-Towers & Marinaro as well. I worry about the numerous injuries we are seeing in pairs. There have never been as many pairs teams on the world scene as in the other disciplines so the percentage of injured teams seems quite staggering. And no teams moving up on the GP from juniors.

At the moment--as far as I can tell--all the top ten men from Worlds are competing on the GP, all of the top ten ladies, and all but one of the top ten dance teams (the dance field is actually deeper than Worlds on the GP this season, since Bobrova & Soloviev and Virtue & Moir are competing on the GP).

In pairs only 5 out of the top 10 teams from Worlds are competing in their first event on the GP. And most of the missing teams have already withdrawn from their second event as well.

 

[QuadThrow]

At Skate America or in general? I think most of us, including whoever selected Sui & Han for the event, knew there was no way they were going to be able to attend. (Thereby making the podium more accessible for the host teams). But as far as the larger Grand Prix is concerned, yes, the pairs field has really taken a hard hit. Without S&H and Stolbova & Klimov. And losing two Chinese teams in one go. V&T were to be expected after an Olympic gold so perhaps their disappearance for the season is not a surprise. We are, technically, gaining Savchenko & Massot, two Chinese pairs teams, and regaining Denney & Frazier and Kavaguti & Smirnov (hopefully). But injury to S&K from the U.S. and Moore-Towers & Marinaro as well. I worry about the numerous injuries we are seeing in pairs. There have never been as many pairs teams on the world scene as in the other disciplines so the percentage of injured teams seems quite staggering. And no teams moving up on the GP from juniors.

At the moment--as far as I can tell--all the top ten men from Worlds are competing on the GP, all of the top ten ladies, and all but one of the top ten dance teams (the dance field is actually deeper than Worlds on the GP this season, since Bobrova & Soloviev and Virtue & Moir are competing on the GP).

In pairs only 5 out of the top 10 teams from Worlds are competing in their first event on the GP. And most of the missing teams have already withdrawn from their second event as well.

Nice and sad summary. It looks like an up and down every season.

Last year there was a real high class battle between all the top pairs (only K/S missing) and I loved it. This year so many pairs are missing. I would not agree go the general statement that this is only result of the Quads. I think the level of everything in pair skating is rising in total. It is not enough to perform a normal lift or a normal throw. You need to do something special to be at the top: Bigger and bigger throws, 3-3 SBS, dangerous lifts or awesome choreograpy. I think this mix put a lot of pressure on the pairs. The results are injuries.

At worlds 16 all top pairs showed something really unique.

D/R 3lutz and Quad
S/H Quad twist. Quad throw
S/M Unreal big twist and big lifts
S/K. 3-3 SBS. Best program

I cannot believe how pair skating changed the last 15 years. If you watch older performances you almost have to laugh about the tiny elements. S/S started this revoltion and it has not come to a close yet.

 

[TGee]

Nice and sad summary. It looks like an up and down every season.

Last year there was a real high class battle between all the top pairs (only K/S missing) and I loved it. This year so many pairs are missing. I would not agree go the general statement that this is only result of the Quads. I think the level of everything in pair skating is rising in total. It is not enough to perform a normal lift or a normal throw. You need to do something special to be at the top: Bigger and bigger throws, 3-3 SBS, dangerous lifts or awesome choreograpy. I think this mix put a lot of pressure on the pairs. The results are injuries.

At worlds 16 all top pairs showed something really unique.

D/R 3lutz and Quad
S/H Quad twist. Quad throw
S/M Unreal big twist and big lifts
S/K. 3-3 SBS. Best program

I cannot believe how pair skating changed the last 15 years. If you watch older performances you almost have to laugh about the tiny elements. S/S started this revoltion and it has not come to a close yet.

Pairs is so difficult.

I made the point in the Duhamel /Radford Threepeat thread, that slowing down and retaining control is reportedly the Montreal approach to increasing technical difficulty in pairs while minimizing injuries.

Kirsten Moore-Towers has spoken in interviews about how she has been working to slow down and trust the training and pacing rather than going for it. And she attributed her and Michael's challenges as a team to the moments when they rush it.

Given that pairs girls seem to thrive on the danger, the take it slow and cautiously, especially in the adrenaline rush of competition, sounds IMO like a struggle against temperament. Meagan and Julianne may be more exceptional than we realize.

 

[andromache]

Pairs is so difficult.

I made the point in the Duhamel /Radford Threepeat thread, that slowing down and retaining control is reportedly the Montreal approach to increasing technical difficulty in pairs while minimizing injuries.

I believe it, and kudos to Meagan and Eric for staying healthy and uninjured while performing some of the most difficult elements in the field. But....the "slow and controlled" quad throws are not very pretty, unfortunately, though they're obviously safer than the huge Chinese quad throws. So what's the compromise?

 

[cathlen]

Nice and sad summary. It looks like an up and down every season.

Last year there was a real high class battle between all the top pairs (only K/S missing) and I loved it.

Well, Kavaguti/Smirnov did compete in GP series last season and had bronze in GP Final, so comparing it to this year Pairs field, it was really good. This year had a chance to be even better with S/M, but no...

 

[TGee]

I believe it, and kudos to Meagan and Eric for staying healthy and uninjured while performing some of the most difficult elements in the field. But....the "slow and controlled" quad throws are not very pretty, unfortunately, though they're obviously safer than the huge Chinese quad throws. So what's the compromise?

Time will likely take care of it. Pairs tend to speed things up as mastery of elements and skills increases and the pairs "know" where each other will be.

When seeing competitions live, the step up in speed in the final flights is very striking.

But as another poster has noted, Duhamel and Radford have added a new element every season, and have acknowledged that there an impact on their confident delivery of their entire program whenever they do. So there is an acknowledged trade-off that they are weighing.

And I've also been thinking about Eric's comments that about how the non-standard size of the rink in Finland really impacted their SP. One could see that he was looking for Meagan and couldn't count on where she would be. And as Quadthrow noted, they were remarkably slow in the SP. I'd wondered about illness or injury as I watched it, but Eric's comments underscore for me just how much safe pairs skating relies on their being able to predict where each other will be.

 

[4everchan]

I believe it, and kudos to Meagan and Eric for staying healthy and uninjured while performing some of the most difficult elements in the field. But....the "slow and controlled" quad throws are not very pretty, unfortunately, though they're obviously safer than the huge Chinese quad throws. So what's the compromise?

many of the spin positions aren't pretty and only done for gaining levels yet people do not get on these skaters as much... I prefer seeing D/R taking their time but trying a quad than sticking to triples... at least, it's not just a level they gain but an extra turn. it's pretty impressive to see a quad throw live.... at ACI I saw James and Cipres doing their quad throw... the whole crowd was like OHHHH and AHHHHH.... on tv it does look worse and slower in my opinion.

 

[andromache]

many of the spin positions aren't pretty and only done for gaining levels yet people do not get on these skaters as much... I prefer seeing D/R taking their time but trying a quad than sticking to triples... at least, it's not just a level they gain but an extra turn. it's pretty impressive to see a quad throw live.... at ACI I saw James and Cipres doing their quad throw... the whole crowd was like OHHHH and AHHHHH.... on tv it does look worse and slower in my opinion.

I hate pairs SBS spins soooo much omg . Even the best pairs get out of sync. ISU should cut levels for that element and judge it only on quality, or start giving negative GOE for being out of sync.

I definitely appreciate what D/R are doing, but I'll take a huge, effortless triple over a quad visually. I wonder if we'll ever get huge, effortless quads from any pair with some semblance of consistency or if it's simply too hard on the body.

 

[tulosai]

I hate pairs SBS spins soooo much omg . Even the best pairs get out of sync. ISU should cut levels for that element and judge it only on quality, or start giving negative GOE for being out of sync.

I definitely appreciate what D/R are doing, but I'll take a huge, effortless triple over a quad visually. I wonder if we'll ever get huge, effortless quads from any pair with some semblance of consistency or if it's simply too hard on the body.

Honestly I think the SBS spins should just be eliminated as an element at this point, sort of like the spiral sequence was for the ladies. I think it no longer serves the purpose it was meant to serve.

 

[Yatagarasu]

It's probably due to injury

Thanks, yeah, I think so too, especially considering the previous event but was curious if there was further information which would give us a clue on how bad it is. Hopefully it's nothing major.

 

[cathlen]

Daisuke Murakmi WD from SA: http://www.isuresults.com/events/cat00028736.htm It's getting worse and worse

 

[Layback11]

They're dropping like flies :sad21:

Is it too late to assign replacements?

 

[Daniel1998]

:gaah:
Worst GP series ever and it hasn't even started. :angry1:

 

[Li'Kitsu]

Daisuke Murakmi WD from SA: http://www.isuresults.com/events/cat00028736.htm It's getting worse and worse

Nooooooooooooo!!! :sad4::sad4::sad4:

 

[Chemistry66]

They're dropping like flies :sad21:

Is it too late to assign replacements?

Given that Skate America is this weekend, even if it wasn't too late to assign replacements, would there even be an eligible substitute who could get to the event? Let alone 2, given that Ten's spot is still open?

 

[cathlen]

Alisa EFIMOVA / Alexander KOROVIN have replaced Stolbova/Klimov at CoR: http://www.isuresults.com/events/cat00028746.htm