2019 Worlds: Pairs' Pregame Chat

[Koatterce]

Starting orders based on current entries. Skaters listed in order of WS. All groups have 4 pairs unless otherwise specified.
Random draw to determine exact order.

Group 5
Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov
Vanessa James / Morgan Cipres
Natalia Zabiiako / Alexander Enbert
Nicole Della Monica / Matteo Guarise

Group 4
Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro
Cheng Peng / Yang Jin
Aleksandra Boikova / Dmitrii Kozlovskii
Ashley Cain / Timothy Leduc

last two spots of Group 3
Wenjing Sui / Cong Han
Miriam Ziegler / Severin Kiefer

Group 1 (3 pairs) + Group 2 + first two spots of Group 3
Minerva Fabienne Hase / Nolan Seegert
Laura Barquero / Aritz Maestu
Tae Ok Ryom / Ju Sik Kim
Evelyn Walsh / Trennt Michaud
Annika Hocke / Ruben Blommaert
Zoe Jones / Christopher Boyadji
Lana Petranovic / Antonio Souza-Kordeiru
Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini
Hanna Abrazhevich / Martin Bidar

 

[Nirti]

Sui/Han in group 3? I didn't realize they missed so many competitions

 

[Colonel Green]

Sui/Han in group 3? I didn't realize they missed so many competitions

For the three seasons counted for World Standings, 2017-18 is the only one where they had more than 2 outings (and even there they didn’t go to Worlds).

 

[chuckm]

Sui / Han should do much better at Worlds than they did at 4C. According to Han, they had had just one runthrough prior to competing at 4C.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Hot diggity dog! 6:30 pm Tuesday in Spokane...

 

[surimi]

Can anyone shed light on where Abrazhevich/Bidar got the points to qualify for Worlds, since they're now on the entry list? Not that I'm complaining, but I thought I'd read they couldn't reach the required minimums at Bavarian Open, and they were listed for Challenge Cup but withdrew...?

 

[Nirti]

Can anyone shed light on where Abrazhevich/Bidar got the points to qualify for Worlds, since they're now on the entry list? Not that I'm complaining, but I thought I'd read they couldn't reach the required minimums at Bavarian Open, and they were listed for Challenge Cup but withdrew...?

They reached it at the Ice Mall Cup, in Israel. It was hold the same weekend as Challenge Cup, that's why they withdrew from Challenge Cup. I don't know why they registered both competitions.

 

[oly2018]

Sui/Han in group 3? I didn't realize they missed so many competitions

I love them, but they will be perpetual underdogs if they continue to miss competitions. Not skating in the last group could hold them back. They could do, they have before, but they kind of have to rely on creating a moment and everyone else not.

 

[chuckm]

Ice Mall Cup was a very high-scoring event, which is likely why they chose it over the Challenge Cup, which turned out to be not as generous in scoring as the Bavarian Open.

 

[chuckm]

I love them, but they will be perpetual underdogs if they continue to miss competitions. Not skating in the last group could hold them back. They could do, they have before, but they kind of have to rely on creating a moment and everyone else not.

They missed competitions because of Sui's injury. She had to have surgery, and there is a recovery time after surgery.

They'll have no problem even if they skate in an earlier group. They always "create a moment" and will be scored high by the judges. I don't consider them an 'underdog' at all. They won 4CC after having just one runthrough---they will have had 7 weeks of preparation before Worlds.

 

[Nirti]

Ice Mall Cup was a very high-scoring event, which is likely why they chose it over the Challenge Cup, which turned out to be not as generous in scoring as the Bavarian Open.

But how could they know it in advance? It was only the second-time Ice Mall was hold, and the first time we only saw rare junior skaters. Or every judges there were known to be especially generous in scoring?

 

[chuckm]

BECAUSE it was the first time hosting a SENIOR event. The organizers want to attract competitors for the future. Also the judges were nearly all from Eastern Europe, which would have been favorable for competitors from that same area.

Lots of teams and singles got their required TES from this competition.

But for some of the juniors, the results were way out of wack with the way they scored at JW. Alina Soupian won the Jr ladies with a score of 174.18, but scored only 131.97 at JW. Ushakova/Nekrasov won Jr Dance with 185.46 (110.31 in the FD) but scored only 166.48 at JW. The brother/sister team of Nosovitskaya/Nosovitsky won Jr ice dance bronze with 144.16 (59.01 RD) but failed to make the cut for the FD, scoring only 43.1 in the JW RD.

However, the Czech team don't have to worry about qualifying for the FS in pairs at Worlds, because there are only 18 pairs teams, and all the teams will make the final as the cutoff has been raised to 20 for the FS.

 

[oly2018]

They missed competitions because of Sui's injury. She had to have surgery, and there is a recovery time after surgery.

They'll have no problem even if they skate in an earlier group. They always "create a moment" and will be scored high by the judges. I don't consider them an 'underdog' at all. They won 4CC after having just one runthrough---they will have had 7 weeks of preparation before Worlds.

I know the realities of the surgery and recovery time, but I do question why they didn't do any Senior B's once she was recovered or even minor Chinese competitions for their own sake. They are my favorite pair team and I agree they always create a moment, but so do Vanessa and Morgan. In this specific competition, J/C have the momentum. There is no denying that. S/H can pull off some incredible things, but they haven't competed these new programs enough. They may look better in practice, but what will happen with the pressure of competition. I am just worried about then. Love them, but they are coming from behind here.

 

[3T3T]

Best of luck to Team Russia ���� in Saitama.

I would be more than happy to see T/M on top of the podium. It was great to see Rach back as their short in Minsk, hopefully the change in their training regime will have helped them perfect their free programme. To strong skates and they will be hard to beat.

Not sure how Z/E will do, I hope he has recovered from his injury. I thought they skated very strongly in Russian Nationals and both programmes worked very well there, where I think it was a bit off in GP. I really like the short now �� B/K have had a great season, charnimg crowds wherever they have skated. I’m hoping for a solid debut with them comfortably in the Top 10.

 

[chuckm]

I know the realities of the surgery and recovery time, but I do question why they didn't do any Senior B's once she was recovered or even minor Chinese competitions for their own sake. They are my favorite pair team and I agree they always create a moment, but so do Vanessa and Morgan. In this specific competition, J/C have the momentum. There is no denying that. S/H can pull off some incredible things, but they haven't competed these new programs enough. They may look better in practice, but what will happen with the pressure of competition. I am just worried about then. Love them, but they are coming from behind here.

They didn't do Senior Bs because there haven't been many including pairs, and all were in Europe. Travel time would take too much time away from practice and training, which is what they really need at this point.

 

[Harriet]

Oh no. Sui apparently had another injury in the middle of February and they haven't been back into full on-ice training very long. https://twitter.com/SylviaUnseen/status/1106237807910100997

They're still going to be at Worlds, but she's had such terrible luck with injuries, it's horrible.

 

[CoyoteChris]

BTW, I wouldnt become too excited with the NBCSPORTSGOLD schedule yet.....I would trust Doris instead of some over employed worker bee at NBC.....

 

[elektra blue]

Oh no. Sui apparently had another injury in the middle of February and they haven't been back into full on-ice training very long. https://twitter.com/SylviaUnseen/status/1106237807910100997

They're still going to be at Worlds, but she's had such terrible luck with injuries, it's horrible.

poor sui, i feel so sorry for her

 

[GoneWithTheWind]

Pairs competitors in order of ISU Season Best:

1. Vanessa JAMES / Morgan CIPRES FRA 225.66
2. Evgenia TARASOVA / Vladimir MOROZOV RUS 220.25
3. Cheng PENG / Yang JIN CHN 216.90
4. Natalia ZABIIAKO / Alexander ENBERT RUS 214.14
5. Wenjing SUI / Cong HAN CHN 211.11
6. Kirsten MOORE-TOWERS / Michael MARINARO CAN 211.05
7. Aleksandra BOIKOVA / Dmitrii KOZLOVSKII RUS 205.28
8. Nicole DELLA MONICA / Matteo GUARISE ITA 205.14
9. Ashley CAIN / Timothy LEDUC USA 198.82
10. Tae Ok RYOM / Ju Sik KIM PRK 187.95
11. Miriam ZIEGLER / Severin KIEFER AUT 187.01
12. Minerva Fabienne HASE / Nolan SEEGERT GER 180.56
13. Evelyn WALSH / Trennt MICHAUD CAN 172.53
14. Rebecca GHILARDI / Filippo AMBROSINI ITA 163.74
15. Annika HOCKE / Ruben BLOMMAERT GER 160.47
16. Laura BARQUERO / Aritz MAESTU ESP 160.16
17. Lana PETRANOVIC / Antonio SOUZA-KORDEIRU CRO 151.89
18. Hanna ABRAZHEVICH / Martin BIDAR CZE 150.89 (earned at Ice Mall Cup, no official ISU SB)
19. Zoe JONES / Christopher BOYADJI GBR 138.85

Here's hoping for more Season Bests and Personal Bests at Worlds! Good luck to all the competitors!

 

[Skater Boy]

So sad about the injury situation of Sui and Han but they are seasoned vets - don't count them out. That being said with all T/M struggles with consistency and finding vehicles good for them the gold is really the French team's tolose. Cipres and James are the faves and have enough to easily take this. Most curious how the Americans will do - can they beat the Canadians - MTM-M. The American bigwigs said the goal was to beat/match the top Canadian team essentially. A lot will depend on how the Italians and Peng and Jin do I guess. Ithought the Russians Z and E were coming back from injury too. Is it possible the Americans could place as high as fourth? Though probably unlikely.