2021-22 U.S. Pairs Figure Skating

[clairecloutier]

Just to clarify .... It was the hosts of the EWC show (Paul Wylie/Emily Hughes) who mentioned, during the show, that Hazel and Misha started their tryout a month ago. That was how they phrased it. They didn't say: "Hazel and Misha are going to start competing together." They just said that Hazel/Misha had started their tryout about a month ago and had been skating together for that long. So I went with that phrasing (since there had been no official announcement).

Now that they're officially announced as a new team, per Ganicheva's IG, I think we can assume that the tryout is over and that they have decided to pair up and compete together. I'm sorry if my report from the show caused confusion. I just didn't want to state that they were definitely a competitive pair, when I wasn't 100% sure of the status.

 

[TontoK]

Just to clarify .... It was the hosts of the EWC show (Paul Wylie/Emily Hughes) who mentioned, during the show, that Hazel and Misha started their tryout a month ago. That was how they phrased it. They didn't say: "Hazel and Misha are going to start competing together." They just said that Hazel/Misha had started their tryout about a month ago and had been skating together for that long. So I went with that phrasing (since there had been no official announcement).

Now that they're officially announced as a new team, per Ganicheva's IG, I think we can assume that the tryout is over and that they have decided to pair up and compete together. I'm sorry if my report from the show caused confusion. I just didn't want to state that they were definitely a competitive pair, when I wasn't 100% sure of the status.

It's very kind of you to post.

I very much appreciate you coming in to clarify. And again, my post wasn't intended to refute anything you (or @ice coverage) relayed. That Instagram post was the first time I had seen anything semi-official that a new partnership was definitely formed. Anything prior to that would have been speculation.

And, for the record, I appreciate that you report only what you know to be true. You caused no confusion.

 

[ice coverage]

Just to clarify .... It was the hosts of the EWC show (Paul Wylie/Emily Hughes) who mentioned, during the show, that Hazel and Misha started their tryout a month ago. That was how they phrased it. They didn't say: "Hazel and Misha are going to start competing together." They just said that Hazel/Misha had started their tryout about a month ago and had been skating together for that long. So I went with that phrasing (since there had been no official announcement).

Now that they're officially announced as a new team, per Ganicheva's IG, I think we can assume that the tryout is over and that they have decided to pair up and compete together. I'm sorry if my report from the show caused confusion. I just didn't want to state that they were definitely a competitive pair, when I wasn't 100% sure of the status.

No need to apologize, Claire.
Thanks for being careful that your review stuck to what actually was said at the show.
I fully agree that it is better not to extrapolate.
You always do a good job with your reports and interviews.

Sorry that it had not occurred to me that the tryout was mentioned in comments from Wylie/Hughes during the show.
I incorrectly was envisioning some sort of EWC-organized general media availability for journalists with questions for any cast members. My mistake.

 

[TontoK]

More Misha and Hazel:

This Instastory shows some practice jumps.

3S-Eu-2S and 3T. The look pretty good. Remarkably synched at this point in the game. Of course, I think they're both pretty strong with the singles elements. I look forward to seeing the pairs elements.

Caution: Instastories only last about 24 hours, I think, so see the clip while you can:

Watch this story by 𝐎𝐥𝐠𝐚 𝐆𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐯𝐚 & 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐤𝐬𝐞𝐲 𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐯 on Instagram before it disappears.

www.instagram.com

 

[ice coverage]

More Misha and Hazel:

This Instastory shows some practice jumps.

3S-Eu-2S and 3T. The look pretty good. Remarkably synched at this point in the game. Of course, I think they're both pretty strong with the singles elements. I look forward to seeing the pairs elements.

Caution: Instastories only last about 24 hours, I think, so see the clip while you can:

Watch this story by 𝐎𝐥𝐠𝐚 𝐆𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐯𝐚 & 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐤𝐬𝐞𝐲 𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐯 on Instagram before it disappears.

www.instagram.com

Friendly question: Are you sure that Hazel/Misha are the pair doing the jump combination?
To my eyes, looks like Chan/Howe, not Hazel/Misha.
The guy who looks like Spencer is wearing a light grey top.

Then in the next Instastory, my eyes do see Hazel/Misha jumping SBS triple toe.
The guy who looks like Misha is wearing a blue-ish/green-ish top ... perhaps the same one as in the earlier Instastory showing Hazel/Misha (who are tagged) doing an off-ice acroyoga-type move?

 

[ice_tulip]

I think a 16-yr-old pairing with a 24-yr-old (25 in <2 months!) is less than ideal. Huge power imbalance between the two, not to mention they surely have very lopsided levels of maturity and experience. Seems like a poor match to me. IMO, partners closer in age, experience and maturity tend to have more success and healthier overall relationships. Such large gaps in pairs in top tier skaters are not very common. Among American pairs, there was Denney/Coughlin who had a 7.5 year age gap and paired up at ages 17 (1 month away from 18) and 25 1/2. Of course Coughlin turned out to have some serious issues when it came to younger partners. This is NOT to cast aspersions on anyone else specifically, but only to say that a partnership between a 16-yr-old and 25-yr-old is more likely to have problematic imbalances or worse.

Compare to other US pairs:
Cain/Leduc: 5 yrs (paired up at ages 21 & 26)
Scimeca/Knierem: 2.5 yrs (paired up at ages 21 & 23)
Chan/Howe: 1 yr (paired up at ages 22 & 23)

Compare to top int'l pairs:
T/M: 2 yrs (paired up at ages 17 & 19)
Sui/Han: 3 yrs (paired up at ages 12 & 15)
M/G: 2 yrs (paired up at 15 & 17)
Peng/Jin: 3 yrs (paired up at 19 & 22)
Savchenko/Szolkowy: 4.5 yrs (19 & 23)
Duhamel/Radford: 11 months (24 & 25)

 

[ice coverage]

I think a 16-yr-old pairing with a 24-yr-old (25 in <2 months!) ... ... a partnership between a 16-yr-old and 25-yr-old ...

Collier will turn 17 in two weeks, which I mention only because you mention that Mitrofanov will turn 25 in two months.

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... My hat is off to you. I have a hard time keeping up with junior pairs. Juvenile, no way. Can’t do it. ...

I have been meaning to reply with full disclosure that I do not attempt to keep up with juveniles in any discipline.

Back when Chase Finster first switched from junior men to junior pairs, I was curious whether he had any history in pairs.
It was only when I went looking for any previous pair results that I learned that he had been juvenile pairs champion.

 

[TontoK]

Friendly question: Are you sure that Hazel/Misha are the pair doing the jump combination?
To my eyes, looks like Chan/Howe, not Hazel/Misha.
The guy who looks like Spencer is wearing a light grey top.

Then in the next Instastory, my eyes do see Hazel/Misha jumping SBS triple toe.
The guy who looks like Misha is wearing a blue-ish/green-ish top ... perhaps the same one as in the earlier Instastory showing Hazel/Misha (who are tagged) doing an off-ice acroyoga-type move?

Actually, no... I was going by the tagging you mentioned... There is that tag, then the jump combo, then the toes, then another skater was tagged... so my interpretation was that all three of those photos went with the tagging of Hazel and MIsha. But that's just my interpretation...

What was that thing they were doing on the floor? Misha on his back and Hazel doing some sort of handstand? I didn't know if that was some sort of lift drill or strength exercise, or what.

 

[TontoK]

Hi @ice_tulip I noticed that there is an age gap, too. It's not inherently a bad thing. It's just a gap.

We've talked about how a split can just be about "life happening." And in this case, the pairing may just be a reaction to the current state of affairs.

I'm assuming a lot, and I recognize that, but this doesn't seem to be a wild supposition:

Audrey and Misha split because she wanted to move cross country, and I think we can believe he didn't want to leave Boston - or he would have moved with her. The split wasn't because of lack of results, or an unpromising future that wasn't worth playing out, and based on their public response - it wasn't because of personal acrimony. The cause of the split was Geography.

So, if we believe that Misha doesn't want to leave Boston, but wants to continue skating pairs, then the solution lies in finding a Boston-based pair girl (or a singles lady who is willing to switch), or a female athlete willing to move.

I don't think there's an unattached pair girl of suitable skill just sitting around in Boston waiting on a phone call. And maybe any other available pair girl with experience is unwilling to move to Boston. So Misha and his team paired with the best available option. And it looks like that was Hazel.

Will they develop into stunning champions? Who can say. But it's a fair bet that Misha has taken the best girl he can get within the parameters of where he wants to live and skate. "Marriage of convenience" has such a negative vibe to it, but honestly, it probably isn't too far off the mark.

Again - all that is supposition. I'm just interested in seeing how things play out.

 

[ice coverage]

Actually, no... I was going by the tagging you mentioned... There is that tag, then the jump combo, then the toes, then another skater was tagged... so my interpretation was that all three of those photos went with the tagging of Hazel and MIsha. But that's just my interpretation...

What was that thing they were doing on the floor? Misha on his back and Hazel doing some sort of handstand? I didn't know if that was some sort of lift drill or strength exercise, or what.

Still-friendly reply: Agree to disagree.
My opinion is that the pair doing the jump combo was not Misha and Hazel, who were not tagged in that story. (It is true that Chan/Howe were not tagged either, but my opinion is that the guy in the grey shirt is recognizable as Spencer and not-Misha and the partner is recognizable as Emily and not-Hazel.)
In the third story of the triple toe, no one was tagged, but I think the guy in the blue-ish shirt is recognizable as Misha and the partner is recognizable as Hazel.

As for the first story, which did have tags for Misha and Hazel ... elsewhere on social media, I have seen other figure skaters doing stuff like that together, sometimes with the hashtag #acroyoga. I'm talking about both pair partners and dance partners.
But that's the entirety of my "knowledge" of acroyoga. I am just guessing , but I suspect that in addition to strength and balance, another benefit would be the opportunity for partners to increase their "working-together" skills, if you know what I mean.

(Off topic: It was nice to see Will Annis again in the mix of content from the coaches.)

 

[TontoK]

Still-friendly reply: Agree to disagree.
My opinion is that the pair doing the jump combo was not Misha and Hazel, who were not tagged in that story. (It is true that Chan/Howe were not tagged either, but my opinion is that the guy in the grey shirt is recognizable as Spencer and not-Misha and the partner is recognizable as Emily and not-Hazel.)
In the third story of the triple toe, no one was tagged, but I think the guy in the blue-ish shirt is recognizable as Misha and the partner is recognizable as Hazel.

As for the first story that did have tags for Misha and Hazel ... elsewhere on social media, I have seen other figure skaters doing stuff like that together, sometimes with the hashtag #acroyoga. I'm talking about both pair partners and dance partners.
But that's the entirety of my "knowledge" of acroyoga. I am just guessing , but I suspect that in addition to strength and balance, another benefit would be the opportunity for partners to increase their "working-together" skills, if you know what I mean.

(Off topic: It was nice to see Will Annis again in the mix of content from the coaches.)

You've convinced me that the combo was Emily/Spencer. The coaching team just released another video of a throw jump, and it's tagged as them... and the shirt story lines up with your view.

And, yes, it was good to see Will Annis.

 

[ice_tulip]

I don't think there's an unattached pair girl of suitable skill just sitting around in Boston waiting on a phone call. And maybe any other available pair girl with experience is unwilling to move to Boston. So Misha and his team paired with the best available option. And it looks like that was Hazel.

Will they develop into stunning champions? Who can say. But it's a fair bet that Misha has taken the best girl he can get within the parameters of where he wants to live and skate. "Marriage of convenience" has such a negative vibe to it, but honestly, it probably isn't too far off the mark.

Yeah, I agree that he picked the best available partner for his chosen parameters. It appears he is not going "all in" with skating as he seems to be ambitious for his future non-skating career in sports medicine. I read somewhere he is even in "medical school" but I find that impossible to believe. Someone on here probably can verify that he's taking undergraduate classes with a pre-med track. In any case, it's fine if he wants to do skating as a hobby + sports medicine. In my opinion, I don't think this partnership is going to be very successful or even as successful as his previous partnership. But yeah, it's his life and he is doing what he thinks is best for him so I don't judge. Still stand my statement that partnerships with such huge age gaps are at a disadvantage.

 

[moonvine]

Yeah, I agree that he picked the best available partner for his chosen parameters. It appears he is not going "all in" with skating as he seems to be ambitious for his future non-skating career in sports medicine. I read somewhere he is even in "medical school" but I find that impossible to believe. Someone on here probably can verify that he's taking undergraduate classes with a pre-med track. In any case, it's fine if he wants to do skating as a hobby + sports medicine. In my opinion, I don't think this partnership is going to be very successful or even as successful as his previous partnership. But yeah, it's his life and he is doing what he thinks is best for him so I don't judge. Still stand my statement that partnerships with such huge age gaps are at a disadvantage.

My brother went to medical school and had to give up everything including exercising for health. It’s possible he’s way smarter than my brother I guess.

 

[ice_tulip]

My brother went to medical school and had to give up everything including exercising for health. It’s possible he’s way smarter than my brother I guess.

Well, it doesn't matter how smart you are. As you know, med school isn't just coursework. There's also clinical rotations and lots of in-person activities. Logistically it just wouldn't be possible to attend medical school and be a high-level competitive figure skater.

Maybe a bad translation but this interview below is what I'm referring to. He was doing all his Texas coursework online in Boston.

You entered the medical university. Are you still studying and skating?

Misha Mitrofanov: I almost finished it. We moved from Texas to Boston two years ago, but I stayed at the university because I can do everything on the computer. But in the Olympic season, I decided to focus only on figure skating, so I took a sabbatical. After that, I have three more years left, and I will graduate right before the next Olympics.

But do you plan to become a doctor after your career?

Misha Mitrofanov: Yes, I have a dream – I want to become a sports doctor and work with athletes. We have a team that always goes with us. I also want to do that and help, especially the skaters. They helped me so many times, I want to do the same.
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[dorispulaski]

From Misha's Fanzone bio:

Mitrofanov is a junior at the University of Texas at Dallas studying health sciences ... Made the dean's list three years in a row ... Is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS) ... Aspires to work in sports medicine after his skating career ... Teaches for his local Learn to Skate program and enjoys helping young skaters get involved in the sport ... Likes to work on cars ... Enjoys outdoor activities such as paddle boarding and hiking.

 

[moonvine]

Well, it doesn't matter how smart you are. As you know, med school isn't just coursework. There's also clinical rotations and lots of in-person activities. Logistically it just wouldn't be possible to attend medical school and be a high-level competitive figure skater.

Maybe a bad translation but this interview below is what I'm referring to. He was doing all his Texas coursework online in Boston.

You entered the medical university. Are you still studying and skating?

Misha Mitrofanov: I almost finished it. We moved from Texas to Boston two years ago, but I stayed at the university because I can do everything on the computer. But in the Olympic season, I decided to focus only on figure skating, so I took a sabbatical. After that, I have three more years left, and I will graduate right before the next Olympics.

But do you plan to become a doctor after your career?

Misha Mitrofanov: Yes, I have a dream – I want to become a sports doctor and work with athletes. We have a team that always goes with us. I also want to do that and help, especially the skaters. They helped me so many times, I want to do the same.
----

And as it isn’t just coursework I wouldn’t think one could do it from another state.

I mean we do have my Finnish doctor but I don’t know what med school is like there and he’s not on the same level.

 

[TontoK]

Yeah, I agree that he picked the best available partner for his chosen parameters. It appears he is not going "all in" with skating as he seems to be ambitious for his future non-skating career in sports medicine. I read somewhere he is even in "medical school" but I find that impossible to believe. Someone on here probably can verify that he's taking undergraduate classes with a pre-med track. In any case, it's fine if he wants to do skating as a hobby + sports medicine. In my opinion, I don't think this partnership is going to be very successful or even as successful as his previous partnership. But yeah, it's his life and he is doing what he thinks is best for him so I don't judge. Still stand my statement that partnerships with such huge age gaps are at a disadvantage.

I don't think we're giving enough consideration to how SHE might be the ultimate beneficiary of this partnership. My understanding is that she's a very competent singles skater, but an unlikely World Team member. So... she wants to continue skating, and pairs is a good place to go. Even a short-term partnership with Misha would give her skill development and very valuable experience to set her up for another partnership with a different man a couple of years down the road, and she'll be plenty young enough to let that play out longterm.

 

[ice_tulip]

I don't think we're giving enough consideration to how SHE might be the ultimate beneficiary of this partnership. My understanding is that she's a very competent singles skater, but an unlikely World Team member. So... she wants to continue skating, and pairs is a good place to go. Even a short-term partnership with Misha would give her skill development and very valuable experience to set her up for another partnership with a different man a couple of years down the road, and she'll be plenty young enough to let that play out longterm.

Well, I was referring to the success of the partnership. Yes, there's a good chance it could benefit her if they are training in a healthy & balanced environment.

 

[TontoK]

Well, I was referring to the success of the partnership. Yes, there's a good chance it could benefit her if they are training in a healthy & balanced environment.

Well, I am confused. Do you think anyone is expecting that their training environment is unhealthy or unbalanced? Or outright abusive? If I expected that, I would certainly be in opposition, as would everyone on the thread.

I get that people might be worried about her being weak in the partnership because of age... but I haven't heard anything like that coming from these coaches, and we're certainly in an era where it would be discussed openly. I haven't seen anything from his previous partner to indicate that Misha himself is an abusive partner. In fact, they've both been mutually complimentary as the partnership ended.

He's older, she's younger. That's just a fact. It's also a fact that given he is intent on not moving from Boston because of his education, she is certainly not powerless. She can walk and leave him high and dry at any moment... and with a little experience under her belt and a willingness to relocate, she'd be just fine. If I were him, I'd treat her kindly, if for no other reason than that.

 

[labgoat]

Also, Tai and Randy are not in the World Figure Skating hall of fame which I think is ridiculous.

Absolutely ridiculous!