2021 Autumn Classic: Pairs Short Program

[coldblueeyes]

That's fine. It's your subjective opinion. This is figure skating, and fans never think completely alike, and that's an understatement. Your view doesn't change how fans of Ash & Timothy see them. Nor does your way of thinking diminish Ash/Timothy's considerable strengths and accomplishments. Of course, they aren't perfect, nor are they to everyone's liking. No skater is loved unreservedly by everyone. Nope, not even Hanyu.

How did I diminish anyone in my post? Also the same goes for you. Your opinion is subjective. All of our opinions are.

Underrotated jumps and falls are not.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

How did I diminish anyone in my post? Also the same goes for you. Your opinion is subjective. All of our opinions are.

Underrotated jumps and falls are not.

I didn't say that you diminshed Ash/Timothy. I said that your viewpoint doesn't diminish their hard work and accomplishments, which doesn't mean that you are intentionally trying to diminish them. It means that subjective and/or negative views of their presentation skills isn't a true reflection of their abilities. Perhaps their presentation skills don't come across the same way for everyone. It also depends on the music and choreography they choose. They have skated some fun, upbeat programs which better showed off their presentation skills. Their approach is different with some of the more classical programs they have been choosing recently. They haven't seemed to work as much on emoting and interacting with each other in a palpable way. There could be many reasons for that.

Still, in a number of PCS categories, I think Ash/Timothy are equal to and in some cases better than Miura/Kihara. The same goes for Deanna/Maxime, as both of these veteran teams have a bit more experience than Miura/Kihara. Even Meagan Duhamel noted in her fp commentary that Miura/Kihara have some fine-tuning to work on, including smoothing out lift execution and Miura working on improving her lift positions, etc. I agree with Meagan in this respect. Meagan should know because her husband is their coach, and she has worked directly with Miura/Kihara on occasion, as she indicated.

This is a nice win by Miura/Kihara (and perhaps a record-setting win by a Japanese senior pairs team).* Good for them. The judges clearly rewarded M/K for being the cleanest of all the competitors. M/K received about 3 points higher on PCS in the fp than Vanessa/Eric (obviously largely due to the number of mistakes made by V&E, which affects how judges score PCS). Therefore, back to my original comment in reply to some posters being upset by the 2-point lead in PCS that V&E had over M/K in the sp. As I said, and I repeat: The two-point lead on PCS by V&E was nothing to quibble over, when M/K were around 4 points ahead overall in the sp, with a good chance to win. Had Vanessa & Eric skated clean in the fp, they could have overtaken M/K slightly perhaps. But too many mistakes (which are definitely rare on Vanessa's part) kept V&E in second, but this time very far behind in second due to all the points they lost.


* I checked Takahashi/Tran's record. T/T won silver and bronze medals internationally as seniors. As juniors, T/T won an event on the JGP circuit, and they also won the JGP Final during the 2010 - 2011 season. Therefore, M/K's win is likely the first senior pairs win at an ISU championship for Japan. But T/T hold the junior pairs record for international wins by a Japanese pairs team.

BTW, regarding falls and URs, sometimes URs are missed or inaccurately judged. Plus, even falls are looked at differently depending upon a number of factors in how the fall occurred and on what type of jump. It also depends on the views of particular technical panels, as well as whether there are sufficient camera angles to make accurate judgements.