2021 Rostelecom Cup: Pairs Short Program

[Sackie]

Time will tell if they recover some of thier previous form, but they're practically a lock for the Olympics barring injury or some unforeseen circumstance.

Canada has two spots, and other than J/R (who have also not met expectations) there simply isn't much of an option.

The third ranked Canadian pair has been terrible on the GP circuit.

They should be 2nd but not a lock in. There are two other Pair Teams who are with in a few points of MTM's score here. Also the 3rd rank team always have problems early in the season yet rally at Nationals. And if MTM skate like this at Nationals and the others skate their best MTM will be out.

 

[Sackie]

To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if MTM WD before the Free.

 

[TontoK]

They should be 2nd but not a lock in. There are two other Pair Teams who are with in a few points of MTM's score here. Also the 3rd rank team always have problems early in the season yet rally at Nationals. And if MTM skate like this at Nationals and the others skate their best MTM will be out.

Perhaps you're right, we'll see.

It's one of those situations where the effected parties have not given me much reason to care one way or the other.

 

[anonymoose_au]

OK catching up on the pairs although I'll probably have to stop half way through to head to church.

Mark don't remind me of 2018...

Awww, the flowers kids are so cute and ready for business

The first Russian pair I haven't heard of before, I'm very interested in seeing them.

Tiny Moskvina is the hero we need but don't deserve.

Maxim T! Hello you!

Wow Iasmina's dress is amazing and what a pretty name

Bolero! The Elevator Muzak version as I like to call it

Daaaang that throw was huge!

I say they've Olé'ed this up a bit...now it's gone kind of rock That was fun though!

No-one's snuck an ice cream yet...this is sad.

Chelsea/Misha - Dunno about this tie-dye look, but their faces say they're ready to roll.

This music is so weird...but starting on the spiral is pretty cool!

Ha ha the shout out, they should say "That's my Jimmy Ma!"

Ioulia/Mark - Wow! They had a great skate! Ioulia'd so smilely it's cute!

Did anyone else notice the lack of a ' in can't in the info bar for their music? Very strange

Aww they're both super happy.

The Battle of the Baby Photos
OK gotta head out now, I'll be back for the rest of the pairs later.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Back from church!

Daria/Denis - I've heard a lot about their SP, but for some reason haven't seen it yet.

Wow! Look at them go! Love all the somersaults and backflips and cool exits and entries. Way to distinguish themselves the crowd is on board!

Who's their coach, he's a bit of alright and so enthusiastic, that was cute!

Onto Group 2!

OK so like...the top of Nicole and Matteo's costumes are what Zhenya and Vovan should have for Lighthouse the grey ones are total lyric dissonance.

Nastya and Sasha's costumes are no good...they should wear the original ones!

Miriam/Severin - Good luck guys! (Although I saw that the didn't have the best time )
Yikes! Very low twist! Nice opening position though.

Damn, Severin almost had that 3T I thought

This music is a bit samey all the way through any hard to get into. That lift entry was super cool though! Pretty good for coming back from injury though!

Nicole/Matteo - Nicole's having a rough time of it, but I like their step sequence, very in unison it got a level 4! This is indeed a dire cover. The costumes are growing on me for some reason

In other news my legs hurt...I worked at the library today on the desk but it was only 3.5 hours of standing up so this is embarrassing.

Kirsten/Michael - Their costumes are very eye-catching, they do remind me of the 80s.

Ouch at Kirsten's fall.

Michael seemed solid enough during that be lift so I'll give him that

This music was no fun either. And oh dear the score what a mess. I do hope they're not letting the J/R situation get to them. I know they were quite annoyed, but you can't focus on others.

Plus Mark says there was an issue with late luggage, Matteo R had that problem to.

Nastya/Sasha - Sasha's diva slide is the greatest thing ever. And look at the that twist and throw wow! Whoops on the SBS though!

I love their music, it's so fun!

Aww the kiss on the hand cute.

What's wrong with the neckchief though? I like it!

Oooo second! Wow! Daria and Denis were really cool though! It's super close though, so they can bounce back tomorrow/today.

I agree with the 1st Group doing way better than the 2nd, which was exciting, good for the younger teams.

Now I have to have dinner before I head over to the women.

 

[streams4dreams]

Lots of 80s era bands they could mine for programs- Duran Duran (who have a new record out), Pet Shop Boys (there was an ice dance duo who used them once), and I'd love to hear the Cure. We had our one Depeche Mode program thanks to Shae-Lynn Bourne and Nic Nadeau.

Wow, had no idea about this, and had to look it up:


Maybe too many cuts in this one, which just means more teams need to skate to Depeche Mode

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Lu/Mitrofanov and the young Russian team Kadyrova/Balchenko, were standouts in the first group to skate. In fact, there wasn't a great deal of distance between the performances of these two teams, aside from L/M's program being a bit more exciting and entertaining, IMO. So, the judges gave L/M a season's best, but still relatively low for how well they performed, and they gave K/B a score out-the-wazoo. Based on the performances and skill levels of these teams, L/M were underscored and K/B were over-scored, no question. There should not be nearly 5 points separating these two teams. If the judges are going to rate L/M that low, then K/B did not deserve much higher than 66 or 67 plus. Home-cooking favoritism like this doesn't tend to happen at international events in the U.S. (quite the contrary), but it always happens in Russia.

Even the Hungarian team of Chtchetinina/Magyar (because Ioulia C is Russian) were being given fairly high GOE when they began their program, while there was a tendency to contain GOE for L/M. Clearly, L/M have a higher quality level on elements than C/M, in addition to L/M having better speed. C/M faltered a bit on some later elements, unsurprisingly, so their lower score is not unexpected. Even then, it turned out to be a season's best score for C/M. I get the feeling that a lot of teams always want to be placed over U.S. teams. LOL! U.S. pairs teams are highly talented and competitive at the top level these days, despite the international judges' obvious reluctance to consistently give them deserving points for their quality elements, vs what's given to some of the Russian teams, new and veteran.

As in the men's sp, the fine performances by some skaters in the second group (first to skate) in pairs, seemed to rattle some of the top competitors in the first group (last to skate), especially M-T/M (Canada) and D/G (Italy). Ziegler/Kiefer are a nice pair, but their talent level and weapons are not the same as a number of other teams, so they can't afford errors. Z/K were in the last group to skate by virtue of status based largely on being senior veterans. I'm not sure what's up with Kirsten/Michael of Canada this season. Having angst about Eric Radford coming back, paired with Vanessa James, really should not have affected how bad K&M's 3-twist is looking. It was never top-of-the-line great, especially not in terms of height. However, they used to at least be generally consistent and competent in getting it done without such visible snafus and poor quality.

Della Monica/Guarise need to go back to the drawing board, and try to bring something fresher in terms of programs and costumes. They look so one-note, and their overall improvements as a team appear stagnant. IOW, they are not making any progress to break through to next-level status, despite their veteran experience and general rep as a possible high 6.0s, low 7.0s team with a bit of Italian fed political clout backing. There's not much to back with the poor outings they continue to have, sadly. That said, D/G can sometimes come back strong in the fp after putting out a poor sp. It depends though, as the pressure seems to overtake them many times.

 

[coldblueeyes]

Lu/Mitrofanov and the young Russian team Kadyrova/Balchenko, were standouts in the first group to skate. In fact, there wasn't a great deal of distance between the performances of these two teams, aside from L/M's program being a bit more exciting and entertaining, IMO. So, the judges gave L/M a season's best, but still relatively low for how well they performed, and they gave K/B a score out-the-wazoo. Based on the performances and skill levels of these teams, L/M were underscored and K/B were over-scored, no question. There should not be nearly 5 points separating these two teams. If the judges are going to rate L/M that low, then K/B did not deserve much higher than 66 or 67 plus. Home-cooking favoritism like this doesn't tend to happen at international events in the U.S. (quite the contrary), but it always happens in Russia.

The problem with Lu/Mitrofanov is their pair elements. That death spiral in the SP didn't look like it deserved much GOE, she also had a very weird lean on it. And the lift was very labored. They have very good jumping elements, and I think they can be a pair to watch if they sort their pair content. In the FS too they struggled with lifts, death spiral and spin. They get them out, but not that succesfully.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Re Battle of the Top Russians at Rostelecom:

Good for Daria & Denis, because they do have a lot of quality and creativity with their programs. I like to see creativity and thinking outside the box in pairs figure skating. Apparently, Mishina/Galliamov were a bit nervous about skating against D&D, particularly in view of the fact that D&D beat M/G at a domestic comp last season. This is a great wake-up call for M/G.

IMO, D&D have more interesting programs this season. M/G's sp is so last season cutesy. It's not new, and without a very good new fp for M/G, reusing the stale sp does nothing for them, IMO. But their fans and the ISU judges beg to differ, I'm sure. LOL!

M/G need to have strong competition, and not back into easy wins with high over-scores. I'm rooting for D&D to continue making things interesting for M/G and for B/K. At this point, I think D&D are stronger than B/K in a number of areas.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

The problem with Lu/Mitrofanov is their pair elements. That death spiral in the SP didn't look like it deserved much GOE, she also had a very weird lean on it. And the lift was very labored. They have very good jumping elements, and I think they can be a pair to watch if they sort their pair content. In the FS too they struggled with lifts, death spiral and spin. They get them out, but not that succesfully.

Sure, I agree re the lift especially. But the leg position on the death spiral, in my view, was intended to go with the musical theme and story they were trying to express. The lift in the opening half did seem basic and not as smooth and steady, but the second half of that lift was very strong. Misha is recovering from a wrist or hand injury, so they did quite well with their lift, to overcome that challenge.

I also have to say that many fans seem to always look for ways to justify the low-ball scores for U.S. teams, vs overly high scores for some other teams. Every time. Meanwhile, the young Russian team, K/B are pleasant and talented, but not that spectacular truthfully, to receive such a high score here. They are clearly still learning, and were somewhat shaky on some of their elements. They need to improve as well, but oh yeah, let's just pick on L/M.

I said there isn't a huge amount of difference between these two young teams. Both need to improve, and I find L/M already much improved and moving in a very exciting direction with trying to project more and connect with each other more. They've always been a strong team technically. I said the scores should be a bit closer between these two teams, and that's a reasonable assessment.

 

[coldblueeyes]

I also have to say that many fans seem to always look for ways to justify the low-ball scores for U.S. teams, vs overly high scores for some other teams. Every time. Meanwhile, the young Russian team, K/B are pleasant and talented, but not that spectacular truthfully, to receive such a high score here. They are clearly still learning, and were somewhat shaky on some of their elements. They need to improve as well, but oh yeah, let's just pick on L/M.

Well, the judges were definitely in agreement with their TES, even the American one. PCS was a bit more open, but I don’t think their difference there was unjustified. Also, not picking on L/M, literally just restating what I said more than once about their elements. They need work on them, otherwise they’ll not gonna get better scores.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Well, the judges were definitely in agreement with their TES, even the American one. PCS was a bit more open, but I don’t think their difference there was unjustified. Also, not picking on L/M, literally just restating what I said more than once about their elements. They need work on them, otherwise they’ll not gonna get better scores.

In pairs, yes, it is a fact that every team need to constantly work on improving in all areas. As far as not getting better scores, that varies from team-to-team, from event-to-event, based not just on performance execution and abilities, but on a slew of other rep-based and political factors, as we know. Home-cooking nonetheless for Russian skaters is normal and accepted by most fans and by all officials in the skating community. Par for the course.

As I said, the two young teams in question are both talented, and both have much room for improvement. The separation in scoring for tech and PCS should be closer. K/B are not more skilled than L/M in all areas. And, if L/M were a Russian team, they'd be scored higher for performing as well as they did. I find L/M's program and music more exciting than K/B's, but both are fine young teams. Obviously, K/M are being slightly favored at home. And, as I said, it was noticeable that the judges wanted to bring the Hungarian team, C/M's scores very close to edging L/M's if they could. But C/M are much slower and have a lot more to work on to become a stronger team (especially as a fairly recent pairing). Ioulia C happens to be Russian, so she was well-received by fans and judges, unsurprisingly.


As far as the American judge aligning with international judges, that's not news. L/M are not the top U.S. pairs team, and even if they were, American judges try hard not to stray from status-quo political and rep scoring. Russian pairs teams generally tend to be spotted five plus points just for existing. There's a conceit that Russian pairs are always better. While many do tend to have good skating skills and technical prowess, they are not all strong in terms of performance abilities in every PCS category. PCS is always scored within a manipulated range for placements anyway, and not based on actual level of ability in each category.

 

[Rere]

Pavliuchenko/Khodykin were sooooo great! Happy they managed to stay in the first place by the end of SP!
Too bad for the mistakes in Ziegler/Kiefer's program, but I was so happy to see them skate, I missed this pair!