2023 Cup of China: Pairs' Thoughts?

[gsk8]

Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps score another victory in China

2023 Cup of China: Pairs Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps scored another victory when they won their second Grand Prix gold this season at 2023 Cup of China. With this […]

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The Free Skate was messssssy.....

Looks like Peng's fourth partner is working out for now. Looking forward to seeing how they progress this season.

Very happy for Ghilardi and Ambrosini

I hope Hocke and Kunkel can shake this off moving forward.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Kitt]

I am just overjoyed to see Peng again. I thought she was gone for good. She looks very happy with this new partner.

Looking forward to Deanna polishing the program before Worlds, which I plan on attending!

 

[Dreamer57]

Lovely to see Peng & Wang win a medal at their GP debut at home!

Rebecca & Filippo skated great even with jump issues in both programs - I'm getting excited for Italian nationals already haha!

This season I think Annika and Robert must be cursed skating in Asia, hope they can hold onto qualifying for GPF...which is also in China

 

[Jumping_Bean]

This season I think Annika and Robert must be cursed skating in Asia, hope they can hold onto qualifying for GPF...which is also in China

Not just this season, remember how Annika got Covid shortly before NHK last season and they weren't allowed to even enter Japan?

 

[4everchan]

My thoughts : Congrats to Deanna and Maxime for winning another GP. I am not surprised with the Canadian skaters (in general) performing a bit less well at CoC. I hear they stayed in Vancouver for a few days before flying to China and barely had ice time and were tired. I don't know if that's the case for everyone who did Skate Canada but seeing how much better LaLa were (and they did SKAM) it makes sense. So the quick turn around may have been difficult to handle for Max and Deanna. There is no reason for them to miss their trademark lift.

I didn't see much else to rejoice about. The Italians also have a vampire theme.. Ok... Not as successful IMHO.

The Germans weren't very good this time around.

Peng and Wang : they look good together on the ice but with the age difference (he is 35 she is 26) and the fact that he doesn't have much experience at the higher levels of competition, and of course, the usual challenges for Chinese pairs with jumps, I don't really see them yet as a threat for a world podium. This being said, I am very excited to see 3 pairs team compete here and I hope Chinese pairs will come back strong as I have always admired them, especially their throws !

 

[Karabatic]

Does anybody know what happened to Wang Lei former partner Wang Huehan. They were such a beautiful pair

 

[Skater Boy]

Unfortunately watch COC reminded me just how "bad" or weak pairs is. But as a skating fan you try to appreciate watching the skating. I really like Deanna and Max but wish they could get some bigger tricks and just make everything bigger faster and more polished. Amplitudent and Attitude. GIve some Stolbova or Krylova. Really emphasis and work on holding those landings and lines. Really punctuate those lifts. Get those levels. Their death spiral in the fs is getting level 3s though I know it is the more difficult one. They need to get the pts out of it. THey really are starting to look good for a medal come worlds and Montreal.

 

[ladyjane]

As usual I enjoyed the pairs. A pity Deanna and Maxime were not as good as in SCI two weeks ago, but still the absolute winners, I hope they have time to recuperate and train a little extra for the Final. I liked watching Rebecca and Filippo as well, glad they now have a good 3-twist (it used to be a bit messy). Chinese pairs are always beautiful to watch, with mistakes or not, so it's good to see they are getting back. Robert and Annika did not have their day(s), I really like to watch Anna and Manuel even with some mistakes, and I emjoyed watching the US brother and sister as well, even if I have the feeling they are stagnating a bit.

 

[Sabine]

It was a pity to see Annika and Robert loosing their momentum. But I guess it wasn't a good idea to do 3 competitions with long distance flights in such a short amount of time. But, they needed the money of Shanghai Trophy. Could have cost them the GP Final instead.
Deanna an Maxime not at their best, also because of travel (although they've had their first GP in Canada). Pair skating needs a lot of strenghts. Ghilardi/ Ambrosini seemed to be the fittest and they've made wise travel plans going directly to Japan and not heading back home in between.

 

[Arriba627]

As always, I enjoyed the pairs. However, there's nothing scarier than scary pairs. A couple things made me pretty nervous! Enjoyed Deanna and Max as always, although I'm sure the travel took away a bit from their energy level. Still a very good performance.

Question -- I was half expecting to see Hangbo in the K & C for China. Wikipedia shows that he's still coaching, but I'm not sure how up to date that is. Anybody know? Thx.

 

[ladyjane]

He was in the audience (I saw him and Mark remarked on it in one of the competitions - probably pairs), as was his wife (although she is iirc the president of the federation). Small edit: I am giving a reply to @Arriba627.

 

[slider11]

I was underwhelmed by the pairs' performances at Cup of China. The back-to-back vampire themes were gruesome in more ways than one! Right now, Perreira and Michaud from Canada are catching my eye.

 

[SmileHappy34]

Wonderful skate byy the winners that they showed

 

[Sai Bon]

I don't know much about pairs, but I watched the replay and thought even the second group's free skates were messy. RikuRyu, come back soon! (Not that they are perfect either, but they aren't as scary to watch as some of the Cup of China teams).

 

[throw_triple_flip]

Unfortunately watch COC reminded me just how "bad" or weak pairs is.

What do you mean by that?

 

[throw_triple_flip]

Peng and Wang look like an incredible match, I can't wait to see what they're capable of in the next few years.



Really enjoyed Ghilardi and Ambronsini's programs and they have some great quality pair elements. If only she could land the triple salchow in competition!
Stellato Dudek and Deschamps are clearly a quality team (over 200 with those errors is impressive), but those throw jumps can be hit and miss (I heard in an interview that they had learned different techniques before they teamed up and she had to change hers, so maybe that's it?).

Zhang and Yang have a very unusual throw technique, but it seems to work for them. I wonder if that's good for her arm though?

Mokhova and Mokhov starting their short with a step sequence was interesting and different but I think leaving the twist that late is an odd choice for where they are at the moment(especially considering that even starting with it in the free they didn't get a great level on it).