Charlene and Marco are the best skaters at the moment. Best technicians, best pushing, down in their knees, strong over their edges. Much faster than most other teams (but still smooth and controlled.) Great lifts. I love that they're winning and hope for them to take worlds.
That being said, I see where people come through r.e. expression and interpretation. I think it's hard with the height difference being negligable to have same impact as a team like piper and Paul. For me it works due to the level of skating and quality of elements, but I can see some areas that can be improved with expression and projection. Still, for two skaters around 5'1"/5'2", they fill the ice and feel a lot bigger because of their power and presence.
Edit: Fb/S are another team I view as up with the top in terms of SS. I feel she is stronger than him with skating skills. They are great performers and also enjoy them doing well. Last year should have made worlds podium imo (I'd have had G/F, FB/S in 1st and 2nd either order, then piper paul 3rd last year at worlds).
Edit 2: Agree R.E music cuts.
although I know some people don't think it was good enough for those marks, I have to compare to the skaters recieving similar marks at other GP's, as I feel there is very good justification.
Firstly, their PCS was only a tad higher than Fear/Gibson at Skate Canada, and in my experience watching both Charlene and Marco should be very much ahead (I really love Fear/Gibson when watching on youtube, but in person they are much slower than Charlene and Marco, and don't get down in their knees or have as much lean over their edges (although they are very precise in movements and do lots of other things well). Often Charlene and Marco look much better in person than on video, I think their flow and softness doesn't translate as well to the camera.
They got lower PCS than Piper and Paul, and I get that due to the great musicality Piper and Paul have, and the outward projection that G/F somewhat lack. However, the skating skills for G/F imo should be higher (having watched both in person before, and noticing big issues with Piper and Pauls speed, but not having seen Piper and Pauls new programs). I do want to point out that Piper and Paul have the best 80s choreography for me, and bring good softness to their skating.
In Skate America, Chock/Bates only got tad lower than G/F in PCS. and I get the performance being high, but skating skills wise if you look at the pushing technique again G/F should be significantly higher there. + Speed across the ice looks to be significantly better (although I can't judge fully as I've never seen Chock/Bates in person). And composition wise, yes there are issues with G/F's program (particularly music cuts), and it's not to everybody's taste but for me I'd like to note Chock/Bates have moonwalking in a queen program.
As every GP is different scoring, I concede these points may not be very valid. But I can't think of many skaters able to challenge them in SS department and technique right now.
daylight saving is this weekend.... canadian time will be a mess
skatingscores.com
