2024 Finlandia Trophy: Pairs' Thoughts?

[gsk8]

Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps dominate Pairs in Helsinki

2024 Finlandia Trophy | Pairs Canada's Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps dominated the Pairs' field in Helsinki, taking the title with more than

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Ouch for the Italians. They needed that second spot on the podium. Don't think they will make the Final unless their Conti/Macii or Hase/Volodin really make mistakes next week in China.

Steallato-Dudek and Deschamps made some changes, so here's hoping they have two clean skates at the Final!

Glad to see the Hungarians pushing the other teams! They will be interesting to watch in the coming seasons.

What are your thoughts on the Pairs event?

 

[Cutting the ice]

So happy to see Kelly-Ann and Loucas have two clean technical skates and have a great finish against some very good teams. I noticed that they are also starting to connect better. Loved Kelly-Ann's reaction at the end of the free skate. They are both young (19 and 24) and going the right way.

 

[4everchan]

Both Canadian teams improved a lot since their respective previous outings. Very happy for them. Deanna's throw loop in the SP was class !!!! I was amazed that in the LP, all their leveled elements were level 4. It doesn't happen often in pairs : twist and death spirals don't always get the top level, so to have both of these elements at the maximum value is impressive !

 

[skylark]

A word about Emily and Spencer. I saw a lot of lovely and commendable things in their free skate, especially when I re-watched it and wasn't concerned about placement. Their expression of the music and their beautiful movement to the choreography were excellent and will get better over the rest of the season. I really appreciate how much attention Mark gave in his commentary to their presentation and their love of skating and commitment to the audience.

One of my favorite things in this segment was Kelly Ann's landing of the throw jumps. Such confidence and a beautiful running edge on the landing, extending the beauty of the throw.

There's not much to say about the tech of Rebecca and Filippi's FS. But when I watch them in their more mistake-free programs, they have so much personality and character (just by skating down the rink, somehow!) and quite a knack and a spark together. It's interesting, because I've watched them for many years and they've improved so much. If only everyone, from bigger feds, had the same opportunities to skate at international events and get their horizons stretched, as well as developing their unique styles and individuality. I love their Dracula program, but for some reason I'll have to figure out, I liked it better last year ... there was something quirkier or slightly tongue-in-cheek last year, which I liked better than Deanna & Max's. I was sorry for their FS, but there's always a silver lining, this time for Emily and Spencer, whose FS went over the Italians ... but mostly because it made Emily and Spencer feel happier by having skated better than their SP.

Someone said, Deanna's going to be annoyed about the mistakes. I think this is an unfortunate case of a skater's (or a person's) really outstanding traits going over the top and losing a little ground. Deanna's precision, her beautiful (but precise) posture, her lovely and admirable attention to detail ... on the ice and off ... are, I think, at the point of taking away. I hope she'll keep all that and also learn to relax a little, to be more aware of giving something. Like her partner Max does, to be honest, but one has to be super aware to watch him instead of looking at her admittedly beautiful posture and positions. It's not enough. Her fixed smile takes away, not adding.

 

[throw_triple_flip]

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Ouch for the Italians. They needed that second spot on the podium.

Surely they would've needed a gold to make the final? A silver would've put them on equal points with Kam and O'Shea. The American team's total score over the two events is high, too high for the Italian team to have a realistic chance of catching up and winning the tie break. Assuming all goes well for the German and Italian teams competing in Italy, of course.

 

[throw_triple_flip]

Prior to the event i think it was pretty clear this was going to be the event that confirmed the probable lowest qualifier for the final (and the reserves).

There were some surprising moments, but not a surprising result. The placements are all pretty much what I expected. I would've loved Ghilardhi and Ambrosini to make the final but going into it, that seemed like a pretty remote possibility and even more unlikely now.

I think the final could end up being pretty open, which is very exciting.

 

[Sabine]

Ghilardi/Ambrosini were lucky to medal twice this year. At all the other GP they wouldn't have made it on the podium. I have not checked all scores, but in America, Canada and Japan I would guess they wouldn't be better than 5th or 6th.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Ghilardi/Ambrosini were lucky to medal twice this year. At all the other GP they wouldn't have made it on the podium. I have not checked all scores, but in America, Canada and Japan I would guess they wouldn't be better than 5th or 6th.

At SkAm, their higher score would have indeed placed them 6th at SkAM and 5th at SCI and NHK Trophy. Scores aren't necessarily always perfectly comparable across events and they could have skated much differently, but it indeed feels like they got lucky this year.

(And they got just as lucky as Hocke/Kunkel got unlucky - They are likely to have the highest total score outside of the GPF qualifiers and won't even be alternates.)