2025 -26 Grand Prix Final Pairs Short Program

[museksk8r]

As usual, I don’t understand how M/K are first with such shaky SBS jumps and not a floaty landing on the throw jump either.

My ranking:
1. C/M
2. P/S
3. M/B
4. M/K
5. H/V
6. S-D/D

 

[brblja]

Love the energy. All green! Good for them. Audience goes bananas.

In the arena, it definitely felt like they got a bigger reaction/ovation than even the home team.

 

[lariko]

By the results, looks like pair skating short was troubled, so I will skip it.

 

[Gourlie]

As usual, I don’t understand how M/K are first with such shaky SBS jumps and not a floaty landing on the throw jump either.

My ranking:
1. C/M
2. P/S
3. M/B
4. M/K
5. H/V
6. S-D/D

M/K had better lift, skating skills, program. This helped them to compensate weaker sbs jump and throw

 

[lariko]

Actually wasn't bad, just sucks that Hase popped her triple.

 

[Miya88]

M/K had better lift, skating skills, program. This helped them to compensate weaker sbs jump and throw

but C/M had better jumps

they are constantly messing up jumps but because they have better lifts judges love them,oki.
Judges literally letting them have those ugly jumps, they are getting away with it, but maybe it is like that because the event takes place in Japan,but it was similar in USA . They got 75 with 2T in the short and 141 with NO combo in the free

MK are the most overscored pair couple recently. I dont know why, because they are fast?
In dance americans are so slow but they lead ,so the speed is not the case

 

[Miya88]

Actually wasn't bad, just sucks that Hase popped her triple.

they still have bad spins and weaker Bidi, losing lots of goe

 

[lariko]

they still have bad spins and weaker Bidi, losing lots of goe

Did they reduce spiral? Look level 4 in the live scoring. But I meant the event overall wasn't that bad. obviously I wished H/V didn't lose the element, but there was no splats from anyone, no missed lifts. Pretty decent.

 

[LazyFuzai]

Summary after rewatching:

Miu/Kih: Wasn't their best skate for sure.Love how confident they are coming into ice and tru the entire program.Such a powerful ability.Program is great what we ofc know,but technically there were flaws.
Still they are first.Being clean would destroy enemies.

Con/Mac:Eh,i don't know never liked them as a pair and still feel the same.Of course that skate was amazing anyway especially from technical part.

Met/Ber:Crazy how synchronized they are.If they don't crumble in free again medal is theirs,but that lift 3 on twist may be a weakness.Still they are amazing this season.Lovely Borelo interpro.

Pav/Sev:Nice improvements for the finals.Synchronized well with each other and the music.Appreciate this.Even tho they were quite slow in Stsq and man felt a bit stiff with his movement it was still good.

Ste/Des:As predicted they look weak this season.Entire Grand Prix they can't find their rhytm.Once again unsynchronized,making easy mistakes,she barely lands the back flip.It looks so bad this season.They really need to step up if they think about medal at Olympics.
71?!?!?! For what? What a joke.

Has/Vol:Love this program especially the music that was created for them,but making those crucial mistakes hurt my heart.Better here than in Olympics but still painful.Get yourself together Minerva.

 

[LazyFuzai]

Great competition as expected.Wish Han and Con were there .
Thought it could be closer between more teams but Geo and especially German pair didn't give their best.
Onto free skate for next Gold for Japanese pair.

 

[ManyCairns]

As usual, I don’t understand how M/K are first with such shaky SBS jumps and not a floaty landing on the throw jump either.

My ranking:
1. C/M
2. P/S
3. M/B
4. M/K
5. H/V
6. S-D/D

Definitely C/M on top in my book, and the Hungarians P/S should have been much higher, as well. I thought the Georgians M/B were overscored a bit -- they were a little sloppy here and there. M/K around 2-3 -- their elements were not that perfectly executed, to me.

In addition to the pop, Minerva and Nikita need to clean up their spin synchronization. Still keeping the faith for S-D/D -- Max needs to land the jumps more cleanly, and the throw landings more consistent for Deanna, but this program still has it for me.

 

[DemTuppesSeine]

Still keeping the faith for S-D/D -- Max needs to land the jumps more cleanly, and the throw landings more consistent for Deanna, but this program still has it for me.

Deanna has been quite good with throws this season I think, definitely better than last year. Agreed on Max. They only have one more competition before Milan (unlike the European teams with their nationals plus Euros) , I hope that gives them enough time to clean things up a bit. We have already seen this season that they can get great scores with these programs.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Absolute joke and obvious political favoritism. I have not been a huge fan of Conti/Macii, but they clearly deserved to win the short program. Conti/Macii skated the best I've ever seen them skate. They have improved a lot. They really seem stoked for Milano Olympics, and confident in knowing they have beaten Miura/ Kihara on the GP, so they've breached that hurdle, and the 2026 Olympics is in their home country. But we'll see how the politics plays out with who actually performs best at the Olympics.

Miura/ Kihara are on home turf at GPF, but they were both tight in the sp, with Miura forward on a throw. Yet judges had M/K unfairly edging a clean, confident, energetic skate by Conti/ Macii.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Miu/Kih: Wasn't their best skate for sure.Love how confident they are coming into ice and tru the entire program.Such a powerful ability.Program is great what we ofc know,but technically there were flaws.
Still they are first.Being clean would destroy enemies.

Yeah, so funny. 'Destroying their enemies' with overdone GOE on their twist which looks great in the air but always has contact on the dismount, with Riku touching Kihara's shoulder or chest. The over-hyped M/K obviously can win with mistakes, just as they get hugely overscored when they skate clean. So yes, their fans can brag and M/K can feel entitled. The 2026 Olympic gold should just be handed to them already, eh!

But not so fast, not yet. There's still the possibility for an unexpected lights-out skate to happen by a non-favorited pairs team. Yet, of course, realistically, as we could see at Worlds last season, Japanese and Italian political clout is gonna be a huge factor determining the Olympic podium. Huuuge!

ETA:
I doubt that any of the athletes describe their rivals as 'enemies,' though.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

MK are the most overscored pair couple recently. I dont know why, because they are fast?
In dance americans are so slow but they lead ,so the speed is not the case

LOL! M/K have been over-hyped and overscored ever since they were first noticed as a viable pairs team for Japan. Soon after, they shot up to the top, from low 60s to immediately low 70s. M/K were touted and expected to win over the American teams at 2022 Worlds. But M/K made mistakes in both programs, especially the fp, and still were kept on the podium, unfairly in the silver position! That lie set the tone and the stage for the next quad in pairs. Aside from when Kihara was struggling with injury, M/K have consistently been helped by the judges to some debatable wins. I guess the ISU thinks anointing skaters will make them invincible and widely accepted when they win with mistakes against teams who skated better and wuzrobbed. SMH

As far as C/ B being slow in ice dance, that's a different discipline that's judged very differently. The main similarities are duos competing in both disciplines with politics always a deciding factor in competitive outcomes.