2025 Cup of China Pairs Free Skate

[Skater Boy]

Really happy for the Georgians. Still their pcs/artistry//chemistry needs work bu t they were the clear winners. They now become a contender for an oly medal with Japan, China, Italy and Germany. Closing the door on a slim shot for bronze for Canada or the US. But I again I am still perplexed why the Japanese have not dominated. The fact the Georgians did so well pc wise against them is a bit of a surprise. Japan should have dominated since the last quadrennial but haven't. They have been 1 or second but still not really domnated. The Italians were great here but not awesome and Sui and Han did get third but really they were a team I expeddcted to dominate or at least score so high they coudl win on pcs. But they looked a bick lasck lusgtre (like Chock and Bates in dance) The Georgians deservedly won as they were also the cleanest but overall and it is very early not a ggreat competition.

 

[ajingmarg]

Really happy for the Georgians. Still their pcs/artistry//chemistry needs work bu t they were the clear winners. They now become a contender for an oly medal with Japan, China, Italy and Germany. Closing the door on a slim shot for bronze for Canada or the US. But I again I am still perplexed why the Japanese have not dominated. The fact the Georgians did so well pc wise against them is a bit of a surprise. Japan should have dominated since the last quadrennial but haven't. They have been 1 or second but still not really domnated. The Italians were great here but not awesome and Sui and Han did get third but really they were a team I expeddcted to dominate or at least score so high they coudl win on pcs. But they looked a bick lasck lusgtre (like Chock and Bates in dance) The Georgians deservedly won as they were also the cleanest but overall and it is very early not a ggreat competition.

Sui and Han had only 3 run throughs before the competition. You cannot compare their program with those who started to show their programs already in July and August.

In fact their short program was finalized only 3 weeks ago

 

[skylark]

Unfortunately, the stress of two back-to-back GPs has caught up a little to Katie and Daniil here. They are still a very good team and developing very nicely, even if it wasn't to be today.
I hope to see them again in best form at 4CC (and Worlds?).

I knew something was wrong when I saw Katie McBeath's close-up at the end of the warm-up. She usually exudes happiness and confidence to be skating. Here she looked serious ... maybe scared.

It was a lot of pressure for them to be in a position to take a big step forward. Hopefully coaches will stress the words "learning experience." and next time have some coping techniques.

I'm still in their corner. I love their partnership and their connection and joy.

 

[skylark]

S/H bring me so much joy! Love the colors of the costumes (reminds me of shen/zhao costume). So happy Sui just doubled the salchow--it's better for my nerves. I look forward to seeing this develop as they gain stamina. They definitely bring something that no one else in the field has. Btw, she's the only one who has ever done a decent split position on that lift.

I would agree with you, but I highly dislike to see Cong Han so obviously here under duress and pressure just to be here. I read interviews of him 4 years ago about how he was longing to retire. It's not easy on any man doing all those lifts constantly, much less a shorter man although he developed his strength so well and so conscientiously. He should be rewarded by being allowed to stay retired.

However, all the jokes in this thread are a good way for us viewers to cope with our feelings for him

 

[discodisco]

I'll repeat what I said yesterday: they're good but not overwhelmingly so. The throws were great, but the lifts all looked very shaky to me and the jumps...

I agree. Lifts were terrible. Entrances were very rough, and his footwork during them was atrocious. Whereas this team historically thrived on and indefinable connection, they didn't have that at all in this free skate. Maybe her a little more than him, but definitely not like in the past I think they're short program was Superior to their free program in terms of choreography and connection, but they definitely got 130 points based on reputation. Ironically, I feel that as pairs was in a rebuilding stage in the last 4 years, and most of the pairs weren't particularly technically proficient at the beginning of this quad, they all had to kind of up it in their choreography and connection, and I think that as a results, many of the pairs today might be able to outshine the Chinese in that area which was historically their strength.

 

[discodisco]

One of the nicer FO death spirals in the world

Which isn't saying much, unfortunately...

 

[discodisco]

I liked the SP a lot better. I can see some of their weaknesses here that I didn't notice in SP. But, it should get them at least the silver.

100 %. I think their short program is my favorite pairs program of the season. But this one... just tired of hearing this music I guess. Program is probably pretty good though, if I can get past the music lol, and boy, their twist has gotten so much better over the last couple years. Looked really good here in both programs

 

[discodisco]

Too much stuff in Metelkina Berulava's program: phone calls, ambulance, it's distracting when one is trying to do a lift. Then a gong and then a song.

They need to fix that flesh colored thing behind his v-neck. I know they're trying to hide his abundant chest hair, which he's had bursting out of his shirt since he was 16, but it is a terrible match for his skin tone. Either get the guy a tan, or lighten up the fabric color...

 

[discodisco]

After the nice SP's, I was brought back to reality with the terrible rules that reward ugly +2Axel+2Axel sequences and ugly catch-foot death spirals where the woman is WAY too high up. Even besides that the programs just weren't very interesting.

I agree that the double axel sequences generally look terrible, even when done well, which is not very often...

 

[skylark]

Which isn't saying much, unfortunately...

Alisa Esimova's FO Death Spiral is by far the most beautiful. Second is Minerva Fabienne Hase's.

 

[Skater Boy]

not making GPF might be a good thing for them. They can stay at home and train if Cong can physically take that much of a training load.

I don't think Sui would settle down for like a 5th place at the games... I sort of have the feeling that if things are not improving quickly enough, they may not go. But of course, this is not how it works

Sui and Han are an amazing team. I do not understand the different skating ffederations but I do get the "feeling" the Chinese Federation made them come back. It i shard to manufacture drive and desire. Theyare good but do they really want to compete? I am fine if they retire and go into the sunset.

 

[GGFan]

I would agree with you, but I highly dislike to see Cong Han so obviously here under duress and pressure just to be here. I read interviews of him 4 years ago about how he was longing to retire. It's not easy on any man doing all those lifts constantly, much less a shorter man although he developed his strength so well and so conscientiously. He should be rewarded by being allowed to stay retired.

However, all the jokes in this thread are a good way for us viewers to cope with our feelings for him

I often just jump on here for comps and do not keep up with all figure skating happenings. I just assumed Cong wanted to come back because Sui wore him down. Naive of me.

 

[4everchan]

Sui and Han are an amazing team. I do not understand the different skating ffederations but I do get the "feeling" the Chinese Federation made them come back. It i shard to manufacture drive and desire. Theyare good but do they really want to compete? I am fine if they retire and go into the sunset.

well.. they had "retired" already as olympic champions. I understand that China is a bit behind in developing their pairs for this cycle but they have so many promising pairs. Zhang and Huang are just out of junior and there are 3 teams in juniors who are extremely good. If I were Mr Skate China Fed, I wouldn't have "encouraged" Cong to unretire when clearly he wasn't planning to come back... I would bet on the newcomers and. give them experience so they are seasoned for 2030. It's OKAY to skip a quad to redevelop new teams. Of course, that's my philosophy and I stick by it because well... after the golden age of Canadian skating in 2018, no medal in 2022... 2026 may or may not bring medals but there are. legitimate podium contenders, if they skate well, which wasn't the case in 2022. Skip a quad cycle, get strong and better for the next one by developing the new talent. In any case, I have always loved Sui and Han, I still do, and I wish them the best. Their throws were awesome today. They will need to catch up on the Sequence shenanigans because that's 10 points right there and I bet the lifts will get sorted out soon enough. Carmen though? Oh well.

 

[Skater Boy]

Sui and Han had only 3 run throughs before the competition. You cannot compare their program with those who started to show their programs already in July and August.

In fact their short program was finalized only 3 weeks ago

They should not have skated here but I strongly believe the Federation pushed them. I guess we will see what happens later on because they struggled with lifts especially and were not nearly as comfortable with the program but understandable if thye have not done much run throughs. Still disappointing to see them "struggle with elements and stamina" and quite honestly they were thinking through the prgorams so the pcs were significantly lesser.

 

[ajingmarg]

Sui and Han are an amazing team. I do not understand the different skating ffederations but I do get the "feeling" the Chinese Federation made them come back. It i shard to manufacture drive and desire. Theyare good but do they really want to compete? I am fine if they retire and go into the sunset.

Sui really wants to compete

 

[RatedPG]

Sui’s presence here made me so happy.

As soon as the Russians weren’t allowed an entry into Pairs, specifically, no M/G, I thought Sui should return as 220+ skates would be enough for the gold medal. The Japanese, Germans and now the Georgians are surging though…

However, for their first skates, this was a promising start for me. I thought they were overscored and should have been closer to 4th. Even if they don’t make the GPF finals, I think they have enough time to improve their programs to be in contention for another Olympic gold medal.