2026 Olympics: Pairs' Short Program

[Janice4th]

No idea…this is something about camera angles I think..

I watched through Sui/Han. I figured if any effects would occur it would be with them. It was a the same.

 

[Janice4th]

A question that just crossed my mind...

Do any of the judges have competitive skating experience?

(BTW, if this belongs on a different thread, please let me know. I'm happy to move it.)

They go through a rigorous training program, but I would assume they all competed at some in their career.

 

[ladyjane]

They do. Many are former skaters (though many not at such a high level as WC or OG), you can't just become one, you need - indeed - that rigorous training programme what is not easy, and you have to judge. Not meant as joke: it requires many judging competitions at a lower level, and only then can you go upwards. Someone judging at the OG or at a WC (or someone on the Technical Panel for that matter) has to have a lot of experience in judging.

 

[skatedreamer]

They do. Many are former skaters (though many not at such a high level as WC or OG), you can't just become one, you need - indeed - that rigorous training programme what is not easy, and you have to judge. Not meant as joke: it requires many judging competitions at a lower level, and only then can you go upwards. Someone judging at the OG or at a WC (or someone on the Technical Panel for that matter) has to have a lot of experience in judging.

Thank you! Now that you mention it, I do remember reading about the training program but began to wonder how much actual competition experience they had.

 

[momrk]

Tara gushing about Danny being a "golden retriever" emotional support animal type. While I don't disagree...too much talky talky. Glad Ellie held on to her landing though with the hand down, but not a fall. Good. I love the lifts.

way too much talk, sway too much

 

[skylark]

I already saw some results and read a bunch of spoilers so part of me is half afraid to even watch my DVR of the Pairs Short comp

The whole competition was thrilling and surprising in a good way until we got to the last 5. There are many, many skaters who were thrilled with their performances, and it was so fun to watch for that reason. My advice (which of course you may or may not care to take!) would be to watch it from the beginning. For your own pleasure. Then if you don't want to watch the last five, you don't need to, because you've got the protocols/

 

[Skater Boy]

What a ridiculous comment. Anyone should compete if they want to, and qualify to do so. They happen to still be the best pair in China, so they're here. She's only 30 years old still!


Sorry that you can't see their superior lines, choreographic detail, unison, musical timing, and expression. Look at what she does in that lift. Or the arm usage during the death spiral, or half a dozen other places throughout the program that display more refinement and fluidity than what anyone else is doing. Or pretty much any of her expressions (he has some good ones too).

Then there's the way they are never needing to reach for each other. They're always together, each movement flows naturally. Whereas every other pair team here, there are always moments where one of the partners is holding their arm out and waiting for the other person to regain unison. And a team like the Germans, look at the unfinished bent elbow and leg positions that creep in at times. That does not happen in Sui/Han's program (except for after the 3Toe, since she fumbled it).

Multiple of the judges agreed with me. They are the best PAIR skaters of the competition and deserved to be placed in the top 4 and 2nd on PCS. With a solid 3Toe they should have won this, particularly after the little stumble during the footwork the Germans had (and again, the unison, look at how the Germans go out of sync with each other on the twizzle).

Sui and Han are an amazing team and like Gordeeva and Grinkov, Berenshnaya and Shitxilitzke (???? lol); Artur and his two partners- thesea are magical teams. But They have had their moment and really if it were not for the Chinese Federation pushing them the other Chinese team earned the spot and have been impressive. People forget as good as Sui and Han are with Olympic gold and silver they narrowly won last time over the Russians.. I am glad but they have had their "luck". This year they have not had to suffer the indignation of being dumped like Deanna and Max or other teams when they make mistakes. Heck even when they did the wrong element they got credit. This olympics is going to be about teams or skaters maybe doing their best in a break out moment after inconsistency as we saw i nthe en's champ and the two other medalliss were kind of embarassing. Quite honestly imho the class of the field by far are the Japanese HOWEVER this team really is a huge disappointent yes they are first or second at worlds but they did not have the doinance one would have expected without Russia. Looks like either American team could win a medal How exciting. Poor Deanna and Max - well at least they got to compete. On the podium will be at least a team or two who hae been really inconsistent ie Sui and Han, the Germans, the Italians,, The Georgians or an American or Canadian. To have special or iconic skaters you will have period when things are so iconic. Other than Ilia who fell apart the men are good but not great (well some of the Japanese e showed promise but not consistent enough. So Cha,Mikail, Miura, Adam, Kevin, Lucas,, Egaze, Rizzo, Grassl all could sneak on the poidum LIkewise in pairs we have the same situation.Lia and Trennt aren't my favourite; kind of boring but they should have been ahead of Georgia who were a bit flat.

 

[LeReveur]

I was Sandra Bezic. A choreographer and former pairs skater (probably before your time).

"I was Sandra Bezic." Wow. You had me first surprised that Sandra spent time on this forum (I mean, she loves the sport, but I don't see her as someone who would post as much as you), then I thought you were an imposter, and then I kept reading and realized the typo! But what a line. Even the verb tense could mean so many interesting things!!

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

What a ridiculous comment. Anyone should compete if they want to, and qualify to do so. They happen to still be the best pair in China, so they're here. She's only 30 years old still!


Sorry that you can't see their superior lines, choreographic detail, unison, musical timing, and expression. Look at what she does in that lift. Or the arm usage during the death spiral, or half a dozen other places throughout the program that display more refinement and fluidity than what anyone else is doing. Or pretty much any of her expressions (he has some good ones too).

Then there's the way they are never needing to reach for each other. They're always together, each movement flows naturally. Whereas every other pair team here, there are always moments where one of the partners is holding their arm out and waiting for the other person to regain unison. And a team like the Germans, look at the unfinished bent elbow and leg positions that creep in at times. That does not happen in Sui/Han's program (except for after the 3Toe, since she fumbled it).

Multiple of the judges agreed with me. They are the best PAIR skaters of the competition and deserved to be placed in the top 4 and 2nd on PCS. With a solid 3Toe they should have won this, particularly after the little stumble during the footwork the Germans had (and again, the unison, look at how the Germans go out of sync with each other on the twizzle).

Some of the details you point out that you feel make Sui/Han special are not exclusive to S/H. Not even when they were younger did they display better 'refinement and fluidity' than other top teams. I remember when S/H were juniors, and I remember when they came up to seniors. Their ages were lied about by their federation. They were very fast, precise, and explosive with their tricks, i.e., money elements. But they lacked artistry and refinement. It took a while before they learned from coaches, Shen & Zhao, how to improve their aesthetics. Once S/H became more well-rounded, I was drawn in more to their skating.

During S/H's best career stretch, I admired their performance excellence, and I marvelled at Sui's fierce will and desire. They were challenged over the 2018 to 2022 quad with injuries. They hung on by a thread and made it to the 2022 Olympics. It took place in Beijing, so they had a bit of home field advantage. IMO Tarasova/ Morozov should have won gold in 2022 over Sui/Han. The general consensus is that S/H's quad twist is what edged T/M for gold in a close contest.

Anyone can decide to come back. But doing so when you are not as fit as you should be, is a questionable choice in my opinion. Especially when China has a wonderful young team who won the Olympic spot and could have benefited from Olympics experience. Especially seeing as Zhang/ Huang will be strong young contenders in senior pairs over the next quad.

I would not rank S/H with Gordeeva/Grinkov. For me, S/H's coaches, Shen/Zhao are among the greats. S/H come close for some of their performances, but not in my book as a great all-time team.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

They go through a rigorous training program, but I would assume they all competed at some in their career.

Quite a few, but certainly not all the judges have competed as figure skaters.

 

[LeReveur]

This is the worst quad of pairs skating I have seen, and I started watching the sport in 1991. A great number of the teams were out of synch on their spins and, in some cases, during other moments. The stretch, line, and refinement felt lacking, too. I agree with everyone who is tired of Miura/Kihara being overmarked. That was not a good outing from them.

If Hase/Volodin win, I hope it will be for having an excellent performance, but I would also venture to state that it would be proper karma for how they were marked at worlds last year.

End of rant.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Heck even when they did the wrong element they got credit.

Yep, exactly. It happened at Cup of China, and the results were not corrected. This is an example of what makes figure skating judging questionable and often laughable.

 

[discodisco]

Sui/Han were underscored, not overscored. Their PCS should have been 2nd only to the Germans, as their quality of movement and movement as an actual pair is still the overall best in the field. Their speed is lower now and the mistake on the jump detracts from the overall performance, but it was still a better performance than everyone else.

They should have won this SP if she simply did her 3Toe cleanly.

I don't know... besides that little jump thing they do at the beginning, none of their choreography is particularly innovative.... they looked more labored than normal, and while they still do have some of their original magic, I really haven't found either of their programs super great.. although I will admit that their short program is better than their long program, which is a bit of a grind....

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I agree with everyone who is tired of Miura/Kihara being overmarked. That was not a good outing from them.

If Hase/Volodin win, I hope it will be for having an excellent performance, but I would also venture to state that it would be proper karma for how they were marked at worlds last year.

Totally agree with you. M/K are fast, with generally very good lifts. Miura is sometimes inconsistent on the throws. But when it goes well, she's one of the best at landing throws. In this performance, Miura landed forward on the throw. It wasn't too bad, but another team would probably get lesser GOE than M/K for that landing. I think that overall, M/K are overly highly scored on many elements, especially on their 3-twist. It looks gorgeous in the air, but Miura always makes contact with Ryuichi on the dismount. It should not be receiving 2.20 on GOE! The GOE with contact should be under one point, IMO. Or certainly less than all the teams who have crisp, beautifully executed twists with clear separation on their dismounts.

The problem on their lift should have lost M/K more points. They did not complete the lift. It came down too early, after barely going up. They should have lost more points for that. How can they justify dumping Deanna & Max so far down for the fall after their lift was completed, and then hold up M/K so high in order to give them a chance to be on the podium after the freeskate??? That is what M/K's sp score amounts to: helping them to make the podium. And then, the number of times they have been gifted with wins and medals after numerous errors. No other team consistently gets away with this kind of help. Albeit Metel/Beru and Sui/ Han were helped in the scoring, too, in the sp.

 

[ManyCairns]

I don't know... besides that little jump thing they do at the beginning, none of their choreography is particularly innovative.... they looked more labored than normal, and while they still do have some of their original magic, I really haven't found either of their programs super great.. although I will admit that their short program is better than their long program, which is a bit of a grind....

To me the biggest thing was how heavy and trying to just get through things they look now. But at least the lifts aren't scary like they were early in the GP, when I really thought they might come down.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I am not aware of O'Shea forcing his previous partner to train and compete whilst injured and then publicly blaming the associated poor performances on her being lazy and overweight? He also did not push her to the point where the injuries and loss of confidence and self-esteem were career ending - she is still skating at a very high level.

Exactly. Berulava was not nice to his former partner, Karina Safina, and that's putting it lightly. A lot of people aren't aware of his behavior toward Safina and few people bring it up, which is interesting since he was visibly and vocally dismissive of her. Speaking of the 'power imbalance' between males and females in figure skating...

Metelkina appears to be more ambitious and tough. She is also apparently fearless about being held in the air with a less than sure-footed partner beneath her.

 

[NewLook]

This is the worst quad of pairs skating I have seen, and I started watching the sport in 1991. A great number of the teams were out of synch on their spins and, in some cases, during other moments.

Of course. A good deal of those on the top are Russian losers who couldn't make the National team and never won anything in their homeland. Because there are junior skaters there who skate way better than what we saw on Olympic ice. Lol.

 

[yfan1]

Some of the details you point out that you feel make Sui/Han special are not exclusive to S/H. Not even when they were younger did they display better 'refinement and fluidity' than other top teams. I remember when S/H were juniors, and I remember when they came up to seniors. Their ages were lied about by their federation. They were very fast, precise, and explosive with their tricks, i.e., money elements. But they lacked artistry and refinement. It took a while before they learned from coaches, Shen & Zhao, how to improve their aesthetics. Once S/H became more well-rounded, I was drawn in more to their skating.

During S/H's best career stretch, I admired their performance excellence, and I marvelled at Sui's fierce will and desire. They were challenged over the 2018 to 2022 quad with injuries. They hung on by a thread and made it to the 2022 Olympics. It took place in Beijing, so they had a bit of home field advantage. IMO Tarasova/ Morozov should have won gold in 2022 over Sui/Han. The general consensus is that S/H's quad twist is what edged T/M for gold in a close contest.

Anyone can decide to come back. But doing so when you are not as fit as you should be, is a questionable choice in my opinion. Especially when China has a wonderful young team who won the Olympic spot and could have benefited from Olympics experience. Especially seeing as Zhang/ Huang will be strong young contenders in senior pairs over the next quad.

I would not rank S/H with Gordeeva/Grinkov. For me, S/H's coaches, Shen/Zhao are among the greats. S/H come close for some of their performances, but not in my book as a great all-time team.

How is any of this relevant to their skating at this competition? It's not. It's funny that people here are complaining about Miura/Kihara's scores, yet somehow it's beyond the realm of possibility that Sui/Han were one of the teams that didn't deserve to get placed behind them.

Sui/Han were FAR better than all skaters at the Beijing Olympics. Their judging at those Olympics was frankly fraud when they needed to rely on a 4Tw to beat the other teams. Sui's arm movement especially used to be similar to that of ice dancers - whereas most Pairs skaters simply never skated like that, ever. So yeah that thing's exclusive to their team, and even here that quality was rather apparent compared to the others.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

How is any of this relevant to their skating at this competition? It's not. It's funny that people here are complaining about Miura/Kihara's scores, yet somehow it's beyond the realm of possibility that Sui/Han were one of the teams that didn't deserve to get placed behind them.

Sui/Han were FAR better than all skaters at the Beijing Olympics. Their judging at those Olympics was frankly fraud when they needed to rely on a 4Tw to beat the other teams. Sui's arm movement especially used to be similar to that of ice dancers - whereas most Pairs skaters simply never skated like that, ever. So yeah that thing's exclusive to their team, and even here that quality was rather apparent compared to the others.

You can feel how you feel about your favorite team. But quite honestly, Sui/Han barely won the Beijing Olympics. There's a good argument that Tarasova/Morosov should have won. You speak in a lot of superlatives and absolutes about Sui/Han. It's simply not true that Sui has better arm movements than every other pair girl during her era, or currently.

Sui/ Han were dynamic and exciting at their best. But worshipping them so heavily over every other pairs team is a bit much.

 

[yfan1]

Everybody, but you and their diehard fans knows they were overscored here.

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know there was such a vast consensus on this. I must be imagining the 4 judges who placed them higher than their final placements - but maybe there is information out there that suggests they were diehard fans of Sui/Han. Funnily, though, the Chinese judge mustn't be a diehard fan of theirs.

I would not have given them more than 69 to 70.

Happily, none of us here are Olympic judges.

China should have sent Zhang/ Huang, the young team who won the Olympics spot in the first place.

Zhang/Huang are a clearly inferior team to Sui/Han. They frankly will deserve to get beaten by the upcoming Chinese juniors in the next couple of years, as long as they don't lose their tech...