apollo13
12-23-2011, 02:04 AM
? Evora & Ladwig have skated together longer than Castelli & Shnapir, AFAIK?
Marley & Brubaker are still skating together; the couple that broke up that actually had some success was McLaughlin & Brubaker. The rest are all teams that have not been to Worlds; only E&L have gone of the remaining pack of contenders, so the field is pretty much wide open at Nationals. IMO, of course.
C&S and V&B and M&B all appeared on the GP this year, but not with enough success to give them an inside track. D&C (new this year) have not been as wildly successful as they might have hoped either. (4th at SA & 5th at NHK)
I may have mis-interpreted your earlier post. I thought you mean that next to Evora/Ladwig, either Marley/Brubaker or Vise Baldwin have been together the longest. As Sylvia pointed out, Castelli/Shnapir have been together since 2006-2007.
As far as the pairs competition being pretty much wide open - well, in recent years Senior Pairs at Nationals has been very unpredictable, and exciting in many ways:
1) In 2006 St Louis, Orscher/Lucash and Inoue/Baldwin were a shoo-in to make the Olympic team having first and second the year before in Portland. Hinzman/Parchem knocked Orscher/Lucash from the team, in a minor upset.
2) In 2007 Spokane, Inoue/Baldwin and Nam/Leftheris were co-favorites to win. But Castile/Okolski put together two good programs to win. They were in 8th place the year before and their best finish was 7th place before that. Nam/Lefteris were last to skate and could have easily won, but they did not deliver.
3) In 2009 Cleveland, Denney/Barrett in their very first Nationals and after a couple of summer competitions - were in the lead after the short program. They ended in second-place over-all and displaced Inoue/Baldwin from the World team.
4) In 2010 Spokane, two of the following three teams were heavily favored to medal - McLaughlin/Brubaker, Inoue/Baldwin and Denney/Barett. Two of those teams were supposed to be the Olympic team for Vancouver. In fact, M/B were such a lock to win - they have done so many commercials in the months leading to Vancouver - remember the Visa and Coca-Cola ads? Well, Evora/Ladwig crashed the party and knocked out not only M/B but also I/B.
5) Last year, Yankowskas/Couglin won the Pairs competition in a very competitive event. Y/C have never placed higher than 6th in the previous three Nationals they have been to.
So yes, I agree that this Nationals could very well be as unpredictable!
Marley & Brubaker are still skating together; the couple that broke up that actually had some success was McLaughlin & Brubaker. The rest are all teams that have not been to Worlds; only E&L have gone of the remaining pack of contenders, so the field is pretty much wide open at Nationals. IMO, of course.
C&S and V&B and M&B all appeared on the GP this year, but not with enough success to give them an inside track. D&C (new this year) have not been as wildly successful as they might have hoped either. (4th at SA & 5th at NHK)
I may have mis-interpreted your earlier post. I thought you mean that next to Evora/Ladwig, either Marley/Brubaker or Vise Baldwin have been together the longest. As Sylvia pointed out, Castelli/Shnapir have been together since 2006-2007.
As far as the pairs competition being pretty much wide open - well, in recent years Senior Pairs at Nationals has been very unpredictable, and exciting in many ways:
1) In 2006 St Louis, Orscher/Lucash and Inoue/Baldwin were a shoo-in to make the Olympic team having first and second the year before in Portland. Hinzman/Parchem knocked Orscher/Lucash from the team, in a minor upset.
2) In 2007 Spokane, Inoue/Baldwin and Nam/Leftheris were co-favorites to win. But Castile/Okolski put together two good programs to win. They were in 8th place the year before and their best finish was 7th place before that. Nam/Lefteris were last to skate and could have easily won, but they did not deliver.
3) In 2009 Cleveland, Denney/Barrett in their very first Nationals and after a couple of summer competitions - were in the lead after the short program. They ended in second-place over-all and displaced Inoue/Baldwin from the World team.
4) In 2010 Spokane, two of the following three teams were heavily favored to medal - McLaughlin/Brubaker, Inoue/Baldwin and Denney/Barett. Two of those teams were supposed to be the Olympic team for Vancouver. In fact, M/B were such a lock to win - they have done so many commercials in the months leading to Vancouver - remember the Visa and Coca-Cola ads? Well, Evora/Ladwig crashed the party and knocked out not only M/B but also I/B.
5) Last year, Yankowskas/Couglin won the Pairs competition in a very competitive event. Y/C have never placed higher than 6th in the previous three Nationals they have been to.
So yes, I agree that this Nationals could very well be as unpredictable!