US Pairs 2012-13 news & updates

[reese]

Olivia Oltmanns and Joshua Santillan.

Interesting. Until now they've been coached by Olivia's mom and this year they had some not-awful choreography from Rohene Ward. Disastrous Nationals this year though; I assume they are skating senior this coming season after 3 years junior, plus Josh has aged out of JGP events.

[figuresk8302]

^^ Thanks Sylvia.

http://web.icenetwork.com/skaters/de...d=39640&mode=P IN profile for Olivia

Oltmanns/ Santillan are not yet a senior team. They look good together in the photo.

I think he has potential to win some of the future competitions for PORNY skater of the year. Those are some smoldering eyes.

[johndockley92]

Ah. I remember this team from the past few nationals. I like their look because it's different that they're close in height. I didn't realize that she had won Juv and Int with her former partner !

[olympic]

^^ Thanks Sylvia.

http://web.icenetwork.com/skaters/de...d=39640&mode=P IN profile for Olivia

Oltmanns/ Santillan are not yet a senior team. They look good together in the photo.

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but she's only 15 yrs. old and 5-5. He is 5-10.

[johndockley92]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but she's only 15 yrs. old and 5-5. He is 5-10.

I actually like this about them. It's refreshing to see a team that doesn't look like a full grown man skating with a midget. They have about the closeness in height of a dance team, but don't struggle with lifts at all. Kinda nice.

[olympic]

International debut at Challenge Cup for 3 U.S. pairs today - Kayne/O'Shea (54.11), Leng/LeDuc (51.79) and Baga/Toth (43.75) are 3rd, 5th and 6th, respectively, after the SP in The Hague - link to detailed protocols (cross-posted in the competition thread in Kiss and Cry): http://kunstrijden.knsb.nl/2012-2013..._SP_Scores.pdf
I know jumps aren't everything in pairs , but it's nice to see that all 3 teams landed their sbs triples with + GOE.

I watched the videos -

K/O look good. They skate with confidence and do the big tricks, but they need to fix the sack-o-potatoes catch on the 3twist.

L/L stand out even more in my mind even if they are behind their teammates. There is a ton of personality oozing out of both of them on the ice that really catches your eye. They do some interesting moves on the non-explosive elements - the SBS spins come to mind, and I think he can out-diva a lot of female skaters. His extension is to die for. It looks like a couple of the moves got away from them, though.

B/T still have work to do. They looked tentative, but good that they are still improving. Hats off to her for landing the throw at the end.

And yes, Sylvia, it wasn't too long ago that one would grit their teeth watching any US pair go into their SBS jumps. Now, everyone seems to be landing them.

I actually like this about them. It's refreshing to see a team that doesn't look like a full grown man skating with a midget. They have about the closeness in height of a dance team, but don't struggle with lifts at all. Kinda nice.

Of course, but at 15 she's probably going to grow.

[Sylvia]

Silver for Kayne/OShea!

Re-posting the 3 USA pairs' results from the Challenge Cup thread in Kiss and Cry:

Final:
2 Tarah KAYNE / Daniel O'SHEA USA 167.82 3 2
5 DeeDee LENG / Timothy LEDUC USA 148.56 5 5
6 Kiri BAGA / Taylor TOTH USA 146.50 6 4

FS detailed results:
2 Tarah KAYNE / Daniel O'SHEA USA 113.71 59.58 54.13 6.67 6.50 7.08 6.75 6.83 0.00 #5
4 Kiri BAGA / Taylor TOTH USA 102.75 54.35 48.40 6.00 5.67 6.33 6.17 6.08 0.00 #3
5 DeeDee LENG / Timothy LEDUC USA 96.77 49.03 47.74 6.00 5.67 6.00 6.25 5.92 0.00 #1

FS Protocols: http://kunstrijden.knsb.nl/2012-2013..._FS_Scores.pdf

[jdonavan]

Silver for Kayne/OShea!

Re-posting the 3 USA pairs' results from the Challenge Cup thread in Kiss and Cry:

Final:
2 Tarah KAYNE / Daniel O'SHEA USA 167.82 3 2
5 DeeDee LENG / Timothy LEDUC USA 148.56 5 5
6 Kiri BAGA / Taylor TOTH USA 146.50 6 4

FS detailed results:
2 Tarah KAYNE / Daniel O'SHEA USA 113.71 59.58 54.13 6.67 6.50 7.08 6.75 6.83 0.00 #5
4 Kiri BAGA / Taylor TOTH USA 102.75 54.35 48.40 6.00 5.67 6.33 6.17 6.08 0.00 #3
5 DeeDee LENG / Timothy LEDUC USA 96.77 49.03 47.74 6.00 5.67 6.00 6.25 5.92 0.00 #1

FS Protocols: http://kunstrijden.knsb.nl/2012-2013..._FS_Scores.pdf

Congrats to this new team. A great fresh US pair generation at this event and I believe both K/O and L/L have the short and long tech scores for 4ccs and worlds for the coming season...Sylvia... Confirmation?

[olympic]

K/O's LP score would've been higher but they got no credit for an element - maybe around 116 pts.? They could've broken 170 pts. Good for them!

[Sylvia]

Kayne/O'Shea, Leng/LeDuc, and Baga/Toth all easily met the 2013 Four Continents minimum TES of 20 (SP) and 36 (FS) at Challenge Cup.

The 2013 Worlds TES minimums for pairs are:
SP = 24 points (lowered from 28) - met by Kayne/O'Shea and Leng/LeDuc at Challenge Cup
FS = 41 points (lowered from 45) - met by all 3 pairs at Challenge Cup

The ISU has yet to confirm the TES minimums for next season.

[A.H.Black]

I watched the videos -

K/O look good. They skate with confidence and do the big tricks, but they need to fix the sack-o-potatoes catch on the 3twist.

L/L stand out even more in my mind even if they are behind their teammates. There is a ton of personality oozing out of both of them on the ice that really catches your eye. They do some interesting moves on the non-explosive elements - the SBS spins come to mind, and I think he can out-diva a lot of female skaters. His extension is to die for. It looks like a couple of the moves got away from them, though.

B/T still have work to do. They looked tentative, but good that they are still improving. Hats off to her for landing the throw at the end.

And yes, Sylvia, it wasn't too long ago that one would grit their teeth watching any US pair go into their SBS jumps. Now, everyone seems to be landing them.




Of course, but at 15 she's probably going to grow.

I also love Leng/Leduc's sbs jumps. When I first saw them at Nationals I was very impressed and I keep watching for those jumps whenever they skate. The jumps are usually close together and in almost exact unison. She doesn't show a lot of emotion but she does have presence.

As for Oltmanns, if she looked immature, I would think she would grow, but she looks pretty mature to me so her growing may be done. I didn't grow more than 1/2 inch after I was 12-years-old.

[euterpe]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but she's only 15 yrs. old and 5-5. He is 5-10.

I saw Oltmanns/Santillan at Nationals and I doubt that she's only 5'5". She looks to be more like 5'7"--- almost his height. I think she's much too tall for him.

[johndockley92]

^^ Either way, they had no trouble with lifts though, I thought their lifts were actually better than most of the other Juniors. Isn't that usually the concern when it comes to height? Or is it something else?

[aftershocks]

I watched the videos -

...

Where did you see the Challenge Cup vids olympic? Some of the ones posted on youtube are without audio. Thanks for sharing your impressions.

[Sylvia]

The official YouTube channel/user name for 2013 Challenge Cup videos is "ChallengeCup2012" - all the ones this year are lacking audio due to technical issues (perhaps they will be fixed and uploaded at a later date?).

Re. Oltmanns/Santillan: To us outsiders she may appear too tall for him, but if they enjoy skating with each other and have their personal goals for continuing and testing themselves at the Senior level, then more power to them.

[MacMadame]

Right, Sylvia.

The only time I care about a team's relative heights is if it's distracting somehow (which can happen at any height difference if the lines don't match) or if it causes problems that make me fear for their safety.

[euterpe]

Oltmanns is so tall that she struggles with jumps--she had a spectacularly clumsy fall at Nationals. Olivia is not tall and superthin like Becky Bereswill, she is statuesque like Kyra Moscovitch, so I do feel uneasy when Josh Santillan lifts her.

[olympic]

Where did you see the Challenge Cup vids olympic? Some of the ones posted on youtube are without audio. Thanks for sharing your impressions.

I saw the ones posted on youtube w/o audio. Not ideal, but they were enough to give me an impression. I thought it was interesting that L/L made an impression on me w/o audio!

[Sunshine2]

By the way just heard that Elise Middleton had a tryout with Michael Johnson and Chad Phillips at her rink in Los Angeles

[olympic]

^^The lack of audio on the Challenge Cup videos does allow one to really scrutinize form though.

K/O's LP from Challenge Cup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6NnEqLhEqI

Scored 113 + points. They do all the big tricks rather effectively and have decent enough extension and line. If they can fix the 3twist to get more height and just continue to work on their presentation and speed, they will become a top US pair team. I'm not sure how long they've been around but I've only seen them this year. They've got a great future.

B/T : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QKvqD3okLo

Scored 102 + pts. She's got Diva potential and Sasha-esque extension. I hope she decides to concentrate on Pairs w/ Taylor. They click and US ladies is saturated with talent anyway. They are a bit slow, but most of the moves are there

L/L : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VrJAGYeWpc

Only scored 96 + points. It was a hot mess. They have severe problems with the 3twist. But I think of the 3 US pairs here, they have the most speed and power? Hard to tell. I think they could go the furthest because they have the biggest PCS potential. And I'm not sure, but I think it's rare that one pays more attention to the man than the lady in pairs.

Not trying to start anything, but did Tim LeDuc ever try-out w/ Caitlin? That would've been something!