Takahashi & Tran split

[Vagabond]

I think the bigger problem is, there is very little interest in Japan in pairs or dance. That may change, but it's not the situation at present.

Maybe Narumi Takahashi will have to go skate for another country if she wants to compete in the Olympics. Like Canada, for example. I hear Mervin Tran is looking for a partner.

[hanca]

In general, I suspect it's probably easier for a small-enough female singles skater to get up to speed on pair skills with an experienced male pair skater than it is for a male singles skater to get up to speed on pair skills with an experienced female pair skater, although I can think of at least one example of the latter sort of pairing that worked relatively well.

Funny, I would think exactly the opposite. I think it is easier to throw someone on throw jumps, rather than being someone who is thrown into throw jump and is supposed to land it. The difficult bits for singles male would be to learn the lifts.

[rfisher]

Maybe Narumi Takahashi will have to go skate for another country if she wants to compete in the Olympics. Like Canada, for example. I hear Mervin Tran is looking for a partner.

I heard that too! What a wonderful pairing that would be!

[antmanb]

I am not saying that pair partners are failed singles, that's your words, but if you look at some of the partnerships, you may find out that actually if they can't find partner among pairs, they choose single skater and make pair partner of him/her. It usually works pretty well.
Dube-Wolfe,
James-Cipres,
Gerbold-Enbert,
Marley-Brubaker

Gerbold-Enbert were quite strong in their first season, Dube-Wolfe needed a bit more time but were becoming quite reasonable, Marley-Brubaker were weaker in their first season but their second one was definitely quite strong. James-Cipres are also getting much stronger now. By the way, Wolfe was not only single skater, he was also only junior! Cipres too I believe. I am not saying that it would be easy, they would have to work extremely hard. I am saying that if they paired now and started working together immediately, it is doable. (OK, it is not doable to win the Worlds or Olympics, but it is doable to qualify there and have a decent skate).

Sorry but that's not how your post sounded. It sounded like you were saying any of the Japanse men outside the top five at nationals would be better off trying pairs with Takahashi n, and that's just insane. You don't flush the last X years of training down the toilet on a whim to skate pairs.

You seem to think that acquiring triples is harder than learning to skate pairs, and on that I think you're wrong. You're seriously underestimating the work that pairs skaters put into their skills.

[rfisher]

Funny, I would think exactly the opposite. I think it is easier to throw someone on throw jumps, rather than being someone who is thrown into throw jump and is supposed to land it. The difficult bits for singles male would be to learn the lifts.

The problem here, is that Narumi's weakest elements are her jumps. They've always scored well because of the twist, lifts and spirals. Which depended strongly on Mervin's skills. Skills that take a lot of time to perfect and someone new to pairs is very unlikely to have by the Olympics, which I assume is the issue for Japan if they want someone in the team competition. Making the TES minimum will be a challenge. Not impossible, but highly improbable. But, predicting the future is a fool's game and maybe things will work out for her.

[Sylvia]

Morgan Ciprès is the only man listed above who started pairs from scratch with his current partner and he is to be commended for the progress he has made since September 2010, especially since (I assume) it is more challenging and potentially more dangerous when the man is the pairs newbie instead of the woman/girl.

[gkelly]

since (I assume) it is more challenging and potentially more dangerous when the man is the pairs newbie instead of the woman/girl.

That's my belief as well.

Where is 5Ali3 to give us the real scoop?

[hanca]

Sorry but that's not how your post sounded. It sounded like you were saying any of the Japanse men outside the top five at nationals would be better off trying pairs with Takahashi n, and that's just insane. You don't flush the last X years of training down the toilet on a whim to skate pairs.

You seem to think that acquiring triples is harder than learning to skate pairs, and on that I think you're wrong. You're seriously underestimating the work that pairs skaters put into their skills.

I don't think I am underestimating the work the pairs do. I am just saying that there are at least 4 elite pairs that were created using a singles skater and the pairs became strong within 1.5 - 2 seasons. Whereas I have never seen any current pair skater being successful in singles after a pair broke down. If you think it is much easier to get the triples at that age after not doing them for many years, please provide some examples who managed it.

And in regards to 'flushing the last X years of training down the toilet on a whim to skate pairs', common sense may tell them that if their category is so competitive, they have no chance to get through and compete at major international competitions. Look at Marley, with the competitive level of US ladies, without switching to pairs she would be unlikely going to Four continents or Worlds within the next 5 years. Switched to pairs and within a year or two she was there. Same about Gerbold, with the competition in Russian ladies, she it is unlikely that she would have much chance now. I can't see Cipres beating Amodio or Joubert, so he would be somewhere lower at senior French nationals and no attendance at Europeans or Worlds. And I am not sure if Wolfe would be good enough to get at senior Canadian nationals into top three to be sent. So for all of them, I don't think they see their situation as 'flush the last X years of training down the toilet'. I think they see it as opportunity, open door and they grabbed it.

[casken]

I enjoy Mervin much more than Narumi so... I think I'm the only one here who is a little glad to hear they split

No, me too. I *adore* him, and.... like her, but am a bit intrigued by the idea of him getting a more consistent partner.

[ioana]

Morgan Ciprès is the only man listed above who started pairs from scratch with his current partner and he is to be commended for the progress he has made since September 2010, especially since (I assume) it is more challenging and potentially more dangerous when the man is the pairs newbie instead of the woman/girl.

I can definitely attest to that -even if I only skate as an adult. First time I seriously worked on pairs was with one of my first coaches, who competed at Sectionals a few years ago. We could do fwd press lifts on the ice and star and platter lifts off ice within a few weeks. And then I briefly skated with someone who'd never done pairs before and we barely got our stationary press lift to work off ice after months of trying. This was for people who were comparable in terms of built, as well.

[loulou]

Shittity Shit. They were my favourite couple after Savchenko/Szolkowy.

(Dear Santa, I would like to enjoy YuNa Kim and Volosozhar/Trankov, could you bring me the ability for Christmas this year?).

[Zemgirl]

Morgan Ciprès is the only man listed above who started pairs from scratch with his current partner and he is to be commended for the progress he has made since September 2010, especially since (I assume) it is more challenging and potentially more dangerous when the man is the pairs newbie instead of the woman/girl.

It's even more impressive considering Vanessa herself didn't have that much pairs experience when they teamed up - I believe she's been skating pairs for, what, five years or so? And she's quite tall, too, which is also challenging. I'm very impressed with the progress they've made.

I have no idea why Takahashi would decide to end such a successful partnership at this point in time. It seems really weird.

[manhn]

While I enjoyed T&T tremendously (I thought they had the best SP last season), I would imagine whatever Japanese partner she acquires, his biggest asset will be the jumps. And jumps are not Takahashi's strength (understatement!). The reason T&T did as well as they did, despite their propensity to make errors, was because of the quality of their actual pairs elements. Finding a Japanese males skater who has strong pairs elements will not be easy.

[sk8ingcoach]

I believe Andrea Poapst has canadian citizenship. I think her and tran would be good together

[Maofan7]

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/all/he...do_sp-spo.html

Takahashi, world bronze figure set pair resolution Tran18, Japan Skating Federation announced the pair (22) = Canada = was solved a combination network Kinoshita (20) = Narumi Takahashi, Marvin Tran of last season's World Championships bronze medal in pairs figure skating. Intends to continue the competition Both players, look for a new partner.
　towards the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics organization is adopted for the first time, Tran was seeking to acquire Japanese citizenship, had been living in Japan difficulty without a proven track record. According to officials, nationality problem is that it is not the only reason.
　We have issued a statement through the federation "in recent years, from an aggressive feeling so I passed from the discrepancy of thoughts on the competition, continue to love skating, decided to eliminate the pair" Takahashi said.
　Tran and formed a duo in 2007, Takahashi born in Chiba Prefecture, won the first medal of the Olympics as a representative of Japan, including the pair at the World Championships in March this year. Such as left shoulder surgery in October Takahashi, this season has been away from the game. [17:04 December 18, 2012 Kyodo News]

ETA: the translation seems to mix up some lines and is very unclear. Seems from Takahashi's tweets that it was her idea.

Great shame

[Fridge_Break]

Best of luck to both of them in their future skating (and non-skating) endeavors.

[kwanfan1818]

And in regards to 'flushing the last X years of training down the toilet on a whim to skate pairs', common sense may tell them that if their category is so competitive, they have no chance to get through and compete at major international competitions.

This is why Totmianina and Marinin, both singles skaters, switched to Pairs. They had many years under expert coaching to gel, though, and each had come to the same conclusion about his or her singles career.

I haven't read anywhere that Takahashi is healed; until recently, Tran's tweeted frustration that they weren't on the ice, with no indication that a return was soon, although it's possible her recovery was withheld because she was planning to dump him. Even if she's completely healed, then the chances of her being competitive with anyone starting from scratch in less than 14 months are very slim.

If the GP rules hold, she has the advantage as a former World medallist to get two GP's next season without needing a minimum GP score. We most likely won't know until after the season if they plan to have minimum scores for the Olympics or if they do, what those scores will be, and if they'll apply to appointed skaters. JPN won't have a Pair at Worlds -- even Volosozhar/Trankov had almost a year together before they competed internationally -- and they'd have to be ready to earn a spot at Nebelhorn. (IIRC, there are only four Pairs spots awarded in the qualifier, unless a country gives back a spot.) It might work out just fine for JPN to appoint a Pairs team for the team event: one point (or two) might be the difference between getting the last spot in the final, and would give the team valuable Olympic experience.

If the Japanese Fed had anything to do with her change of heart, chances are they could have lots to do with a lower-level/ranked Japanese man's change of heart WRT Pairs skating, especially since he would inherit a tiny partner who is a World medalist and superb in most pairs skills.

[aftershocks]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWsAobVL_Q8

In the above video that I posted earlier (Japanese sports show interview w/ T/T), the interviewer says to Narumi that Mervin is a "Gift from God." Narumi then repeats to Mervin in English what the interviewer said ... "Mervin, you are a present from God." Well, God have mercy on them being rent asunder.

Good luck to all and happy fs viewing ... Happy Holidays.

[madm]

I believe Andrea Poapst has canadian citizenship. I think her and tran would be good together

Agree. Andrea is from Toronto and is a Canadian citizen. This was one of the problems with her pairing with Chris Knierim who is a U.S. citizen, which limited them in terms of ever being able to compete in the Olympics. Is she still training in the U.S.? She is no longer on icepartnersearch so I do not know if she's still looking for a partner. She is a lovely skater and quite petite.

[Sylvia]

AFAIK, Andrea Poapst is still partnerless and training in Artesia, California with Peter Oppegard.