U.S. Pairs 2018 - News & Updates, Part VIII

[Lizziebeth]

Great article about Chris Knierim--lots of details on his background & family:

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...hris-knierim-pairs-skater-20180206-story.html

Let's wish them luck today!!!

That was a great article -thanks for sharing. I am hoping that Alexa and Chris have a great skates in Korea, they deserve it!

 

[eurodance2001]

That article was great.. I have to admit that at first I found CK to be a bit bland; but as time as gone on and they've developed as a pair, you can tell that he's just a humble, uncomplicated, hard working nice guy.. What's not to like about that?

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Great article about Chris Knierim--lots of details on his background & family:

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...hris-knierim-pairs-skater-20180206-story.html

Let's wish them luck today!!!

How awesome was that.

I like how this story was told!!!

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Knierims up for challenge

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2018/02/08/266103376

Most everyone agrees that Scimeca-Knierim and Knierim have the toughest job: The couple competes a short in the team event Friday and follows that with a free skate Sunday. The individual pairs event is held a few days later, on Feb. 14 and 15.

 

[nimi]

Knierims up for challenge

They indeed were up to the task today...
Landing the 3S and beating both Yu/Zhang and James/Cipres, color me impressed!

 

[olympic]

They indeed were up to the task today...
Landing the 3S and beating both Yu/Zhang and James/Cipres, color me impressed!

I have serious whiplash. Gutted by Nathan's SP, only to turn around and see Knierims deliver! I think they finished ahead of 3 teams ranked above them.

 

[VGThuy]

I just want to give a shout out to not only SK/K in the TE exceeding all expectations and showing all of the skating fandom what U.S. pairs can actually do (yes I know they needed mistakes from others) but also all the U.S. Pairs at 4CC. You guys skated as if you were tired of the fandom making the US Pairs the butt of all jokes.

 

[volturemean]

Knierims! Awesome job today. Will help the U.S not only fuly secure in their bronze, but maybe even be in the fight for silver with Russia now which nobody imagined pre Games. I hope they skate just as great in the LP and surprise people again.

Beautiful couple, you can tell they are really in love too. I think they will never get divorced, even with the high U.S divorce rate today.

 

[volturemean]

I have serious whiplash. Gutted by Nathan's SP, only to turn around and see Knierims deliver! I think they finished ahead of 3 teams ranked above them.

They were 4th in the pairs team SP! So awesome. Nobody imagined them being this high in this field I think.

As for Chen dont be upset as it wont hurt the U.S much. The only thing is he could have cut even deeper into the damage this does to Russia with Kolyada's big bomb. 2nd place was easily attainable obviously and even 1st was possible with Uno falling on his quad flip. Then the U.S would really be in good shape for possible silver.

 

[MRani]

Add me to the people cheering on the Knierims and US pairs. I’m sorry I underestimated them now. They were fantastic and I hope the rest of their programs at the Olympics go equally well or better! They really bailed team USA out of potential trouble. Great job!

 

[aftershocks]

They indeed were up to the task today...
Landing the 3S and beating both Yu/Zhang and James/Cipres, color me impressed!

Yes, the Knierims stepped up and kept the U.S. in decent points standing. I was hopeful after seeing the video of the treatment Chris underwent for his knee. It looks like his previous struggles on sbs were largely due to knee pain. They seem determined, happy and in a good place mentally. To be honest re the top competitors Chris & Alexa staved off, I don't like Yu/Zhang as a team -- they can do the tricks, but it's all businesslike with no real connection between them, and Yu has a tendency to make mistakes here and there on jump elements. Yu appears to have somewhat lost her heart -- she goes through the motions and she smiles, but she's not all there. And James/Cipres did not have much to skate for aside from their own reputation and desire to make a strong showing. I almost kinda wish to thank J/C for that small mistake on the sbs (uncharacteristic for Vanessa), which helped the Knierims stay just ahead. I hope J/C do much better for themselves in the individual event.

Duhamel/Radford stepped up as well to make up for Patrick's poor showing. The ladies and ice dance will be critical. Looking at the math, it's possible for U.S. to perhaps stay just in second or be tied for second or place at least third after the first phase of team event. It will be tight with Italy able to pull up, and Russia able to go ahead of U.S. or at least tie. Japan could tie with the U.S. for third or hold their own.

Kudos to the Knierims. It's nice to see U.S. pairs showing up strong at recent events. Good luck to Alexa & Chris in the fp phase and in singles. Continue to enjoy, and temper overexcitement during performances!

 

[volturemean]

Patrick came 3rd in the mens SP which is probably the best anyone picked him anyway (some probably had him coming 4th behind Uno, Chen, and Kolyada, I dont think anyone had him likely beating Uno or Chen) so was it really a poor showing? I guess his skate, but the placing was not. And even the skate wasnt that much worse than most probably expected who have followed his skating this season.

And picking up 5 points on Russia in the mens short, nobody had that happening, so despite his not so great skate, Canada was way ahead of the 8 ball vs their main rival than imagined. They were also ahead of the U.S after the mens short, which again nobody had happening. Duhamel & Radford hardly had something to make up for, they stepped into an already unexpectedly blissful situation for Canada, LOL! Tarasova & Morozov are really the ones who picked up under insane pressure to recoup a shockingly bad situation.

 

[aftershocks]

^^ Patrick definitely did not skate well and he know he lucky to be in third. His PCS and judges' leniency saved him and Team Canada's bacon. Plus Duhamel/Radford stepped up, as I said. That was a great skate by D/R under any circumstances.

But yeah, as you will, go ahead and continue being persnickety in all your manifestations, just for the heck of it during Olympics season. T/M had no pressure except step-up and stop underperforming. They were planning to zing it and bring it, regardless of what Kolyada had done (Young Kolyada and Nathan both showed nerves in their first Olympics). T/M were textbook and determined, and yet they still lack personality on the ice, IMHO. Anyway, judges are always giving T/M fairly high points regardless whether they make mistakes. And they get humongous points when they skate like they can, which they did under whatever amount of pressure, albeit it's the best they've looked all season.

Leave it to Johnny to gush for OAR individuals who for some reason are performing in the team event. OARs are all competing supposedly as individuals from a country whose flag won't be represented as some kind of backroom deal reprimand. They may as well have allowed the OAR skaters under suspicion for unknown reasons to go ahead and compete. It's the country's corrupt, lying officials and politicians who really need to be taken to task, and they haven't been.

And this is U.S. pairs thread! Go U.S. pairs!!!

 

[Sylvia]

Great article about Chris Knierim--lots of details on his background & family:

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...hris-knierim-pairs-skater-20180206-story.html

Let's wish them luck today!!!

Thanks, Claire!

Mark Zeigler wrote a follow-up article titled "Knierims bail out US in Olympic team skating event": http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sd-sp-olympics-knierim-skating-team-20180208-story.html

 

[flyingsit]

So happy for Alexa and Chris! And I hope this sets them up for good performances in their subsequent events.

 

[VGThuy]

For all that they've been through, it's simply nice that SK/K get to be hailed as heroes in front of the largest audience skating will ever see at least for one day.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

O-M-G

S-K & K were GLORIOUS!!!

I must have hit the rewind button (as I usually do) 10 times last night!

Question: Is this team the best USA has EVER had for throws and twists? (and their combo spin is always VERY fast too).

I just went to go check the protocols because for that confident and powerful throw I needed to see all +3. They did get some but 2 judges had the nerve to give them +1? Really? What do they want? For her to be thrown into the Village?

I love her.

Reading his story this week really made me understand more about him and his family.

I was/am so happy for them. 4th place!!!

(Although their PCS score waasss wayyyyy too low.... was this the lowest PCS international judges have given them in a while? Even behind D/M & G........)

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Alexa quote: (icenetwork.com)

"I sensed Chris landed his jump, because I can't see him, but I felt his aura and I was like, he did it. And I did it," Scimeca Knierim said. "So then I was, 'Oh my God, you have to hit this throw,' because I don't want to mess up the throw when we finally get these jumps. And I felt in the air it was a good one."

The celebration was a bit early: Scimeca-Knierim tripped on the dismount of the lift, which cost them a point or two. Still, they gained 69.75 points.

"We came out of the lift, the crowd was crazy, we're at the Olympics and we landed our jumps," Scimeca-Knierim said. "I just tripped."

 

[Rukia]

Did anyone think a couple days ago the Knierims would get saving the US headlines? I'm happy for them, because I feel like they are the least appreciated members of the team.

 

[Skittl1321]

I'm so happy for the Knierims every single time I see a headline about their amazing performance last night.
For Alexa to be able to be out on the ice again, it warms my heart for them. And to get to be able to go to the Olympics after all they went through- and then to basically save the day in the short. What an experience.

I hope their team long is amazing

 

[aftershocks]

Question: Is this team the best USA has EVER had for throws and twists? (and their combo spin is always VERY fast too).

Hmmm, some historical research is in order. Chris & Alexa are certainly right up there, and may indeed be the best or one of the best in terms of recent advances in pairs technical feats, thanks of course to Sappenfield's circus acrobatics technical knowledge. Sappenfield's McLaughlin/Brubaker were perhaps the first U.S. pairs team to ratchet up 3-twist ante in terms of height (following in the pioneering path set by the Chinese pairs teams).

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

WOW..... look at all the figure skaters being profiled on NBC tonight Parade of Nations..

The Knierims are the first married couple since 06??? Wow..

And Vincent Zhou is the youngest this year.

 

[aftershocks]

Did anyone think a couple days ago the Knierims would get saving the US headlines? I'm happy for them, because I feel like they are the least appreciated members of the team.

And I'm going to give a shout-out to Chris' medical treatment specialists and to the U.S. pairs teams who performed so admirably at 4CCs. Those results by their U.S. pairs colleagues/rivals had to be very inspiring for Chris & Alexa as they set off for Pyeongchang!

 

[jdonavan]

Hmmm, some historical research is in order. Chris & Alexa are certainly right up there, and may indeed be the best or one of the best in terms of recent advances in pairs technical feats, thanks of course to Sappenfield's circus acrobatics technical knowledge. Sappenfield's McLaughlin/Brubaker were perhaps the first U.S. pairs team to ratchet up 3-twist ante in terms of height (following in the pioneering path set by the Chinese pairs teams).

Don't forget Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski in the "twist height" pioneering also

 

[aftershocks]

^^ Yep as I said, some historical research and mining the memory banks is required. It's always a no-no to generalize and leave anyone out.

... Mark Zeigler wrote a follow-up article titled "Knierims bail out US in Olympic team skating event": http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sd-sp-olympics-knierim-skating-team-20180208-story.html

Great that the Knierims skated their best and some other pairs who could have landed in front of them, made some errors. But a little perspective in that Nathan did not completely 'flop.' Nathan actually set a record for landing the first quad-flip at an Olympics. He made two bad errors, one crucially significant because he lost a huge amount of points that could have had him at least in second place. The fall on the 3-axel was further damaging points-wise. But Nathan still managed to gain 7 points, the same amount of points the Knierims were awarded.

The difference is that Nathan was expected to get 9 or 10 points which would have the U.S. team at 16 or tied for first at 17 total points. So indeed, it was crucially important that the Knierims got at least 2 points better than what might have been expected of them going in. The Knierims' performance made a huge difference for the U.S. being in second place overall, but Nathan's points are important too. It's not all bad. Japan and OAR are 1 point behind the U.S. and 4 points behind Canada.

 

[JJS5056]

^^ Yep as I said, some historical research and mining the memory banks is required. It's always a no-no to generalize and leave anyone out.



Great that the Knierims skated their best and some other pairs who could have landed in front of them, made some errors. But a little perspective in that Nathan did not completely 'flop.'

So, is that you offering to do this historical research? Looking forward to the detailed list.

You ended up totally contradicting yourself re: Nathan. If he didn't flop, why did the Knierims have to place higher than originally expected? Nathan is expected to challenge for individual gold; his skate and placement - arguably the safest bet team USA had going in - fell far short of expectations, and could likely be the difference between 2nd and 3rd in the end. You don't need to reply and tell me every element he did well because he could have landed a 5lutz and all that matters is his placement and points earned.

And, no. 4th place in pairs does not equal 4th place in mens, and does not support an argument that Nathan skated well. How can you throw out context completely? Again, Nathan is expected to be in the top 3 individually. The Knierims are looking for a top 10. To get to 4th, they had to surpass tough teams, though I am sure you can let them know that J/C felt like phoning it in and that is why they were able to beat them. Give me a break.

The USA's sure bet for team points skated under expectation, and its weakest link delivered the best skate they could to make up for it. Can it just be left at that for once rather than making up reasons as to why their achievement was any less impressive?

 

[aftershocks]

^^ Eh, why are you getting your knickers in such a twist. Gain some perspective. You can say Nathan flopped. Phil Hersh says he flopped. Of course, Nathan did not live up to expectations and to what we are so used to seeing from him. In the past, he's had difficulties and usually managed to save jumps and stay on his feet, aside from when his boots were such a mess at 2017 Worlds and he had all he could do to try and stay on his feet with unsound boots. And even then he was so gutsy in going for 6 quads!

Whatever, I respect all the athletes who go out there on the ice to do battle. It takes an enormous amount of courage, and its easy for us sitting on the sidelines to throw darts.

Clearly a number of factors confronted Nathan at his first Olympics outing in the team competition, but bottom line he seemed uncharacteristically distracted by nerves and the OTT expectations. Although we've previously seen this kind of thing happen for athletes at their first Olympics, few would have expected to see Nathan succumb to the pressure. The men's sp team event was very underwhelming for most of the skaters, aside from Bychenko, Rizzo, and partially Shoma. And still IMO, Nathan's effort was not a complete flop, as he did successfully land the first quad flip ever performed in Olympic competition, and he gained points for the team. What the Knierims did was crucial obviously since Nathan did not get the 9 to 10 points that was expected, while the Knierims gained more points than was anticipated for them, and they skated beautifully.

No one said anything about the placements in pairs and men's in the team competition being equal re U.S. team results. You are really reading my comments in such an overexaggerated negative way. In no way was I trying to diminish what the Knierims have achieved. I'm stoked for them, and glad they are having fun with this very deserved hard-won experience. And oh boy, I never said J/C 'phoned in' anything. Vanessa doubled her sbs triple which is very uncharacteristic for her since their last season breakthrough. Both Vanessa & Morgan are generally good and consistent with most of their tech elements. Clearly, the judges dinged them on that jumping pass enough to where J/C did not move ahead of the Knierims, which would have been anticipated on paper. Why not ratchet down your temperature! The U.S. team is in second place at the moment and the rest of the team event should be gripping and quite close. It's only just started.

Under any scenario, silver has been considered less likely for the U.S. team to manage, even if not out of the realm of possibility. After Nathan's failure to obtain the expected points, even the bronze is going to be more of a battle. So kudos to the Knierims for picking up Team USA and keeping medal prospects alive.

Meanwhile, it's your choice to be petty and to get your useless digs in about my innocuous comment on not being able to have perfect recall about every past U.S. pairs team.

 

[nimi]

^The Olympics have just started but I'm already getting reeeeally tired of these Nathan Wars (that apparently cannot be contained in appropriate threads)

ICYMI: a NBC recap claimed that Alex (sic!) and Chris Knierim attempted 3A in the team SP but fell. I wish them good luck with those fairly ambitious sbs 3As in the free!

Also, here's a cute gif of Alex(a) demonstrating fair play & true team spirit: https://twitter.com/alexa_knierim/status/962300441575829504

 

[aftershocks]

^The Olympics have just started but I'm already getting reeeeally tired of these Nathan Wars (that apparently cannot be contained in appropriate threads)

I'm personally not in a war myself. And that's my point -- there's way too much oversensitivity re tone and intent of some posts, more than usual. My reading from the poster I responded to is that he/she thinks I was diminishing the Knierims in favor of Nathan. Not the case. Indeed it's good advice for everyone to relax, take some deep breaths and try to enjoy the remaining Olympics drama without seeking out extra drama and b**chfests in threads.

From your post @nimi, there must be an impure ruckus going on in pbp Olympic kiss 'n cry threads.

What TeamUSA is facing is certainly not life or death.

It's nice to see the Knierims looking so relaxed and happy, and taking in this Olympic-sized experience. The gif is very sweet and cute. Thanks for sharing @nimi.

 

[nimi]

Anybody here who wants to actually discuss US pairs? No? Goodnight, then! (It's evening for me)