I'm loving seeing everyone sh*tting all over that score on twitter, even some of their fans.
U.S. International Skating Classic was an interesting competition to say the least. I totally expected T/M to win by a lot. Although T/M were great at Russian test skates, they faltered in this recent competition in the U.S. Shaky throw landing and off-sync sbs spins. In general, they seemed off-kilter for whatever reason.
I thought T/M's sp score was high, but the judges generally give T/M high scores even for less than stellar performances, so I wasn't surprised. However, when C-G/LD laid down a blinder in their sp (only minor issue was Ash putting her foot down before Timothy in an otherwise great sbs spin sequence), the judges were in a pickle, eh.
The comp did take place in the U.S., but it was an international judging panel. I guess the judges noticed and decided to reward how much C-G/LD have improved even since 2019 Worlds. Ash/Timothy are a team who continue to set challenges for themselves and meet those challenges.
The main takeaway is that Ash/Timothy skated great and looked stronger than T/M in the sp. Despite the jump errors in the fp by Ash toward the tail end, they still looked stronger than T/M in that portion too! By overscoring T/M in the sp, it looks like the judges made it hard for themselves.
So, while 76 was a huge double-take sp score for C-G/LD, you have to look at the context. T/M shouldn't have been higher than around 70 - 71 for what they accomplished. And then, 72 or 73 would have been reasonable for Ash/Timothy. As it was, even Timothy was like, 'Come again' when he saw the sp score, and Ash looked incredulous. But let's face it, they owned it and overall they deserved to win since T/M fell further apart in the fp. And still, Ash/Timothy know they have lots of room for improvement. But they are a strong, competitive team on the rise.
While I'm not thrilled with Ash/Timothy's sp costumes, the music is okay. It looks like Ash slightly tweaked the upper part of her costume with a sheer background. I might be wrong, but it looks different from when they first debuted earlier in the summer. Despite a jump error in their sp debut earlier in the summer, and skipping their fp, I still thought Ash/Timothy looked very strong there too and visibly improved since Worlds. They've surely been working hard even with Ash getting married and going on honeymoon in June. They exude a lot of personality on the ice and they have a good connection with each other, in addition to their visible overall improvements.
TBH, I love the programs of Calalang/Johnson more than C-G/LD's, and I thought Tara/Danny have pretty good programs too. The difference is C/J are a fairly new team still adjusting to competing together. And Tara/Danny lack speed and oomph despite generally being consistent and competitive. Tara needs to improve her blade skills in a big way. And they are still working on developing their 3-twist. So speed, blade skills for Tara, and 3-twist are their main drawbacks. When they have a program like the one Shae Lynn Bourne and Shae Zukiwsky created for them to
Swan Lake, they can make a big impact. The programs they have now can grow over the course of the season, but they need more wow factor in their arsenal. ITA with the poster who felt K/O were underscored in the sp. It may partly be due to them skating first, but they were definitely low-balled, which also impacted how others were scored who didn't perform as well as they did.
IMO, if C/J can only ace their sbs jumps, they could be a stronger team overall than K/O and a few others too, because their programs are quality, quality, and they have wonderful speed and solid 3-twist, lifts and decent throws. But it appears that nerves and confidence have to be figured out for Jessica as she and Brian further adjust to what is a very promising partnership.
I have to point out that the cool cross-leg, bent knee, blade hold ds move we first saw from Jessica in their sp debut earlier this summer was copied by none other than Peng/Jin in their death spiral. What a compliment! P/J have some boss programs and wonderful costumes! I especially feel P/J's fp could be a friggin' masterpiece if they get it together. Boy the fp execution was inconsistent and disappointing by most of the pairs at that event. But I still enjoyed watching.
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They competed well in both programs (166.22 total, 60.91/2nd in SP, 105.31/2nd in FS) and that made all the difference in this particular field.
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