I wasn’t comparing them as skaters other than the entertaining programmes, I was comparing how being a fan of them on this board felt.
Nikolaj doesn't have that sort of range.
I loved the Kerrs and am close to ubering Becker/Hernandez. It’s not an anti-Brit thing, I’ve enjoyed Fear/Gibson since they broke out. I think it’s more they’re consistently scoring over H/B on things like skating skills and composition. I for one have no trouble with their performance marks.I wasn’t comparing them as skaters other than the entertaining programmes, I was comparing how being a fan of them on this board felt.
Nick and Penny shocked me with how well they did and how high they climbed, but in my mind I always still saw them as the tiny 16 year olds just starting out! (Only within a year Nick wasn’t tiny anymore and I couldn’t quite process it)
I wonder if in a few years Bekker/Hernandez will also be top 10 but often classed as overrated here too
And what I'm saying is that they couldn't do that because Nikolaj doesn't have that type of program in him. He's a great movie soundtrack type skater, but he doesn't have lyrical, or classical skating ability. Another coaching team would not give them that type of program, and they have been around long enough as skaters to realize that the material they are doing works for them. It got them a win at NHK this season.
No, it was my favorite FD for them.
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Not with the strengths they have: edges, line, flow, ease, speed, and the balance between them.I wonder if in a few years Bekker/Hernandez will also be top 10 but often classed as overrated here too
The British dancers who’ve had the most success have never been the ones I’ve thought had the most potential as young skaters (fingers crossed Slatter/Ongay-Perez can be the exception). I’d for sure have picked Jamie Whyte as the future championship medalist out of that junior field with teeny tiny Penny and Nick.Nick and Penny shocked me with how well they did and how high they climbed, but in my mind I always still saw them as the tiny 16 year olds just starting out! (Only within a year Nick wasn’t tiny anymore and I couldn’t quite process it)
I wonder if in a few years Bekker/Hernandez will also be top 10 but often classed as overrated here too
I can already hear the future complaints that Ash & Atl rely too much on eye-catching tricks and great hair!
They are very elegant and have the it factor. I loved their FD (missed them in the RD).
There were even a brave few who criticized P/C or V/M for this or that (mostly their programs or music or…poetry.) And then there’s the crap Davis/White continue to take even now.
There seems to be many H/B fans on the inter webs that had their hopes raised after SA that have come crashing back down after GPF.
I hope that wasn't the case. I love both teams, but my hope was that we'd see H&B placed much closer behind C&B internationally with fewer teams between them and a shot at both teams on the podium this Olympic quad. I'm not really sure what H&B need to do in order to breakthrough further. They're always in this middle ground of being part of the conversation, but not a prime point of it.
I get what you're saying, but for most seasons, since like 2006 (at least), I've mostly preferred the 2nd or 3rd ranked Russian programs over the first-ranked ones...with some exceptions, of course.
No I liked it too, so there's at least one other.
I love that assessment, and I agree with all of it. Fear & Gibson in a sense are a mix of the Kerrs and Buckland & Coomes teams.
But now you say it, while I think Lewis is more similar as a skater to John Kerr than Nick Buckland, Lilah is more like Penny than Sinead. Aside from the physical similarities, Lewis and John are both physically strong lifting partners, are extrovert performers wih a strong sense of rhythm, and take a side-on approach to some of the traditions of ice dance. Both were also late switchers from singles who lack(ed) the technical foundation of someone who's spent years honing their craft. And both prone to twizzle errors (though no-one as much as John!).
Penny and Lilah are both fearless and acrobatic lifted partners, and they can both hit interesting and unique positions in choreography but you wouldn't say they have good lines. And both tend to have quite shallow edges and struggle in the pattern - though I think some of C/B's difficulties here came from the super-optimal height difference.
Tangentially, I've been impressed by Nick B's coaching of Bekker/Hernandez (and Brown/Hernandez before) and I hope some other young teams choose to work with him. Or that someone bribes him to come back to the UK and teach the kids here how to skate a pattern! He certainly knows what to do even if he couldn't always do it himself.
The ideal program is one that means something to the skater(s), makes the viewer feel something, satisfies the judges and their requirements, and (for me) moves the sport forward in some way. To hit all 4 of these things is quite difficult to do.
I would say this of Madison, but I can't honestly say this about Piper, especially this season. Perhaps I'm in the minority on this one.
I think Paul is a very creative and interesting guy, but his track record for this coming through on-ice is inconsistent. There have been long stretches of his career where Vanessa or Piper were the ones doing the heavy lifting in that area.
