2025-26 US Pairs Discussion - Milano-Bound By Way of Beijing & St. Louis

OMG! Not ANOTHER Moulin Rouge program this year. Why, why why??? Is Tessa completely unaware of the plethora of programs using this music this season?? Do they die on the ice at the end too??? :mitchell: :scream:
Tessa only got Moulin Rouge in retirement. Scott got custody of the rest and is passing them down to his children (cpom).
 
And Barclay/Bartholomay are now listed as WD from the Pairs final. So, really, Fitzpatrick/Bearinger need to get their CTES and that's about the only level of intrigue surrounding the Sr Pairs field for Nats.

ETA - FitzBear blew right past their previous SP TES by 7 points and now have earned the Nationals CTES mins!
 
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And Barclay/Bartholomay are now listed as WD from the Pairs final. So, really, Fitzpatrick/Bearinger need to get their CTES and that's about the only level of intrigue surrounding the Sr Pairs field for Nats.

ETA - FitzBear blew right past their previous SP TES by 7 points and now have earned the Nationals CTES mins!

Watching it right now
 
Oct. 1, 2025:
Did a search and it looks like she’s Canadian and hasn’t been skating for awhile.
That article linked above was published in January 2016. I recall seeing Charlene Bailey in a few Skate Ontario livestreams in recent years and knew of her as a skating coach and costume designer. After they competed at the Boston Open NQS in early October, Charlene posted an Instagram story photo with Nate Bartholomay that she captioned: "SURPRISE! we have one foot in the grave and we've been skating! that 3rd full free program ever hits different after 2.5 mos. of skating together at 36 [Nate] and 37"
I wanted to see Bailey/Bartholomay at the U.S. Pairs Final so was :( that they withdrew before the SP.
ETA - FitzBear blew right past their previous SP TES by 7 points and now have earned the Nationals CTES mins!
Linzy Fitzpatrick/Keyton Bearinger scored 30.69 TES in their U.S. Pairs Final SP tonight and, combined with their 42.96 TES in their FS at CS John Nicks Pairs Challenge back in early September, adds up to 73.65 - so they have attained the minimum CTES of 67 for 2026 Nationals.
 
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Also... KamO seem to think they're assigned to Golden Spin...


Except they're not. Should we start a poll in the Trash Can over who between PlaFern and ShiNagy gets bumped? Gotta be one of those two since they both already have 2 Challenger/Sr B scores while FlorWang only have John Nicks IPC for that category of comps on the Selection Pool Calculation Table.
 
Congrats to Efimova/Mitrofanov (silver) and Kam/O'Shea (bronze) on making the podium in Helsinki!

I thought Alisa/Misha skated beautifully and honored the memory of Sergei and G&G very movingly today :respec:
:encore:
Excerpt from their mixed zone quotes:
Alisa:“It is a very special program, and going into this competition two days ago was the precise day, the 30th year of Sergey’s passing. So I’m really happy that we could present this program well today that we have dedicated to Katya and Sergey.”Both of their favorite programs of Gordeeva and Grinkov is “Moonlight Sonata.”, Alisa said she has also always dreamed of skating to Moonlight Sonata.
ETA:

ISU personal best scores in SP (70.19) & Total (205.49) for E/M in Helsinki. :)

ISU season best scores in SP (70.24) for K/O and in FS for E/M (135.30) - the latter's ISU PB was 135.59 at Boston Worlds.
 
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I absolutely loved Efimova and Mitrofanov’s Finlandia free skate. Takes me back to the time of beautiful, romantic pair skating. Her positions are so classic and gorgeous…can’t get enough of her in pairs. When they are on, they are just so compelling. Was thinking what a rock Misha is…rarely makes major mistakes, even with his previous partner. Think how really stunning they could be if Misha could keep working on his posture and have lines more like Volodin. Sure wish they could go to the Olympics!

Amazed Ellie held it together as well as she did after learning the zipper on her costume broke in warm up. That would be too much stress for me! I think my knees would buckle. Was hoping to see them in the GPF. But two medals after Danny’s surgeries and their time off the ice is great.
 
Nice article by Maya Bagryantseva for Sports.ru about Efimova/Mitrofanov -

What a fascinating history of Misha’s family!

Shut down pretty fast the question about their courtship and marriage.

I sure hope they continue next quad but it looks like they are still deciding…taking it one step at a time.
 
Watched the replay. I enjoyed it very much. I wasn't that concerned after seeing Lia and Trennt's skate because it was not a disaster. Yes, errors were made but that mild collision was a fluke and I am sure it won't happen again. It just wasn't their best skate but I really love that program and I am not worried, they will be Canada #2.

E/M were wonderful, what a program! Mostly clean but imagine when it is skated more cleanly what a beauty of a program it will be. K/O were great, too, again, some mistakes but isn't it amazing how great both teams are. H/V were wonderful, too, deserving of first though not perfect.
 
Local NBC affiliates have been airing feature stories of Olympic hopefuls.

Here’s one on Chan/Howe, mostly focusing on Howe’s military service.


His coaches also posted about the story on IG.
 
I absolutely loved Efimova and Mitrofanov’s Finlandia free skate. Takes me back to the time of beautiful, romantic pair skating. Her positions are so classic and gorgeous…can’t get enough of her in pairs. When they are on, they are just so compelling. Was thinking what a rock Misha is…rarely makes major mistakes, even with his previous partner. Think how really stunning they could be if Misha could keep working on his posture and have lines more like Volodin. Sure wish they could go to the Olympics!

Amazed Ellie held it together as well as she did after learning the zipper on her costume broke in warm up. That would be too much stress for me! I think my knees would buckle. Was hoping to see them in the GPF. But two medals after Danny’s surgeries and their time off the ice is great.
Maybe having Ellie worry about things other then jumps and throws is the way to make her land her jumps and throws and they just need to come up with other stuff to stress her out with. 🤣🤣
 
Local NBC affiliates have been airing feature stories of Olympic hopefuls.

Here’s one on Chan/Howe, mostly focusing on Howe’s military service.


His coaches also posted about the story on IG.
NBC hasn’t been this happy since Michael Weiss got married.
 
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I hadn't seen this posted yet - Maybe it's old news. I know we assumed this would be the case but it's the first time I have seen it in print as a "for sure".

Misha and I will not be eligible': Passport drama hangs over married couple's Milano-Cortina dream

https://www.nine.com.au/sport/olymp...m-crushed-passport-drama-20251201-p5njs4.html
Did you read the article? She’s quoted as saying ‘at the moment we would not be eligible’. We know this part. It’s whether some special rush application of the rules is in the works and/or even possible. There’s no definitive here.
 
I hadn't seen this posted yet - Maybe it's old news. I know we assumed this would be the case but it's the first time I have seen it in print as a "for sure".

Misha and I will not be eligible': Passport drama hangs over married couple's Milano-Cortina dream

https://www.nine.com.au/sport/olymp...m-crushed-passport-drama-20251201-p5njs4.html

Did you read the article? She’s quoted as saying ‘at the moment we would not be eligible’. We know this part. It’s whether some special rush application of the rules is in the works and/or even possible. There’s no definitive here.
There is a figure skating fan on X who is a former legislative staffer who assisted with constituent immigration services and understands the situation in general. She has stated that, at this point, there are only two ways for Efimova to obtain US citizenship and a passport by Jan 12th (the date the USFS officially names the Olympic team to the USOPC per their 2026 Olympic selection doc):

1) Congressional bill signed by Trump waiving the 3-year waiting period. This X acct pointed out that any Congressional bill would already have to be on the floor of either the House or Senate in order to make it through to Trump's desk for signing. There isn't and there doesn't seem to be any effort underway by any members of Congress or Senators to initiate any legislation.

2) Executive Order from Trump waiving the 3-year waiting period. For a variety of reasons, this is unlikely. Perhaps if EfiMit had qualified for the GPF this may have been something that could have possibly happened, but since that didn't happen, it just doesn't seem at all likely. This path would have to have been supported by EfiMit being strong medal contenders and the only team the USA can rely upon for the Team Event. Neither of those are true - and KamO winning TWO medals on the GP this season hurts the argument that EfiMit are our best chance at Team gold.

Of course, anything is possible until Jan 12th comes and goes, but there's no "special rush application" that USCIS can magically produce just for Alisa to bypass the 3-year waiting period after getting her green card without Congress or the President intervening.
 

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