Lots of controversies have revolved around 2 legal adultsWhy? They are both legal adults.
Why? They are both legal adults.
I completely agree this is their vibe. You can clearly see his power and expertise pushing them out (for lack of a better term). It doesn't particularly bother me, I find it kind of fascinating.The age difference per se does not bother me, but their vibe is that of a coach skating with his student, and I find that I do not enjoy that.
I’m shocked America is allowing 31 and 19 as well
But this is America in 2024 with people like Christine Brennan! You can talk about people believing the best pairs artistry is relying on romantic chemistry but ultimately in America in 2024 with Brennan types you have to talk about 31 and 19 and power dynamics and all that.
Lots of controversies have revolved around 2 legal adults
Well sure...but just their ages shouldn't be a controversy. If something bad is going on, that's a different story.Lots of controversies have revolved around 2 legal adults
I’m not crazy about the aesthetic of Danny and Ellie’s age difference but I don’t think for a second that there’s anything shady about it and find it sad that some people look for scandal where none exists. If Danny had a full head of hair, there probably wouldn’t be much discussion about it but unfortunately his premature baldness makes him look much older than he is and that’s probably what makes their pairing somewhat jarring.Well sure...but just their ages shouldn't be a controversy. If something bad is going on, that's a different story.
Sorry I really cannot math, even with a calculator.Ellie Korytek is 15 and will be 16 in March.
@Baby Yoda On Skates: "That being said, I don't understand why K/O are being pushed."
I'm not "spazzing out" over the age difference between Danny and Ellie. But I'm uneasy with what appears to be a power imbalance. Danny is talking (looks like instructing) to her a lot during programs. Putting myself in Ellie's place, that wouldn't help me perform better; I would need to rely on myself.
Also, Danny's apparent supportiveness and encouragement have a bit of a condescending vibe to me. Not even necessarily that he may mean it that way, but that that's the outcome. I was in a relationship once where that kind of "encouragement" didn't actually result in my feeling encouraged. The longer it lasted, the more I felt minimized. And it took awhile to recover my proper sense of self and agency afterwards.
As to Ellie's triple throws, I keep remembering more than one pairs woman talking about not knowing how an element felt, during it. And once they got how it was supposed to feel, they could progress rapidly in the element. IIRC, one may have been Tarah, who specifically said Amanda Evora was good at telling her how an element felt, doing it. But I doubt Ellie will be going to Amanda for help![]()
So I think Ellie, and also Chelsea, will suddenly leap up in confidence and scoring once they get troublesome elements and how they feel in competition. Ellie for the throws, and Chelsea for the SBS jumps.
The difference between Efimova/Mitrofanov and Liu/Nagy is that L/N can represent the US. If they had skated anywhere close to clean in their Nats FS, they might have challenged Kam/O'Shea for the title. What was obvious was the USFS had no intention of letting either Efimova/Mitrofanov or McBeath/Parkman near the national title. They got lucky with Katie's blade breaking between the SP and the FS, but there was only one favor given to the Letov teams and that was Chan/Howe's SP 1st place and spot-on the Worlds team.And they are. I agree that it was obvious in regard to Alisa and Misha. And I felt so disappointed after FS at nationals that I had to retreat for a few days. Finally, I re-watched Chelsea/Balazs' FS and Ellie/Danny's FS. Their errors were comparable, and when I looked freshly at the other elements, they were also comparable. It was just that the scoring gave many more GOEs to Ellie and Danny. It seemed clear that the PTB had already decided they wanted to send Ellie and Danny to 4CC and Worlds as national champions. That kind of unfairness is so discouraging, as a fan.
The only thing encouraging is that the other skaters, Chelsea & Balazs and Alisa and Misha, appear to place their efforts on fixing their own skating, enjoying the process, and not letting the judges decide their worth as competitive skaters. Good for them.![]()
U.S. does have "good jumping" women going into pairs. Chan is a novice and junior champion, she has 3 triples and double axel. Kam is a former singles skater and can do triple salchow consistently; Kam and O'Shea's biggest challenge is a pair element, throws. McBeath is a longtime singles competitor with several triples. Martins lands her triple Salchow as well as double axel-double axel sequence; Martins & Bedard are mainly challenged by L4 lifts. Liu is a superb pairs' woman who absolutely has trouble with triples, however, if she and Nagy got their triple throws consistent -- and she got to the point where she could land an under rotated triple -- they would be right up there by virtue of their lifts and twist.I was really interested in watching practices for pairs at Nationals this year because it's so wide open. I think the team I liked the most was McBeath/Parkman. They seemed to have a good connection, and they looked really well matched. But I knew they had no chance of going to worlds. My biggest question was, why can't we find good jumping women from the US to go into pairs? Most of the men at Nationals were really good jumpers and pair skaters. Are the women just interested in being women's champs? Or is it just a fear of pair elements? I was thinking of Sonia Baram who is a World champion (juniors). Is there a good man somewhere that's not too old for her to skate with?
It takes a special girl to become a pairs girl, and not many girls who can jump want to do that.My biggest question was, why can't we find good jumping women from the US to go into pairs?
LOL - the logic here is very twisted. All that food we have that makes our girls grow up strong and healthy should also make our guys grow up strong and healthy and able to handle that "extra weight" on these incredibly tiny yet extremely fit grown-up women.It seems to me that a lot of problems are coming about because American girls outgrow their male counterparts when they hit their senior years. We have too much food in this country so our citizens grow up strong and healthy. Unfortunately, this means weight and not a lot of big, strong males - ala Brandon Frazier who can handle the weight come along every day.
I think what you are picking up on is the coaching dynamic that existed before they partnered. Danny was an assistant coach at WASA and began working with her while her last partner was recuperating from an injury. .... Either way, there is still a residual coach/student aspect of their partnership. My mom picked up on it too during Nationals and it really turned her off to them.
I have less confidence in Chelsea's SBS jumps. She's had a number of partners (including Danny) and those SBS jumps are as unreliable as ever.
Liu is a superb pairs' woman who absolutely has trouble with triples, however, if she and Nagy got their triple throws consistent -- and she got to the point where she could land an under rotated triple -- they would be right up there by virtue of their lifts and twist.
Not discounting what you say in any way, but wouldn’t all those factors also apply when a young skater chooses ice dance? There are fairly few high-level training centers for ice dance—yet the US, at least, has plenty of very competitive young dance teams.Another reason that so few skaters go into pairs is that really good singles skaters can often make it to nationals/JGP level without having to move away from home, but that’s not possible in pairs unless you happen to live in a very few places. So the financial burden on families is much higher. Add in the possibility of one parent needing to move with the skater, thereby dividing the family and leaving each parent to function as a single parent… it’s a lot to ask.