2023-24 US Pairs Discussion - Chan you count Howe many teams we have?

[Frau Muller]

What’s in store this season for Baram/Tioumentsev, given their ages…just do exhibitions??? I remember that Ted Barton talked about trying to get such age-challenged teams into the JrGP circuit.

 

[Sylvia]

Baram and Tioumentsev only recently started training together again (saw an off-ice lift in their Instagram stories a few days ago). They can do club & qualifying competitions/Nationals this season. I haven't heard whether or not the ISU has granted them an exception to compete in juniors again internationally (he turned 21 in March).

Another senior pair is Isabelle Martins/Ryan Bedard (announced in April that they were re-teaming) who attended U.S. Pairs camp with 5 other Great Park Ice teams - her pics: https://www.instagram.com/p/CtZbJuwxGVF/
2nd photo includes McBeath/Parkman (who have yet to officially announce their partnership), Korytek/Chapman, Rivers/Rensing, Delis/Schwab, and Audrey Park/Carter Griffin (ISU Junior age-eligible this season).

FSO launched Olivia Flores/Luke Wang's official website today with this Q&A:

Olivia Flores and Luke Wang ready for their sophomore season - Figure Skaters Online

By Gina Capellazzi, Team FSO website administrator Header photo by Melanie Heaney. Other photos by Robin Ritoss and Luke Wang At the end of May 2022 after graduating from high school, Luke Wang moved across the country to try his hand at pairs skating. The singles skater had never tried pairs...

figureskatersonline.com

 

[Karen-W]

Okay, so, here is the list of known US Pairs teams, age-eligible for junior & senior, as well as age/citizenship-ineligible* -

Senior age-eligible
Chan/Howe
Cooke/Kennedy
Delis/Schwab
Digerness/Sadusky
Fitzpatrick/Bearinger
Hanns/Neudecker
Kam/O'Shea
Liu/Nagy
Martins/Bedard
Mokhova/Mokhov
Ouellette/Newby-Estrella
Plazas/Fernandez
Rivers/Rensing
Scott/Eisenach
Smirnova/Siianytsia

Baram/Tioumentsev *
Efimova/Mitrofanov*
Izzo/Ferland*
Korytek/Chapman*
McBeath/Parkman*

Junior age-eligible
Fletcher/Felberbaum
Flores/Wang
Grohne/Lunt
Park/Griffin
Williams/Lewer
Zheng/Deng

 

[Sylvia]

Baram/Tioumentsev are not listed in the Team B envelope but are still listed among the 9 teams in the ISP as of today, July 1st:

Sonia Baram and Daniel Tioumentsev
Emily Chan and Spencer Howe
Olivia Flores and Luke Wang (ISU Junior age eligible)
Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea
Chelsea Liu and Balazs Nagy (new team added recently)
Maria Mokhova and Ivan Mokhov
Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandez
Anastasiia Smirnova and Danil Siianytsia
Naomi Williams and Lachlan Lewer (ISU Junior age eligible)

Team A
Emily Chan & Spencer Howe

Team B
Ellie Kam & Danny O'Shea
Anastasiia Smirnova & Danil Siianytsia
Valentina Plazas & Maximiliano Fernandez

Team C
Maria Mokhova & Ivan Mokhov
Nica Digerness & Mark Sadusky
Ellie Korytek & Timmy Chapman
Naomi Williams & Lachlan Lewer
Lilianna Murray & Jordan Gillette - she is currently on IPS & they were removed from the ISP a few months ago

Team D
Olivia Flores & Luke Wang
Melania Delis & Jaden Schwab
Catherine Rivers & Nathan Rensing
Audrey Park & Carter Griffin
Annie Bai & Andrew Bai

 

[Karen-W]

Baram/Tioumentsev are not listed in the Team B envelope but are still listed among the 9 teams in the ISP as of today, July 1st:

Interesting to note, yesterday Jenni posted a montage clip on her IG story with the hashtag #greatparkpairs and neither Sonia nor Daniel were tagged.

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We know they were back on the ice training together earlier this week, but I did find it a bit curious that there wasn't a clip of them included in Jenni's video montage, and it grows even more curious that they aren't listed in the Team B envelope.

 

[kwanfan1818]

I thought the envelope rules were thst you have to be eligible to compete now, because there's money involved, but that you can be on the ISP, and won't be assigned unless all of the ducks are in a row, at least by competition time.

 

[Sylvia]

I thought the envelope rules were that you have to be eligible to compete now

No, that's the ISP (skaters have to be ISU Senior or Junior eligible in 2023-24 to be listed and I had assumed B/T's status to compete was still TBD). Envelope funding is primarily based on results from this past season, regardless of age.

 

[kwanfan1818]

No, that's the ISP (skaters have to be ISU Senior or Junior eligible in 2023-24 to be listed and I had assumed B/T's status to compete was still TBD). Envelope funding is primarily based on results from this past season, regardless of age.

I'm not sure, then, why B/T would be on the ISP, if, as of now, they aren't age-eligible for international competition, aside from -- maybe? -- other countries' domestic or club competitions that don't have to follow ISU rules? I know that there were skaters from other countries at what-used-to-be-called-BC-Summerskate, but I haven't followed whether that changed when it became part of a SC domestic series.

I know envelopes are based on last year's results, but I thought you didn't get the money unless you are competing in the upcoming-turned-current season. Does an all-domestic and/or all-non-ISU season count?

 

[Karen-W]

Now it's official. Pair skaters were allowed to stay in juniors for another year.

https://isu.org/inside-isu/isu-communications/communications/31457-isu-communication-2575/file

Woohooo! Baram/Tioumentsev are officially allowed to compete as juniors internationally this season!

 

[Jayar]

I wonder if this means that teams in which the female is of senior age can still comepete as junior (if their male partner is 21+) or if they have to go senior?

 

[kwanfan1818]

While the bolded wording would suggest that this applies to all male skaters who turned 21 before 1 July, the susbsequent paragraph makes it clear that the purpose was to address couples who.wouldn't qualify for either because of the new age rules, and they have to apply and be granted permission: it's not automatic. That review process suggests they'd say no to any couple that would qualify for seniors.

 

[Sylvia]

This topic is also being discussed here (starting with post #55): https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...ouble-salchow-club.110748/page-2#post-6447118

While I selfishly would like to see Sonia Baram/Daniel Tioumentsev continue this season (USFS would have to submit their names to the ISU by the July 20 deadline) if they decide they want to compete, Daniel does have a lot on his plate outside of skating, as detailed in this Fan Zone article that was published last month:

USFS article on Daniel Tioumentsev and his work with SpaceX:

World Junior Champion Daniel Tioumentsev’s Career Skyrockets at SpaceX - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

The 2022-23 season was a monumental time for Daniel Tioumentsev. With partner Sonia Baram, he competed in first Junior Grand Prix circuit, qualified for and earned

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

 

[Karen-W]

Copying this over from @Sylvia's post in the Kiss 'n Cry about the Skate Detroit entries - their pairs competition isn't part of the NQS, but, some pairs news!

Linzy Fitzpatrick/Keyton Bearinger are the only Senior pair listed and Saya Carpenter/Jon Maravilla (a team I really liked in Intermediate in 2021-22 who have since re-teamed?) are the only Junior pair listed.

So, we can add Carpenter/Maravilla to the potential JGP options, presuming they are age-eligible.

Meanwhile, I saw last week on WASA's pairs IG account that Reede Lunt just passed his NOVICE pairs test, so it would seem that Grohne/Lunt are probably skating Novice this season and certainly wouldn't be in the mix for JGP assignments.

And, Baram/Tioumentsev are definitely still training together - Sonia just shared a clip of one of their throws the other day on her IG story.

 

[Karen-W]

Great photo from Brandon Frazier of the teams training at Great Parks this summer -

Brandon Frazier on Instagram: "Summer training ? @teamtoddandjenni @greatparkice"

50 likes, 2 comments - Brandon Frazier (@brandon_f1992) on Instagram: "Summer training ? @teamtoddandjenni @greatparkice"

www.instagram.com

Can't wait for Glacier Falls where, hopefully, we'll get a first look at some of these teams.

 

[Frau Muller]

Hi. Does anyone know the status of the Izzo/Ferland pair, other than his Canadian citizenship switch situation? I’m missing her skating a lot.

 

[happycamper2554]

Hi. Does anyone know the status of the Izzo/Ferland pair, other than his Canadian citizenship switch situation? I’m missing her skating a lot.

She has team and then a red and white question mark on her insta. Maybe they are still deciding what county to rep?

 

[TanithandBenFan]

Hi. Does anyone know the status of the Izzo/Ferland pair, other than his Canadian citizenship switch situation? I’m missing her skating a lot.

She’s been in Montreal per her IG. Don’t know any further details.

 

[kirkbiggestfan]

We all know that the Canadian and US federations had a nice phone call to help their athletes in any way they could to quickly get the opportunity to compete again! (my guess is that she won't get her release from the US that easilly, but getting the Canadian citizenship down the road will be easier)

 

[Karen-W]

We all know that the Canadian and US federations had a nice phone call to help their athletes in any way they could to quickly get the opportunity to compete again! (my guess is that she won't get her release from the US that easilly, but getting the Canadian citizenship down the road will be easier)

Or, the USFS said "hey, we released Deanna to you, so it's your turn to give us Thierry."

I don't see the USFS letting Gabbie go all that easily.

 

[ice coverage]

... Meanwhile, I saw last week on WASA's pairs IG account that Reede Lunt just passed his NOVICE pairs test, so it would seem that Grohne/Lunt are probably skating Novice this season and certainly wouldn't be in the mix for JGP assignments. ...

The deadline for NQS skaters to meet test requirements is Oct 8 (last day of the entire series).
And U.S. Pairs Final has slots for 18 Junior Pairs (plus byes) -- so all NQS Junior Pairs should advance to the Final.
WASA has referred to Grohne/Lunt more than once as Juniors, so maybe the plan/goal is to meet the test deadline and compete as Juniors in NQS and at U.S. Final (without expectations of JGP assignment)?

(Unrelated side note: Lunt apparently was in a Pre-Juv pairs partnership in 2019, so he had a taste of pairs before this year.)

 

[Karen-W]

Who's getting excited about Glacier Falls coming up next weekend? First Pairs NQS event of the season!

I've seen IG reels from both Luke Wang and Naomi Williams this afternoon mentioning it as their first competition of the season, so that means, for sure we'll see Flores/Wang and Williams/Lewer next week!

 

[Willin]

Liu and Nagy look great! Their triple twist is HUGE. The death spiral entrance could use work. But I think they'll be a real threat in the future if they look this good at this point in time.

 

[Karen-W]

Liu and Nagy look great! Their triple twist is HUGE. The death spiral entrance could use work. But I think they'll be a real threat in the future if they look this good at this point in time.

Yes, that triple twist of theirs was fantastic! I worry about Chelsea's consistency on SBS triples, but we'll see.

McBeath/Parkman had a fabulous death spiral - she did a Chock-split entrance into it; and their triple twist was also really high and light.

Lots to get excited about with both of these new teams.

 

[BrightSkates]

Yes, that triple twist of theirs was fantastic! I worry about Chelsea's consistency on SBS triples, but we'll see.

McBeath/Parkman had a fabulous death spiral - she did a Chock-split entrance into it; and their triple twist was also really high and light.

Lots to get excited about with both of these new teams.

Does Nagy need/have a release since he is on ISP?

 

[Karen-W]

Does Nagy need/have a release since he is on ISP?

Well, since the USFS doesn't add skaters/teams to the ISP unless they have all their paperwork in order, I'm pretty sure he has his release.

 

[BrightSkates]

Well, since the USFS doesn't add skaters/teams to the ISP unless they have all their paperwork in order, I'm pretty sure he has his release.

So that would be the second Skate America spot with one up for grabs?

 

[Karen-W]

So that would be the second Skate America spot with one up for grabs?

I'd be surprised if their names aren't penciled in, especially since McBeath/Parkman won't be eligible to compete internationally until the end of November. We'll have to see how Hanns/Neudecker, the Mokhovs and Digerness/Sadusky look whenever they make their season debuts but I'm hard-pressed to imagine they'll score higher the 175 that Liu/Nagy put up this weekend.

 

[Karen-W]

Adele Zheng & Andy Deng have been added to the ISP! Woohoo! Hopefully this means they'll be assigned to at least one JGP!

 

[Stephanie]

Adele Zheng & Andy Deng have been added to the ISP! Woohoo! Hopefully this means they'll be assigned to at least one JGP!

? Great news!

 

[orbitz]

Liu and Nagy look great! Their triple twist is HUGE. The death spiral entrance could use work. But I think they'll be a real threat in the future if they look this good at this point in time.

I was quite impressed with Nagy overall skating. He was definitely the best male pair skater at the competition. His 3sal was gorgeous. Liu was noticeably the weaker skater.

The pair SP I enjoyed watching the most was the one that did the Michael Jackson/80's number.