2024-25 Pairs General Discussion - Who Wants to Skate Forever (in Junior Pairs)?

[Sylvia]

I looked at the results from Spanish Nats and I think it's doable for Yudin/Rossi Lopez also - their TES there was higher than Moudden/Garcia.

From the Spanish Nationals thread in Kiss & Cry:

I’m so impressed that Spain has 4 jr pairs. That’s almost the same as Canada! (5). Javi’s success translation into some phenomenal grassroots participation

Canada technically has 6 Junior pairs this season - Jazmine Desrochers/Kieran Thrasher [JGPF bronze in Grenoble] are making their Senior national debut next week.

JUNIOR PAREJAS
Result
FPl. Name Club Nation Points SP FS
1 Claudia SCOTTI / Noah QUESADA CH Txuri Berri/CH Txuri Berri EUS 129.13 2 1
2 Megan YUDIN [from CAN] / Patricio Romano ROSSI CH Txuri Berri/CH Txuri Berri EUS 124.19 3 2
3 Inés MOUDDEN ROCA de TOGORES / Alejandro LÁZARO GARCÍA Madrid Dreams/Madrid Dreams MAD 123.48 1 3
4 Carolina Shan CAMPILLO ÁLVAREZ / Pau VILELLA SIRVENT Madrid Dreams/Madrid Dreams MAD 97.37 4 4

SP protocols: https://www.rfedh.es/wp-content/upl...OR----QUAL000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf
FS protocols: https://www.rfedh.es/wp-content/upl...OR----FNL-000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf

 

[Sylvia]

Cross-posting from the OES News thread in GSD] New Pair Alert! Italy's Anna Valesi and Martin Bidar will represent Czechia:

Anna Valesi on Instagram: "We are excited to announce the start of our new partnership representing Czechia!🎉 A big thank you to everyone who helped us make this possible!🙏 Let’s gooo!🔥💪🏼 🇨🇿 Konečně můžeme oznámit novou spolupráci! Budeme repreze

1,054 likes, 42 comments - _annavalesi_ on January 13, 2025: "We are excited to announce the start of our new partnership representing Czechia!🎉 A big thank you to everyone who helped us make this possible!🙏 Let’s gooo!🔥💪🏼 🇨🇿 Konečně můžeme oznámit novou spolupráci! Budeme reprezentovat...

www.instagram.com

 

[farahfan]

Cross-posting from the OES News thread in GSD] New Pair Alert! Italy's Anna Valesi and Martin Bidar will represent Czechia:

Anna Valesi on Instagram: "We are excited to announce the start of our new partnership representing Czechia!🎉 A big thank you to everyone who helped us make this possible!🙏 Let’s gooo!🔥💪🏼 🇨🇿 Konečně můžeme oznámit novou spolupráci! Budeme repreze

1,054 likes, 42 comments - _annavalesi_ on January 13, 2025: "We are excited to announce the start of our new partnership representing Czechia!🎉 A big thank you to everyone who helped us make this possible!🙏 Let’s gooo!🔥💪🏼 🇨🇿 Konečně můžeme oznámit novou spolupráci! Budeme reprezentovat...

www.instagram.com

Yay! Excited for them and for Czech skating.
looking back, was there ever an explanation for why she split with Piazza? On Instagram, the announcement just says "Some things are not meant to be." And now both are skating for smaller federations.

 

[Amy L]

I've long lost hope for any pairing that involves Martin Bidar... but good luck I guess! I'd love to be proved wrong, Duskova/Bidar had so much potential it'd be great if Martin could go back to that level and not be such a grouchy dude with his partners

 

[farahfan]

I've long lost hope for any pairing that involves Martin Bidar... but good luck I guess! I'd love to be proved wrong, Duskova/Bidar had so much potential it'd be great if Martin could go back to that level and not be such a grouchy dude with his partners

Hopefully he can make it work with Anna because it's kinda his last chance for an Olympics. It's improbable they'll qualify for the 2026, plus Anna needs citizenship. So I guess they're going for 2030, by which Martin will be 32 years old.

 

[Amy L]

Hopefully he can make it work with Anna because it's kinda his last chance for an Olympics. It's improbable they'll qualify for the 2026, plus Anna needs citizenship. So I guess they're going for 2030, by which Martin will be 32 years old.

He went to the Olympics in 2022 so it's not really a last chance type of thing. And the idea of a partnership lasting an entire four years is unimaginable to me at the moment. Who knows what his ultimate goals are but I thought the same thing of Kransnopolski as well.

 

[Karen-W]

Yay! Excited for them and for Czech skating.
looking back, was there ever an explanation for why she split with Piazza? On Instagram, the announcement just says "Some things are not meant to be." And now both are skating for smaller federations.

Valesi/Piazza were destined for 4th best in Italy with the arrival of Beccari/Guarise - and they really struggled last season to improve on their scores from the previous season. A split was unsurprising to me.

 

[Karen-W]

Cross-posting -

Just saw this -

https://twitter.com/x/status/1879269798779179177

I was wondering why Scotti/Quesada weren't entered at Bavarian Open to try & get the Jr Worlds CTES mins along with the other two Spanish jr teams - this explains it.

 

[Sylvia]

Phil Hersh's article on Audrey Shin/Balazs Nagy's first year partnership (Jan. 16):

Audrey Shin, Balazs Nagy forge unique pairs' figure skating partnership

Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy make their U.S. Figure Skating Championships debut as a pairs' team later this month.

www.nbcsports.com

Excerpt:

Shin is Nagy’s fourth pairs’ partner at the senior level. (Multiple partners in a long career is not unusual; Duhamel, for example, had three as a senior.) He might still be with his second partner, Maria Pavlova, but for Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Hungarian skating federation asked Nagy to skate with Pavlova, a native Russian who switched to Hungary. She and Nagy competed together in the 2021-22 season, when they split training between Budapest and (mainly) Sochi, Russia.
He found it untenable and uncomfortable to keep going to Russia and returned to the United States. Nagy has spent more than half his life in the United States after first moving with his family at age 2.
(Pavlova has gone on to skate for Hungary with another native Russian, Aleksei Sviatchenko. They finished fourth at last season’s World Championships.)
Training in another country has become a different issue for Nagy now. He needs a job to pay for skating, and he can’t currently get a Canadian work permit.
That means he and Shin bounce back and forth between Toronto and Colorado Springs, Shin’s old training base, where they work with Drew Meekins.

 

[Sylvia]

Schaller/Mayr have replaced Izzo/Maierhofer at Euros in Tallinn “due to illness” per Skate Austria 2 days ago: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFFsh6holuj/

 

[farahfan]

Looking at the European results, Italy getting three spots for the Olympics is not looking rosy. Maybe Ghil/Ambros can still surprise us.
Neither for the US, but there's still Four Continents for KamOShea to show that Nationals was a just a fluke?
Vaipan-Law/Digby have improved so much and Metelkina/Berulava show that they can stage an amazing comeback.

 

[Karen-W]

Looking at the European results, Italy getting three spots for the Olympics is not looking rosy. Maybe Ghil/Ambros can still surprise us.
Neither for the US, but there's still Four Continents for KamOShea to show that Nationals was a just a fluke?
Vaipan-Law/Digby have improved so much and Metelkina/Berulava show that they can stage an amazing comeback.

I've always considered it less likely that Italy gets 3 spots for the Olympics than the US, because GhiAmbro almost always seem to back into whatever medals they earn when stronger teams have faltered. We'll see what KamOShea can do to repair the damage of their incredibly bad skate at Nats when they compete at 4CCs.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I've always considered it less likely that Italy gets 3 spots for the Olympics than the US, because GhiAmbro almost always seem to back into whatever medals they earn when stronger teams have faltered. We'll see what KamOShea can do to repair the damage of their incredibly bad skate at Nats when they compete at 4CCs.

It’s a shame BecGua can’t be in Boston to help achieve.

 

[Sylvia]

ISU World Standings for Pairs after 2025 Euros: https://results.isu.org/ws/ws/wspairs.htm

Euros final results for Pairs: https://results.isu.org/results/season2425/ec2025/CAT003RS.htm

4CC Pairs entries: https://results.isu.org/events/fc2025_Pairs.htm

Junior Worlds Pairs entries: https://results.isu.org/events/wjc2025_JuniorPairs.htm

 

[Andrea82]

Valesi/Bidar will debut at Merano Trophy

Entries

1. 1 VALESI Anna / BIDAR Martin CZE
2. 2 MCINTOSH Brooke / ZANDRON Marco ESP
3. 3 VAANANEN Milania / CLERICI Filippo FIN
4. 4 ALTERYD Tilda / PIERRE Noel-Antoine FRA
5. 5 FAULA Aurelie / BELLE Theo FRA
6. 6 GUNNARSDOTTIR Julia Sylvia/PIAZZA Manuel ISL
7. 7 IZZO Gabriella / MAIERHOFER Luc AUT
8. 8 SCHALLER Sophia/MAYR Livio AUT
9. 9 MAUDER Julia/ WILKINSON Johannes RSA

 

[Cpomfan]

ISU World Standings for Pairs after 2025 Euros: https://results.isu.org/ws/ws/wspairs.htm

Euros final results for Pairs: https://results.isu.org/results/season2425/ec2025/CAT003RS.htm

4CC Pairs entries: https://results.isu.org/events/fc2025_Pairs.htm

Junior Worlds Pairs entries: https://results.isu.org/events/wjc2025_JuniorPairs.htm

How is Alexa and Brandon still qualify for ISU world standing for this year even when they both retired 2 years ago?

 

[Karen-W]

How is Alexa and Brandon still qualify for ISU world standing for this year even when they both retired 2 years ago?

Because they didn't officially retire, so the USFS hasn't notified the ISU to remove them from the WS. They will fall off at the end of this season when their 2022-23 points are no longer counted.

 

[Karen-W]

Valesi/Bidar will debut at Merano Trophy

Entries

1. 1 VALESI Anna / BIDAR Martin CZE
2. 2 MCINTOSH Brooke / ZANDRON Marco ESP
3. 3 VAANANEN Milania / CLERICI Filippo FIN
4. 4 ALTERYD Tilda / PIERRE Noel-Antoine FRA
5. 5 FAULA Aurelie / BELLE Theo FRA
6. 6 GUNNARSDOTTIR Julia Sylvia/PIAZZA Manuel ISL
7. 7 IZZO Gabriella / MAIERHOFER Luc AUT
8. 8 SCHALLER Sophia/MAYR Livio AUT
9. 9 MAUDER Julia/ WILKINSON Johannes RSA

Do you have the entries link?

 

[Andrea82]

Do you have the entries link?

They are here, by clicking on each discipline (junior women is missing. I doubt it is because of lack of entries):

Competizione singola

La Federazione

www.fisg.it

 

[victorskid]

The Spanish Federation has posted that McIntosh & Zandron have parted ways

Patinaje Artístico España 🇪🇸 on Instagram: "Brooke McIntosh & Marco Zandrón han decidido poner punto y final a su etapa como pareja. Gracias por todos los buenos momentos y mucha suerte a ambos en sus nuevos proyectos 💙 📸 RFEDH - @josegallegostudio

25 likes, 0 comments - fedhielo_patinaje on February 26, 2025: "Brooke McIntosh & Marco Zandrón han decidido poner punto y final a su etapa como pareja. Gracias por todos los buenos momentos y mucha suerte a ambos en sus nuevos proyectos 💙 📸 RFEDH - @josegallegostudio #figureskating...

www.instagram.com

Machine translation: Brooke McIntosh & Marco Zandrón have decided to call it a day as a couple. Thank you for all the good times and good luck to both of them in their new projects.

 

[Andrea82]

Ranking the teams by GP high score, here's what we're looking at for a potential result at Worlds...

1 - 214.23 - Miura/Kihara JPN (SkAm)
2 - 213.05 - Metelkina/Berulava GEO (NHK)
3 - 211.69 - Hase/Volodin GER (GPdF)
4 - 211.05 - Conti/Macii ITA (CoC)
5 - 207.44 - Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps CAN (Fin)
6 - 201.73 - Kam/O'Shea USA (SkAm)
7 - 191.51 - Efimova/Mitrofanov USA (SkAm)
8 - 189.65 - Geynish/Chigirev UZB (SCI)
9 - 188.74 - Pereira/Michaud CAN (CoC)
10 - 188.54 - Hocke/Kunkel GER (NHK)
11 - 186.14 - Golubeva/Giotopoulos Moore AUS (SCI)
12 - 184.21 - Pavlova/Sviatchenko HUN (Fin)
13 - 181.59 - Ghilardi/Ambrosini ITA (Fin)
14 - 180.13 - Vaipan-Law/Digby GBR (SkAm)
15 - 178.57 - Laurin/Ethier CAN (Fin)
16 - 178.37 - Danilova/Tsiba NED (NHK)
17 - 177.04 - Chtchetinina/Wozniak POL (CoC)
18 - 172.47 - Nagaoka/Moriguchi JPN (NHK)
19 - 160.73 - Vaananen/Clerici FIN (Fin)
20 - 157.11 - Kovalev/Kovalev FRA (CoC)

Not much of a gap there between the Top 4 and it is really going to boil down to whichever team skates the best in Boston. SDDes seem to be a bit behind the others - they also haven't had a completely clean competition yet, so we'll see. KamOShea may push their way higher, especially seeing as it's a home Worlds and they also have not skated to their full potential yet. After the Top 6, there's a huge gap and it feels like any of the teams bunched from 7th through 12th could place anywhere on any given day. Below them, if these results hold, the real fight will be between VLDigs, DanTsi and ChtWoz for the 15th & 16th Oly spots available to be awarded at Worlds. Someone's going to leave Boston heartbroken, I think.

It was a good predictor.
In the end:
among top 4, the ones underperforming were Metelkina/Berulava.
5-6-7 as predicted (inversion of US1 and US2 nevertheless)
In the 8-12th big group, the underperformer has been Hocke/Kunkel
VLDigs, DanTsi and ChtWoz all went home with their Olympic spot in the end because Nagaoka/Moriguchi didn't make the FS (while 2 pairs who didn't do Senior GPs qualified for FS instead of them and the Kovalevs).

 

[Karen-W]

Any suggestions for next season's Pairs thread?

The arena in Milano where the figure skating will take place is called Unipol Arena - I'm feeling terribly uncreative and all I can come up with is Unipairs Arena, which seems lame, so suggest away!

 

[Andrea82]

Any suggestions for next season's Pairs thread?

The arena in Milano where the figure skating will take place is called Unipol Arena - I'm feeling terribly uncreative and all I can come up with is Unipairs Arena, which seems lame, so suggest away!

that's the name of an insurance company.

 

[Karen-W]

that's the name of an insurance company.

And??? Most arenas & stadiums sell their naming rights. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unipol_Arena

Is it going by another name for the Olympics?

 

[Andrea82]

And??? Most arenas & stadiums sell their naming rights. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unipol_Arena

Is it going by another name for the Olympics?

Nothing too confrontational, just that it is difficult to get something attractive and inspiring out of the name of an insurance company.

However, since we are here....the Olympic venue is not the Unipol Arena, but it is the Unipol Forum (in the municipality of Assago. Indeed, we commonly call it "Forum di Assago")
Unipol Arena is in another region.

 

[Karen-W]

Nothing too confrontational, just that it is difficult to get something attractive and inspiring out of the name of an insurance company.

However, since we are....the Olympic venue is not the Unipol Arena, but it is the Unipol Forum (in the municipality of Assago. Indeed, we commonly call it "Forum di Assago")
Unipol Arena is in another region.

Gotcha! Well, it's not as if UniPairs Forum is any more inspiring, lol.

Maybe some sort of play on the various teams' names?

 

[BrightSkates]

Pizza, Pairs, & Pops that's my best contribution haha
Maybe somebody will get inspired and create something better

 

[farahfan]

I'm thinking Countdown to the Olympic 19, in honor of the 19 lucky pairs who will actually show up in Milano Cortina.

 

[Karen-W]

I'm thinking Countdown to the Olympic 19, in honor of the 19 lucky pairs who will actually show up in Milano Cortina.

Eh, we'll know who they are by September. The thread title is for the entire season.

Pizza, Pairs, & Pops that's my best contribution haha
Maybe somebody will get inspired and create something better

It's better than what I've come up with, lol.

 

[farahfan]

Eh, we'll know who they are by September. The thread title is for the entire season.


It's better than what I've come up with, lol.

Do the feds have to name what pairs they are sending by September? I thought that wasn't decided until later.