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

How is USFS going to justify sending S/N to the Olympic qualifier if they lose here to C/H? If all things are equal between these teams i think i would take C/H just for having more experience in big competions.
 
Jammers said:
How is USFS going to justify sending S/N to the Olympic qualifier if they lose here to C/H? If all things are equal between these teams i think i would take C/H just for having more experience in big competions.
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So, I shared this tweet from Jackie Wong yesterday in the 2026 OWG Qualification thread:
Karen-W said:
Interesting tweet from Jackie Wong a few hours ago...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1962980261781549210
I've always felt that John Nicks would be the final determinative result for the US entry at the OQE. Jackie doesn't make these sort of posts without good reason to believe the Beijing assignment is still up in the air. I do wonder if PlaFern are not in the running at all even though they're competing at the Kinoshita Group Cup Challenger later this week.
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I'm of the opinion that there will be a change in the entries for the OQE because Jackie certainly has the insider connections to know the assignment may not be 100% certain.
 
Karen-W said:
So, I shared this tweet from Jackie Wong yesterday in the 2026 OWG Qualification thread:

I'm of the opinion that there will be a change in the entries for the OQE because Jackie certainly has the insider connections to know the assignment may not be 100% certain.
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As soon as S/N were announced I thought it was a placeholder and knew they were gonna wait for John Nicks to finish to finalize. Isn't Wednesday the deadline?

Scores are boosted in some places because Khobta/Herrera in Jr getting 54 points without any triple elements and Level 2 Lift is very generous. I dont think that would hold up at a JGP
 
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BrightSkates said:
As soon as S/N were announced I thought it was a placeholder and knew they were gonna wait for John Nicks to finish to finalize. Isn't Wednesday the deadline?
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No, the entries by name deadline was last month - Shin/Nagy are listed as the entry, but Chan/Howe, Flores/Wang, McBeath/Parkman and Plazas/Fernandez are listed as substitutes, so the USFS could change the entry at any point before the draw. What has made most people assume that ShiNagy weren't a placeholder entry is that their names are listed on the USFS Int'l Assignments page. Most of the time, placeholder entries as shown on the ISU entry lists are listed as TBD on the USFS Int'l Assignments page.

I always thought the USFS would wait until after John Nicks/Kinoshita Group Cup (PlaFern are competing there the end of this week) to finalize the OQE entry, so that's why it was surprising to see an actual team name rather than TBD.
 
Looking over the protocols from the FS at John Nicks, I'd send ChanHowe to the OQE in a couple weeks. They were a bit messy on the throws and there weren't any SBS triples in sight, but they are always solid for a score in the mid-170s and higher if they're mostly clean. Neither ShiNagy nor McBPark have demonstrated any degree of consistency with their scores and they're both less experienced than ChanHowe. I just don't trust either of those teams to get the job done to earn the 3rd spot.
 
Meanwhile, let's discuss Flores/Wang's protocol - three invalid elements including the first two lifts and their BODS. I truly do not understand why their coaches thought that moving them up to seniors this season was a good decision. They clearly needed more time in juniors and should have been sent back to the JGP instead of taking up one of the precious few GP pairs spots by virtue of their WS Top 24 position.

This is the second season & second team in a row that Team Meekins/Mishkuteniok have moved a team up from juniors to seniors who could clearly use more time on the JGP. It didn't benefit or help Williams/Lewer last season and I'm not seeing how it's going to turn out any better for Flores/Wang this season.
 
Karen-W said:
Meanwhile, let's discuss Flores/Wang's protocol - three invalid elements including the first two lifts and their BODS. I truly do not understand why their coaches thought that moving them up to seniors this season was a good decision. They clearly needed more time in juniors and should have been sent back to the JGP instead of taking up one of the precious few GP pairs spots by virtue of their WS Top 24 position.

This is the second season & second team in a row that Team Meekins/Mishkuteniok have moved a team up from juniors to seniors who could clearly use more time on the JGP. It didn't benefit or help Williams/Lewer last season and I'm not seeing how it's going to turn out any better for Flores/Wang this season.
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I agree. They had much higher scores than when they were juniors. The botched lifts are surprising, but since last season, they've been having difficulties with their death spiral. They could have done another year doing JGP and they'd be far more successful.
 
Karen-W said:
Meanwhile, let's discuss Flores/Wang's protocol - three invalid elements including the first two lifts and their BODS. I truly do not understand why their coaches thought that moving them up to seniors this season was a good decision. They clearly needed more time in juniors and should have been sent back to the JGP instead of taking up one of the precious few GP pairs spots by virtue of their WS Top 24 position.

This is the second season & second team in a row that Team Meekins/Mishkuteniok have moved a team up from juniors to seniors who could clearly use more time on the JGP. It didn't benefit or help Williams/Lewer last season and I'm not seeing how it's going to turn out any better for Flores/Wang this season.
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I wonder if they moved up to take advantage of the citizenship issues in US pairs. But with the appearance of Liu/Bedard it looks like the US is not wanting for satisfactory pairs to fill the earned Olympic spots.
 
Karen-W said:
Looking over the protocols from the FS at John Nicks, I'd send ChanHowe to the OQE in a couple weeks. They were a bit messy on the throws and there weren't any SBS triples in sight, but they are always solid for a score in the mid-170s and higher if they're mostly clean. Neither ShiNagy nor McBPark have demonstrated any degree of consistency with their scores and they're both less experienced than ChanHowe. I just don't trust either of those teams to get the job done to earn the 3rd spot.
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No way Jose. Send Chelsea and Ryan.

šŸ¤Ŗ
 
Weren't F/W stagnating a bit last year? Dropping off the podium at JWC and going from 1 to 2 at US Nats? Their JGP scores were lower than the previous year, save for the GPF. Maybe they didn't want to hang out in juniors any more, and get the first year seniors out of the way to have a year under their belt to start the new quad? I did enjoy their performance quality - they seem to really enjoy themselves with their Star Wars and Lion King programs.

Edit: I clicked post too soon.

Also, Chan hasn't landed more than 1 clean triple in a hot minute. Worlds SP 2024, but usually it's a <, q or double. Yes, I know C/H are coming off a long term injury and multiple surgeries, but that doesn't mean her SBS jumps should take a Jet 2 holiday either. I know McB/Parkman aren't high scorers either, and aren't much better on the jumps, but last season they were scoring more on SBS than C/H. They can usually muck through a three jump combo.

It's really a crapshoot between those two teams. Both have solid twist and good lifts. I do wonder - C/H have citizenship. We are uncertain but mostly sure M/P don't have it, so in theory less pressure for M/P if they are sent. Where as C/H have a lot more to lose if they can't earn the spot.

As yes, to satisfy @AngieNikodinovLove (ANL), Liu/Bedard are showing a lot of promise for such a short time together.
 
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Karen-W said:
Looking over the protocols from the FS at John Nicks, I'd send ChanHowe to the OQE in a couple weeks. They were a bit messy on the throws and there weren't any SBS triples in sight, but they are always solid for a score in the mid-170s and higher if they're mostly clean. Neither ShiNagy nor McBPark have demonstrated any degree of consistency with their scores and they're both less experienced than ChanHowe. I just don't trust either of those teams to get the job done to earn the 3rd spot.
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I watched live and would say of the three teams mentioned above, McBPark looked the most polished at this very early season event. (ShiNagy executed triples in the short and free, something the other two pairs did not.) That aside, it seems it was announced to skaters and coaches that the determination of who would represent the U.S. at the OQE would be based on the results of a simulated competition at Champs Camp, and ShiNagy were assigned on that basis. Of course, anything is possible, but it would seem to be unusual to change the assignment criteria after the fact. (I may be wrong.)

Other observations: while they missed their triples in the FS, and I didn't much like their contorted death spiral, Akopova and Rakhmanin have very impressive triple throws and an outstanding triple twist. They will be competitive for an Olympic spot. Jumps aside, Liu and Bedard had good unison, steps and in-betweens, and his footwork on the lifts looked good.
 
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