Just finished watching the club league finals pairs free skate and wanna drop down some notes. So now the clear number 3 and number 4 senior pairs are Zhang/Yang and Wang/Jia. Zhang/Huang actually beat Wang/Jia here but they have that weird age gap limbo issue that's gonna keep them out of international competitions till 2025/26. Zhang/Huang's tech is top tier (3T+2T+2T, 3S, 3FTh, 3LoTh) but they haven't really proven their consistency in actual non-pre-filmed competitions. Anyway, they're kinda irrelevant internationally due to the age issue, don't know what they're gonna do about that (or why they even teamed up in the first place). The girl also still has to go through puberty so that's a big ?
Zhang/Yang were pretty good here, huge throws with fantastic smooth landings. Their speed across the ice seem to have improved a lot. Wished we got to see videos of Zhang/Yang and Wang/Jia at Golden Spin, based on the protocols seems like both pairs were pretty inconsistent. Wang/Jia had a rough time going through puberty the past couple years but they seem to have survived that now. Hope they can continue to improve but their 3FTh is still such a complete yeet and pray. Hope these two teams will show up (along with P/J) at 4CC.
Yang/Deng keeping the junior pairs flame alive for now. Hope they get to go to junior worlds and make the most out of it. Personally I don't know if they'll ever get to the top tier level technically due to their late start to skating but I appreciate their dedication to skating, it's been a pretty tough journey for them. I think their jumps will always be an issue but at least their throws seem to have improved.
Sun/Li a.k.a the yikes pair... why is this allowed... every single one of their elements look clunky and weird. I'm totally not impressed by their quad/quint twist shenanigans that continue to give me clickbait vibes. I don't know why Sun's mum sent her to Zhang Tianci instead of Luan Bo if she was so set on her daughter going into pairs. At least Luan could've found her a remotely age-appropriate partner. Like Zhang/Huang, this "pair" is also irrelevant internationally.
And finally Guo/Zhang who I think are one of the two Luan Bo baby pairs (along with Zhang/Feng, both pairs can do FoDs) that have a lot of potential. 3Tw, double throws and double jumps here but I think they're pretty on track for their ages. Hope we see them on the junior circuit in a year or two when they're age eligible. Personally I think these two pairs are the most exciting baby pairs we've seen in a while, they have solid basics for a young pair and rather engaging performance-wise. Hopefully they'll continue to grow and develop technically and artistically, Chinese pairs really need some young ones to pick up the slack.
Will come back and drop links to the videos when they're uploaded. Edit: updated links
Videos:
Zhang/Yang (
SP/
FS) a.k.a. the olympics gala pair
Wang/Jia (
SP/
FS) a.k.a. the yeet and pray pair
Zhang/Huang (
SP/
FS) a.k.a the pair where the guy ditched his previous partner because she got too tall and heavy and is now with a tiny pre-pubescent girl
Yang/Deng (
SP/
FS) a.k.a. the acro gymnastics cross discipline pair
Sun/Li (
SP/
FS) a.k.a. the what the hell is going on quint twist pair
Guo/Zhang (
SP/
FS) a.k.a. Luan Bo baby pair #1
also bonus link to Luan Bo baby pair #2 Zhang/Feng (
SP/
FS). They didn't make the club league finals but they're really cute and have great potential imo.
