Grand Prix of Espoo 2023 -Pairs SP - Let’s hope not for Espoor

[Sally1214]

Were Maria & Alexei EVER in synch in that spin?? She's really frustrated with her landing on the throw. It's okay...it wasn't all bad. Level 4 on twist and lift. So, chins up.

 

[Primorskaya]

Holy twist catch! I thought she was going to nosedive over his shoulder.

 

[Wyliefan]

It's too early to be growled at like this.

 

[Desperado]

The Kovalevs are always a chore for me to watch. Today wasn’t different.

 

[skatingguy]

Kovalev, Camille/Kovalev, Pavel
Coach: Laurent Depouilly
Music: The Feeling Begins, Prince of Persia

3Tw 1 - poor catch
Throw 3F - two-foot landing
3T - she two-footed
Forward Inside Death Sp 3
3 Lift 4
Step Sequence 2
Ch Combo Spin 4 - timing issues

A rough skate for the Kovalevs - lots of little errors throughout the program.

55.45 = 6th Place

 

[Kateri]

Sometimes I want to hear the programme concept, sometimes I wish Mark would spare us from it.

 

[skatingguy]

It's too early to be growled at like this.

You don't know how to have fun.

 

[Wyliefan]

Mark, dear, you don't have to explain this concept to us every time. We didn't care the first time.

 

[skatingguy]

Conti, Sara/Macii, Niccolo
Coach: Barbara Luoni
Music: Cavalleria Rusticana by P. Mascagni

 

[Primorskaya]

Sometimes I want to hear the programme concept, sometimes I wish Mark would spare us from it.

Especially as he started "The story here is that she's the bad girl..." and then let the sentence hang as he could find nothing to add to that, or realised midway that no-one cares/buys it anyway

 

[Sally1214]

Issues for the Kovalevs today but the lift was nice. That dismount ... if he ever lost his grip on her, the top of her head would smash into the ice! Yikes ... women pair skaters are a trusting lot.

 

[Wyliefan]

You can have a throw or you can have jumps. You cannot have both.

 

[Kateri]

Especially as he started "The story here is that she's the bad girl..." and then let the sentence hang as he could find nothing to add to that, or realised midway that no-one cares/buys it anyway

And yet, he still can't tell me why Adam Siao Him Fa appers to mime eating a baby at the start of his programme!

 

[skatingguy]

Conti, Sara/Macii, Niccolo
Coach: Barbara Luoni
Music: Cavalleria Rusticana by P. Mascagni

3Tw 3
Throw 3Lo - two-hands down, step out
3S
3 Lift 4
Forward Inside Death Sp 3
Step Sequence 3
Ch Combo Spin 4

Despite the error in the throw, it was a better performance than in France. The program seems to have grown quite a bit in the past few weeks.

65.00 = 2nd Place

 

[Kateri]

I'm so tired. Can't we just give Deanna the GPF title now, and let all the other pairs have a rest for the rest of the GP season?

 

[Primorskaya]

And yet, he still can't tell me why Adam Siao Him Fa appers to mime eating a baby at the start of his programme!

If that means everyone comes up with their own interpretation, such as this most excellent one, I'm ok with it
We should write down a best-of and send it to Adam at season's end. I'll translate.

 

[Frau Muller]

My favorites are #1!

 

[victorskid]

SP results

​

1​	Cheng PENG / Lei WANG	CHN	65.25​	35.62​		29.63​	7.46​	7.36​	7.46​	0.00​	#1​
2​	Sara CONTI / Niccolo MACII	ITA	65.00​	33.41​		31.59​	8.04​	7.86​	7.86​	0.00​	#8​
3​	Minerva Fabienne HASE / Nikita VOLODIN	GER	63.59​	34.47​		30.12​	7.57​	7.50​	7.57​	1.00​	#3​
4​	Maria PAVLOVA / Alexei SVIATCHENKO	HUN	61.53​	33.31​		28.22​	6.89​	7.04​	7.29​	0.00​	#6​
5​	Brooke McINTOSH / Benjamin MIMAR	CAN	56.61​	31.03​		26.58​	6.64​	6.64​	6.71​	1.00​	#5​
6​	Ellie KAM / Danny O'SHEA	USA	55.99​	27.93​		29.06​	7.39​	7.21​	7.25​	1.00​	#4​
7​	Camille KOVALEV / Pavel KOVALEV	FRA	55.45​	27.85​		27.60​	7.11​	6.71​	6.93​	0.00​	#7​
8​	Milania VAANANEN / Filippo CLERICI	FIN	48.56​	24.38​		25.18​	6.36​	6.21​	6.36​	1.00​	#2​

Protocols link: http://www.isuresults.com/results/s...------QUAL000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf

 

[Sally1214]

Sara and Niccolo's closing step seq and spin were absolutely beautiful. Her dress is gorgeous too. A really nice finish to the end of the sp event.
WOW ... those top 3 scores are close!!! Should be an exciting FS.

 

[Primorskaya]

"Well, thank God zat eez over", in my best Fleur Delacour voice, is all I've got after this.

 

[Kateri]

I'm so tired. Can't we just give Deanna the GPF title now, and let all the other pairs have a rest for the rest of the GP season?

I watched the first group, and it made me slightly less grumpy than the second one did. Maybe I'll allow Cheng and Minerva to go the GPF too, if they keep it up.

 

[Karen-W]

I'm so tired. Can't we just give Deanna the GPF title now, and let all the other pairs have a rest for the rest of the GP season?

Nope. After watching the SPs today, I'm calling the GPF for Peng/Wang. If they continue to skate clean, their PCS and GOE is going to continue to climb and they're already a better team at this very early stage in their partnership than pretty much every other team competing these days. I think only KniFraz in late 2020 impressed me as much with how quickly they gelled as PengWang have this fall.

 

[Kateri]

Nope. After watching the SPs today, I'm calling the GPF for Peng/Wang. If they continue to skate clean, their PCS and GOE is going to continue to climb and they're already a better team at this very early stage in their partnership than pretty much every other team competing these days. I think only KniFraz in late 2020 impressed me as much with how quickly they gelled as PengWang have this fall.

Please understand: I hadn't seen group 1 yet, and I wrote that half-way through watching the Kovalevs.

 

[Karen-W]

Please understand: I hadn't seen group 1 yet, and I wrote that half-way through watching the Kovalevs.

Well, watching Les Kovs was your first mistake.

 

[~tapdancer~]

Nope. After watching the SPs today, I'm calling the GPF for Peng/Wang. If they continue to skate clean, their PCS and GOE is going to continue to climb and they're already a better team at this very early stage in their partnership than pretty much every other team competing these days. I think only KniFraz in late 2020 impressed me as much with how quickly they gelled as PengWang have this fall.

Agree and also same with Lia and Trennt. I am all in for them as well this season. Improving all the time!

 

[Karen-W]

Agree and also same with Lia and Trennt. I am all in for them as well this season. Improving all the time!

PerMich are weighed down by crap choreo. There are few choreographers today who can compete with Lori Nichol when it comes to exquisite pairs choreo.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

P & W They seem to be jelling nicely. All positive GOE ..l a little boring, but I think another year or two if they’re still together, I think could be amazing.

V & C. Never really saw them skate before, starting off strong. A good splat on the throw. Too bad on the side-by-side spin. Started off promising. But the coach of theirs that I like so much, I need to FedEx him the keys to the you know what LUCA DEMATTEEE

FH & Husband. can’t wait to see this effortless twist, great jumps through all the points!!!!! And then the splat on the throw. fantastic lift. This music had to have been chosen by her, not a straight guy lol. I really like this team but I could do without this music.

K & O. OK I’m already nervous for her side-by-side jump and they are just in their starting pose. but I do love her lines and her smile. Oh, she made the jump, awesome but I do think maybe a negative GOE for it. And a nice big splat on the throw. I do like this team and I hope they continue to improve. Oh my gosh that’s a low score.

M & M I just can’t get into Beatles programs. and he splats on the jumps? I think the Chinese team is going to win this at this point. Last year I thought this team could be Canada second ranked teams… Oh, my gosh this program isn’t doing anything for me.

P & S another piece of music I could do without at this point. OK good jumps. OK I guess… I still expect China to be in the lead.

Kovs. OK I’m nervous for them regardless. Well, at least their music is bringing me to the club.

Italy, OK, bring it… I do like this program. what happened on that throw? Well, I guess I will expect them to be in the lead even after the error, I don’t know what to think.

wow, we need Alexa and Brandon and their stranger things.

 

[Andrey aka Pushkin]

I am more excited for the pairs event than the ice-dance, and that is not a sentence that has been said under any circumstances in the past 2 years. Btw, is it me, or the pairs male coaches are more handsome than in other disciplines?

Peng/Wang - it's pretty obvious the Chinese federation decided that given the current level of pairs, even they can scramble something that might win the Olympics. Nice to see the great Chinese pairs skating traditions back: I mean the horrible spins, of course. On a normal year I'd expect them to be somewhere outside the top 10, but they might actually win the worlds at this rate.

Vaa/Cl - since when Italy became such a powerhouse in pairs, they started exporting skaters? He's the better half of the pair, but I actually see some potential, she looks like a very determined lady. Over all, of course, this is Rennik/Saks territory, but I'm all for the new pairs in Europe.

I'll give them that: Volodin is the best "German" pairs male skater since Szolkowy, and that is including Massot. If he learns to do throws, this might actually be a very good pair. Minus points for the choice of music. This is not how you make people remembering you. This wave of endless lyrical ballads must stop.

Let's put it this way, if Danny O'Shea grew his hair, I would not remember this pair for the life of me. A classic Interchangeable American Pair, and I'm not wasting the little brain cells I have onto remembering they exist.

McIntosh/Mimar - woah, a good Canadian pair, finally! I like them about twenty times better than P/Michaud. Of course, not seeing them live, maybe I'm missing something, but they seem to have excellent technique, if still a very juniorish kind of skating. I don't recall any good program to Beatles, this is not one, but I'm fine with that for the team I see the first time ever.

Pavlova/Sviatchenko. I appreciate when a pair doesn't even pretend to have any connection to the country they represent. They'd be about 9th at Russian nationals, but I predict they look better live. Wasn't very impressed over the screen. "Another one bites the dust" is a very adventurous choice of music for a program in figure skating.

I think I ran out of jokes about Kovalevs in Angers already, so skipping them this time. Apparently these curls on her were purposeful, wow.

I appreciate Conti/Macii working to become a team actually worthy of the places they received last season for the lack of Russians, but having these endless lyrical opera style programs is not helping me to get excited about them. In the terms of "pairs skating" they are probably the best in the competing world right now, for whatever that's worth.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

I technically watched this to catch up today but I don't think I like WATCHED any of it?? It's gone from my mind.