John Nicks Pairs Challenge International 2025 (September 2-3, 2025), New York, NY, USA

[Karen-W]

Nothing about this competition (or any competition they’ve done) makes me think Shin/Nagy is the best choice for the Olympic qualifier.

Time to make a switch!

Well, I've been saying that all along since they "won" the competition simulation at Champs Camp. There's nothing about how they skate in actual competition settings that gives me any degree of confidence.

 

[Karen-W]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1963313529437712675

https://twitter.com/x/status/1963315526668579309

 

[fan]

Are mcbeath/Parkman or E/M not allowed to do the Olympic qualifier?

 

[tangerine dream]

Are mcbeath/Parkman or E/M not allowed to do the Olympic qualifier?

They can't send E/M or Kam/O'Shea because they qualified the spots at worlds. Anyone else is fair game.

 

[Karen-W]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1963317231560921197

I have no idea where this stream that Nolan was watching is, and I'm sort of jealous, but I'm also sure we'll see videos posted later today.

 

[Firedancer]

Are mcbeath/Parkman or E/M not allowed to do the Olympic qualifier?

M/P can. But it can’t be a team that made the free skate at worlds so E/M and K/O cannot.

 

[beckab81]

4.5 points above Chan & Howe, I’m expecting to see McBeath & Parkman in Beijing.

 

[Karen-W]

Are mcbeath/Parkman or E/M not allowed to do the Olympic qualifier?

McBPark can, but I'd be as hesitant sending them as I am at the idea of sending ShiNagy. They are NOT consistent. This is a great score, but they bounce back & forth at different competitions. I feel like this is the aberration and at the OQE they're going to revert back to their mean, which will fail to earn the 3rd spot.

 

[Karen-W]

4.5 points above Chan & Howe, I’m expecting to see McBeath & Parkman in Beijing.

I'm not. They're as inconsistent as ShiNagy.

Look at their 2024-25 scores -
John Nicks - 173.37
SkAm - 168.08
CoC - 159.92
Nats - 190.57
Road to 26 - 165.76

Compare that to ChanHowe, who were continuing to struggle with injury last season:
Shanghai Trophy - 155.64
SCI - 178.31
Finlandia - 174.40
Golden Spin - 177.70
Nats - 183.95

And, then there's ShiNagy -
Boston Open NQS - 157.59
Golden Spin - 170.21
Nats - 182.67
4CCs - 128.36

There's no way that I'd send any team but ChanHowe to the OQE.

 

[Karen-W]

Sr FS Results - https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2025/36395/SEG002.htm
Pl. Name Nation TSS= TES+ PCS+ CO PR SK Ded.- StN.
1 Deanna STELLATO-DUDEK / Maxime DESCHAMPS CAN 128.66 63.85 65.81 8.30 8.05 8.30 1.00 #12
2 Alisa EFIMOVA / Misha MITROFANOV USA 126.69 63.47 64.22 8.15 7.95 7.95 1.00 #11
3 Katie McBEATH / Daniil PARKMAN USA 122.27 62.52 60.75 7.75 7.50 7.50 1.00 #10
4 Emily CHAN / Spencer Akira HOWE USA 117.64 58.63 59.01 7.50 7.25 7.35 0.00 #9
5 Karina AKOPOVA / Nikita RAKHMANIN ARM 109.64 56.37 53.27 6.65 6.55 6.75 0.00 #8
6 Chelsea LIU / Ryan BEDARD USA 108.39 55.92 54.47 7.00 6.60 6.80 2.00 #7
7 Audrey SHIN / Balazs NAGY USA 106.12 54.18 53.94 6.85 6.55 6.80 2.00 #6
8 Gabriella IZZO / Luc MAIERHOFER AUT 105.41 55.95 50.46 6.40 6.05 6.45 1.00 #5
9 Sophia SCHALLER / Livio MAYR AUT 99.78 53.52 47.26 5.90 5.95 5.85 1.00 #4
10 Naomi WILLIAMS / Lachlan LEWER USA 94.92 49.46 46.46 5.85 5.70 5.85 1.00 #3
11 Linzy FITZPATRICK / Keyton BEARINGER USA 82.74 42.96 39.78 4.90 4.75 5.25 0.00 #1
12 Olivia FLORES / Luke WANG USA 77.65 38.00 39.65 5.05 4.65 5.15 0.00 #2

Judges Protocols - https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/lea...------FNL-000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf

Final Results - https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2025/36395/CAT001RS.htm
FPl. Name Nation Points SP FS
1 Deanna STELLATO-DUDEK / Maxime DESCHAMPS CAN 199.43 1 1
2 Alisa EFIMOVA / Misha MITROFANOV USA 193.54 2 2
3 Katie McBEATH / Daniil PARKMAN USA 187.89 3 3
4 Emily CHAN / Spencer Akira HOWE USA 183.22 4 4
5 Karina AKOPOVA / Nikita RAKHMANIN ARM 174.84 5 5
6 Chelsea LIU / Ryan BEDARD USA 168.27 6 6
7 Audrey SHIN / Balazs NAGY USA 165.76 7 7
8 Gabriella IZZO / Luc MAIERHOFER AUT 165.00 8 8
9 Sophia SCHALLER / Livio MAYR AUT 153.37 9 9
10 Naomi WILLIAMS / Lachlan LEWER USA 148.14 10 10
11 Linzy FITZPATRICK / Keyton BEARINGER USA 125.91 12 11
12 Olivia FLORES / Luke WANG USA 122.66 11 12

 

[TanithandBenFan]

Flores/Wang’s protocols are truly frightening. Zero points on three elements.

 

[her grace]

Flores/Wang’s protocols are truly frightening. Zero points on three elements.

Continued death spiral problems, but other invalid elements is a new problem.

 

[Private Citizen]

The US really doesn't need to send a third team to Milano-Cortina based on these protocols .

Looks like Flores and Wang missed two lifts and struggled with others. They are no longer well matched, and that seemed obvious from last season. I understand why they stayed together with an unexpected potential third Olympic berth and many ineligible teams, but the Olympics are clearly not going to happen and they should probably split up now. For their own safety if they're having lift and death spiral issues.

Did Izzo and Maierhofer really do clean SBS triple lutzes as the last element in the program? That's badass.

 

[beckab81]

I'm not. They're as inconsistent as ShiNagy.

Look at their 2024-25 scores -
John Nicks - 173.37
SkAm - 168.08
CoC - 159.92
Nats - 190.57
Road to 26 - 165.76

Compare that to ChanHowe, who were continuing to struggle with injury last season:
Shanghai Trophy - 155.64
SCI - 178.31
Finlandia - 174.40
Golden Spin - 177.70
Nats - 183.95

And, then there's ShiNagy -
Boston Open NQS - 157.59
Golden Spin - 170.21
Nats - 182.67
4CCs - 128.36

There's no way that I'd send any team but ChanHowe to the OQE.

I’d love to see the results from Champs Camp to know how the teams compared to each other there. M/P are a newer team so it’s not shocking that they had up & down results their first 2 seasons. But if M/P did better at champs camp (which of course we don’t know), that would make 3 events in a row that they came out on top of C/H.

I like Chan & Howe, but they’ve been struggling to recapture the magic they had a few seasons ago. All 3 teams are inconsistent and struggle with jumps, I just don’t see enough of a reason to jump above the posted results. Won’t be mad if they send C/H, I’m just not convinced the same way you are.

 

[fan]

Anyone know what Deanna/Max’s fp music is?

 

[Karen-W]

I like Chan & Howe, but they’ve been struggling to recapture the magic they had a few seasons ago. All 3 teams are inconsistent and struggle with jumps, I just don’t see enough of a reason to jump above the posted results. Won’t be mad if they send C/H, I’m just not convinced the same way you are.

What I'm convinced of is that they will score within the 175-185 range comfortably, even under pressure, and that's the range the top 3 teams will need to be in to secure their spots for the Olympics. Chan/Howe had one competition in the past year where they were outside of that range and it happened to be their first one back after Spencer had a second shoulder surgery in the spring of 2024.

I do not have the same confidence that either McBPark or ShiNagy will produce a score high enough to secure the 3rd spot. They both have been outscored on several occasions by Nagaoka/Moriguchi and were behind Zhang/Huang on the SB list last season when Zhang/Huang could ONLY compete in juniors.

Akopova/Rakhmanin just put up a score here today at their first international competition in three seasons that was better than either McBPark or ShiNagy's SB last season. We saw, last season, how Geynish/Chigirev's scores rose as the season progressed once they established/reestablished themselves as a solid team and I think we should expect the same for AkoRakh.

I'm not sure Chan/Howe will return to their previous best form from a few seasons ago, but I do think they are the most experienced team with the most consistent scores that will get the job done in Beijing in a couple weeks.

 

[tony]

Should be 4 spots available in Beijing at this point.

 

[Karen-W]

Should be 4 spots available in Beijing at this point.

Theoretically, but doesn't Geynish already have a new partner?

 

[tony]

Theoretically, but doesn't Geynish already have a new partner?

One who is Italian

 

[Karen-W]

One who is Italian

LOL. Well, that's a problem unless Uzbekistan is the new Azerbaijan.

 

[Evgeniafan]

Theoretically, but doesn't Geynish already have a new partner?

Why did she break up with her former partner, right before the Olympics. They had a good debut season.

 

[Karen-W]

Why did he break up with his former partner, right before the Olympics. They had a good debut season.

Geynish is "she" - Ekaterina. No idea why Geynish/Chigirev split.

 

[Karen-W]

Junior FS videos are up -

Moss/Galbavy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgLHB1_VKEs
Herrera/Khobta - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aev2t4LMZL0
Davison/Borisov - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoUhVewjQIY
Meek/Meek - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGMT6NIcLVs

6 of the 12 Senior FS videos are up as well -
Shin/Nagy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZblhKKaewY
Izzo/Maierhofer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-8IU_61Pc0
Schaller/Mayr - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcv52vc5ATY
Williams/Lewer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJA9HcHWhXg
Fitzpatrick/Bearinger - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd8YYOYrFXM
Flores/Wang - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V1UG0guzcI

 

[Wyliefan]

I've just been watching Flores/Wang, and I admit I'm in no teknik, but I don't know what went wrong with those lifts. They went up, and then they just went right back down.

 

[Karen-W]

I've just been watching Flores/Wang, and I admit I'm in no teknik, but I don't know what went wrong with those lifts. They went up, and then they just went right back down.

Hard to say - Olivia looked a bit out of sorts at a couple of points in the program, even on some simple choreo. It seemed like she maybe had too much forward momentum on the first lift and kind of overshot the balance point over Luke. The second lift - no idea what happened there.

 

[victorskid]

Skate Canada's press release on Deanna & Max's success:

Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps Win Gold at the John Nicks Pairs Challenge International

NEW YORK, USA (Sept. 3, 2025) – Deanna Stellato-Dudek (Chicago, [...]

skatecanada.ca

 

[kwanfan1818]

“We were really happy with our short program,” said Deschamps. “We executed all our elements very well, and I think we were able to offer a strong program overall. Everything is also going well in training, so that’s a good sign.”

All of their elements? Even the SBS jumps for which they got no credit?

 

[Debrah]

Found all 12 of the FS videos in this link + article posted on another skating forum, so go quickly to view if you want to see the winning FS done by Deanna and Max, as well as the others not posted above, fingers crossed it works... https://adamreisinger.substack.com/p/john-nicks-pairs-challenge-free-skate

 

[Rukia]

Found all 12 of the FS videos in this link + article posted on another skating forum, so go quickly to view if you want to see the winning FS done by Deanna and Max, as well as the others not posted above, fingers crossed it works... https://adamreisinger.substack.com/p/john-nicks-pairs-challenge-free-skate

These are Adam's personal videos taken at the competition and posted to substack so I don't think they are going anywhere

 

[Private Citizen]

Did Izzo and Maierhofer really do clean SBS triple lutzes as the last element in the program? That's badass.

I watched the video, and no . I guess there was a problem with the element entry, and it was added to the protocol later on. The SBS 3Lz were beautiful, but the third element in the program rather than the last.

I don't mean to be a broken record on Flores and Wang, but they're just no longer well matched physically. What's wrong with the lifts? Quite simply he is unable to lift her. I don't see it getting better.