Skate to Milano OWG Qualifier - Beijing CHN - Pairs SP & FS

[Karen-W]

I wonder what Chelsea and Ryan would have done.

They wouldn't have done anything because they were never under consideration to be sent given they have exactly 1 competition under their belts as of 2 weeks ago.

And this is precisely why the USFS made a supremely UN-serious decision in choosing to send ShiNagy to this event over McBark or ChanHowe. They needed a team that could, reliably, deliver a 63-67 SP score at minimum, something ShiNagy have never accomplished internationally. I'm so spitting mad about this because it was entirely avoidable.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

1 competition

2

Nice try Diddy.

And both times still scored higher than that.

 

[Karen-W]

2

Nice try Diddy.

No, they've had 1 competition - John Nicks IPC. They haven't even competed at any NQS events yet. And they're not even assigned to another Challenger yet.

 

[Hedwig]

Sofiia HOLICHENKO / Artem DARENSKYI

sbs 3sal nice
throw 3loop with hand down

really nice turns in the lasso lift, very secure and no ice flowing

I hope Ukraine qualifies a spot

music cut could be better....

 

[Kateri]

Ending on a pairs spin AND a music fade-out? C'mon guys. Definition of ending "not with a bang but a whimper"

 

[Rukia]

Ending on a pairs spin AND a music fade-out? C'mon guys.

iconic actually

 

[Karen-W]

Holichenko/Darenskyi - 3tw - practically parallel to the ice but okay otherwise; SBS 3s - okay; throw 3lo - hand down; lift - bit slow but otherwise nice; BIDS - good; step seq - meh, feels like hard work; SBS spins - far apart & in-and-out of unison. They're probably going to get buried on PCS and wind up either just ahead of ShiNagy or just between them & GamKor.

 

[skatingguy]

Sofiia Holichenko/Artem Darenskyi
Coach: Ihor Marchenko
Music: Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics, Annie Lennox

Triple Twist 2
3S
Throw 3Lo - hand down
Reverse Lasso Lift 4 (3 after review)
Back Inside Death Spiral 3
Step Sequence 2
Change Foot Combo Spin 3

A real mixed bag - some things were world class, and others were sloppy. The program has both a weird, awkward start, and it doesn't really end as the music just fades out.

57.17 = 3rd Place

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I wonder why they used a cut where their music starts to fade out as they start their last element, that was a bit odd.

 

[Kateri]

iconic actually

Only more so if they'd doubled the salchows.

 

[Karen-W]

Tied with Valesi/Bidar on overall score, but behind due to TES.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

No, they've had 1 competition - John Nicks IPC. They haven't even competed at any NQS events yet. And they're not even assigned to another Challenger yet.

One ISU and one non. But one never knows the criteria you’re going to use. Like how many competitions have C/H had where they competed at longitude 48652.33 and latitude 89436.03? They’ve had none. That’s why they weren’t sent here.

 

[Rukia]

tie breaks are for the weak all my homies hate tie breaks

 

[Karen-W]

Zhang/Huang - "Nemesis"; 3tw - excellent; SBS 3t - alright, he pitched a bit forward on the landing; throw 3f - very good; SBS spins - alright; step seq - alright again; lift - very sound; BIDS - handstand on his boot for the entrance - quite good. This will EASILY lead.

 

[Hedwig]

Zhang/Huang
she looks so young still, I wonder how she is allowed to compete in seniors....
wonderful3twist
interesting entry into sbs 3toes, nice
very clean edges and skating
throw 3flip, wonderful

this should go shooting into the lead, really good skate!

great handstand entry into the death spiral

especially for a pair program this was so innovative - so often pair programs are so much the same but this really made me look up!

 

[skatingguy]

Jiaxuan Zhang/Yihang Huang
Coach: Yang Ding, Jiayuan Du
Music: Nemesis by Benjamin Clementine

Triple Twist 3
3T
Throw 3F
Flying Change Foot Combo Spin 4 (2V after review)
Step Sequence 3
Reverse Lasso Lift 4
Back Inside Death Spiral 4

An Olympic champion performance from Nathan . . . . whoops right city, wrong competition.

Very solid across the all the technical elements, and a nice sense of presentation, if not much of a performance at this point.

66.68 = 1st Place

 

[Karen-W]

One ISU and one non. But one never knows the criteria you’re going to use. Like how many competitions have C/H had where they competed at longitude 48652.33 and latitude 89436.03? They’ve had none. That’s why they weren’t sent here.

Seriously, what other competition have they had? They haven't competed ANYWHERE except John Nicks a few weeks ago. They got added to the ISP in July and that was the first we even knew of their partnership.

You are really pissing me off right now, so I suggest you stop. Your harem member has zero business being sent to as important a competition as this one and weren't even at Champs Camp to be considered.

 

[Hedwig]

Kovalevs
sbs 3toe okayish but a bit out of sync
throw 3flip, really good
wow, that was much better than I expected from them, I think they improved over the off season!

 

[Karen-W]

Les Kovs - most tasteful costumes they've had in awhile. 3tw - low height; SBS 3t - well, they both stayed up; lift - decent; throw 3f - very nice; BIDS - decent; SBS spins - alright; step seq - well, I did like the waltz hold near the end of it. This is probably their best SP in years.

 

[skatingguy]

Camile Kovalev/Pavel Kovalev
Coach: Bruno Massot
Music: Une vie d’Amour

Triple Twist 1 (2 after review)
3T - tight landing from Pavel
Reverse Lasso Lift 4
Throw 3F
Back Inside Death Spiral 3
Change Foot Combo Spin 4
Step Sequence 3

Very solid technical skate for the Kovalev's, and so far that's the performance of the night.

64.28 = 2nd Place

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

The best I think I’ve seen Les Kovs in some time. Hopefully they keep it together for the free.

 

[Hedwig]

Yuna NAGAOKA / Sumitada MORIGUCHI

Mark doing his very best to jinx them

impressive speed
sbs 3loop, oh noooo she underrotates and splats

throw 3sal huge but maybe df
thanks a lot, Mark

luckily they will not be too far off from the top.

 

[Karen-W]

Nagaoka/Moriguchi - 3tw - bit over his shoulder on the landing but decent otherwise; SBS 3lo - fall for her; throw 3s - her free foot touched on the landing; lift - really nice; BIDS - excellent; step seq - nice enough; SBS spins - alright. Well, another team that has trouble delivering when it matters.

 

[skatingguy]

Yuna Nagaoka/Sumitada Moriguchi
Coach: M. Hamada, D. Savin, F. Klimov, S. Evdokimova
Music: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Triple Twist 3
3Lo - Yuna fell
Throw 3S - two-footed landing
Reverse Lasso Lift 4
Back Inside Death Spiral 3
Step Sequence 4
Flying Change Foot Combo Spin 4

Not the skate they wanted but the speed, and power around the rink is appreciable, and appreciated. This music works so well for them, and I hope to see this program clean in the future.

-1.00 = Falls
62.68 = 4th Place

 

[victorskid]

After all 3 groups, a little napping (on my part), and a brief loss of internet at the beginning of the 3rd group (for me), the SP results are:
1 Jiaxuan ZHANG / Yihang HUANG CHN 66.68 38.42 28.26 7.18 7.00 7.07 0.00 #9
2 Camille KOVALEV / Pavel KOVALEV FRA 64.28 36.10 28.18 7.11 7.11 6.96 0.00 #10
3 Karina AKOPOVA / Nikita RAKHMANIN ARM 63.85 37.16 26.69 6.71 6.57 6.79 0.00 #2
4 Yuna NAGAOKA / Sumitada MORIGUCHI JPN 62.68 34.84 28.84 7.29 6.93 7.46 1.00 #11
5 Anna VALESI / Martin BIDAR CZE 57.17 32.46 24.71 6.14 6.14 6.29 0.00 #4
6 Sofiia HOLICHENKO / Artem DARENSKYI UKR 57.17 32.18 24.99 6.43 6.07 6.29 0.00 #8
7 Audrey SHIN / Balazs NAGY USA 53.99 28.14 25.85 6.50 6.39 6.54 0.00 #5
8 Isabella GAMEZ / Aleksandr KOROVIN PHI 53.14 29.39 23.75 6.04 6.00 5.82 0.00 #7
9 Julia Sylvia GUNNARSDOTTIR / Manuel PIAZZA ISL 53.09 30.29 23.80 5.96 5.93 6.00 1.00 #3
10 Sophia SCHALLER / Livio MAYR AUT 50.82 27.97 22.85 5.75 5.68 5.75 0.00 #6
11 Tae Ok RYOM / Kum Chol HAN PRK 46.95 24.86 22.09 5.43 5.36 5.82 0.00 #1



Protocols: https://results.isu.org/results/sea...------QUAL000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf


Playlist of individual skates: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuiPiC1Hk8eKgWKhcOMjRfiDEC3HrdLbs

 

[Hedwig]

really nice to see how their coaches try to lift them up.

 

[kwanfan1818]

And she's having none of it.

Shocked at how solid Les Kovs looked. They made a late-career move to Massot, and it seems to be paying off. He Kov choreographed the SP, which is pretty inspired.

 

[Private Citizen]

Shocked at how solid Les Kovs looked.

I know people love to make fun of them (me included), but they're not a bad team. They've always looked under-trained and poorly packaged.

 

[kwanfan1818]

I’ve always liked Camille Kovalev, ever since she skated juniors with Boyadji.

 

[zigzig]

CHN - cartwheels are usually so cringy but love how sync'd and nicely integrated into the step sequence theirs was. Very definitive leader after the short.

FRA - wow, impressed. they're usually such a dumpster fire. thought the pcs was a tad generous but i guess the judges were equally surprised at how together they were.

ARM - technically solid but portending a scary future where everyone has to skate to royalty-free slop.

JPN - huge insane improvement on their pair elements. medal contenders in next quad if they stick around.

CZE - bland but solid enough.

UKR - see above.

USA - so annoyed. but even if they did the death spiral a third place overall would still be a stretch (that's what they have to get for US to qualify 3 times right?)

PHI - someone from their coaching team needs to teach koro the importance of OPTICS.