U.S. Pairs 2017 - News & Updates, Part VII

[chachacha]

How did Deanna and Nathan do in Philadelphia? Anybody know?

Deanna and Nathan scored 106.52 in the free skate.

 

[Sylvia]

U.S. Pairs scoretracker with Philadelphia Summer Championships scores added: https://unseenskaters.wordpress.com/scoretracker/current-pairs-scores/

ETA:

Re. 2 of the junior pairs in Philly... Gabriella Marvaldi/Daniel Villeneuve debuted their SP to a cover version of "Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Me" and won the SP (47.99) with Elli Kopmar/Jonah Barrett a very close 2nd (47.44) with their cover version of "California Dreamin'." Both teams went for 3twist and throw 3Lo.

M/V did not compete in the FS event which was won by Kopmar/Barrett (86.44) skating to Tchaikovsky's "Snow Pas de Deux" from The Nutcracker. They included two triple throws (salchow & loop) and their sbs jumps were 3S and 2A+2T.

 

[clairecloutier]

Lockley/Prochnow are assigned to the first pairs JGP in Latvia. They'll face quite a field including last year's Junior World gold/silver medalists plus Walsh/Michaud of Canada.

Alternates are Marvaldi/Villeneuve, Lu/Mitrofanov, Kopmar/Barrett, Feng/Nyman, Yao/Simon

 

[Catherine M]

I can understand Canada not sending a 3rd team all the way to Latvia but I think the USFS is being short sighted by not using their 2nd spot as they only have 8 spots overall and to just throw one away is very perplexing and must be extremely disappointing for the teams.

 

[clairecloutier]

^^ I agree. Unfortunately I haven't had time to watch much of the U.S. junior pairs yet this season. But why not at least send a second team to Latvia. At least 2 of the teams on the alternate list (Lu/Mitrofanov, Marvaldi/Villeneuve) had JGP spots last year, so you'd think they would give them another shot. But again, admittedly, I just haven't been able to watch much this year, so I don't know the specifics of the situation.

 

[Sylvia]

Greta & John Crafoord, the 2017 U.S. Novice Pairs bronze medalists, are listed for Latvia as representing Sweden (they did an exhibition at Swedish Nationals last season so this is not unexpected).

 

[DFO]

And they are the best 2017 U.S. Novice Pairs that didn't split!

 

[Jojo13]

I can understand Canada not sending a 3rd team all the way to Latvia but I think the USFS is being short sighted by not using their 2nd spot as they only have 8 spots overall and to just throw one away is very perplexing and must be extremely disappointing for the teams.

I am shocked that they are not sending 2 teams early on. It will definitely limit the opportunity for any US team to possibly make the final. Once again show an investment in the junior teams so they can develop into strong senior teams. Also give them international e perience so they can be more seasoned going into junior worlds.

 

[her grace]

I can understand Canada not sending a 3rd team all the way to Latvia but I think the USFS is being short sighted by not using their 2nd spot as they only have 8 spots overall and to just throw one away is very perplexing and must be extremely disappointing for the teams.

Yes, this is a decision. Why USFS doesn't want to use all the spots when it only has eight is beyond me. Not to mention if you're going to let a spot go to waste, why wouldn't you do that at the later events when you've already seen how your teams competed earlier? What if a team unexpectedly has a great result? It's like they learned nothing from 2015/2016 when Weinberg/Fernandez won a silver medal in the second event after wasting a spot in the first and already having assigned the 3rd JGP. That team barely got a second assignment though they thoroughly deserved it.

 

[Karpenko]

A new Golden Skate interview with the lovely Dalilah Sappenfield:
https://youtu.be/3P6eLUwJXDw

Dalilah dishes out the goods on all of her (current and previous) pairs, and she clears up the Yankowskas/Coughlin breakup among other things. Her nails also make a cameo towards the end of the interview.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

^^^^ Been waiting PATIENTLY for a week.....

Im watching it now.

Cant wait for the Yankowskas portion. xo

Added later: OK, done. Wow... what a vault of information.. I never even knew what her voice sounded like. Great interview.... LOVED it so much! Wow, great job for Ted, great job for the legendary @Karpenko I will be rewatching this again.

 

[VGThuy]

A new Golden Skate interview with the lovely Dalilah Sappenfield:
https://youtu.be/3P6eLUwJXDw

Dalilah dishes out the goods on all of her (current and previous) pairs, and she clears up the Yankowskas/Coughlin breakup among other things. Her nails also make a cameo towards the end of the interview.

Whoa! I can't wait to see this after work.

 

[Firedancer]

A new Golden Skate interview with the lovely Dalilah Sappenfield:
https://youtu.be/3P6eLUwJXDw

Dalilah dishes out the goods on all of her (current and previous) pairs, and she clears up the Yankowskas/Coughlin breakup among other things. Her nails also make a cameo towards the end of the interview.

This was a really interesting interview. Definitely the most I have ever heard from Delilah. Especially interesting hearing her perspective on the Yankowskas/Coughlin split. Thanks for posting!

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Stellato-Dudek, Bartholomay all in on throw quad

The team's free skate includes a throw quadruple salchow, a move no U.S. pairs team has landed cleanly in competition since 2007. Although Stellato-Dudek fell on the move in Aston, she rotated and landed it at the aforementioned Orange Blossom Open earlier this summer.

"She lands it every day [in practice]," Peterson said. "I always say, you have to learn the element, you have to learn the element in the program and then you have to learn the element under pressure in the program. I think we're in between that second and third stage right now. It's in for the year."

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2017/08/09/247349704

 

[Doggygirl]

Stellato-Dudek, Bartholomay all in on throw quad

The team's free skate includes a throw quadruple salchow, a move no U.S. pairs team has landed cleanly in competition since 2007. Although Stellato-Dudek fell on the move in Aston, she rotated and landed it at the aforementioned Orange Blossom Open earlier this summer.
.....

I can't even describe the monumental respect I have for these brave women of pairs!!

 

[Sylvia]

Two U.S. junior pairs competed in the Quebec Summer Championships in Pierrefonds this weekend -- I'm bringing these posts over from the Canadian Pairs thread:

... 5 Katherina Frantz / Nicolas Frantz Boucherville/Boucherville RS/RS 37.20 (7) 70.88 (4) 108.08
6 Gabriella Marvaldi / Daniel Villeneuve SCO Southern New Jersey/SCO South USA/USA 47.08 (3) 47.08
Marvaldi/Villeneuve withdraw from the free but they did the warmup. It seems like a last minute decision because of an injury. Anybody knows more about that?

I hope they're OK (both skated to the referee before the WD and I couldn't tell if one was injured) - they debuted their Jr. SP in Philadelphia last week and I was looking forward to watching their FS debut on the live stream.

Villeneuve strained his right ankle during practice in NJ on Monday. They skated the SP on Friday but his ankle condition worsened on Saturday. BTW, Villeneuve's fall during their SP was due to his right ankle not keeping up with pressure. Apparently he could hardly walk to get to the arena Saturday morning; he had physio early morning and had his ankle taped. They gave a shot to the warm-up to see if he could skate but they then felt it was too much risky to skate (high risk of falling during lifts or twist and with, of course, possible injuries to Marvaldi). Villeneuve decided to withdraw the team from the competition. I feel they made the right decision. Source: direct talk with their coach.

Thanks to @newskatefan2 for the info.

Marissa Castelli/Mervin Tran will debut their FS ("Woman" by Shawn Phillips) this morning in Quebec. They kept their SP to "Fallin" by Alicia Keys, placing 4th (57.76) yesterday.

 

[nimi]

Marissa Castelli/Mervin Tran will debut their FS ("Woman" by Shawn Phillips) this morning in Quebec. They kept their SP to "Fallin" by Alicia Keys, placing 4th (57.76) yesterday.

Looking at the SP protocols, their opening 3Tw got -3 GOE and the next element (3S) -3/-2 GOEs. Also, PCS 3 points lower than the North Koreans. Not an auspicious start to the season...

I really like these two, I hope they get it together in the free!

They haven't got any confirmed GP assignments yet, have they?

 

[Sylvia]

They haven't got any confirmed GP assignments yet, have they?

Castelli/Tran have Rostelecom Cup.

 

[nimi]

^ That's good to hear!

 

[clairecloutier]

I went down to Cranberry Open yesterday; here's my report on the pairs who competed there (not many).


SENIORS

Erika Smith/A.J. Reiss debuted their new "Beauty and the Beast" LP. They looked strong in warmup; and the program started well with a high triple twist and SBS 2A/1A sequence. However ... something was off on their next lift landing, and Erika fell straight backward to the ice. A.J. also fell over/around her. It was pretty scary, and I'd say it took them at least 45 seconds to collect themselves and get back into the program. I actually thought they might stop. It was hard to tell, but it looked like Erika *might* have hit her head on the ice. So I just hope they're okay. Too bad, because I liked their new LP and think it has nice potential. The program has an elegant, not cheesy/Disney, look. (And Erika wears an ivory, not yellow, dress!) I thought they looked improved with their line and presentation. Errgghh, I'm sure it must be very frustrating for them. Their score was only in the mid-80s because they obviously missed at least 1 element, probably more, during the break in the program.

There were no other senior pairs in the LP.


JUNIORS

New team Smart/Addison had been scheduled to compete, but must have withdrawn.


NOVICE/INTERMEDIATE/JUVENILE

Novice pair Hom/Jerosch skated a Pocahontas LP. She very much looked the part, with a fringed nude faux leather costume and long dark braid. Nice packaging, nice program overall. I think this team is new?--I have not seen them before. They have a nice height differential and look good together. They did go for SBS 2A, as well as SBS 2Lz. However the throw jumps were a bit weak (throw 1A and throw 2S), and there wasn't much in the way of lifts.

Intermediate pair Cate Fleming/Jedidiah Isbell competed. I've been seeing this team locally for a couple years now, and they continue to show improvement. Still a long ways to go obviously, but I like what I'm seeing. They have both grown over the past couple years, but are still pretty well-matched in height/body type. And their skills are improving. They showed 2 overhead lifts, both quite good for their level, a good forward inside death spiral, and 2 double throws. I don't think they have SBS 2A, though. Their program to Gregorian's "Now We Are Free" showed nice interpretation/maturity.

I didn't take notes on the Juvenile pairs, but I must say they're cute to watch. Last year, 2 Juvenile pairs from Skating Club to Boston made it to Nationals: Claire Fleming/Jack Liu and Emilina Jarvis/Damian Jarvis. Both those teams have apparently split; Claire and Damian both have new partners, with whom they competed at Cranberry.

 

[Spun Silver]

I sure hope Erika is OK!

 

[nimi]

Looking at the SP protocols, their opening 3Tw got -3 GOE and the next element (3S) -3/-2 GOEs. (...) I really like these two, I hope they get it together in the free!

Just watched Marissa&Mervin's new FP. Some really nice entries/exists into/out of the elements, but also 3Tw and SBS jump problems (again). The latter is par of the course for them, of course, but I wonder about the twist. Have they been reworking their technique? That would explain why it's kinda shaky right now.

102.16, 3rd in free skate/overall (Meagan&Eric withdrew after SP)
Protocol: http://www.patinage.qc.ca/resultats-competitions/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CQE17_23_DET.pdf

 

[TanithandBenFan]

Just watched Marissa&Mervin's new FP. Some really nice entries/exists into/out of the elements, but also 3Tw and SBS jump problems (again). The latter is par of the course for them, of course, but I wonder about the twist. Have they been reworking their technique? That would explain why it's kinda shaky right now.

I'm not a fan of the vocal part of the song, but I love the style and the choreo of the program. Very sophisticated and elegant with great connection between the two of them.

 

[kwanfan1818]

C/T's program is gorgeous, and they skate it so close together for much of it.

She looks stunning.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I love the costumes on C&T... I actually like this music too!!!!

Too bad about the technical elements.

This could be the first program theirs to draw me in.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Thanks for the C/T link. I think the program will be good...........her dress may be pretty, but it looks washed out, almost the color of her own skin. Maybe she should borrow Ashley's dress from Moulon Rouge!

 

[DFO]

I went down to Cranberry Open yesterday; here's my report on the pairs who competed there (not many).

NOVICE/INTERMEDIATE/JUVENILE

Novice pair Hom/Jerosch skated a Pocahontas LP. She very much looked the part, with a fringed nude faux leather costume and long dark braid. Nice packaging, nice program overall. I think this team is new?--.

Yes, they are new. Franz-Peter Jerosch won the Intermediate pair silver medal at the US Championship with Jade Esposito last year. He was also in pair previously with Lindsey Stevenson.

 

[AKA]

Greta & John Crafoord, the 2017 U.S. Novice Pairs bronze medalists, are listed for Latvia as representing Sweden (they did an exhibition at Swedish Nationals last season so this is not unexpected).

Does this mean they won't compete in the US for sectionals and nationals? They are fun to watch on video. Great skills!

 

[aftershocks]

Marissa Castelli/Mervin Tran will debut their FS ("Woman" by Shawn Phillips) this morning in Quebec. They kept their SP to "Fallin" by Alicia Keys, placing 4th (57.76) yesterday.

Here's C/T's sp @15:58 in this video: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5wrn2j

Meagan/Eric skate their sp next @21:40; and we also see Suto/Boudreau-Audet, and the on the rise pair from NKorea Ryom/Kim who skate their sp to a familiar Beatles tune A Day in the Life, made famous by Jeremy Abbott and Shae Lynn Bourne in 2010. Boy, did Ryom/Kim land first in the sp, or Meagan/Eric? Ryom/Kim have excellent timing and palpable confidence. I'd like to know more about their background in skating.
ETA: Ok, I see that Ryom/Kim (67.38) landed in second behind D/R (73.98) in first.
http://www.patinage.qc.ca/resultats-competitions/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CQE17_17_DET.pdf

Moore-Towers/Marinaro also competed but their sp is not in this video. I love M-T/M's new fp. Like C/T's the choreo is very romantic with lots of lovely touches and interesting lifts, which is a different look for both teams.

C/T really have something special with their fp (as do M-T/M with theirs), but Merv and Marissa have yet to conquer their tech element difficulties. They've got everything else: boffo style and positions, along with great speed and edges. I think M&M are a cut above M-T/M in terms of style*, but Kirsten & Michael are catching up fast in the style department and they aren't having any serious problems with their sbs jumps and throw jumps like M&M are experiencing.

It seems to be a timing or variant technique issue for M&M, and I can't understand why their tech difficulties have yet to be solved. It seems as if the problem has increased due to nerves and/or a lack of confidence caused by having the problem in the first place. Both Merv and Marissa seem to be throwing themselves into their jumps with a Hail Mary and like they have no clue how to rotate. And now the nerves or whatever the issue is seems to have infected their 3-twist and is continuing to cause havoc with their throw jumps as well. The 3-twist was landed worse in the sp, and in the fp with a lesser but still obvious and unaccountable stumble on the touch down. It looked as if Marissa was slanted in the air when Merv caught her and she was set down awkwardly. Does it have to do with new technique or just timing with that section of the choreo? I know it's early season but still IMHO they need to figure out asap what their tech problem stems from. That's the only way to fix it. They can't continue shrugging it off and trying to minimize it. In their recent interview, they spoke of working with a tech specialist. Since they have decided to keep last season's sp, it should give them more time to concentrate on repairing their tech snafus.

Is it possible for them to not worry about trying to jump in unison, but just jump like they know how to jump so they can get their confidence back on landing jumps!? Has someone looked at them and figured out what's wrong??? This has been going on for awhile, and not getting better. Can they please acknowledge the seriousness of this and see a sports psychologist and a different tech specialist who can actually see what the problem is and help them fix it? They have to face this head on if they want to get past it. Do they train their jumps and throws okay and then end up losing it in competition? I'm asking these questions because I love this team and I want them to succeed. Their tech issues are holding them back. They've got everything else: beauty, style, chemistry, speed, ability. But it looks like there were tech problems from the beginning of their partnership that were never addressed appropriately and have only gotten worse. I realize that fixing a problem in pairs figure skating can be complicated, but it just seems to me that they are confused about what's actually wrong. They can't improve if they don't know what's wrong.

On the plus side, C/T's fp is gorgeous and such a feast to delight in because it has so much room to grow all season long. They've got to fix their tech elements though. They have to believe they can do it, but they need to figure it out now. Stop everything else and all outside distractions and focus on fixing those elements, please! If there was at least some small show of improvement I wouldn't be so concerned for them. But they just seem confused and anxious after finishing their programs. They have to rid themselves of self-doubt and confusion. They have to find their rhythm together technically and be able to trust themselves and each other.

ETA:
*Wow, after taking a look at the protocols, I really question the PCS marks for C/T vs M-T/M Just because C/T have tech issues does not mean M-T/M have better skating skills, style, choreo and music interpretation. What are the judges looking at? M-T/M have improved a great deal and are continuing to grow in confidence, but they are simply not better in all PCS categories than Merv & Marissa. This type of scoring is what makes figure skating so frustrating. Take off on the tech side for sure, but give C/T credit for what they do so well stylistically! Obviously C/T have to fix their tech issues, but maybe by this point they can't fix it in their training environment in Canada. I understand that Merv loves his coaches and he's comfortable with them and with Julie, but I see problems with C/T's overall progress, and it's not for lack of talent. If they are going to be held down politically on PCS as well, that's too much of a downer.

 

[aftershocks]

I hope Erika Smith and A.J. Reiss are okay. I wish them well and I hope they bounce back strong in their next outing.

Looks like Cain/LeDuc are getting much more height and air time on their throw 3-twist (training in Italy with Mozer's group). https://www.instagram.com/p/BXjPrOCHycr/?taken-by=icegirlash