U.S. Pairs 2018 - News & Updates, Part VIII

[Sylvia]

Yes, it may have been #25 on the WS list. No way to check, though.

I just checked last season's U.S. Pairs thread and you posted Liu/Johnson were #25 on the ISU World Standings list that was updated on May 8, 2017.

 

[Sylvia]

The Professional Skaters Association recently announced their annual Performance award winners from Nationals in San Jose, CA - congratulations to Tarah & Danny!

Best Performance Pairs
Tarah Kayne / Danny O’Shea - Championship Pairs Free Program
PSA Coaches – Jim Peterson, Amanda Evora
Choreographer – Shae-Lynn Bourne
Music Selection – “Swan Lake” by Pytor ILyich Tchaikovsky (selected and edited by Jim Peterson)
Costume Designers – Tarah Kayne, Jim Peterson, Dawn Imperatore

 

[Sylvia]

Re-posting this video (from the U.S. Ladies thread originally) here to complete all 4 disciplines -- this montage of clips is from the team building exercise at Champs Camp in August 2017:

Celebrate the end of the 2017-18 season with a special treat from Team USA! Song: "Feel It Still" by Portugal. The Man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6U4ipi3WNM

 

[nimi]

According to TSL (so not the most trusted source but anyways) it was Tarah's knee that took them out of the Worlds. Not sure if it's the same knee again, but allegedly it required some surgery and she'll be back on the ice within a month.

Here's the bit: https://youtu.be/hWz36YTGU_0?t=1h2m17s

I just really, really, really hope their next season will be without injury issues. *prayer hands*

 

[clairecloutier]

According to TSL (so not the most trusted source but anyways) it was Tarah's knee that took them out of the Worlds. Not sure if it's the same knee again, but allegedly it required some surgery and she'll be back on the ice within a month.

Here's the bit: https://youtu.be/hWz36YTGU_0?t=1h2m17s

Hmm, Deanna/Nate have said they didn't learn they were competing at Worlds until 2 days before they left (see this article). But if Tarah had another knee surgery or rehab, as TSL claims, surely Deanna/Nate would have been aware of that, since they train together? Or if it was a stress fracture to Tarah, as reported by @HeatherC, one would think Deanna/Nate would have also known about that. Not that any of this really matters, in terms of results or anything, but it's a bit curious.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

I was thinking that Tarah's injury happened right before Worlds (or was diagnosed right before Worlds) since their IceTalk podcast came out the week before Worlds and they were still going to Milan.

 

[HeatherC]

I found out about Tarah's injury (which she herself said was a stress fracture) on March 16th and in that message she said it had started hurting within the last two weeks (that puts it in the first two weeks of March). I haven't heard anything about more surgery but she didn't sound overly pessimistic the last time I talked to her. I guess there could have been a minor thing done....I have no idea the best way to fix stress fractures. I can check in with them this weekend and see how they're doing.

 

[RoseRed]

I found out about Tarah's injury (which she herself said was a stress fracture) on March 16th and in that message she said it had started hurting within the last two weeks (that puts it in the first two weeks of March). I haven't heard anything about more surgery but she didn't sound overly pessimistic the last time I talked to her. I guess there could have been a minor thing done....I have no idea the best way to fix stress fractures. I can check in with them this weekend and see how they're doing.

That article said Deanna and Nate found out on Thursday night, which would be the 15th. So the timeline makes sense.

Given how the details of what injury a skater has tend to get all mixed up even when they are fairly public, I'm not surprised there is a bit of confusion over the injury. Probably someone got confused because the stress fracture is related to her knee injury (IIRC). Hopefully it's not too bad and they can get back to training soon.

 

[el henry]

Nate has posted on his IG that he and Deanna are working with Anjelica Krylova at DSC for a SP (on iPad, too difficult to link).

Isn’t she a dance coach? The one who is returning to Russia? Or am I completely confused?

 

[Sylvia]

Nate has posted on his IG that he and Deanna are working with Anjelica Krylova at DSC for a SP (on iPad, too difficult to link).

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg7LC2alrjk/?hl=en&taken-by=natebartholomay

Isn’t she a dance coach? The one who is returning to Russia?

Yes and yes.

Mark Ladwig and Amanda Evora will be re-teaming! https://twitter.com/LadwigMark/status/979444184552787968

 

[HeatherC]

Mark Ladwig and Amanda Evora will be re-teaming! https://twitter.com/LadwigMark/status/979444184552787968

Why don't I live in Florida???!

 

[DimaToe]

Evora/Ladwig rehash? If their lifts are still as beautiful then yes please! Maybe grandma and grandpa being relevant in U.S. pairs would make everyone else get their acts together. I hope they win nationals.

 

[pairskatingfan]

Evora/Ladwig rehash? If their lifts are still as beautiful then yes please! Maybe grandma and grandpa being relevant in U.S. pairs would make everyone else get their acts together. I hope they win nationals.

I think they are competing professionally not in amateur events

 

[stjeaskategym]

I'm also at posts thinking that the Knierims were somehow "gifted" their Worlds or Olympics spot. Are you kidding me? And who the heck else is better? I loooove Deanna and Nate, but they did the best they could do. Tarah and Danny are fighting injuries, as shown by their withdrawal. Ashley and Tim can be great .... or not. As a poster on GS said, it's not like the US is leaving Gordeeva and Grinkov at home

Yeah I'm baffled by some of the posts here. I used to visit this US pairs thread so often, but in the past couple years it's just been frustrating to read and partake in some of the discussions. Anyone who pays close attention to pairs scoring knew that every pair at U.S. Nationals got a scoring boost, it wasn't just the winning team. Many of the teams were getting inflated GOE on their twist, for example. Among the top 3 from Nationals, the Knierims are the only ones whose International personal best is actually similar to their National personal best. Aside from Nathan Chen and our ice dance contingent, they were as obvious of a choice as we could have had for our Olympic/World team. Just because they haven't scored as well as they should have at times doesn't mean they weren't our team with the best potential to do well.

I hope USFS sends ALOT of pairs on ALOT of assignments this season. We need give them all a chance to compete and get a feel for their programs and see how they do in front of different international judging panels.

They always do. The US can't control exactly how many GPs their pairs get-- that's based on world standings and whatnot. But they always send plenty of teams to Sr Bs, including teams that maybe aren't so competitive internationally.

Their signature element 4 twist was mostly absent all year. Even the 3twist isn't scoring what it did.

Their 3twist has been scoring as well as it's ever had, except when they have an error on it, like they did in the Worlds LP. The quad has seemed to affect their triple. In their past two events, they've had issues with the 3twist twice, which is not at all normal for them. The point difference between 4twist and 3twist isn't great enough to make the quad worth doing unless they feel really comfortable with it (and it doesn't affect the rest of the program). I believe they said they did too many quads in 2015-2016, which is why they didn't try one until this year's Nationals. I'm not sure how wise it was to remove it from their Olympic Team Event LP at the last minute, as it may have caused some tentativeness and doubt in their game plan to creep in. But we need to remember how difficult of an element a 4twist is. Tarasova/Morozov have been competing it regularly lately but theirs is crashy in practice sometimes too.

I wonder why she seemed so wobbly today.

Yeah Alexa was really off in that long program, who knows why. She didn't look sick or winded though. Just a really off day. And it was unfortunate because their jumping has progressively gotten better lately and another top 10 finish was very doable. Even with several mistakes top 11 was very doable. That invalidated death spiral really hurt.

I'm not faulting Alexa. She has had a rough two years, but, they were given a huge boost at nationals to get the Olympic spot. They have never fully come back after her surgery.

They scored over 200 points in their second competition back from her surgery, pretty darn strong. She hadn't regained full strength at that point, but it was a fantastic Worlds for them. They were slowed this season more by Chris's knee. He didn't seem fully back to normal health until the Olympics. But they were always the highest US finisher in events anyway, as they have been since 2014. Perhaps Alexa needs a little more time, as she is still not far removed from a major health issue that required her to literally rebuild her body, but generally she looks as strong as she ever has. I don't know what was up with her in this LP at Worlds.

Scimeca-Knierim/Knierim defeated Yu/Zhang and Della Monica/Guarise at the Olympics. Which other American pair could have done that?

They also beat James/Cipres that day. And that was including a silly error coming out of a lift exit. Yes, they are somewhat unpredictable, but they truly are an internationally competitive pair, and I would say practically all of the top pairs in the world are somewhat erratic. Two of the pairs on this year's World podium counted big errors.

Don't you think if S/B had half the backing S/K did by the USFS they would have made the free?

The German team that was 16th was stronger. With so few pairs in the LP, not every decent short program skate can qualify. Even the 20th place team was very decent. And if Seguin/Bilodeau hadn't bombed, the qualifying score would have been as high as 65. Some people here talk about pair skating as if it's not even a sport, as if results have nothing to do with the ability and quality level of teams and you need some shady backroom shenanigans to qualify for the free skate. Deanna/Nate have gotten sent to plenty of internationals this season, including Skate America after a couple low scores, so the Fed has been plenty supportive of them.

S/K Have grown on me but the truth is they been held up by the United States all season long. They may be the best we have but continuing to hold them up and over score of them has not done them or the other teams we have out there any favors.

That doesn't make sense. Aside from Nationals, they compete internationally all season, so how does that indicate "the US is holding them up all season long"? You can resent them for scoring as well as they do, but they deserve credit. They've been our most consistently-high scoring pair throughout this quad, and it's because of the quality they have in areas where they're not making mistakes. Their twist and throws are bigger and superior to most pairs. Their pair elements (aside from this Worlds LP and to a lesser extent the Olympic individual event) are usually so good that they don't have to skate clean to get solid scores. And that, really, is the mark of a team with international potential, because most of the higher ranking teams at major events are making errors. But they're still scoring well anyway because of what they do aside from the mistakes.

I think one of the issues here might be that some people don't look at pair skating from an IJS perspective, they look at it as clean skates = good, mistakes = bad. And any time a US pair skates a solid program and maybe doesn't get a great score, some fans complain the US pair got robbed without considering where they fell short. It's just not that simple.

If I was making any policy changes to how team selection is done, it would be about how to fill the second pair spot (in the future if the U.S. earns it again some day). I would put priority on the team with the highest-scoring and most consistent SP. Bomb in the LP if you must, but at least get there!

Yes, with the qualification number at 16 and the field as deep as it is, the importance has become sending teams with the most realistic shot of getting to the LP, first and foremost.

 

[jdonavan]

Evora/Ladwig rehash? If their lifts are still as beautiful then yes please! Maybe grandma and grandpa being relevant in U.S. pairs would make everyone else get their acts together. I hope they win nationals.

Dear God. This thread. Always the most "fun".

PS: "Granny" Evora is younger than both Savchenko and Stellato. Anyway it says they are only teaming up for the 2018 US Open, a competition for professionals.

 

[clairecloutier]

Ashley Cain is engaged! https://twitter.com/icegirlash/status/980577141921402880

 

[Spiralgraph]

I'm a little late in commenting about the Knierims and while I agree that to date they are the USA's highest scoring pair and therefore best internationally, the contention that they belong with the highest tier teams is difficult to believe sometimes. Their results at the last 4 worlds are 7th, 9th, 10th and now 15th. Yes there are valid reasons for this, Alexa's illness and long recovery really hampered their progress. But even when healthy they were prone to lapses in concentration, where they made mental mistakes.
I think the fact that many people are so hard on them is because potential can only go so far, results, or improving results is what matters more. From a team that some hoped/or expected would lead USA pairs out of the darkness and actually into contention for a medal at worlds, because of illness and bad luck or competitive weaknesses, they haven't lead us to much. (with the exception of the Olympics team SP.)
I'll maintain that just landing sbs triple jumps is the starting point. If the Knierims or any US pair can do that consistently, at least I'll give them more respect and credit. And maybe the judges will too.

 

[nimi]

^ I don't know if you've heard, but there are rumors about Knierims making a coaching change. (Discussed here.) We'll see.

Ashley Cain is engaged! https://twitter.com/icegirlash/status/980577141921402880

This is cute:

The funny thing about our engagement was that Dalton sent Timothy a picture of the ring a year ago! So when Dalton proposed, I heard Timothy yell, “Finally, I’ve known about this for forever!!”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhKtmoFDamy/

 

[pairskatingfan]

I really doubt that the Knierem's would leave Dalilah, who has coached Chris all his life and who married the two of them. Unless Dalilah told them that they would be better off learning from a different coach, maybe they are too used to hearing the same things from Dalilah and can't progress under her anymore? Not sure. Dalilah also recently posted a video of a new team she has that is doing triple twist within a week of their partnership. Impressive.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

^ I don't know if you've heard, but there are rumors about Knierims making a coaching change. (Discussed here.) We'll see.

WHAT???? WHO??? WHEN??? WHY???? HOW???
haven't clicked on your link yet but this has nearly given me heart attack. @clairecloutier where are you???

I say NOOOOOOOO WAYYYYY there ever leave Sap....

Let me regain some composure now (and dignity) tee-hee

 

[insideedgeua]

Dalilah also recently posted a video of a new team she has that is doing triple twist within a week of their partnership. Impressive.

Ainsley Peterson and Matthew Rounis. Both skated with other partners at Nationals.

Ainsley used to be coached by Dalilah when she was previously partnered with Kristopher Ogren.

 

[AxelAnnie]

WHAT???? WHO??? WHEN??? WHY???? HOW???
haven't clicked on your link yet but this has nearly given me heart attack. @clairecloutier where are you???

I say NOOOOOOOO WAYYYYY there ever leave Sap....

Let me regain some composure now (and dignity) tee-hee

Seems like an odd thing for them to do at this point. They have done really well ... especially with the health issues they have had.

 

[Bonita]

I heard from a secret source that Mervin Tran had a tryout with an American pairs girl.

 

[VGThuy]

I heard from a secret source that Mervin Tran had a tryout with an American pairs girl.

Interesting. I wonder who it is.

 

[Willin]

@Bonita Is he no longer with Castelli? Or did she announce her retirement?

 

[Bonita]

Interesting. I wonder who it is.

I know who but would rather not say. I don't know her personally but don't want to cause drama for her if it's true. Not her fault if he is lookin'!

 

[Bonita]

@Bonita Is he no longer with Castelli? Or did she announce her retirement?

No clue if Marissa is retiring or not. Just was told by same source who told me back in the day Simon and Mariissa were done.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

I thought either Marissa or Mervin had posted on social media about them doing SP choreo awhile back. I thought they were sticking together.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I heard from a secret source that Mervin Tran had a tryout with an American pairs girl.

Say what now?

 

[lmarie086]

Oh no, I was hoping Castelli and Tran would stay together. I can't imagine how frustrated they must be to not be having better results, but I was hoping they'd change coaches and finally have things start to click.