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

[Spiralgraph]

Gosh so surprised about the Tarah Danny news after they did so well at 4Ccs. Thrilled for Stell/Barth - hope theyve been given some notice.

Like Jayar commented in the US Ladies thread Deanna/Nate share the same coach as Tarah and Danny so I'd assume they knew they'd have to step in right after K/O withdrew

 

[leigh466]

I'm heartbroken for Tarah and Danny. I hope we hear some info soon about the injury. I hope it is minor and can be easily overcome. They were just lovely at 4CC, and I thought they were on an upward trajectory.

Like others though, I'm really excited that Deanna (the star!) will get a chance to shine at Worlds.

 

[pairskatingfan]

Too bad about this. Deanna and Nate of course have a higher base value in their short program, so hopefully they are able to show us what they are made of and qualify for the free skate with a nice short program and make a good showing the freeskate as well. Sad news for Tarah and Danny, but awesome that Deanna gets to make her world championships debut!

 

[LilJen]

Very sad for Kayne/O'Shea, given all the injury-fighting they've had the last couple of seasons. I hope Deanna/Nate have a wonderful competition.

 

[HeatherC]

I don't know all the details yet and they may want to talk more about it themselves (I know they're working on a blog for their website) but Tarah has a stress fracture in her leg. Apparently this type of development can be a side effect that's often seen with her type of knee surgery. They think all the extra training they had to do for 4CC, then as the Olympic alternates, and now for Worlds is what triggered the injury in her leg. I promise to post more news (or share the blog from Tarah & Danny) when I have it but I wanted to let you guys know this info so you didn't worry too much. Hopefully she'll be fine after some rest and rehabbing this spring and then they can head into next season at full strength. *fingers, toes, eyes, legs, and arms crossed that this is the last major injury for them*

Best wishes to Deanna & Nate at Worlds. I am excited for them. Hopefully they and the Knierims skate their best in Italy.

 

[aftershocks]

What's the cut-off number for pairs at Worlds this year? 16 again? That will be difficult once again. We do know that Sui/Han and Duhamel/Radford will not be there. Apparently, neither will Stolbova/Klimov. Savchenko/Massot are supposed to be there, as will James/Cipres. Both Italian teams will be there, along with the Russians T/M, Z/E, and A/R right? Certainly Yu/Zhang, Peng/Jin, and a third younger Chinese pair are competing. Canadians Luba/Dylan, Kirsten/Michael, and Julianne/Charlie will be there. The young Australian pair and the North Korean pair will be there. Other than that, perhaps the Austrian pair, second German team, and Japanese pair. I thought I heard that the Czech pair are not going to compete due to injury. Is there an entry list available?

I'm sad to hear about Tarah/Danny, particularly as they are 4CCs champions and would have gone into Worlds with some standing in the eyes of the judges, which matters. Plus, they have such lovely and competitive programs this season. I'm sorry they have experienced another setback. Prayers for them.

It's good for Deanna & Nate that they will have this opportunity, and I'm sure they will make the most of it. Surely they have continued to train. And they train at the same rink as Tarah and Danny. Still, they are a relatively new team without any substantial international buzz or standing. Since the scoring is very political, all they can do is skate their best and try not to overdo it, just try to skate clean. Everything else is out of their hands. Prayers for U.S. pairs at Worlds.

 

[shan]

@aftershocks Lubov/Dylan are not going to Worlds.

 

[nimi]

Cain/LeDuc's new programs to be choreographed by Camerlengo

https://twitter.com/icegirlash/status/974783452905197569

 

[aftershocks]

@aftershocks Lubov/Dylan are not going to Worlds.

Oh, is it because of Dylan's injury? I'm sorry they won't be there for a final competitive showing. Which team is next up to take their place? Ruest/Wolfe?

 

[skatingguy]

Oh, is it because of Dylan's injury? I'm sorry they won't be there for a final competitive showing. Which team is next up to take their place? Ruest/Wolfe?

I'm sure it's because of Dylan's injury, but it's certainly possible. Yes, Ruest/Wolfe are the 3rd Canadian entry.

 

[Sylvia]

Is there an entry list available?

Since you don't have Kiss & Cry access, I've posted the link in the Pairs (all countries) discussion thread here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...wo-skating-as-one.101317/page-20#post-5329559

 

[nimi]

From Jackie's pairs practice report: Knierims are doing sbs 2A2A seq instead of the 3T2T combo - "similar base values but looking much more consistent so far as an element for them" (5.28 for 2A2Aseq vs 5.60 for 3T2T)

https://twitter.com/rockerskating/status/975762627585593344

 

[Skittl1321]

Oh, is it because of Dylan's injury? I'm sorry they won't be there for a final competitive showing.

Are they retiring?

 

[skatingguy]

Are they retiring?

I think it seems that they have retired.

 

[Sylvia]

From Jackie's pairs practice report: Knierims are doing sbs 2A2A seq instead of the 3T2T combo - "similar base values but looking much more consistent so far as an element for them" (5.28 for 2A2Aseq vs 5.60 for 3T2T)

https://twitter.com/rockerskating/status/975762627585593344

Thanks! Here's his tweet about SK/K and Stellato/Bartholomay's first SP run throughs: https://twitter.com/rockerskating/status/975763374960267264

(I've started a thread n the 2018 Worlds forum in the Kiss & Cry section and posted the link to the Jackie's practice notes in his blog there.)

ETA: Jim Peterson posted this clip of Deanna Stellato landing a 2-footed throw 4S with good flow out on his Instagram before they left for Milan: https://www.instagram.com/p/BgaEHZGAGBJ/

 

[nimi]

ETA: Jim Peterson posted this clip of Deanna Stellato landing a 2-footed throw 4S with good flow out on his Instagram before they left for Milan: https://www.instagram.com/p/BgaEHZGAGBJ/

Nice! I really hope they make the FS cut and get a chance to go for that quad. (Okay, I'm probably rooting for, like, 20 pairs to make that top16 but Deanna gets a VIP status on that list.)

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

From Jackie's pairs practice report: Knierims are doing sbs 2A2A seq instead of the 3T2T combo - "similar base values but looking much more consistent so far as an element for them" (5.28 for 2A2Aseq vs 5.60 for 3T2T)

https://twitter.com/rockerskating/status/975762627585593344

For real?

 

[clairecloutier]

For real?

It's a good move. They have not hit a successful SBS 3T all season. If 2A/2A is more consistent, it makes sense. ETA: If they can hit even one of the two 2As, they'll still probably score more than they have with 3T/2T.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

ETA: Jim Peterson posted this clip of Deanna Stellato landing a 2-footed throw 4S with good flow out on his Instagram before they left for Milan: https://www.instagram.com/p/BgaEHZGAGBJ/

Wow... to come back after 17 yrs and then do quads???? Get it girl.

 

[aftershocks]

Too bad about this. Deanna and Nate of course have a higher base value in their short program, so hopefully they are able to show us what they are made of and qualify for the free skate with a nice short program and make a good showing the freeskate as well. Sad news for Tarah and Danny, but awesome that Deanna gets to make her world championships debut!

It's simply not up to them where they place after they do the absolute best they can. Why? FS Politics. Worlds debut, and possibly seen as expendable under certain scenarios, without a solid politically savvy fed, plus a country not considered strong in the pairs discipline. So they do the best they can without putting too much pressure on themselves and be satisfied with their effort and with the experience they gain regardless of placements. Being able to be there in and of itself is gravy.

It looks like Deanna & Nate have been continuing to train hard since 4CCs, which should be very helpful for them.

 

[oleada]

I love your continued insistence that the USFS has no political influence

 

[Sylvia]

Worlds SP scores/placement in Milan today:

11 Q Alexa SCIMECA KNIERIM / Chris KNIERIM USA 69.55 37.77 31.78 8.00 7.82 8.04 8.00 7.86 0.00 #18

17 Deanna STELLATO / Nathan BARTHOLOMAY USA 61.48 33.11 28.37 7.14 6.86 7.18 7.11 7.18 0.00 #3 (new ISU personal best score)

Deanna:

We really enjoyed ourselves out there. After all we didn't know we were coming until 24 hours before we left. Luckily we were still training.
(On coming back to skating after a 15 year hiatus and changing discipline from singles to pairs) I've had to learn a lot of new things. The side-by-side jumps were the same and the throws came pretty naturally but we had to make them bigger, and I'm still learning the death spiral. But being older puts everything into perspective. I take things more seriously being an adult, but it's also why I learn so fast. And I've got here because of our coaches, because of Nate and because I'm an adult.

Nate:

After practice yesterday we were pretty dejected. Everything seemed to go wrong but then we came out today and had a clean practice and got a Season's Best so we're pretty happy now. We came out here and did our best and if we don't make it past the short program well, we'll be back next year.

Like last year in Helsinki, Alexa & Chris will have to place 10th overall for the U.S. to keep 2 pairs spots for next year. They skate #6 (2nd in the second FS group) tomorrow. ETA - Good news! Stellato/Bartholomay's 17th place in SP counts as 17 points so if the Knierims can finish 11th overall, the U.S. will retain 2 spots - ISU Rule 378 is linked here:
https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...wo-skating-as-one.101317/page-20#post-5329608

Alexa:

We're very proud of our performance and happy we did our hard elements. We could improve our GOE but we're happy to be here. We wish we could have broken 70. We were so close and that was our goal but it's not going to rain on our parade.
(On coming to the World Championships after the Winter Olympic Games) At the Olympic Games we didn't skate up to our potential. We're capable of really great things and we didn't do it so this was our chance to improve on it.

Chris:

We were disappointed with our individual event at the Olympic Games. We wanted to make sure we left these programs where we wanted to leave them.
(On the mistake at the end of the Group 3 lift) It was a case of elbow to the face at the end of the lift. I have a hard head but Alexa has a hard elbow. But neither of us is hurt and it's just weird because we never mess up that lift but that's how it goes.

 

[A.H.Black]

Thanks Sylvia. I was just coming to ask about the points. Too bad that a personal best wasn't good enough to qualify for the free skate. It seems to me that it's time to expand the pairs free skate to 20 teams.

 

[el henry]

Has this been printed before? I didn't see it: Deanna would like to keep going to 2022!

ETA: working link:

Article interviewing Deanna and Nate

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...b51e028b845_story.html?utm_term=.e0a475b4bcc1

Quote from article: "Stellato doesn't know how long her second act in skating will last but she wants to continue until at least the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China — when she will be 38.
"I've had a 16-year vacation, I can go another four," she said with a smile."

You go girl (and my homie Nate)

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Refresh my drink.. I thought if you place in top 13 you can send 2 next year?

Or am I living in rules that are expired????

 

[oleada]

Refresh my drink.. I thought if you place in top 13 you can send 2 next year?

Or am I living in rules that are expired????

If you have two entries in an event, and both make the FS, top 12 is enough to get 2 entries for next year. The placements have to be 28 or less.

 

[nimi]

^ Exactly. And because Deanna&Nate were the first pair that didn't Q for the FS and therefore were awarded 17 points (the rest of the pairs that didn't Q will get 18 points regardless of their actual placement in SP), Knierims must finish 11th (which is their current standing) or higher to keep the 2 spots (17+11=28).

ETA: ooops @Sylvia already explained this points thing earlier, sorry!
Not sure if this has been already shared here (obviously I'm not very good at seeing things lol) but yesterday USFS posted a Facebook video with Deanna&Nate: https://www.facebook.com/usfigureskating/videos/10155500819436342/

 

[Sylvia]

Thanks for posting the link to the Associated Press article by Daniella Matar, @el henry!

Karen Rosen also wrote a good article on Stellato/Bartholomay that was published before Worlds: https://www.teamusa.org/News/2018/M...Deanna-Stellato-Is-Headed-To-Worlds-At-Age-34
Excerpt from the end:

Although Stellato’s original goal is still the Olympic Winter Games, she said making the world championships is “a pretty close second.”
“The month of March is the birthday of my rebirth of skating,” Stellato said. “And then additionally, when I skated earlier in my career, I used to beg to go to an Italy international (event), because all four of my grandparents were born in Italy and I’ve always wanted to compete there. It never happened, so it’s a cherry on top that not only are we going to worlds on my birthday month of skating, but also that we’re going to Italy.”
She doesn’t know how long her second act in skating will last. Although she now lives in Florida and does some coaching for spending money, she has kept her licensing up so she could go back to the cosmetic surgery field.
She said when she told Dr. Peter D. Geldner at The Geldner Center that she was leaving, he and his wife said, “We’re terribly sad to lose you, but we tell our children every day to go after their dreams. And if this is your dream, we fully support you.”

Deanna's Instagram message after the SP: https://www.instagram.com/p/BgnrYNOjlum/?hl=en&taken-by=deannamsd622

 

[eurodance2001]

And now US Pairs will be fighting it out for only one Worlds spot next year.. I guess now since the bottom has been felt, there's nowhere else to go but up..

 

[eurodance2001]

https://twitter.com/alexa_knierim/status/976897831633080320

Sigh.. there's no need for apologies if she gave her best under whatever circumstances are going on..