2023-24 Pairs General Discussion - Join the SBS Double Salchow Club!

[Belsornia]

I won't really be surprised if some, or even most, of the changes aren't passed, with an understanding that they will be in 2026 once the committee has defined them better, and giving skaters, coaches and choreographers more time to prepare. If not, seems like next season has the potential to be very messy.

 

[Karen-W]

I won't really be surprised if some, or even most, of the changes aren't passed, with an understanding that they will be in 2026 once the committee has defined them better, and giving skaters, coaches and choreographers more time to prepare. If not, seems like next season has the potential to be very messy.

This is where I hope Eric Radford really speaks up in support of the pairs skaters who are going to be dramatically impacted by this rather sudden shift. Fabio Bianchetti's rationale - that these proposed changes need to be implemented immediately - employs some pretty faulty logic.

“Bureaucratically, it is very complicated,” he continued, “because we have to propose everything one year before the Congress, and we have to organize the idea one year before the proposal. If we implement everything two years after the Congress that means that every new idea has to be implemented nearly four years after it was thought of. When it is implemented, it is already old.”

If you have to propose everything one year before the Congress then why were the discussions with the skaters & coaches only held this past winter at Euros and Worlds? Shouldn't those discussions have taken place in 2023, with the Tech Committee going back and tweaking their proposals based upon the feedback received then? Furthermore, it's not a full four years from "idea to implementation" as he is implying if they wait to implement anything until the 2026-27 season, but rather three years. It all feels just very rushed and sort of just going "well, Ice Dance really has gotten better with the addition of these non-leveled choreo elements that are GOE-whores, so how can we incorporate them into Singles and Pairs?" And while I think that the proposed changes for Singles are fine, I'm not at all convinced that the Singles & Pairs Tech Committee has much of a clue about Pairs and what SHOULD matter for the discipline.

I made the comment over in GSD and I'll stick it in here too - I'd have rather they eliminated the SBS solo jumping pass in the FS and only allowed one SBS jump combo/sequence in the FS.. I'm also, the more I think about it, not much of a fan of losing the necessity to demonstrate mastery of both the SBS spins and the Pairs Spin Combo by alternating those two elements in the SP and FS every season. Losing the SBS solo jumps would open up space for another choreo element - whether that be a non-leveled choreo lift, choreo spin, choreo step sequence, or choreo field moves sequence - it could be the team's choice and that would open up some degree of variety in the programs that doesn't exist at the moment.

But really, I think we all need to form a prayer circle that the Pairs Tech Committee proposal passes.

 

[Sylvia]

And... representing France - Flavien Giniaux & Chloe Panetta (previously skated for Canada with Kieran Thrasher) - training in Caen with Bruno Massot and in Oakville with Bruno Marcotte.

Meet Chloe & Flavien:

AJustrainer on Instagram: "🎙 l L’interview de l’athlète 🥇 l Aujourd’hui, nous vous présentons le couple de patineurs artistique Chloé et Flavien @chn_acsel_caen #ajustrainer #preparationphysique #preparateurphysique #coaching #training #caen #calva

109 likes, 3 comments - ajustrainer on May 2, 2024: "🎙 l L’interview de l’athlète 🥇 l Aujourd’hui, nous vous présentons le couple de patineurs artistique Chloé et Flavien @ch...".

www.instagram.com

 

[Sylvia]

Also, IceLab is apparently holding another Pairs Seminar this week

2-min. IceLab COE video of moments from “The Artful Duo” pairs seminar in Bergamo, Italy:

Ice Lab - Center of Excellence on Instagram: "The Artful Duo - Pairs Seminar 2024 Highlights part 1 #icelab #icelabcenterofexcellence #theartfulduo #isudevelopment"

126 likes, 1 comments - icelab_coe on May 5, 2024: "The Artful Duo - Pairs Seminar 2024 Highlights part 1 #icelab #icelabcenterofexcellence #theartfulduo #isudevelopment".

www.instagram.com

 

[Sylvia]

Sandra Bezic, who skated pairs with her brother Val, talks about the top pairs at 2024 Worlds in part 2 of Anna Kellar's "The Future of Future Skating" podcast conversation with her (May 6): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWs3q0_TZ0g

Part 2 of my conversation with choreographer, director, and producer Sandra Bezic! We talked about the World Championships in Montreal and the moments that made Sandra more optimistic about pairs skating and the future of the sport. We also got into the proposals from the ISU Technical Committee for Singles and Pairs to add a choreographic lift and spin to the pairs free skate.

 

[Sylvia]

Patinage Quebec published their annual sectional development teams document dated 4/25/24 with a new pair team listed in Team B - Thierry Ferland (will be 27 in August) and Joy Weinberg, 27 (2016 U.S. Junior Pairs champ with Maximiliano Fernandez and 9th in their Senior debut at 2017 Nationals): https://patinage.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Athletes-B-RC_2024-2025-V2.pdf
(ETA - will cross-post this in the Canadian Pairs news thread)

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Has anyone seen any updates on Barquero and Zandron? I mean more than enough time has gone by for the suspension correct? Are they still together? Any updates?

 

[Karen-W]

Has anyone seen any updates on Barquero and Zandron? I mean more than enough time has gone by for the suspension correct? Are they still together? Any updates?

She spent a fair bit of time in India this spring - I think doing some sort of yoga certification program. She posted on her IG this past week from a rink in Madrid. No updates to the doping suspension, AFAIK.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

She spent a fair bit of time in India this spring - I think doing some sort of yoga certification program. She posted on her IG this past week from a rink in Madrid. No updates to the doping suspension, AFAIK.

Wow, I can’t believe after all this time no information has been released and who knows if any progress has happened. I was really into this team three years ago, I would love for there to be some sort of transparency regarding the situation.

 

[Sylvia]

Anastasia (stasya_golybeva) Golubeva shared an Instagram story clip today of her skating a new SP with Hektor Giotopoulos Moore - music is Muse's Exogenesis Symphony Part 3 Redemption (sorry, folks!). Igor Tchiniaev (based in Montreal) was included in her caption - as the filmer or choreographer?

Annika Hocke’s off season training day video:

Annika Hocke on Instagram: "Wie sieht ein ganz „normaler“ Trainingstag bei mir in der Off- Season aus? Ich nehme euch mit💪🏻 #AnnikaHocke #Eiskunstlauf #ADayInMyLife #Skating #Iceskating #Vlog"

273 likes, 6 comments - anni_kamaria on May 20, 2024: "Wie sieht ein ganz „normaler“ Trainingstag bei mir in der Off- Season aus? Ich nehme euch mit💪🏻 #AnnikaHocke #Eiskunstlauf #AD...".

www.instagram.com

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Anastasia (stasya_golybeva) Golubeva shared an Instagram story clip today of her skating a new SP with Hektor Giotopoulos Moore - music is Muse's Exogenesis Symphony Part 3 Redemption (sorry, folks!). Igor Tchiniaev (based in Montreal) was included in her caption - as the filmer or choreographer?

Annika Hocke’s off season training day video:

Annika Hocke on Instagram: "Wie sieht ein ganz „normaler“ Trainingstag bei mir in der Off- Season aus? Ich nehme euch mit💪🏻 #AnnikaHocke #Eiskunstlauf #ADayInMyLife #Skating #Iceskating #Vlog"

273 likes, 6 comments - anni_kamaria on May 20, 2024: "Wie sieht ein ganz „normaler“ Trainingstag bei mir in der Off- Season aus? Ich nehme euch mit💪🏻 #AnnikaHocke #Eiskunstlauf #AD...".

www.instagram.com

OMG I read that the first two times as Gubanova and Hektor and I’m like what are they drinking? That makes no sense.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Annika Hocke’s off season training day video:

Annika Hocke on Instagram: "Wie sieht ein ganz „normaler“ Trainingstag bei mir in der Off- Season aus? Ich nehme euch mit💪🏻 #AnnikaHocke #Eiskunstlauf #ADayInMyLife #Skating #Iceskating #Vlog"

273 likes, 6 comments - anni_kamaria on May 20, 2024: "Wie sieht ein ganz „normaler“ Trainingstag bei mir in der Off- Season aus? Ich nehme euch mit💪🏻 #AnnikaHocke #Eiskunstlauf #AD...".

www.instagram.com

I would not mind doing “The Holiday” with her and doing a home swap, that looks quite nice there.

 

[Sylvia]

(Also posted in the OES thread) Zoë Pflaum and Linus Mager are a new Junior pair team for Switzerland: https://www.instagram.com/zoelinus_pairskating/
The English version of their GoFundMe says their "goal is to participate in the Junior World Championships in 2025":

Our journey takes us to training in Swindon, England and Zurich Oerlikon, where we work hard under professional guidance to refine our technique and perfect our choreographies. We will train mostly in Swindon, UK with Christopher Boyadji, Zoe Jones, and Lloyd Jones and also live in Great Britain. During the competition phase of the Swiss Cups, however, we will also train again and again in Zurich Oerlikon with our club ESCZ with Gheorghe Chiper and his team.

 

[Karen-W]

Robin Szolkowy will be coaching at the Dundee Pairs Training Camp and Tryout this month -

British Ice Skating on Instagram: "📣 Exciting news alert! We can confirm that Robin Szolkowy, the five-time World champion and two-time bronze Olympic medallist will be coaching at the Dundee Pairs Training & Tryout Camp at the end of this month!

181 likes, 1 comments - britishiceskating on May 22, 2024: "📣 Exciting news alert! We can confirm that Robin Szolkowy, the five-time World champion and two-time bronze Olympic medallist will b...".

www.instagram.com