2024-25 US Pairs Discussion - Triple-Twisting Through Tornado Alley

[peibeck]

I’m currently at the skating club of Madrid where I am looking for new recruits into the harem

Alerting INTERPOL.

 

[marshallpond]

I am really perplexed as to why a novice pairs team only scored 12.87 in the Cup of Colorado. Were they there simply to get an NQS score, doing only 1 element in the short and 2 elements in the free (with choreo sequence scored as 0). What's going on here?

lace	Start	Name	Short Program	Free Skate	Total Score
Place	Score	Place	Score
1	3	Tallulah Tanner, FSC of Charleston Nickolai Apter, Great Lakes FSC	1	32.80	1	59.49	92.29
2	2	Lauren Ji, South Carolina FSC Luciano Chen, South Carolina FSC	2	27.72	2	41.68	69.40
3	1	Cadence Floyd, Broadmoor SC Hudson Lewis, Broadmoor SC	3	3.44	3	9.43	12.87

 

[sk8rgr8r]

I've seen Insta stories showing Felberbaum at that monitoring wearing full costume with Addyson. Baylen and Jared were invited but their team imploded at the Jump on It/Pairs camp. I will check who else was there, but mostly Chicago-based pairs

Does anyone know what happened to Floyd/Lewis (novice pairs) at the Cup of Colorado? Why did they get only a 3.4 score in the short? Seems like they did only one element and stopped

 

[sk8rgr8r]

One of the skaters in the pair is injured and in a walking boot.

 

[marshallpond]

One of the skaters in the pair is injured and in a walking boot.

Thanks for that. I figured they must be injured, though brave of them to still go out there.

 

[Karen-W]

Sooooo - Chan/Howe are the only team assigned to Lombardia - no substitutes listed.

Should be interesting to see which teams are assigned to Nebelhorn.

On the JGP - Flores/Wang, Hansen/Church and McDanold/Felberbaum have all been assigned to JGP Turkey.

 

[happycamper2554]

Sooooo - Chan/Howe are the only team assigned to Lombardia - no substitutes listed.

Should be interesting to see which teams are assigned to Nebelhorn.

On the JGP - Flores/Wang, Hansen/Church and McDanold/Felberbaum have all been assigned to JGP Turkey.

We are using most of our pairs spots on the JGP. I never thought I would see the day.

 

[Karen-W]

We are using most of our pairs spots on the JGP. I never thought I would see the day.

Ehhhh - we've left 3 unused through the first two JGPs. We'll see if all 3 are used for Poland - my bet is probably not, but I could be wrong.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Ehhhh - we've left 3 unused through the first two JGPs. We'll see if all 3 are used for Poland - my bet is probably not, but I could be wrong.

Why don’t they want to use them? Not enough teams that have potential?

I mean, I’ll go and complete…

 

[marshallpond]

Why don’t they want to use them? Not enough teams that have potential?

I mean, I’ll go and complete…

At the start there were only 3 junior pair teams in the ISP, so

Riga - 2
Ostrava - 1

They only added 2 teams recently after their Milwaukee monitoring, which will both go to Ankara together with Wang/Flores

 

[Karen-W]

Pairs are tough to keep together at the junior level and below - the partners are both likely going through growth spurts, then you have to consider their location as well as educational priorities, family finances, etc.

It's great that we have five different pairs teams to even send out on the JGP for any sort of international experience this year.

 

[bobmcm]

I think Plazas/Fernandez and Fitzpatrick/Bearinger are more likely since they share the same coaching team than Shin/Nagy, but I'll be happy if I'm proven wrong.

I'm honestly a little surprised that Shin/Nagy aren't entered at John Nicks because there are a couple of other Oakville teams there (Nagaoka/Moriguchi and Schaller/Mayr - who split their time between Oakville & Salzburg).

They have great potential... but still working on pair basics

 

[Karen-W]

They have great potential... but still working on pair basics

Shin/Nagy? Yes, they certainly have shown good potential on their IG. I hope they feel confident enough to compete next month at one of the NQS events and can qualify for the Pairs Final. I think we have about 12-14 teams that may be competing senior right now:

Chan/Howe
Digerness/Sadusky
Efimova/Mitrofanov
Fitzpatrick/Bearinger
Fredette/Siianytsia
Hanns/Neudecker
Kam/O'Shea
Korytek/Chapman
Martins/Bedard
McBeath/Parkman
Mokhovs*
Plazas/Fernandez
Shin/Nagy*
Williams/Lewer

Teams competing junior right now:
Carpenter/Maravilla
Flores/Wang
Hansen/Church
Gottschalk/Herbert*
Grohne/Lunt
Jarmoc/Witkowski*
McDanold/Felberbaum
Moss/Galbavy

* = hasn't competed yet this season, is not on the ISP and/or is not entered for any upcoming internationals

 

[Karen-W]

It was reported on yesterday's AnythingGOEs podcast that the reason Plazas/Fernandez didn't skate in the Summer Sizzler show was because Max is recovering from a concussion. Hopefully they'll be able to compete at their GPs.

Also, couple of changes to the John Nicks entries - Chan/Howe out as of today, Martins/Bedard out as of Sunday replaced by Fitzpatrick/Bearinger yesterday.

In JGP news - Carpenter/Maravilla, Hansen/Church and Moss/Galbavy have all been assigned to JGP Poland giving them 2 assignments each.

Efimova/Mitrofanov and Kam/O'Shea were assigned to Nebelhorn.

 

[Karen-W]

Flores/Wang won the bronze at JGP Latvia, Moss/Galbavy finished 6th.

Looking at the upcoming JGP entries, presuming there isn't some sort of injury issue for FlorWang, I'd probably switch them out with Carpenter/Maravilla and send them to JGP Czechia next week. The field there is a little larger but they just beat several of the teams that will be there and, apart from the other Chinese team we haven't seen yet, the rest of the teams are eminently beatable, IMO. I'd take my chances on getting them silver or gold in Czechia and guaranteeing their JGPF spot rather than send them to JGP Turkey with its deeper field (two good Canadian teams, plus the Italians who finished 4th at Jr Worlds last year).

 

[marshallpond]

Flores/Wang won the bronze at JGP Latvia, Moss/Galbavy finished 6th.

Looking at the upcoming JGP entries, presuming there isn't some sort of injury issue for FlorWang, I'd probably switch them out with Carpenter/Maravilla and send them to JGP Czechia next week. The field there is a little larger but they just beat several of the teams that will be there and, apart from the other Chinese team we haven't seen yet, the rest of the teams are eminently beatable, IMO. I'd take my chances on getting them silver or gold in Czechia and guaranteeing their JGPF spot rather than send them to JGP Turkey with its deeper field (two good Canadian teams, plus the Italians who finished 4th at Jr Worlds last year).

Has that ever happened? Last minute switches? Totally makes sense. Give your best team the best chance to make it to the finals

 

[kwanfan1818]

The travel should be straightforward, and they’re already over jet lag. Makes sense to me.

 

[Karen-W]

Has that ever happened? Last minute switches? Totally makes sense. Give your best team the best chance to make it to the finals

Last season when Williams/Lewer had to WD from the 2nd JGP (Turkey), the USFS juggled Flores/Wang's assignments and had them do back-to-back since they were already in Austria for the first JGP. It turned out to the benefit of Flores/Wang as they came away with two silvers in their JGPs and qualified for the JGPF.

The travel should be straightforward, and they’re already over jet lag. Makes sense to me.

Yeah, that's part of my thought process too. I realize the biggest challenge is the amount of school they would miss but unless there is an injury issue, I think the benefits would outweigh that.

On another note, I just saw on the USFS Int'l Assignments page that Fredette/Siianytsia have been WD from John Nicks IPC.

 

[mtnskater]

Personally, I think Flores/Wang need more training time before they compete again. I’m guessing they got a late start to training for this season for whatever reason. But they really did not look ready in Riga unfortunately. Not sure they would perform well next week without more training. On the plus side, I really like their Lion King program and hope to see it performed to their best this season.

 

[Karen-W]

Personally, I think Flores/Wang need more training time before they compete again. I’m guessing they got a late start to training for this season for whatever reason. But they really did not look ready in Riga unfortunately. Not sure they would perform well next week without more training. On the plus side, I really like their Lion King program and hope to see it performed to their best this season.

Their comments to GoldenSkate today after the FS seem to indicate they are definitely planning on being better prepared for Ankara, so definitely no thoughts of switching to the earlier JGP. Which is fine. I think the Ankara field is definitely beatable and they could easily win the gold there if they skate cleaner than they did today.

 

[Karen-W]

Another new junior pairs team competed in the SP only at Golden West Championships this weekend - Taisiya Shapovalova/Carter Griffin.

 

[maureenfarone]

Chan/Howe are off the entries list for Lombardia Trophy per update on September 3.

 

[Karen-W]

Chan/Howe are off the entries list for Lombardia Trophy per update on September 3.

Damnit. There's a rumor floating around that Emily suffered a concussion at Champs Camp which was why they didn't skate in the show and why they wound up off the John Nicks IPC list. I hope that she can heal soon and they can get at least one competition before the GP starts.

 

[happycamper2554]

Kam/O’shea first at John Nicks, efimova/mitrofanov 2nd. Would expect Mcheath/parkman to get the tbd at skam if this is the decider.

 

[Karen-W]

Kam/O’shea first at John Nicks, efimova/mitrofanov 2nd. Would expect Mcheath/parkman to get the tbd at skam if this is the decider.

Kam/O'Shea got a PCS gift here that I don't think will be enough to hold off Efimova/Mitrofanov from passing them over by SkAm. If not for McBeath's issues in the SP with her SBS jump and throw landings, they would have won bronze here - and I agree, the SkAm host TBD spot should be theirs.

I just hope that Chan/Howe can get back on track healthwise and we see them competing strongly this fall and at Nats. I really do believe they are capable of being a Worlds Top 5 team. Between a healthy ChanHowe and a solid EfiMit, gaining back 3 spots for Milano-Cortina is 100% doable for the USA.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Kam/O'Shea got a PCS gift here that

And the emo stand by me music. Oh my gosh. USFSA needs to hire me to come on and shake things up and inject some new music motivation to US figure skating. I have a whole vault of unused music. Just call me the music whisperer.

Anywhooooooo I am back from nearly a month in Spain and jetlagged and depressed and craving Spanish food among other things.

 

[Karen-W]

Greater Chicagoland Fall Invitational NQS entries are up - 3 junior pairs teams!

Mazie McFarland/Samir Andjorin (he's a new name to pairs skating, also from Oklahoma City FSC like Mazie)
Graceann Gottschalk/Sam Herbert (they just passed their jr pairs test)
Elizabeth Hansen/William Church (first competition - they were added to the ISP after summer monitoring & are assigned to JGP Turkey)

Fitzpatrick/Bearinger are the only senior team entered.

 

[emilieh]

Greater Chicagoland Fall Invitational NQS entries are up - 3 junior pairs teams!

Mazie McFarland/Samir Andjorin (he's a new name to pairs skating, also from Oklahoma City FSC like Mazie)
Graceann Gottschalk/Sam Herbert (they just passed their jr pairs test)
Elizabeth Hansen/William Church (first competition - they were added to the ISP after summer monitoring & are assigned to JGP Turkey)

Fitzpatrick/Bearinger are the only senior team entered.

Andjorin is Canadian and has been around the Canadian pairs scene for a while.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Food in Spain

 

[Spiralgraph]

I am gratified that Kam/O'Shea are improving their throws and jumps. If they keep improving their consistency, they have as good a chance as the other American teams to be the US champions in 2025. I've been a long fan of Danny O'Shea and since no US pair has been the model of outstanding skating I won't dismiss our current American champions. Let's see how this entire season turns out.