The pairs event at Four Continents felt a bit depleted this year. Only 2 Chinese pairs competed, and Canadian #2 team Seguin/Bilodeau withdrew due to injury and were replaced by Grenier/Deschamps. Then Duhamel/Radford had to withdraw when Meagan came down with a severe bout of stomach flu! So overall, it wasn’t the deepest event. However, we still saw some good performances. Continue reading “Four Continents 2016: Pairs Review” →

Despite the withdrawal of Kavaguti/Smirnov and Stolbova/Klimov, Europeans was still one of the most exciting and well-skated pairs events of the season so far.

The competition featured reigning Olympic gold medalists Volosozhar/Trankov in their first major ISU championship since Sochi, plus the major-championship debut of V/T’s longtime rival Aliona Savchenko and her new partner Bruno Massot. It was such a thrill to see Tatiana/Max and Aliona once again battling it out and dominating the medal stand!! I’ve missed this rivalry so much. And not only was there an exciting battle for the top of the podium, many of the other European pairs also put out great performances. The event had depth, as well as star power. Continue reading “Europeans 2016: Pairs Review” →

Recently, former U.S. pairs champion Kristi Yamaguchi called U.S. Nationals “the most terrifying event of the year” as a skater. Because U.S. Nationals is, in a way, a referendum/final judgment on an entire year—both for individual skaters and their disciplines. The last few U.S. Nationals (2014, 2015) saw U.S. pairs skaters generally on the upswing. This year’s Nationals, however, was frankly a discouraging year for the U.S. senior pairs. Continue reading “U.S. Nationals 2016: Pairs Review” →