It's hard to believe, but U.S. Nationals is right around the corner. Due to the Olympics, Nationals is very early this year (Dec 29-Jan 7). With the event coming up so soon, I thought I'd take a look at what to expect from the U.S. pairs in San Jose. Although it hasn't been a stellar …
The pairs event at Russian Nationals is always so fun to watch. It's actually one of my favorite pairs competitions of the entire year! The quality level and depth of Russian pairs, as a group, is just so high that it's inspiring and exciting to watch. This year, there was another level of intensity, with …
The lead-up to this year's Grand Prix Final was dominated by news of Russia and the Olympics. Two days before the Grand Prix Final began in Nagoya, Japan, the IOC announced that Russia was banned as a nation from the 2018 Winter Olympics. However, the IOC also decided that clean Russian athletes will be able …
The pairs event at Skate America was a fitting conclusion to a very competitive season on the Grand Prix series. Current World silver medalists Savchenko/Massot came from behind to win the event, while Yu/Zhang and Duhamel/Radford also skated well to win medals. Overall, this was a very deep and talented field of pairs. As at …
This week's pairs event at Internationaux de France was interesting, if perhaps a bit controversial. Tarasova/Morozov of Russia won their second Grand Prix of the season; but their victory over surging French team James/Cipres wasn't as convincing as their win at Rostelecom Cup. Let's take a look at what happened in Grenoble. Tarasova/Morozov Tarasova/Morozov came …
Continue reading Internationaux de France 2017: Pairs Review
It was another week, and another win, for Wenjing Sui/Cong Han at NHK Trophy 2017. Although Sui/Han faced more competition at NHK Trophy than at last week's Cup of China, they still dominated, scoring nearly a 12-point victory to take the gold. Let's take a look at what happened with the pairs at NHK. …
Cup of China was the third stop on this year's Grand Prix circuit. The pairs event in Beijing didn't feature quite the same level of competition as the first 2 GP events this year. But it was still an enjoyable event to watch, highlighted by the season debut of Sui/Han. Sui/Han This was Sui/Han's first …
Skate Canada 2017 featured a great field in pairs: 2017 World silver medalists Savchenko/Massot, two-time World champions Duhamel/Radford, and 2017 European medalists James/Cipres. No less than 7 of the 8 teams at this event had medaled previously on the Grand Prix, which gives an idea of the depth of the field. Happily, the skating at …
This season, the usual Grand Prix event schedule was reshuffled, with the Grand Prix starting in Russia at Rostelecom Cup, instead of at Skate America. The schedule change feels odd … yet somehow appropriate, for the pairs skaters. The last Olympic cycle ended with Russian pair Volosozhar/Trankov claiming double Olympic gold. Will this cycle end …
In June 2016, the ISU voted to reduce the length of men's and pairs free skating programs, starting in the post-Olympic 2018-19 season. Announced as one of many votes at that ISU Congress, this decision represents a major change in pairs skating. The 30-second decrease is an 11% reduction in program time. Pairs free skates …
