The 2016-17 season has been a bit wild and unpredictable for U.S. pairs. There's been some highlights and some exciting new talent; but also, a lot of injuries and problems. The roller-coaster season continued at U.S. Nationals in Kansas City, where we saw some surprises and unexpected results. Run-up to Nationals The first half of …
This afternoon, Ashley Cain/Tim LeDuc will take the ice for their first U.S. Nationals together. This unlikely duo teamed up just 7 months ago, after both took a long break from pairs skating. Despite their time away, Ashley/Tim immediately clicked as partners and have had surprising success in their first season together, winning a bronze …
Sometimes, it seems like pairs skating begins and ends in Russia. Factually, of course, this isn't true. Obviously, lots of other countries have competed in pairs since 1908, when the discipline first became part of Worlds and the Olympics. In the early years, pairs skating was dominated by Austria, Hungary, and Germany. Then, from 1954-1962, …
The pairs event at last weekend's Grand Prix Final ended unexpectedly, with Tarasova/Morozov of Russia winning gold and favored World champions Duhamel/Radford taking only bronze. Along the way, we saw some growing pains from the new Chinese pairs, more consistency from Zabijako/Enbert, and scrappy performances from Seguin/Bilodeau. The overall level of skating was not as …
NHK Trophy in Japan was the last stop on the Grand Prix circuit this season. For the third consecutive year, Duhamel/Radford won the event. We also saw strong performances from the two Chinese pairs at the competition. Let's take a look at what happened. Duhamel/Radford Meagan/Eric came to Sapporo looking for their second Grand Prix …
At Cup of China, the pairs competition is usually all about the top Chinese pairs. And it was never more so than this year, when we saw new teams Yu/Zhang and Peng/Jin compete against each other for the first time. These 2 new pairs are the product of a partner swap that the Chinese federation …
The pairs event at Trophee de France featured some some big names, but I was disappointed to see a field of only 6 pairs (instead of the allotted 8). Two French pairs who were originally assigned to the event withdrew quite late, and were not replaced. Since pairs skaters already have the lowest number of …
Last season, Aliona Savchenko/Bruno Massot burst onto the scene with an unexpected World bronze medal. Savchenko/Massot showed huge potential in their debut season. This season, their task is to fulfill that promise and establish themselves as gold-medal contenders at Worlds and Olympics. They took a step forward this week by winning Rostelecom Cup. Meanwhile, Russian …
Skate Canada was the first Grand Prix event for two-time World champions Duhamel/Radford. Their presence automatically raised the level of this competition; but there were quite a few other good pairs in the field as well. Overall, this was a better-skated pairs event than at Skate America, with some close competition for the medals. Let's …
The Grand Prix season started this week at Skate America in Chicago, and luckily, I got to see the event live! This was my second year attending Skate America, and it was a lot of fun! The level of competition in the pairs event wasn't the highest. But there was drama and some emotional highlights, …
