Skate America 2015 - The Right Skaters at the Right Time (Pairs FS)

Figure skating is an ever-fighting battle - newbies fight to prove themselves and superstars fight to stay on top. Who will be victorious today?

There is a lot of mystery in Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov's The Man and the Shadow, and an aura of unease. Love the two original lifts, but they make quite a few mistakes: she steps out of the thrown triple Salchow and falls on the side-by-side one, the synchronised spins are not in sync and they finish behind the music. Their score: 125.65. Overall: 189.06.

I'm not sure why Julianne Seguin/Charlie Bilodeau are wearing dark blue for A Whiter Shade of Pale, but the performance is so good, I don't really care. Love the difficult entries into their lifts. One error: they are out of unison on the side-by-side triple Toeloops. They get 124.64 points. Overall: 189.49.

The medalists
Photograph: Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
Xuehan Wang/Lei Wang are another pair specialising in difficult entries into lifts. I absolutely love the side-by-side spins, during which I can count two original positions. Unfortunately, the side-by-side Toeloops are a mess and she falls on both thrown jumps. Their score: 106.82. Overall: 171.77.

China has two new superstars! Wenjing Sui/Cong Han's Samson and Delilah is powerful, elegant and peppered with difficult elements. He falls on the side-by-side triple Salchows and the side-by-side spins are not in synch, but with the favourites doing a poorly job, these mistakes won't cost them as much as normally. They get 133.72 points. Overall: 202.00.

It's a joy to watch Alexa Scimeca/Chris Knierim bring one of my favourite films - Elizabeth: The Golden Age - to the ice. It's less of a joy when they mess up every single jump except the thrown triple Flip. Their score: 122.28. Overall: 191.97.

The pairs' event ends with a question: is American pair skating ready to play with the big guys at the top of the rankings? The answer, I'm afraid, is not quite yet. There was an unusual downfall of idols happening here, which threw the food chain off balance and allowed Scimeca/Knierim to grab the lead. However, I do believe they would have still ended up on the podium with Stolbova/Klimov in the cards, so I will say they have made great progress. Her celebratory cheers are the proof. Congratulations for their silver medal.

Congratulations to Sui/Han as well for proving me wrong and taking the gold medal home, and to Seguin/Bilodeau for their incredibly successful senior Grand Prix debut.

For more Skate America coverage, go to: http://crystalskate.blogspot.co.uk/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Skaters We'll Miss, Part 5: Daisuke Takahashi

Image
October 31, 2008: It's a few days before the start of the 2008 Cup of China and for Japanese superstar, Daisuke Takahashi, it's the day disaster strikes. He's just torn a ligament in his right leg, which will take him off the ice for the entire season. What's even worse is that this is the type of injury that might just abruptly end the career of one of the most promising skaters of the decade. Long before becoming a superstar, Daisuke began his life in the ice rink by choosing between hockey and figure skating. He became a senior skater at the age of 16, but couldn't cope with the pressure and didn't become Japan's National Champion until four seasons later. Phantom of the Opera Photograph: Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images Sport In 2005/2006, at the age of 19, he almost lost the National title, and the chance to participate at the Olympics, when it was accidentally given to Nobunari Oda due to a miscalculation. The error was corrected though and Daisu...
Read more

Skate America 2015 Preview

Image
That wonderful time of the year is here again! No, I'm not talking about Christmas, but the start of the figure skating Grand Prix series. I've been waiting for this event since the last day of the 2015 World Team Trophy, and I know I'm not the only one, so let's get started. The logo of Skate America 2015 Photo: www.isu.org Skate America will open the Grand Prix series, as usual. It is held this year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee is not known for anything related to figure skating, but for its beer and festivals - beer festivals, I assume. In fact, the logo for Skate America this year looks so much like a beer label that I wouldn't be surprised if the party favours proved out to be small bottles of beer with the logo as labels. Wouldn't that be cool? As creative as the marketing of the event is, the logo isn't what it's going to make this event spectacular. That task is given to the skaters, and judging by the big names competing, they...
Read more

Let's Talk Music - Chapter 3, The Pitfalls of Modern Music

Image
After more than 150 years since its official appearance, figure skating finally caught up with modern times last season when the International Skating Union (ISU) decided to allow all disciplines to skate to music with lyrics. This decision was seen by many as the perfect opportunity to bring modern music into the equation. After all, it's been ignored for far too long in competitions, always kept at bay by how much of an impact the lyrics have over it. Joshua Farris took the Four Continents Championships by storm last season with his Ed Sheeran routine. Photograph: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images Asia The assumption that the new rule - which kind of translates into 'there are no rules' when it comes to the choice of routine - would encourage more skaters to turn to contemporary tunes was right. There has been a noticeable increase in this type of programmes last season. Some feared that this would take something away from the lyricism of the sport, but anyone who has...
Read more