Part Two: PAIRS I was happy to see Sui/Han finish on top of the podium here. Their skating quality and the strength of their programs were most definitely the best in the field, in my opinion. I love both of their musical selections, though I am not sure fuschia is the right color for Sui’s SP dress. The botched spin in the short was the only thing keeping them from leading in the short and I they didn’t even do all of the quads they’ve been planning in their free skate, so there is plenty of room for this team to grow as the season progresses. They skate next at their home event Cup of China, where they’ll face off with Kavaguti/Smirnoff. I am THRILLED for Alexa Scimeca and Kris Knieirm on their silver medal here. I was thinking they could scrape by for bronze, but this second place finish is huge for them. Watching Alexa’s face as they got their SP scores was so cute! They let nerves get the best of them in the free, but I hope they take confidence away from this event. I do like their programs this year, and I would love to see them continue to climb up the pair rankings. They have a tough second assignment, skating at NHK against Volosozhar/Trankov and Duhamel/Radford. I fell in love with Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau this weeked. HUGE CONGRATS to them on their first Grand Prix medal. These two are an incredibly well matched team and I absolutely love the adoring way that they look at each other when they skate. Charlie has the best facial expression of any of the pair men that I’ve seen. I like their free skate and I am excited for them. They skate next at Trophee Bompard. I am not sure what is going on with Stolbova and Klimov- but they better figure it out FAST. It’s incredible to watch them skate; they are so powerful and their speed across the ice is unparalleled by the other teams in this event. And then it’s frustrating to see them struggle because they are so talented. They will probably not make the final after finishing fourth here, so they need to do some good work before Russian nats. I don’t know if it’s Volosozhar/Trankov’s return that is making them nervous or the Euros debacle still haunting them, but they need to work this out. Props to Tarah Kayne and Danny OShea for toughing out that long program. Overall, I think they have strong program selections this year, and I am happy to see them trying the quad. They need to have patience with themselves and just keep working. And I’ll say it- the POTO LP works for them. I’m excited to see the programs at Rostelecom in a few weeks. Wang/Wang were beautiful to watch. Just another great Chinese pair!
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November 2017
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