Grand Prix Final 2015- Pairs Free

If you'd like to see my thoughts on what happened in the pairs short, you can watch it here along with the men's short.

The pairs free at the grand prix final did not come out the way anyone expected.

Duhamel and Raford could not manage to make up their point deficit in the free. They managed to move up one place, but still finished in second behind Stolbova and Klimov.

Stolbova and Klimov beat Duhamel and Radford by quite a lot. They won by about 13 points. Unlike Duhamel and Radford, they had a clean skate. They got positive GOEs on every single element in the free. They also got over 9 in each part of the PCS. They skated well, but their programs continue to not be my favourite. I'm not so sure we're going to continue to see this from these two, they haven't looked great up to this point, and they're missing some of the big elements other teams have. I'm not certain these programs are going to continue to be enough for them come worlds.

Duhamel and Radford had some issues in the free which kept them from recovering from the short. They had issues on both their throws, especially the lutz. I think their problem comes largely from the indecision about that throw. They need to decide definitively if they're going to go for the quad lutz, because they are clearly capable of the triple. However, even the triple has been looking off in competition. Perhaps it comes down to doubt, but they will need to rely on technical perfection if they want to win worlds again this year. Many of there elements were fine, but not particularly strong, which is extremely uncharacteristic of them. Here's hoping this was a one off, and is not going to become a consistent problem.

Kavaguti and Smirnov could not hold onto their lead over Duhamel and Radford, but did manage to extend their lead over Seguin and Bilodeau. They struggled on both of their side by side jumps, which hurt them significantly. Most of the rest of their elements were fine, but not spectacular. Most of them recieved between and 0 and a 1.5, which is not what these two are capable of. We saw some of their weakness in the jumps that had been absent for quite a while. They've come a long way in the last year, but they clearly still have some work to do on nailing the elements.

Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau surprised the world, finishing in fourth at the Grand Prix Final. They've only just moved up from Junior, but they are not letting that show. They're skating clean programs which is allowing them to move up quickly. They don't have some of the technical content the others have, they don't have a quad, but the elements they do have they do well. They suffer a little in the PCSs, which I think has a little to do with the fact that they are new seniors. They're generally good skaters, and they do have the choreography and transitions in their programs. With time, they're going to be a force to be reckoned with in pairs. All season, I've said they're going to be Canada's number two, and this is going to solidify that position. They'll be at worlds for sure, now we're just going to face the question of who will be our number two team.

Skate America 2015- Pairs

I left my discussion of the pairs event to last because it was far and away the best event. The pairs event was a nail biter in the best possible way. I didn't know exactly what the outcome would be, and there were multiple outcomes that I would've been happy with.

Almost all of the pairs skated very well. There were not any huge mistakes, especially not from the top teams, and so the event was more exciting and more interesting.

Wenjing Sui and Cong Han won the event here. They have two quads, one twist and one throw, but they only did the twist. I would've loved to see the throw in competition, but clearly they didn't need it to win. They are amazing skaters, and I like their programs, but I don't like their short quite as much as last year's Stray Cat Strut. That said, the showdown between them and Duhamel and Radford will be intense, and I genuinely don't know who will come out on top.

Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim won the short program, but finished in second. They had pretty strong skates, but the quality of the elements didn't match up to Sui and Han's. They had some more mistakes than Sui and Han, but their programs are quite good, and they have some very good elements.

Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau made a great start on the Senior Grand Prix circuit. They finished in third at Skate America, behind two of the top teams in the world. For new seniors, this is a pretty great feat for them. I'm not in love with their short, but I have a feeling it'll grow on me. It's not even that I hate it, I just don't love it.

Stolbova and Klimov had a very dissapointing short they couldn't recover from. Though they had the second best freeskate, they finished in fourth. I don't love their programs, they don't have the energy and aren't as dynamic as past programs, like the Aadams Family from 2 years ago, or last year's programs. Also, her costumes are awful.

World Championships 2015- Rosters

The rosters for the World Figure Skating Championships are up!

Check them out here

For the most part, the entries really aren't surprising, however, Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov are not on the rosters.

Apparently they will be staying together, and have just decided to focus on next season (according to this icenetwork article) but they had been expected to finish in second at Worlds, barring disaster, so why would the Russian Federation allow them to opt out of Worlds when they were almost guaranteed a place on the podium?

The excuse they gave of wanting to work on a throw quad just isn't cutting it. They'll have plenty of time after Worlds to work on it, and it's not like they have no chance at the gold. Should Duhamel and Radford and Kavaguti and Smirnov make mistakes, even small ones, Stolbova and Klimov would've had a chance at that gold medal.

I think that after Europeans there's some drama in the partnership. Maybe they aren't skating well together right now, or maybe they're considering a split and want to keep it quiet, but no matter what, this is a topic we're going to want to watch.

European Championships- Pairs

The pairs event at the European Championships were the big surprise in Stockholm. Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov took the gold, ahead of Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov. The downfall of Stolbova and Klimov was a stupid mistake, tripping over his toepicks.

The rest of the event was extremely tense, with the cameras cutting to Stolbova and Klimov off ice after their skate.Though Russia dominated the pairs podium Ksenia Stolbova looked anything but pleased.

Image from rt.com [x]

Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov took the third spot on the podium behind their teammates, completing the Russian dominated podium. The had solid skates but in the grand scheme of the event a little forgettable.

Valentina Marchei and Ondrej Hotarek were the surprise of the event. Valentina has just made the transition from singles to pairs and has made a splash with Hotarek. They took me by surprise with their incredibly strong pairs element. They also have side by side triple lutzes, becoming the second pair to compete them.