#cpom save me

[a-birdhouse-in-your-soul]

no hawayek/baker at us nats no lajoie/lagha at four continents…ice dance is over.

[anewbeginningagain]

​Have to say that while the top 4 skated well, it was the teams below them that I enjoyed the most, Lajoie/Lagha and Carreira/Ponomarenko especially. 

Going one by one:

​Harris/Chen - finally redemption for them after a horrible season, still have a way to go but this was a step in the right direction.

KoKo - surprisingly enjoyable and overall clean and getting decent levels, I was positively surprised.

Soucisse/Firus - will forever be hampered by their ability to only interpret one style of dance, mostly stagnated even after moving to Carol Lane but at least the country switch will get them to the Olympics before retirement.

Orihara/Pirinin - I dig them so much and they nailed their Chicago FD, not in the same class as some of the rest in terms of skating skills but my god do they commit to their performance. Kudos to Juho for legit committing to the performance more than 99.99999% of ice dance men.

Taschlers - clearly not over their injury, sloppy unfortunate mistake in the RD with the lift, and not enough experience to save the situation. FD was better but they need time to heal.

Demougeot/Le-Marcier - I like them a lot but they are being held up by lifts and pazzez, their step sequences were not great, especially the one-foot.

Davis/Smolkin - terrible swan lake program, terrifying straight line lift that is supposed to impress but is mostly shaky, and mediocre skating skills. Their score was a travesty and seeing their swan lake followed by that of the Mrazeks was so telling.

Mrazeks - the first time I was really impressed by them, their FD was powerful and skated with confidence beyond their experience, they will go places for sure.

Smart/Dieck - not gelling together like you would have expected or they would have wanted just yet. Potential is there but it will take more time. Decent first half of the FD but then really falling apart. Scores too harsh though.

Lim/Quan - like the Mrazeks they are going places, but with them I'm not surprised. Hannah Lim is a STAR. Their FD grew on me and improved over the year, but I did miss their Dance Macabre FD.

Fournier-Beaudry/Sorensen - For the first time she was way more shaky than he was, I feel for her as mentioned before, this FD was skated overall well but it was clear that they didn't stand a real chance of winning anything, doubt they can even feel it was that much rewarding. My hope for her is that they will move on and retire, and that she can somehow put this behind her (whatever way she chooses to).

Turkkila/Versluis - the first time I managed to enjoy their FD, still not my favorite team and I find their skating skills lacking in the step sequences. It's legit a travesty how they are scored in and out of Finland, one of the most egregious cases of home ice inflation when you think about it.

Reed/Ambrulevicuis - love them, would have had them behind CPom overall, they are great but the basics are not as good as some of the rest.

Carreira/Ponomarenko - one of the two major highlights for me, improved power and speed, best one-foot of the event (L/L close second), and while Christina has been on an upward trajectory for two seasons now, today Anthony really managed to deliver as well, strong twizzles, and great interpretation. I will miss this FD so much, and I pray Scott, Madi, and Adria can get them two great programs for next season as well.

Lopareva/Brissaud - just not the team for me, nice skating but doing nothing for me. I hope they move on from Gui's pretentious choreography not gonna lie.

Lajoie/Lagha - second highlight of the night for me, stunning FD skated to close to perfection, and with so much emotions. After the injury they had it's just a testament to their strength that they managed to nail this FD. They too are going places, and hopefully very soon.

Fear/Gibson - were close to unwatchable for me since they were following the emotional high of L/L's FD. To their credit no matter how cringe their material is for me the audience always gets behind them and they did so today as well. But that Rocky FD is a big no for me, and it's depressing to know they will come out with another campy cringe FD next season as well.

Chock/Bates - came close to disaster with the rotational lift but saved it with their experience, this FD is not their strongest and it was skated well but didn't create a moment. Will they retire or not is the biggest question for me.

Guignard/Fabbri - came close to disaster too and also saved it with experience. He was shaky during the FD but they skated well. Bronze makes sense here. I kind of wish they would retire as well but at this point, it is clear Milano is their target.

Gilles/Poirier - Dislike their shtick, but manged to enjoy their FD for the most part. Put of the top 3, deserved to win the FD. Here as well, will they reitre is the biggest question for me (time to leave the stage to L/L).

Final note - praying P/C don't come back, with so many amazing young teams on the horizon it will be super depressing watching them do the same FD for the 8th and 9th years but still be rewarded.

[sunskate]

What did Ben Agosto make of CPom and Green/Parsons? I think he has good insights when he makes them on Twitter but I couldn’t watch last night. He usually praises Chock/Bates to the skies but I sort of think of them as separate to this competition because they’ll win by 20 points so I’m more curious about what he thinks of the up and comers! Green/Parsons still have great skills but they do themselves no favors with international inconsistency and slow starts to seasons in such a reputation based hierarchy. I like Bratti/Somerville very much as individual skaters but something about them doesn’t gel for me as a team. It’s not about her being weaker either, almost every team has a weaker partner, something about their movement styles won’t mesh.

i'm watching on peacock which has Ashley Wagner and Adam Rippon. Ben's on the NBC and USA broadcast with Tara and Johnny. if the NBC version is saved somewhere, i'd like to see it too. someone sent me a couple clips, but that's it

Ian has a performance quality like the spotlight's on him - a theater kid vibe, and she doesn't. it's definitely not a flower/stem dynamic 😅 it's interesting how a team can skate quite well in unison but still feel like they're skating next to each other, rather than together