As most U.S.
skating fans know already (and Olympic-year fans will soon find out), there
will only be ONE pair team representing our country in South
Korea . That’s because last year’s U.S.
champs (Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier) did not qualify for the free skate at
2017 Worlds, leaving a very low “placement” number to add to the placement of
Scimeca-Knierim/Knierim, and consequently no minimum ordinal reached to qualify
two teams.
Unfortunately it’s high symbolism for the state of U.S.
pair skating these days, which likely hasn’t put a team in the Worlds top 5
(let alone medal) in over a decade. I say “likely” because I haven’t the time
to verify that statement via research—gotta get these pairs predictions up,
then go get my teenage daughter fitted for another pair of pointe shoes, then
back to at least follow Twitter as the next event shakes out (may save watching
until later… so much to get done!)
All I’ll really say about the pairs as a whole is this:
PLEASE hit those side-by-side jumps. The most gorgeous lifts in the world can’t
really overcome a botched staple element of the discipline.
GOLD: Scimeca-Knierim/Knierim (out last year due to health
issues)
SILVER: Denney/Frazier (last year’s gold medalists)
BRONZE: Stellato-Dudek/Bartholomay
DARK HORSE: Cain/LeDuc
NOTE: As I understand it, ONE team will be chosen for
Olympics but TWO teams will be chosen for the World Championships in March.
MEN’s predictions up later today!
Also check out my polls about Nationals—the newest one will
be pinned to the top of my Twitter feed (@KLBSt8ofSk8).
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