Number four is done. Japan dominated the singles disciplines at NHK Trophy, and now there are only two events left to go to decide the qualifiers for the Grand Prix Final. With my thoughts on Takahashi and the rest of the guys complete, time to move on to the other events. I usually talk more about the singles and pairs disciplines, so let’s switch gears a bit and take a look at what happened in the dance event.
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Toepicks are dangerous.
If you didn’t see or hear about what happened during the first warmup for the free dance, the team with the longest name, Lynn Kriengkrairut and Logan Giulietti-Schmitt, had a high-speed, toepicks-everywhere, lifting-spinning collision with the team with the shortest name, Cathy Reed and Chris Reed. It’s been a while since there has been scary crash in figure skating, but that close call should reinforce how dangerous this figure skating can be.
WATCH: Kriengkrairut/Giulietti-Schmitt NHK Trophy free dance
WATCH: Reeds NHK Trophy free dance
Most skaters, including me, can tell you that toepicks are not fun to collide with. Kriengkrairut had a couple of nicks from Cathy Reed’s pick, but if you watch that again, a few more inches, and things could have been much worse. Luckily for both teams, everything was pretty ok considering what could have happened.
In other collision news, Canadians Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam had to withdraw because they collided with Italian’s Lorenza Alessandrini and Simone Vaturi in practice prior to the free dance and required 20 stitches on her left thigh.
“Ouch” doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Shibutanis win with underdog status.
Yes, Maia and Alex Shibutani took the bronze at Worlds last season, which has certainly gotten many out there to confer “favorite” status on them during the past two Grand Prix events (myself included). Of course, they took gold at NHK, but it wasn't easy.
WATCH: Shibutanis NHK Trophy short dance
But we should remember that they won by just a fraction over Pechalat and Bourzat, who gave up their spot on the podium as a result of a spill in the free dance. And the teams that have been giving them trouble this season, including Bobrova and Soloviev, who beat the Shibutanis at Cup of China, were teams that finished only a few points behind them at Worlds and have a history of earning higher program components marks than the Shibutanis.
WATCH: Shibutanis NHK Trophy free dance
As it is, it’s a close race between the Shibutanis, Weaver and Poje, Cappellini and Lanotte, and Ilinykh and Katsalapov. Based on Cup of China alone, there seems to be an increased preference for Bobrova and Soloviev from the international judges relative to the three teams. But we will have a clearer picture once Grand Prix Final puts all the top teams on the same ice.
But as with last year, the Shibutanis’ advantage is on the technical and execution side, so they will need to continue to be clean and precise with all of their elements. It almost seems like, with their meteoric rise to the World podium during their rookie senior season that they bypassed the rites of passage that is common in ice dance. They certainly aren’t getting the boost in marks that usually comes with a medal at Worlds, so you wonder if the judges are making them prove themselves again this season.
In many ways, the Shibutanis have reverted to underdogs again. It’ll be interesting to see how they rise to the occasion the rest of the season.
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