'24-'25 Main Characters: Pairs

There's actually just one main character but I wrote a lot anyway.

I had this grand plan to prep for the fall Grand Prix series by writing a series of “explainers” to lay out some of the basics of the sport for casual viewers— what are the events, how does scoring work (we will never know), what are the elements, etc.

And I got bored just thinking about writing all that. If I’m bored thinking about it, you’ll probably be bored reading about it.

New plan! We’re focusing on the stories instead.

In the lead up to the Grand Prix series starting October 18 at Skate America, I’m taking the month of September to update you on this season’s Main Characters.

I’m defining “Main Characters” loosely. These are the skaters that will either get the most attention or in whom I am personally invested. Will there be a North American bias here? Yes, I can’t help myself. I’ll just own that now.

This week: Pairs!

Admittedly, I’m just getting this one out of the way because Pairs interests me the least now that Alexa Knierim is unofficially retired. Pairs is so messy— so many falls because both partner have to land jumps when it’s hard enough for one person to do that. When they’re perfect, it’s incredible. They are just so often not perfect.

Main Characters:

Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps (Canada)

Let’s be real: there is actually one Main Character on this team and it is Deanna. Deanna is the diva opera singer; Max is the accompanist. Deanna is the ten tier meringue wedding cake; Max is the fork. Deanna is Taylor Swift; Max is a back up dancer. You get the idea.

Just in case you’re new here— we root hard for Deanna because she is 41 years old. In skating years, this makes her 80. She started out as a singles skater for the US, and actually had some success until she retired in 2001 at age 18 due to injury. FIFTEEN YEARS later, she was inspired to try again during one of those work retreat exercises where you think about your ultimate life goals. My work goals usually don’t go further than, “Research ways to use AI that don’t feel gross,” so I’m very impressed by Deanna’s vision and follow through.

And it’s not just that she’s Team Old. She’s Paris Gellar on ice. Smart, determined, never satisfied. She sings along with her Whitney Houston music while she’s flying through the air in a sky-high lift, she takes mime classes to learn how to project her expression to the back row, and she already has her Olympic season music planned.

Deanna is now 8 years into her comeback, and she is killing it. Deanna/Max won the World title last year, so they’re entering the pre-Olympic season looking like Contenders. Deanna just needs two things:

1. Her health to hold out. Max’s too.

2. Justin Trudeau to grant her Canadian citizenship so she can represent them at the next Olympics. There’s a petition circulating; she brings it up every chance she gets. I like her odds.

Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (Japan)

Riku and Ryuichi are the most successful Japanese Pairs team ever (I think?), and they’re definitely the first Japanese team to be World Champs in 2023. With the Russians still banned and the Chinese teams in a re-building phase, this team has really capitalized on their momentum.

And they’re cute! Kihara always has an expression like he can’t believe his good luck, and Miura often wears her hair in dainty little barrettes that belie her ferocity. They have excellent reactions to good scores, and you just can’t help but want them to do well.

Last year, they were plagued by injuries but still gave Deanna a run for her money at Worlds. There was a little controversy because they didn’t show up for the medal ceremony when they came in second. There’s hisses in certain corners of the Internet that they were poor sports who didn’t want to accept the silver, but the real reason is that Kihara had a drop in blood sugar and needed immediate medical attention. I don’t buy the rumors for a second.

This year, they just need consistent health, and they could be the front runners during the Olympic season.

The Secondary Players

These are teams that are interesting to me, I just have less to say. They could all factor in medal placement.

Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud (Canada): She used to skate singles. He was cheated out of an Olympic spot with his former partner for reasons that would take too long to explain. They’re rising stars in Canada, but mostly I can’t stop thinking about the origin of the double “n” in Trennt. Is it a Canadian thing? Like spelling it “colour” instead of “color”?

Peng Cheng/Wang Lei (China): China seems pretty determined to make Peng happen. They keep pairing her with different men skaters, and she does seem to be more and more successful with each one. Cheng/Lei had a pretty good international debut last year, and China is known for putting together strong Pairs. They could zoom past everyone else this year.

Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava (Georgia): Look, I don’t like to cast anyone as the villain, but these two have not endeared themselves to figure skating Twitter. First of all, they’re both actually Russian and train in Russia. Second of all, they competed in both Junior and Senior Worlds last year, and they actually won the gold at Junior Worlds. Technically, they didn’t do anything wrong. And there are skaters from other countries, particularly small federations, that compete in both Senior and Junior competitions. But these two had already medaled at senior events when they returned to Junior Worlds. It felt like a medal-grab. We’ll see if they pull the same trick again this year. They’re young enough that they can.

The Germans (Hase /Volodin & Hocke/Kunkel) I’m going to be honest… I can’t tell you much about these pairs except that they are both on the rise. And I want them to do well because the German federation doesn’t give them much money. I like an underdog.

Maria Pavlova/Alexei Sviatchenko (Hungary) Another case of secret Russians, and and another case of Queen/Peasant, a la Deanna and Max. Maria is a star— little and fierce and exactly the kind of Russian diva that we love to watch on the ice. Do I think it’s shady for countries to “rent-a-Russian”? Yes I do. Do I enjoy watching her? Also yes.

All the Italians (Beccari/Guarisi, Conti/Macii, Ghilardi/Ambrosini) The Italians are STRONG right now. I wish I had more to say about them, but my awareness boils down to this:

• Guarisi is a world champ in Pairs roller skating. Ashley Wagner calls him Kitty Paws because Beccari/Guarisi skated to Cats in their debut season. She was clearly into it; he was clearly not.

• Conti/Macii used to date each other. They broke up but kept skating together. They’re now with other people, but they still appear VERY INTO each other when they get their scores. You can’t look away.

• I don’t actually have anything to say about Ghilardi/Ambrosini. Feel free to leave comments telling me why I should love them. I am easily persuaded.

And… the Americans.

Friends, I reget to tell you the American teams are neither Main Characters nor Secondary Players right now. They might be Extras. When Alexa Knierim left, she took all the Pair Girl magic energy with her. But here’s who would like to become a Main Character:

• Emily Chan/Spencer Howe: My personal favorites, though they seem to be dealing with continued injuries as they have dropped out of some early season competitions. They looked like the obvious successor to Knierim/Frazier… until Spencer needed shoulder surgery. They had a tentative comeback last season. basically competing just enough to let the American judges know they should not forget them. The rare team where the male skater has as much charisma as the female skater. Maybe more.

• Ellie Kam/Danny O’Shea: The current US frontrunners. Ellie is 19, Danny is 33. And it makes me uncomfortable. Not great at landing throws but good enough at other elements to stay ahead of everyone else.

• Plazas/Fernandez: They’ve never met an action movie soundtrack they don’t love, and they have a pet Corgi named Axl Rose. You really want to root for them. AND OHMIGOD THEIR LIFTS. Truly, beautiful work. Their lifts are stunning, world class, a triumph of human athleticism, could beat everyone else if was just lifts. But you can’t win on lifts alone. Their jumps are a bummer. I wish they would have her do whatever Alexa did to fix her jumps.

• Efimova/Mitrofanov: Here’s your dark horse. Efimova is Finnish-Russian, and she previously competed for Germany, so they’ve essentially brought in a ringer to compete with Mitrofanov. He was on track to be the next big US team before his partner decided to go to college and switch back to singles skating. Alisa JUST got released from Germany, so we’ll see what they do on the international scene, now that they have a chance to play with the big kids. I think they’re a potential spoiler for Ellie and Danny. I don’t think she would get citizenship quickly enough to make them an Olympic threat, but maybe they’re eying 2030.

And there you have it! Pairs will be chaos this year. Yes, there’s a handful of teams that seem likely to win medals when they compete. But there are more teams that have equal capacity for brilliance and floppage. Predicting the top ten at Worlds will be like drawing names out of a hat.

Did I miss a team? Skip over a crucial fun fact that makes a team more interesting? Feel free to share in the comments.

Three Non-Skating Things

• Did you know that “got the morbs” was Victorian slang for that feeling that you’re under a despondent cloud? Like a general, low-key depression? Morbs is, delightfully, short for “morbid.” Someone tweeted about it recently, and it’s stayed with me. What a great word for it— “morbs” SOUNDS the way it feels.

• Anyway, I’ve had the morbs this week. And I couldn’t tell you why.

• Except, yes I can. I looked back at my schedule the last couple of weeks and realized I haven’t seen any friends in person or done anything creative in a while. On the one hand, it is a relief to go, “Oh right, I always feel bad when I over-introvert and sink into an endless social media scroll.” On the other hand, it feels ridiculous that it’s as simple as that. So here is your reminder if you’re feeling blue, maybe it’s deep. But maybe it would help to get some watercolors and see if your friend wants lunch.

  

What’s Next: Main Character energy in the Men’s Field!