You’re right, it is very clear that the Z/K push began long before this season - they did not deserve to be in 4th at Nationals when they did with the skates they had. They got the nod to go to a 4CC after officials unilaterally decided to split championships just to give them something after they came in 4th. Split champs rarely if ever happened before this without a withdrawal. Lots of talk on podcasts about them being the next big thing, about how her freeskate background made their skating exciting and different (instead of, you know, technically incorrect, which it still is).
They never got penalized for hopped turns and small stumbles so as soon as they stopped making very obvious mistakes on things like twizzles, they were poised for a political rise. And then Green/Parsons played right into their hands by making so many errors and Carreira/Ponomarenko played right into their hands by not being 100% ready to go at the start of the season and suddenly Z/K looking stable and prepared gave their narrative credence.
that's why i wonder if there was any politics in the feedback CPom got at Champs Camp - it's hard to believe that Lacrimosa program needed to be scrapped altogether. we don't know if it was Madi or Scott on the ground with them, but he can be kind of reactive, and he said later they might have overreacted. and once they did scrap it, making an entire new FD put them weeks behind and also wasn't the best look in Olympic season, all of which helped Z/K and probably delighted Igor
what was interesting about Z/K is that the push was super clear in Beauty and the Beast season - if she'd been cleaner at that Nationals, we might have seen them rise sooner. but then last season, the Benoit contemporary FD got slightly underwhelming scores - they were consistently a little deflated getting their marks, so i'm not sure if that was a genuine response to that program, or if things had shifted in CPom's favor, and Z/K were being scored accordingly
but that film crew following Z/K around the mountains in Europe last summer was a big sign that something had happened bts. his twizzle mistake being overlooked at Finlandia in December when other teams's elements were being dissected under a microscope by the tech panel was the cherry on top of the giant push they got in the fall - they are chosen
CPom need to counter with their own narrative - they're stronger skaters, the emotional ones, the larger than life storytellers, they've been together since they were 13, she's bubbly and fun and has overcome struggles, he's a 2nd generation Olympian who wanted to do the sport his way - he's artistic and makes their music cuts, she's the gorgeous dancer with lines for days etc etc
it would be interesting to start to note what's said about the top US teams to get a sense of the politicking and what's sticking in their narratives
I stg this site has the silliest takes sometimes. Programs changing at the start is nothing new. Bock are like the prime example of evolving a program. Also Lacrimosa lowkey sucks as music, they should’ve just done Perfume from the start.
Ah yes the long con push that got them *checks notes* getting underwhelming scores and losing to LLG on multiple occasions. The long con push that tied them with GPa but had them lose in the free to miss worlds. Also bffr GPa and ZK were like neck and neck all year, the split assignment made perfect sense.
The film crew was Benoit, not USFS.
Literally everyone gets away with a twizzle call at some point omfg Piper and Guillaume are like poster children for getting away with twizzle calls. That’s just ice dance. Ffs CPom have gotten away with twizzle calls.
Christina is not the only female ice dancer allowed to improve. She was…not good at one point too. Believe it or not women dancers can get better! Which Emi has! I’m so sick of this narrative she sucks at skating because no. She doesn’t. Good lord you people seriously need to get rid of those tin foil hats.
