Factual error: The shot of the stadium outside concourse and parking lot on the second day of nationals would be assumed to be the Chicago Stadium, home of Blackhawks. A closer look reveals the stadium is the outside concourse and parking lot of Comiskey Park home of the Chicago White Sox, which is an all outside venue particularly used for baseball games, and can not hold any indoor competition. (01:05:10)
Factual error: During the movie, Doug watches video from the previous Olympic competition. The skaters are shown performing in a darkened arena lit by spotlights. Special lighting effects like this are not allowed in competition. All competitions take place in a brightly lit arena.
Factual error: Doug and Kate's first meeting, very early in the film, is when they run into each other in the hallway of an ice arena - supposedly she's running off, leaving the rink where she was just practicing, while he's running towards the rink where his game is. Thing is, in reality they wouldn't have both been in that building at that time. Hockey (Doug's event) and figure skating (Kate's event) were given totally separate buildings.
Factual error: The couple couldn't have debuted at Nationals. They would have needed to have placed at Regionals in order to compete. You must be qualified from competitions that year. Even if you were National Champion in previous years, it doesn't ensure participation. And even if Kate had qualified with another partner, that doesn't count - it is the complete pair who must qualify.
Factual error: In the scene at the end where they do the Pamchenko in competition it appears to be an impossible move. He was spinning in circles, in one place, when he released and threw her, but in order to catch her, moving away from him, he would have had to have superhuman acceleration.
Chosen answer: One reason is that singles skating focuses on jumps. Pair skaters usually do side-by-side jumps like double axles and the easier triple jumps. Single skaters now do up to three triple jumps in a row - a skill that pair skaters do not work so hard to master and may set her back in competitions.