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| World Championships 2005 Pairs - Short Program |
| Before you read, a disclaimer:
I am not infallible, I cannot guarantee not to have made any mistakes and since it’s impossible to mention everything, there are bound to be some omissions. If you have any comments, disagreements or corrections, feel free to contact me, I’ll appreciate any input. Since these reports are based on Eurosport TV broadcast, I can never be sure about the issues like speed or ice coverage. I completely forgot to count the seconds on the spirals (each position must be held at least 3 seconds) but it was generally difficult for me to concentrate since I have gone completely off-balance after Eurosport has cut the first three pairs to show 30 minutes of silly fluff, including Jayne Torvill’s opinions on the new judging system and discussion on new wonderful freedom blades. Some of the abbreviations I use: ‘coe’ = change of edge ‘held’ on jumps means the landing was just held, hung on to, so the flow out probably will be poor and free foot might be put down quickly ‘held’ on spirals and lifts refers to the CoP rules requiring the skaters to hold them for at least 3 seconds ‘overrotated’ means turning out of the jump and putting the foot down, while ‘turned out’ means turning out of the jump, without the free foot touching the ice The reviews are arranged according to the starting order. Full results can be found by clicking one the links below: Pairs Short Program - Official Results Pairs - Final Standings 1. Julia Shapiro/Vadim Akolzin /ISR/ 2. Marylin Pla/Yannick Bonheur /FRA/ 3. Rena Inoue/John Baldwin /USA/ They were all axed by British Eurosport in order to show fluff, as explained above. I will try to write something on those couples, once I see the clips. 4. Diana Rennik/Aleksei Saks /EST/ 2flips – straight off steps! throw 3salchow – great lasso – to one hand, slow spiral into her holding leg into bids 2twist – low, two-footed sbs camel/sit/change sit – good synch circular spiral sequence – her in v and catchfoot pair: camels/half sit/donuts/sit var Technically, it was a great performance for them, they just keep improving. This was even a better performance than at Europeans. Now it’s time to improve their presentation, since they just skated from one element to another. 5. Qing Pang/Jian Tong /CHN/ 3toes – far apart, his twice as high as hers throw 3loop – massive, he didn’t extend at all on her landing huge 2twist – he was late with the free leg camel/sit+var/coe sit – went really out of synch on coe axel lasso to one hand - changing positions throughout pair: camel/sits/stutter on change of foot/camel+upright circular spiral sequence – both in ugly catchfoot at end transitions into bids Their interpretation was mostly restricted to throwing up their arms when the music went up. Nevertheless, I have an impression that their basic quality has improved since last season. 6. Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao /CHN/ 3toes – both leaning forward, he was over the toe spread eagle into axel lasso – constantly changing position, two-footed throw 3loop – fantastic flying camel/combo – he wobbled, went out of synch, he travelled massively delayed 2twist – amazing serpentine spiral sequence – he poor extension pair spin: slow, stumbled at end bids The throw and twist were great but poor landings on triple toes and problems on both spins. Complete disaster on the side-by-side combination spin. Big question mark over the interpretation, their skating was soft, as was the music and they did try to set the mood at the start but later just went from one element to another, not really paying attention to it. 7. Olga Boguslavska/Andrei Brovenko /LAT/ sbs 2loops very long set-up to throw 3salchow – looked clean, but very slight touch down from her 2twist – low and two-footed lasso lift – basic camel/sit/upright/sit/fi upright – great synch circular spiral sequence – she doing bielmann, both good extension bids – only one rot pair spin - ok Terrible Carmen latin mix but program improved since Euros, adding two cool transitions (her going in a split and her pulled through almost lying down on the ice) and it was the first time that their throw salchow wasn’t completely double-footed. 8. Olga Bestandigova/Jozef Bestandig /SVK/ v spiral, him in spread eagle into holding her leg bids – excellent 2axels – off-synch, he foot down, she held 2twist – ok camel/sit/change sit/front attitude – she came out 1rot earlier serpentine spiral sequence – lots variation but extensions could be better throw 3salchow – low, just held it, foot down quick lasso to one hand and one hand dismount pair spin – her in v position at end, okish Very strange how now the tables have turned. She is the confident, strong partner, while he is messing up the side-by-side jumps. Chris said their flow wasn’t great and I’m adding that the elements didn’t seem to bear a lot of relation to the music. 9. Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin /RUS/ holding leg into bids serpentine spiral sequence – both in catchfoot and v throw 3loop – slight lean to the back but perfect landing 3toes – he took off slightly earlier but perfect landing 2twist – arms above her head axel lasso – to one hand, one hand dismount, messy footwork, slow sbs spins – slow rotation pair spin – very nice variation with her in a catchfoot on his leg at end A different order of elements that the rest but can you say it’s much more balanced if all the big elements are crammed in the middle, instead of the front? Other than that, they were very good and their skating quality, lines and overall quality was head and shoulders above everyone else. 10. Rumiana Spassova/Stanimir Todorov /BUL/ 2twist – hesitant take-off, fall throw 2loop – big some steps lasso lift – to one hand, one hand dismount, double-footed long set-up into 2flips, not great flow out v spirals both into bids – nice positions into camel/sit/change sit/Y – good synch circular spiral sequence – both do V at end pair spin – sit vars and Mishkutenok there Great choreography and transitions in the program (they are the new King and Queen of OES!!!) but sadly they didn’t sell it very well because of nerves (and probably the hard fall). She looked scared and tense right from the start. 11. Tatiana Volosozhar / Stanislav Morozov /UKR/ 3toes – both held gigantic 2twist – clearly on one foot throw 3loop – touch down with foot coming out one foot take-off into lasso, to one hand and one hand dismount – two-footed interesting entry into bids – almost lying on the ice camel/sit/change sit/Y – ok circular spiral sequence – he has no extension, she catchfoot and charlotte pair – she does some vars but loses speed at the end Best death spiral and twist of the event and other than the double-footing the best lift. They need to gain more polish and she needs to stop putting her foot down on the throw loop but they have some fantastic technical qualities to build on. 12. Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang /CHN/ front spiral into axel lasso, changing pos – so fast and strong! 3salchows camel/sit/change camel/coe sit/sit var – ok, she didn’t really change edge or maybe he just spun on the wrong one huge throw 3loop – low on landing delayed 2twist – clearly on one foot serpentine spiral sequence – lost speed at end, her in catchfoot spiral straight into pair spin with her still in catchfoot – wow! nice transition into bids They are already way better than Pang/Tong and hopefully the judges are going to start reflecting that soon. Last three elements connected so well! 13. Kathryn Orscher/Garrett Lucash /USA/ 2twist – quite low, two-footed 3toes – he took off earlier and fell throw 3flip – almost had it but fell lasso lift to one hand and interesting dismount circular spiral sequence – basic, possible coe at the end pair spin – slowish bids – holding leg at start, not great position camel/sit/c sit - ok Very subdued performance, not really projecting and selling the program but that’s not a surprise after two hard falls. 14. Dorota Zagorska/Mariusz Siudek /POL/ throw 3salchow – low on landing but good flow out 3toes – drifted apart, he held his camel/sit/v/change sit/coe – badly off-synch pair spin: two changes of foot some steps, break, 2twist serpentine spiral sequence – basic pulled through shoot-the-duck entry into axel lasso lift – lots of position changes, great ice coverage bids - with change of hold Dorota was actually acting at the beginning and smiling throughout – unbelievable! Not a great performance however. You can see that she still hasn’t regained her full strength and the lost practice time shows. They didn’t sell the program well, lacked power and their elements were not as strong as usual. Nevertheless, considering that her broken shoulder only recently healed, that was a very successful comeback. 15. Julia Obertas/Sergei Slavnov /RUS/ 3toes – his twice higher, not great synch long set-up into 3flip – somehow managed to find free foot and land, didn’t get enough height gigantic 2twist – clearly on one foot circular spiral sequence – camel/sit/fi upright into sit/Y – went completely off synch at end axel lasso to one hand, changing rotation, messy inverted dismount bids – poor positions pair spin – lots of positions but messy They went for a lot of difficulty and paid the price with practically all their elements being very messy and the whole program not really holding together. In any case, it seems impossible for me to actually focus on it and admire their good quality because those horrible bright yellow costumes are extremely distracting. 16. Martina Aganina/Artem Knyazev /UZB/ 2axels – she was around ¼ short and turned out throw 2axel – hesitation on landing but ok 2twist – low but clean serpentine spiral sequence – with catchfoot positions flying camel/???/fi upright/change sit – completely off synch, couldn’t see most of the spin because of overhead cameras lasso – went to one hand and she fell down on him bids – quite high position, messy pair spin – slow, poorly extended When I saw their GP performance, I though they improved a lot but here they looked very bad (maybe because of the contrast with Z/S and O/S). Their lines were terrible and all the elements looked poor and messy. It’s quite shocking to see them as high as 15th so far, with a higher technical score than Garrett/Lucash! It will be very interesting to see the protocols. 17. Utako Wakamatsu/Jean-Sebastien Fectau /CAN/ 3toes – different techniques but clean throw 3salchow – almost hands down but I think stayed off and held on transition into 2twist circular spiral sequence – with shoot-the-duck spirals pair spin – with Mishkutenok position steps into camel/sit/V/change sit/cranston camel – he travelled massively lasso lift – to one hand with her in full split and difficult dismount bids – not a great position A very nice, CoP friendly program with good transitions and interesting choreography. 18. Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy /GER/ 3toes – he held 2twist – lateral, his free foot seemed late out short preparation into throw 3salchow – slight stutter on landing so not great flow out catchfoot spiral into bids lasso into one hand and one hand dismount flyuing camel/sit/coe/Y/change sit/L – he travelled a lot pair spin – rotating both directions serpentine spiral sequence – nice positions to a lovely step on the highlight and separated spirals to end What they’re skating to must be the ultimate elevator trash piece, but unlike with Fietze/Rex, here Steuer’s choreographical skill is showing strong. Not as interesting a program as the Canadians’ one but it was also well choreographed and CoP friendly and they had more power and better basic quality. 19. Valerie Marcoux/Craig Buntin /CAN/ 3toes – he steps out axel lasso to one hand and difficult dismount serpentine spiral sequence – not great flow camel/sit/change camel/sit/V – off synch changing into second position but ok throughout some steps 2twist – high but double-footed pair spin – fast, very good two spread eagles into throw 3loop – stutter on landing, when she went over the toe and not great flow out (almost exactly like Germans before) transitions and changing her leg position into bids Simon says he’s got an ongoing groing problem and could only train for 30min a day! Surprising they could prepare for Worlds then. Very jumpy and bouncy music but I don’t think they quite live up to that. Although the second half of the program was much better with good transitions and more reaction to the music. 20. Maria Petrova/Alexei Tikhonov /RUS/ 3toes 2twist – ok throw 3loop – ok axel lasso lift with changes of position and difficult dismount flying camels/sit/upright – I think I missed some pos, perfect synch circular spiral sequence – with coe at the end nice spiral transition into bids – she could be lower pair spin – quite slow and sloppy His hairy chest was showing through. That surely must violate the costume rules. I got completely distracted during the program because of my landlord coming in and out with his dinner and trying to piss me off by standing in front of tv and such. So I couldn’t recall the program presentation wise at all, but technically it was fantastic and for me there was a huge gap between the top 2 couples and the rest. |