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| 2002 Worlds Pairs Free Review |
| The pairs are listed from the one who finished last to the one who was first. R is loop (rittberger). X+X is a jump combination; X...X is a jump sequence. "3X" means a side by side jump, "throw 3X" means a throw jump. If there is: "throw 3X (doubled)" it means that throw triple jump was sheduled but they only managed to land a double.. If you have some questions or comments always feel free to e-mail me. |
| 20. Marina Aganina / Artem Knyazev /UZB/ They looked very nice. She was wearing a light blue dress while he had a tie dyed white-grey costume. The endings of their hair were dyed grey and that looked really cool. Shame about the skating but it's the first big event for this pair and they gained a lot of experience I'm sure. The music was "Nutcracker" and they had the basic skating ability but the choreography wasn't there. The lifts were looking really laboured and they lost synch on side-by-side spin combination. 2A...2T (she singled); 2A (she singled); throw 2S; double twist; throw 2A (overrotated and fell) 2T (she stepped out) 19. Jelena Sirokhatova / Jurijs Salmanovs /LAT/ The music was from the "Gladiator" and his wine costume and hers grey, glittering dress wasn't fitting it all. They had no choreography whatsoever so it didn't matter. Just as the couple below them, they went out of synch on the spin. 2T (both doubled); 2A (she singled); double twist; throw 3S (double footed); throw 2A (double footed); 1A (both singled)...2T 18. Maria Krasiltseva / Artem Znachkov /ARM/ Opposing to the short programme, very nice costumes. Grey dress for her, black trousers and white suit with black stipes for him. The music was "Cabaret" and you really feel sick when somebody has such a wonderful piece of music and there's no choreography to it. They have the basic skating quality though. Good death spirals, strong lifts and a good pair spin. The problem with them is that she looks completely terrified the moment they take to the ice and you know that she won't do anything. She had the salchow, the conviction just wasn't there on the landing. If she had some sessions with the psychologist, I'm sure that they would do much better. They also lost synch on the spin and I thought that they were really slow. I'd have them below the Latvians. 2A (she singled)...2T; double twist; throw 3S (fell); throw 2R; 2T (both doubled) 17. Viktoria Shklover / Valdis Mintals /EST/ Skated to "Matrix". Black costumes. Gold glittering belt for him. She blew it as always. On the throw sal, she was perfect and I don't know why she put her leg down. The program needed more choreography but they were really smooth, good kneebend. Great lifts, there were some very difficult dismounts. They had an interesting death spiral in a spread eagle position (just like Abitbol/Bernardis) and their spins were very good. They suffered from skating first as they were much better than the Ukrainians who finished above them. throw 2A (just held on); triple twist; throw 3S (foot down); 3T (she doubled); 2T...2T 16. Tatiana Chuvaeva / Dmitri Palamarchuk /UKR/ "Who Wants to Live Forever" by Queen, "Moonlight Sonata" by Beethoven and a "Lover's Concerto" by Sandy Linzer. Strange mix. The costumes were horrible. Blue with loads of glitter on it and some golden decoration. Dmitri skated with Julia Obertas but split after this terrible fall in the free program in Nice 2000. They skated well at the Europeans in Lausanne (6th) but here they had a real disaster. 3T (she stepped out); 2A (she double footed); throw 3S (fell); throw 2R (double footed); 2A (she singled)...2S 15. Viktoria Borzenkova / Andrei Chuvilyaev /RUS/ Andrei is the tallest figure skater to ever compete in a international competition. He also has the dullest face expression during his program (rivals Totmianina). The story with them is that there is absolutely no emotion and chemistry between them in their routines. The music was "La Forza del Destino" by G. Verdi and the costumes were really ugly. Black and yellow. Looking like they got them on a flea market in Vietnam. The spins were great, the lifts were very difficult but they need better choreography and more passion to their skating. The technique is there already. They had an amazing beginning. She landed the throw and they went immediately to triple toes just like Zhangs in the short. throw 3R into 3T; double twist; 3S (disaster, he singled and double footed, she fell); throw 3S 14. Mariana Kautz / Norman Jeschke /GER/ Nice costumes. Black trousers and white shirt for him, bottle green dress with some flowers on it for her. The skated to the music from the movie entitled "La Vita e Bella". She had a little problem going out of the death spiral and I would question her position on the lifts. Not stretched enough which makes them look a bit laboured. I'm a big fan of them but they didn't skate well here and I was very suprised to see them finish above the Russians. 3T (she underrotated and double footed); throw 3R (foot down); 2A (she singled)...2R; throw 3T 13. Yuko Kawaguchi / Alexander Markuntsov /JPN/ They are coached by Tamara Moskvina so I expected something good and it was just amazing. Didn't like the outfits. She had a wine dress with pink parts, he had a matching uniform-like costume with golden finishing. The music wasn't very original ("Carmen") but it didn't matter. They were foot prefect and 13th place is just completely ridiculous! They suffered because of skating very early (first in the second group). They had great spins, and the program was well put together as you would expect from Tamara Moskvina. Also had a fantastic "combination". She landed the throw sal and they went straight into double axels. The landing of the throw wasn't perfect and I give all credit to her for doing it clean. A great effect from this young team. If they continue to improve like that, under the eye of Moskvina, they will challenge for a medal in Turino 2006 (if Alexander gets Japanese nationality of course). Yuko is a fan of Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze and she sent a letter to Moskvina saying that she would like to skate in a pair. She put them together and they became the first Japanese couple to medal at ISU Championships (silver at World Juniors last year). Ok enough, here's the technical content. 3S (she just held on); 3T...2T; triple twist; throw 3S (just held on) into 2A; throw 3R 12. Katerina Berankova / Otto Dlabola /CZE/ Very nice costumes. Light blue dress for her, dark blue suit with light blue finishing for him. I also enjoyed their music by Raul di Blasio. They started to train with Natalia Pavlova (former coach of Totmianina/Marinin) and made a huge improvement this season. They were great at Europeans and Olympics (placing 5th and 8th respectively) but here thay had a disaster and I think that they surely should finish below the Japanese couple. Apart from mistakes on the jumps, they almost fell on a dismount of one of the lifts! Putting away all the floors though, the program was well constructed. 2A; 3T (she doubled); triple twist; throw 3S (probably hand down, not 100% sure); throw 3T (singled and double footed); 2F...2T 11. Valerie Marcoux / Bruno Marcotte /CAN/ Bruno was wearing black shirt and trousers, Valerie light green transparent dress. The music was "Beyond the Forest" and their presentation as well as pair elements were just of an average quality. They lost the synch, coming out of the spin and on the triple toes. triple twist; 3T (he stepped out)...2T; throw 3R; 2A (his just saved on the toepick); throw 3S 10. Anabelle Langlois / Patrice Archetto /CAN/ Their costumes were plain and simple. Black t-shirt and trousers for him, white dress for her. The routine was choreographed to the "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" by Michel Legrand. The presentation was nice but nothing special. There was a very interesting entry to a death spiral when they were skating and he was holding her hand and rotating Anabelle before they stopped and went into a death spiral position. The throws weren't very high. throw 3S; 2A; 3T (she pulled the landing)...2T; throw 3T (doubled); 3S (both doubled) 9. Dan Zhang / Hao Zhang /CHN/ They really amaze me. If they skate like that, being only 16 and 17, I can't even imagine how will they be skating in three or four years time. They skated to or rather through "Coppelia Ballet Suite" by Leo Delibes. Their brown costumes were really dull. The program lacked choreography but they have the tricks and still a lot of time to improve the presentation. They landed the quad twist but it was cheated as Dan didn't make the full rotation. There was a wrap on the throw salchow and their throw loop was much smaller. Their spins were the worst out of twenty couples I think. It seems that the higher up we go, the more critical I become. ;) And if you don't know this yet, no they aren't related. quad twist (underrotated); 3T (perfect); throw 3S (gigantic); 3S (she put her hand down); throw 3R (a bit off axes but clean); 2A (she singled)...2F 8. Jacinthe Lariviere / Lenny Faustino /CAN/ She was dressed in a light green dress, he in a white and black suit. Their music was a mix of "Romeo and Juliet" and "Coriolanus". They had a poor skate and I think that they were held up. I like their smooth style of skating but their throws are very low comparing to other couples. There was some innovation in the lifts, some nice dismounts. 3T (she was half of a turn short)... 2T; triple twist; 2A (she singled); throw 3R (hand down); throw 3S (clean but low) 7. Tiffany Scott / Philip Dulebohn /USA/ They had a very poor free skate and Olympics and wanted desperately to do better here and get into the top ten. A very nice piece of music they have used. "Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor" by Sergei Prokofiev. Her pink dress and his black and white suit weren't matching well but it's still better than having loads of glitter sprinkled everywhere. After the electrifying start, it fell apart a little and I think that they were held up by the judges as well. I thought that the program was well constructed, presentation was good but there was no point for them to take a breath. They were very fast, keeping the pace from start to finish and I can understand Tiffany running out of steam near the end. Nevertheless the presentation was good and their synchronisation is perfect. It's funny because they are the only pair to rotate the other way round which makes it impossible for them to find a new partner in case they became fed up with each other. 3T (perfect); triple twist (only just); throw 3T (just held on); throw 3S (doubled); 2A (she stepped out)...2T 6. Dorota Zagorska / Mariusz Siudek /POL/ First Poles to ever medal at Worlds back in 1999 but unfortunately they haven't made much improvement since then. They are married. Dorota was wearing a beautiful ivory dress, while Mariusz had rather dull looking brown and ivory coloured costume. Their music was from a Polish movie entitled "Pan Tadeusz" which is based on the book which is considered to be the most important one in the Polish literature. They had the most difficult lifts of the evening. Interesting dismounts, and lot of changes in the positions. The quality of their throws was excellent as well however they lack polish and choreography. And I couldn't believe that he messed the toe-loop, she was always the one to be doing it. 3T (he put hand down); 2A (she singled)...2T; triple twist; throw 2A (huge); throw 3S (great) 5. Qing Pang / Jian Tong /CHN/ They had an excellent short and I was very dissapointed by this free program which lacked the choreography. They skated through "Piano Concerto No. 2" by Rachmaninov, dressed in grey costumes. However as always their throws and twist were just colossal. I'd have them below Zagorska and Siudek and not because I am a biased Pole. Z/S had better lifts and better spins. Anyway, that's just my opinion. After their captivating short, Pang and Tong just really left me cold here. 2A...3T (he doubled); triple twist; throw 3S; 2A; throw 3R 4. Maria Petrova / Alexei Tikhonov /RUS/ When I saw their new costumes (red dress for Maria, black outfit for Alexei), I thought that maybe their came back to their "Fifth Element" routine which they dropped. But no, the music was from the musical "Chess" and the program was as boring as it can get. They have the skating quality but there wasn't much choreography between the elements. And the lifts weren't that difficult either. When they put their hands down on the triple toe, it looked like it was choreographed. 2A...3T (both put hand down); 3T (he pulled the landing); triple twist (underrotated); throw 3S; throw 3T (just hanged on) 3. Kyoko Ina / John Zimmerman /USA/ Kyoko was dressed in a light blue dress, John in a matching top and black trousers. The music was "Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini". Their program was marred by technical mistakes but it was very well constructed thanks to Mrs Moskvina. I think that they deserved the bronze, having much better lifts and the twist than the Russians. 3T (he stepped out); 2A; triple twist; 2A (she put hand down)...2T; throw 3R (beautiful); throw 3S (fall) 2. Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin /RUS/ And their outfits were definietely from charity. Wine and grey, torn and looking like found on a garbage heap. Skated to Berstein's "West Side Story". Their program was well choreographed but their problem is that Tatyana skates all the time with the dullest facial expression possible. They have the basic skating quality, they have the elements. If they could open out to the crowd more, it would make a huge difference. The only element they have to work on is the triple twist. They had a terrifying moment when her sleeve got stuck into his boot. However they managed to get back to the program and nail the rest of their elements. There were the only couple to attempt a jump combination, not the sequence. 3S, triple twist (underrotated); throw 3R (perfect); 3T (he fell) + 2T; throw 3S (stutter on the landing) 1. Xue Shen / Hongboa Zhao /CHN/ I think that they really deserved to get this gold medal. They already had an opportunity in 2000, when Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze were not competing but they've blown it then and got beaten by Petrova/Tikhonov. Here although they made mistakes they were clearly the best and finished their amateur career becoming the first pair champions for China. Her dress was red, his costume was black with a bit of decoration. Very nice. The music was "Turandot" and their presentation has really improved thanks to Lee Ann Miller. Although they made two mistakes, they outskated everyone. The program was beautifully choreographed, well balanced and the both throws were just out of this world. They didn't go for quad sal but it is understandable as they didn't have to, to get gold. The double axels where executed out of the spread eagle which is very difficult. This was a great ending to their career and you can be sure that in a couple of years time, the other two Chinese teams will be knocking on the door as well and China may as well have more gold medals in the years to come. throw 3S (perfect); 2A...3T (she fell); triple twist; 2A (he singled); throw 3R (perfect) |
| The judging really annoyed me. As always the competitors who skated early on got muted marks as the judges "had to leave room". Most of the couple were making mistakes and the Japanese couple who skated brilliantly really deserved to be much, much higher. Well but it's always like that. It was the case in the men's short as well so I can't really complain, can I? Anyway, here's the podium photo for you: |
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