Thursday, February 17, 2011

2011 Four Continents Championships: Pairs Free Skate

**Denotes USFSA Fantasy Skating Team Selection
Warm-Up Group 1:
1) Mary Beth Marley & Rockne Brubaker (USA)
  • Mary Beth and Rockne are about to step onto the ice
  • The split twist has been a struggle for them because it is unlike any singles element for Mary Beth
  • Nice side by side jumping combinations
  • They wonderful speed and ice coverage
  • Looks like they double that throw jumps
  • Nice low death spiral position with a clean fluid motion
  • She double her side by side jump
  • The second throw was landed cleanly but it looked like a double to me
  • That cantilever lift is very nice but she could stretch out her positions a little more
  • Everything looks like it could use more polish but they've come so far already
  • Very nice unison on their spins, they struggled with that
  • SP Score: 45.60
  • FS Score: 98.86 = 51.35 (TES) + 47.51 (PCS)
  • Total Score = 144.46
2) Narumi Takahashi & Mervin Tran (JPN)
  • I hope this team can keep up their stamina because they've had such an intense season competing junior and senior programs
  • Narumi has a fall on the first jumping sequence
  • Nice clean catch on the split triple twist
  • She has a really nice landing position on her first throw
  • They lose some unison on their side by spins
  • She doesn't look herself today, perhaps she is ill, because she doesn't seem engaged in the performance
  • She has some very nice positions in the lifts, showing a lot of flexibility
  • He is such a strong and charismatic pair partner, I just love him
  • SP Score: 50.25
  • FS Score : 102.38 = 52.56 (TES) + 51.82 (PCS) -1.00 (DED)
  • Total Score = 152.63
3) Huibo Dong & Yiming Wu (CHN)**
  • He puts his hand down on the triple toe loops and loses the combination
  • Second side by side jump is clean
  • Split double twist looks a little wild
  • He is very strong in the lifts, but could use more speed
  • I would love to see more expression from them, they have a way to go before they live up to the Pang/Tong or Shen/Zhao legacy
  • They have the height on throws of the great Chinese pairs
  • What they really needs is more finesse and speed to improve their PCS scores and the performance as a whole
  • She really needs so much more stretch in those overhead lift positions
  • SP Score: 46.41
  • FS Score: 88.69 = 47.38 (TES) + 41.31 (PCS)
  • Total = 135.10
Warm-Up Group 2:
4) Yue Zhang & Lei Wang (CHN)
  • They are starting with good speed
  • Clean first jumping pass
  • Their spins are very out of sync and they are really losing a lot of speed
  • This is a gorgeous musical selection and I can tell that they are really trying to be expressive
  • They botched their lift, he never really got her over his head
  • I actually like their spiral positions, but I'd like more energy and engagement from both of them
  • Very nice set of throws, the landings look so easy for her
  • They have a lot to work on, but this is a nice team and they have the potential to do well
  • SP Score: 50.61
  • FS Score: 88.32  = 45.63 (TES) + 42.69 (PCS)
  • Total = 138.93
5) Kirsten Moore-Towers & Dylan Moscovitch (CAN)
  • This is one of my favorite pairs free skates of the year
  • I've seen them struggle with their jumps before, but they are solid today
  • They have really great speed today
  • Nice landing by Kirsten on her first throw
  • They have some really nice lifts and they are choreographed perfectly to accentuate swells in the music
  • Nice clean jumping passes from them today, looks like they really mean business
  • Like the American teams, their strength is definitely the free skate
  • They take a really long entrance into the death spiral which looks a bit awkward and prolonged
  • This is a beautifully choreographed pairs program and they've really grown into it
  • He just lifts her like it is nothing, he has to be one of the strongest pair partners in the world
  • Wow that was a hard fall for Kirsten, looks like she just slipped on the landing of that throw, I really thought she had that
  • Despite that fall, they should go solidly into first
  • That final lift from a lunge is spectacular
  • She mouths "i'm sorry" to him, that just broke my heart
  • SP Score: 54.41
  • FS Score: 111.81 = 58.93 (TES) + 53.88 (PCS) = 1.00 (DED)
  • Total = 166.22
6) Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig (USA)
  • They really start off with great speed and energy as soon as the music starts
  • Looked like a clean catch on the triple twist to me
  • My feed just froze, so I missed the past 10 seconds
  • Good landing on the throw triple, may have been pitched forward a little
  • Slight loss of unison in the middle of the spin sequence, but they pick it back up at the end
  • A very hard fall for Amanda on the double axel sequence, she stood up holding her hip
  • Those lifts are the best thing about their skating
  • They've always struggled with their jumps and its unfortunate they couldn't have skated clean today
  • Nice solid landing from Amanda on the second throw
  • These lifts are already spectacular, but they get a 10% bonus because they backload them into the program
  • This final lift from a lunge has such nice speed
  • She mouths "I'm sorry" to Mark just like Kirsten did to Dylan
  • Definitely not the perfect program they needed to move up in placement
  • SP Score: 52.23
  • FS Score: 105.07 = 53.57 (TES) + 53.50 (PCS) - 2.00 (DED)
  • Total = 157.30
Warm-Up Group 3:
7) Qing Pang & Jian Tong (CHN) **
  • I know they have no challengers at this competition, but I'd really like to see a clean skate from them to get the momentum going into worlds
  • They landed their jumps, but her landings were very stiff
  • I don't really know why, but she's struggled with her jumps all season
  • She just doesn't have that fluidity that they've been known for, ever her lift positions look stiff
  • They lost their unison on their spins which is something a great pair team should never do
  • They do connect so well with one another on the ice, though it helps that they are in love in real life
  • A perfect clean catch on the split triple twist
  • That throw was just huge, as we've come to expect from the Chinese
  • I think the second throw may have been even better
  • SP Score: 71.41
  • FS Score: 128.04 = 61.23 (TES) + 66.81 (PCS)
  • Total = 199.45
8) Paige Lawrence & Rudi Swiegers (CAN)
  • After what he did for Mark Ladwig in lending him his boot, I'm not a big Rudi Swiegers fan
  • I remember really liking this program at Skate Canada
  • Sorry for the delayed commentary, my feed froze and I'm trying to get it back
  • I missed the jumping passes, not sure how they landed
  • Paige barely hangs onto that throw, maybe puts a hand down
  • Second throw was landed cleanly
  • Sorry for my lack of commentary on this program, it seems the feed froze for everybody watching
  • SP Score: 59.98
  • FS Score: 111.75 = 58.20 (TES) + 53.55 (PCS)
  • Total = 171.73
9) Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford (CAN)
  • They have a lot  of speed and flew into that split triple twist
  • Jump combo was landed, but the unison was slightly off
  • Who knew Canada was a hotbed for young pair teams?
  • Struggling a bit with unison on their spins, but then again, they've been skating together for only a very short time
  • That was a bit of an awkward death spiral
  • This is a really beautiful musical selection 
  • She fought to hand onto the landing of that throw
  • This is really a very nice program, I'm thoroughly enjoying it
  • SP Score: 59.92
  • FS Score: 121.87 = 66.55 (TES) + 53.32 (PCS) 
  • Total = 181.79
10) Caitlin Yankowskas & John Coughlin (USA) **
  • This program is so gorgeous and it just speaks to me everytime
  • Nice clean double axels
  • A tiny crash on the split triple twist but nothing to get too excited about
  • Nice landing by Caitilin on that throw, very fluid
  • This program has me in tears again, just like Nationals
  • Really nice three-jumps sequence
  • They structure their programs with the jumps and the twist at the beginning because those are the elements that make Caitlin the most nervous, and those are now out of the way
  • I need to study the bullet points for levels on the death spiral so I know what to look for
  • Their spins look very well synced today
  • I love the positions on their spiral sequence
  • This choreography is fantastic, Marina Zoueva can do no wrong in my mind
  • Something happened on the second throw, I'm not sure if he didn't push her correctly or if she opened up
  • It was going to be hard to match that Nationals program, but the popped throw will certainly hurt their technical marks
  • They don't look thrilled with that performance at all, I don't know if it was enough to put them on the podium
  • I don't know if they'll even get credit for that throw, maybe a single
  • SP Score: 55.25
  • FS Score: 111.79 = 57.16 (TES) + 54.56 (PCS)
  • Total = 166.97
Final Standings
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