1) Klara Kadlecova & Petr Bidar (CZE)
Music:
Phantom of the Opera
- Rough around the edges but better than the short by miles this far
- Started out with nice speed, but running out of gas halfway through
- That was an interesting spiral into a very abrupt ending
FS Score: 42.09 (TES) +41.52 (PCS) - 1.00 (DED) = 82.61
Total Score: 38.34 (SP) + 82.61 (FS) = 120.95
2) Taylor Steele & Robert Schultz (CAN)
Music:
Piano Concerto in F by Gershwin
- Nice start, they have nice unison and well-matched lines
- Good s peed
- The throw needs much more height
- She needs to really stretch out and point her feet in those lifts
- Touch second throw, can't hold the landing
- Their second set of jumps come very late in the program
- They end with the spins, they have a lot of work to do to get to the top level, but they have a lot of promise
FS Score: 49.85 (TES) +44.74 (PCS) - 1.00 (DED) = 93.59
Total Score: 48.25 (SP) + (FS) = 141.84
3) Xiaoyu Yu & Yang Jin (CAN)
Music:
Requiem for a Dream
- Why did they pick these costumes for this music? It makes no sense
- That being said, amazing split twist and SBS jumps
- I like the set up for the 1st throw and the fact that they do both back to back
- She really has to hang onto both to control the height
- A very flashy program overall, should land solidly in 1st
FS Score: 63.11 (TES) + 45.43 (PCS) = 108.54
Total Score: 54.42 (SP) + 108.54 (FS) = 162.96
4) Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig (USA)
Music:
Daphnis and Chloe, Reverie
- Please let this be clean, please let this be clean
- I love the softness of the costumes
- Nice speed in and out of the split twist
- Amanda stumbles out of the SBS jump, that's almost always the story
- Nice throw landing
- Good double axel sequence, slight unison issues
- This is a beautifully choreographed piece!
- THey are so pleasant and soothing to watch
- Great speed and flow across the ice, nice landing from Amanda on the 2nd throw
- I love that they save ll the lifts until the 2nd half where the'll get bonus points
- Their lifts are the best I've ever seen
- Nice spin positioning
- Very nice piece aside from Amanda's jumping error
FS Score: 60.51 (TES) + 53.24 (PCS) -1.00 (DED) = 112.75
Total Score: 57.88 (SP) + 112.75 (FS) = 170.63
5) Wenjing Sui & Cong Han (CHN)
Music:
The Soul of Flamenco
- They are big time here in China
- Split quad twist, he is majorly pitching forward and she sits it down when he puts her back on the ice
- She face plants in the SBS jumps and misses her combination
- Huge throw landed on solid legs
- Sometimes I feel like he just tosses her around without much concern for how she gets there
- We've come to expect such perfection from them that we forget they're so young
- She really fought for the landing on that second throw
- They both botch the landings on the second SBS jump
- An off day for them for sure, perhaps the home pressure has been too much
- That was very very messy from them
FS Score: 56.66 (TES) + 54.81 (PCS) -2.00 (DED) = 109.47
Total Score: 60.00 (SP) + 109.47 (FS) = 169.47
6) Dan Zhang & Hao Zhang (CHN)
Music:
Totentanz
- I really hate this piece of music
- Dan falls on the SBS jumps, I believe she did at Skate America too
- They got dangerously close together on those spins
- This is really slow, she's barely muscling out those throws
- This program may be fine now, but it won't hold up against the best at Worlds
FS Score: 56.07 (TES) + 59.03 (PCS) - 1.00 (DED) = 117.10
Total Score: 60.57 (SP) + 117.10 (FS) = 177.67
7) Kirsten Moore-Towers & Dylan Moscovitch (CAN)
Music:
Henry V
- This is beautiful music, a step in the right direction for them
- Kirsten falls hard on the 2nd half of the jumping pass
- Only a split double twist, hardly any lift
- Labored entrance into that lift
- She really fights hard to hold onto that second jumping pass
- Kirsten falls on the throw, I don't know if she fully rotated it or not
- This has been tough and go, not the skate they had at Skate America
- Her positions have improved, especially in the carry lift
- Hand down on the 2nd throw
- That lunge press lift has become a signature of their programs right at the end, very nice cartwheel exit
FS Score: 56.47 (TES) + 56.79 (PCS) - 2.00 (DED) = 111.26
Total Score: 60.78 (SP) + 111.26 (FS) = 172.04
8) Yuko Kavaguti & Alexander Smirnov (RUS)
Music:
Clair de Lune
- Slight unison issue on the jumps, Yuko was a bit wild
- Low catch on the split twist
- Nice throw
- This is a very easy program to watch, it has great flow to it
- Drifting apart on the spins a bit
- Good double axels
- I couldn't tell if she put a hand down on that throw or now
- Really innovative lift positions
- Very clean piece from them
FS Score: 58.53 (TES) + 63.76 (PCS) = 122.29
Total Score: 64.45 (SP) + 122.29 (FS) = 186.74
