1) Vanessa James & Morgan Cipres (FRA)
Music:
Nostalgia
- This is a very soft program compared to their very athletic short program
- Perfect unison on SBS jumps
- Very slow split double twist
- Nevermind what I said about being a "soft program"
- Good clean throw, not a lot of distance
- All that clean skating and he goes down on a simple crossover, they are practically laughing as they continue
- I like this music a lot, even if it is repetitive
- Very strong outing from them, it won't be medal-worthy, but they show promise
- Finish after the music
FS Score: 45.75 (TES) + 43.70 (PCS) -1.00 (DED) = 88.45
Total Score: 44.86 (SP) + (FS) = 133.31
2) Ksenia Stolbova & Fedor Klimov (RUS)
Music:
Polovetsian Dances
- They are so similar in size that the split twists are hard for them
- Her skirt is a little long for me, it gets in the way, and I hate those black tights
- She stumbles on jump #2 of the 3-jump combination
- They have a long way to go in terms of polish and elegance, though I feel they'll always be more of an athletic team
- Those lift positions really need some work, her foot is nowhere near pointed
- Wild on the throw, she puts a hand and a foot down
- Points for creativity on the death spiral entrance, but it's not pretty
- Hard fall and a big skid on the landing of the 2nd throw
- That was a very poor outing from them, I expected much more
FS Score: 43.08 (TES) + 46.17 (PCS) - 1.00 (DED) = 88.25
Total Score: 48.81 (SP) + 88.25 (FS) = 137.06
3) Huibo Dong & Yiming Wu (CHN)
Music:
Mulan
- It's so cute that they're doing Mulan!
- Crash landing on the split triple twist
- Good jumping pass
- He nearly hits the boards
- Fall from him on the 2nd jumping pass
- They look very tentative in the lift
- Nearly a dead stop at the end of the death spiral
- Everything looks very slow and laboured
- Very slow spins
- This element layout follows that of the usual Chinese programs
- Fairly clean program, but no spark at all to be found
FS Score: 53.85 (TES) + 45.63 (PCS) - 1.00 (DED) = 98.48
Total Score: 49.27 (SP) + 98.48 (FS) = 147.75
4) Jessica Dube & Sebastien Wolfe (CAN)
Music:
Heroes by Phillip Glass
- Good overall speed
- I love the cut of her dress but his shirt is so 1997
- Clean jumping until he put his hands down on the last one
- Off unison in the spins
- Tentative approach the the 1st throw, lacked speed and ice coverage
- I miss Bryce, but these two have potential together if they stick it out
- Better timing on the 2nd throw
- Didn't get the lift up, he couldn't get his arm straight, not sure if that completely devalues the lift or not
- Finished a little ahead of the music after the pair spin
- An okay outing, just fine for a brand new pair
FS Score: 48.06 (TES) + 49.38 (PCS) = 97.44
Total Score: 53.24 (SP) + 97.44 (FS) = 150.68
5) Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig (USA)
Music:
Daphnis et Chloe, Reverie
- I love the opening section, so fluid and gorgeous
- Great split twist
- Good jumps! Just a wild free leg swing from Amanda
- I love that little choreographed lift
- Good throw Amanda!
- Great speed and flow across the ice
- They are so beautiful I'm literally crying
- Ouch hard splat from Amanda on that double axel
- I say this every gosh darn competition, but they are so beautiful, but who that can only take you so far when you can land the 3 jumps you have to do in a program
- Their reverse entry lifts are so gorgeous, he is sooo strong
- I love the spiral sequence
FS Score: 54.04 (TES) + 58.85 (PCS) - 1.00 (DED) = 111.89
Total Score: 57.69 (SP) + 111.89 (FS) = 169.58
6) Vera Bazarova & Yuri Larionov (RUS)
Music:
Doctor Zhivago
- Clean opening jumping pass
- Big split triple twist, because she weighs 7 pounds
- How she lands throws on those teeny tiny legs is beyond mee!
- All the jumps were clean, that's a big accomplishment for them!
- He actually gets pretty good leg height on that spiral
- Very slow rotation on the lift
- Very nice arch in the back from Vera
- When they land all their elements they pull big numbers, so this is a nice bounce back from Skate America where they only placed 5th
- Their lifts lack variety, but she doesn't hit a bad position
FS Score:65.34 (TES) + (PCS) = 125.85
Total Score: 59.06 (SP) + (FS) = 184.91
7) Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford (CAN)
Music:
Viva la Vida, Yellow
- This is a beautiful program, something about it is so heart warming
- He is so much nicer to look at now that he cut his hair
- I love her arch before the split twist
- Unison issues on the SBS jumps, and they both land hands down on the 3rd jump
- Good clean double axels to recover
- I prefer a more traditional death spiral though I know variations improve the level
- Very good unison on the spins, quite remarkable for a team that is only a year old
- Feed stopped for a minute, not sure what I missed
- Nice 2nd throw
- Good lifts today, I believe those were a struggle at Skate Canada
- Good flexibility from her on the pair spin, but it was rally off center
- Abrupt ending, we know I hate those
- Apparently they fell on the 1st throw
FS Score: 61.35 (TES) + 57.21 (PCS) - 3.00 (DED) = 115.56
Total Score: 61.06 (SP) + 115.56 (FS) = 176.62
8) Tatiana Volosozhar & Maxim Trankov (RUS)
Music:
Black Swan
- They are in a league of their own here
- Was that a split single twist?
- I'm so happy she scrapped the tutu
- Nice jumping pass
- Very soft knees from both of them
- Perfect unison on the 2nd jumping pass
- Hardly any loss of speed in the grip change on the death spiral
- He exits the spin one revolution before she does
- This is so athletic and so graceful at the same time
- Huge throw, what else can you say about how good that element was
- Wonderful lift position on her part, very fast rotation
- They get bonus for all these lifts in the second half
- I love where this 2nd throw is placed in the music, two-footed
- A little slow on that carry lift
- A few minor errors, but they will be your winners!
FS Score: 64.20 (TES) + 66.24 (PCS) = 130.44
Total Score: 63.69 (SP) + 130.44 (FS) = 194.13
