Pairs Short Program, report | Golden Skate

Pairs Short Program, report

Anna

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 26, 2004
Based on the RTR-Sport TV-coverage.
Commentators: Alexander Gorelik and Alexey Popov.
Popov is sort of "universal" commentator, covering many sports, Gorelik used to skate pairs on the international level at 60s or 70s.

#1 Rumiana SPASSOVA / Stanimir TODOROV BUL
Music: Renaissance Medley
Personal Best: 39.96
2Tw
3STh, fall, perhaps
2R, she might have done 1R
3Li, with reverse rotation, very brief one hand section
FiDs, from spiral
CCoSp, in synch
SlSt, "mirror" and "crossing" in the first half, not very complex
PCoSp

Lovely velvet brown costumes with golden trimming. Renaissance Medley has an obvious techno bit in it, but still is rather nice. She has grown since last year and they improved tremendously. They no longer looked as if they would be totally outclassed and one does not need to hold one's breathe during all the elements. Mistakes on throws are rather typical.

TSS: 21.98/17.89=38.87, 1.0 deduction for fall.
Place: 1st

#2 Diana RENNIK / Aleksei SAKS EST
Music: Explosive by Tonci Huljic
Personal Best: 43.53
3F, he popped, she put both hands down on overrotated double
3STh, touchdown with hand
3Li, reverse rotation, change of position to upside down split
FiDs, change of position for him, exit to the dance lift
2Tw, low and he did not catch her at all
FCCoSp, camel, sit, out of unison, forward sit
SlSt, rather slow and simple
PCoSp, slow

Black and neon orange costumes. Very familiar music, it must be some kind of soundtrack. Nearly no choreography and the elements aren't that good either. Our commentators thought that Bulgarians were better and I agree with them.

TSS: 19.61/15.86=35.47
Place: 2nd

#3 Eva-Maria FITZE / Rico REX GER
Music: Mission Impossible (soundtrack)
Personal Best: 51.70
3T, clean
2Tw, good
3STh, two footed, lost balance, but avoided putting either hand or foot down
3Li, one hand dismount
FiDs, directly to
PCoSp
FCCoSp, camel, sit, out of unison, far away, upright
SlSt

Black and neon pink for both. She in pants and top. Last year SP? Good choreography in the opening section. They seem to be lacking in basic skating skills, they simply do not 'flow' over the ice as the best teams do. They have some interesting moves here and there, but they did not sell them. Hmm, Gorelik is talking about how Germany lacked good pairs these days and how he missed good old DDR school. Made me wonder if he ever heard of Savchenko/Szolkowy...

TSS: 25.66/20.36=46.02
Place: 1st

#4 Tatiana TOTMIANINA / Maxim MARININ RUS
Music: Snowstorm by G. Sviridov
Personal Best: 70.12
FiDs, from spiral
3LoTh, clean and secure
3T, a bit of tight landing for her, but clean
2Tw, with her hands over her head
3Li, good
CiSt
FCCoSp, camel, sit, CoE sit, forward sit, forward attitude, minor problems with unison, directly into
PCoSp, good

They haven't changed the costumes, still those horrible cyan unitards. And I still found those costumes very distracting. The program is good though. I think the only element which could be improved in step sequence; it does not have the flow and the softness of the music. It is not as if overloaded with steps for CoP, it just looked somewhat awkward. Gorelik said that they have done four revolutions in death spirals and that no other teams do that much.

TSS: 35.95/32.09=68.04
Place: 1st

#5 Rebecca HANDKE / Daniel WENDE GER
Music: Amelie (soundtrack) by Yannik Thiersen
Personal Best: 49.24
3T, he stepped out
2Tw, stumble on landing, nearly fell
3LoTh,
FCCoSp, camel, sit, back attitude, forward sit, forward Y
3Li, from spiral, change of position to upside down split to one hand "balance", does not look secure
SlSt, looked rather simple
FiDs, from spiral
PCoSp, good

Not much of the choreography or character.

TSS: 27.07/20.74=47.81
Place: 2nd

#6 Alina DIKHTIAR / Filip ZALEVSKI UKR
Music: Dark Eyes
Personal Best: 44.29
2Tw, Ok
3LoTh, fall
2A, out of synch she underrotated and stepped out
3Li, change of position, good positions
CCoSp, back camel, back sit, forward sit, forward /\
SlSt, some attempts on "in character moves"
FiDs, low to the ice, change of handhold and change of foot for him, directly to
PCoSp

Rather weird unmatching costumes. Brown "rags" with red rose on the shoulder for him, black unitard with flower decoration for her. Not particularly "gypsy", except for that flower decor. It was not that bad overall, but they seemed to attempt more difficulty than they could handle.

TSS: 21.12/15.92=36.04
Place: 5th

#7 Olga PROKURONOVA / Karel STEFL CZE
Music: Xotika by Rene Dupere
Personal Best: 40.12

2F
3TTh, two footed
2Tw
3Li, brief one hand section, change of position
CCoSp, camel, sit, good position, back sit, good position, but out of unison
SlSt, looked rather simple
PCoSp, slow
FiDs, from spiral, low to the ice

Light cyan lace dress for her, black for him. They have neither choreography nor expression, but overall they looked much nicer than I expected from the team, which as far as I know never competed internationally at any serious level.

TSS: 21.00/16.51=37.51
Place: 5th

#8 Julia OBERTAS / Sergei SLAVNOV RUS
Music: Andante Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and Orchestra by Reinhold Gliere
Personal Best: 63.59

3T, tight landing for her
3FTh
3Li, one hand entry, change of hand and position, one hand dismount, good
2Tw, very high and with the real catch
SlSt, looked complex with nice edgework
FiDs, from sprial, low to the ice
FCCoSp, camel, sit, Y, upright, forward sit, forward Y, lost unison in the middle, but regained it, slow rotation
PCoSp, too many changes of position

Both in light violet with silver. Well done, but I still do not think that this program suits them. Either they cannot pull off this clean classical style or it simply does not work well with CoP-requirements. Spins appeared to be overloaded, but thanks God they changed those awful acrobatic lifts they had last year.

TSS: 34.35/27.86=62.21
Place: 2nd

#9 Maria PETROVA / Alexei TIKHONOV RUS
Music: Sarabande by G. F. Haendel
Personal Best: 67.42

3T
2Tw, nicely done with hand over her head and nice catch
3LoTh
FCCoSp, camel, sit, CoE sit, forward sit, forward Y, directly to
PCoSp
3Li, changes of position, somersault exit
SlSt, nicely set to "techno" part of the music, but rather slow
FiDs, from spiral, rather high, though.

Violet and pink costumes. I think they had one of the best in-betweens of all teams competing here, but they did not use their music particulary well. Except for the twist which was set rather nicely to the beat, the other elements did not blend with the music. They did not "contradict" it either, but... if I see the program which is that well done, I cannot help wishing it was abosutely perfect :) Audience obviously loved them. I would have had them ahead of TT&MM, but judges would never do it.

TSS: 35.51/30.54=66.07
Place: 2nd

#10 Marylin PLA / Yannick BONHEUR FRA
Music: Blues for Klook by Eddie Louis
Personal Best: 49.55

3T, she put hand down, he fell
3STh
FCCoSp, sit, CoE sit, forward sit, forward upright, slower and somewhat out of unison
2Tw
3Li, changes of position, reverse rotation
SlSt
FiDs, change of hand
PCoSp,

Black and red costumes. They have absolutely no blues-y feeling in it. But compared to last season they have improved, they become more secure and I no longer has to keep fingers crossed waiting for him to put her down from the lifts. His footwork during lifts is still scary, but no longer as scary as it used to be. Our commentators are being patriots and keep saying how much better they were then they were coached by Stanislav Leonovich (they are coached by Stephane Bernadis now) and how they are missing the touch of the great Soviet school these days. As if they ever had it to begin with.

TSS: 26.30/21.74=47.04
Place: 5th

#11 Stacey KEMP / David KING GBR
Music: Kill Bill (soundtrack)
Personal Best: 39.71

2Tw, low
PCoSp,
2R, he fell out of landing
3Li, unsecure
CiSt, slow
3LoTh
FCCoSp, back sit, forward sit, slow, out of unison
FiDs, low to the ice.

Black unitards with neon yellow ropes over them. Good choreography, lots of in-betweens, but poor basic skating skills, slow and laboured stroking. He stumbled and nearly fell on one of the turns. Not much of expression either. Better team might have turned this program into masterpiece, but their level does not allow it. Still it was interesting.

TSS: 22.24/14.74=35.98
Place: 10th

#12 Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY GER
Music: Souvenir by Jean-Michel Jarre
Personal Best: 61.78

3T
2Tw, very high
3STh, tight landing, very high
3Li, one hand section, change of position, one hand dismount
FCCoSp, camel, sit, CoE sit, Y, forward sit, forward Y
SlSt, mirror&crossing, well done
FiDs, from spiral, low to the ice, directly to
PCoSp

Black unitards with silver and white decorations. Excellent choreography, they should have beaten everyone in trasitions and chreography marks at least by one full point. They lacked the flow, basic skating skills and refinement of the Russian teams, but they do have more complex choreography.

TSS: 34.73/29.73=64.46
Place: 3rd

#13 Julia BELOGLAZOVA / Andrei BEKH UKR
Music: Greetings to Morricone by Sergei Shnurov
Personal Best: 42.06

2Tw, high
2A, tight landings for both
3LoTh, she fell and he nearly fell as well
3Li, from spiral, one hand section, shaky
CCoSp, camel, out of unison, sit, very high position for him, back sit, poor position for him again
SlSt, slow
FiDs, from spiral, low to the ice, directly to
PCoSp, she put second foot down in the middle.

Blue and black costumes. Overall it was very shaky and very poorly done.

TSS: 21.14/16.31=36.45
Place: 10th

#14 Dorota ZAGORSKA / Mariusz SIUDEK POL
Music: La Vie En Rose, Mack the Knife by Kurt Weil
Personal Best: 61.84

3T, she fell
3STh,
CCoSp, sit, Y, back sit, back CoE sit, out of unison
2Tw, in rather unusual place, most of the teams do it in the middle of the rink, they did it in the corner
PCoSp, slow
SlSt, she fell
3Li, somersault entry changes of position
FiDs, change of hand

White dress for Dorota, black suit with pink tie for Mariusz. Very nice character and interpretation, I think in these components they were best of the field. Too bad about mistakes, but they cannot challege Top4 teams anyway. It seems that Mariusz age is catching up with him. Commentators blame her fall during step sequence on poor ice quality (they were 8th to skate since ice resurfacing) and her fall on toe loop on unusual (smaller) size of the rink.

TSS: 25.87/25.68=49.53
Place: 5th



Top four teams have scores above 60, the rest below 50. Pairs are definitely on decline in Europe. Substract TT&MM, Petrova&Tikhonov and Poles (who are most likely retiring after Olympics) and you are left with only Savchenko&Szolowy and Obertas&Slavnov as "truly" good teams. There is a huge gap after them. Lower ranked Germans and other teams aren't that bad, but they are not good either. And I do not see many up and coming teams. We have two or three ex- and current Junior teams in Russia, plus there are Pylkina&Hogner in Sweden, but except them? Volosozhar&Morozov if they ever get over those difficulties which seems to be plaguing their career. Perhaps a new French team of Jerome Blanchard and Renata Alashanova. He was good with his previous partner and she was rather cute kid when I saw her skating Juniors ca. 2001.
 

STL_Blues_fan

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
Thank you

Thank you Anya.

I had no idea they show everybody on RTV. I will see if I can get the coverage downloaded somewhere. My dad gets a lot of Russian stuff on edonkey.com, but in a DIVEX (sp?) format.

Thanks again, Yana
 

Anna

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 26, 2004
STL_Blues_fan said:
I had no idea they show everybody on RTV. I will see if I can get the coverage downloaded somewhere. My dad gets a lot of Russian stuff on edonkey.com, but in a DIVEX (sp?) format.

They don't show everybody, they are mostly taking Eurosport feed which depends on the Australian Open not going overtime. Yesterdays, Pairs LP started with Bulgarians and in Ladies SP we only had two final flights "live" and re-run of Slutskaya and couple of other girls.

If you can read Russian, you could try looking around http://www.rtr-sport.ru/ Perphaps they had webcast somewhere in it. I know there is a paid subscription service at http://www.russiantvonline.com/, but I have never used it.
 
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