Of the four skating disciplines, pairs is easily the most top heavy in terms of the number of elite teams.
There are some fine pairings in the world for sure, but once you get outside the top eight or so teams in icenetwork.com's World Figure Skater Rankings, the level of talent drops dramatically, and it's hard to imagine anyone outside that range -- save perhaps for a fast-rising Russian junior team and a pair of Canadian duos -- being able to break into the upper echelon.
