GPF Pairs SP

[Buttercup]

The pairs SP is the first senior event today and will begin at 8 PM local time/11 AM GMT. I didn't see any threads for any of the segments so I figured I'd start this one.

Interestingly, S/Z and S/S will not start in the same group, because Aljona and Robin qualified in 4th place; I wonder if this might have an effect on the scoring in any way? Whatever happens, I don't expect them in the first group tomorrow.

Starting Order
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN
2 Yuko KAVAGUTI / Alexander SMIRNOV RUS
3 Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY GER

Warm-Up Group 2
4 Maria MUKHORTOVA / Maxim TRANKOV RUS
5 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN
6 Xue SHEN / Hongbo ZHAO CHN

Good luck to all the skaters!

[TeensTeven]

China go for three medals in senior pair skating!!

[Shaba22]

http://www.justin.tv/skate_skate

[hongligl]

Go S/Z! Go Pang/Tong! Go Z/Z! Go S/S! Go the two Russian teams! Everybody be your best!

[dorispulaski]

Icenetwork is streaming it live.

Universal sports will telecast this and the OD together later today (7:00 pm on my cable company)

[Kinga]

Thank you RAI sport! Wow, finally figure skating on TV, instead of small PC screen (freezing often).

[justaskatingfan]

http://www.justin.tv/skate_skate

"**GPF will not be shown on this channel, because I'm going to go to there except first day."

[justaskatingfan]

Skatebuzz wants my billing address.

[Kinga]

Z/Z - blackcostumes with silver details.
3 twist - good
3 sbs salchow - ok
throw 3L - ok
a bit unsynchronized on sbs spin.
slow step sequence.

boring...

[dorispulaski]

Zhang & Zhang
Sing, Sing, Sing

They are in black and silver costumes
tw3 great
3S great
Throw 3L great
bds smooth but a little slow on exit
sbs spins fair unison (couple little breaks)
amazing lift, man is he strong
pair spin OK not to music
footwork - a little slow I thought, but a neat cartwheel in it.
End on the music.

[jcoates]

That was a ton better than Z/Z's previous outings this season.

[dorispulaski]

No kidding
Zhang & Zhang Score: 66.24 (Season's Best)

[dorispulaski]

Kawaguti & Smirnov
The Swan by St. Saens

He is in black with stylized swan feathers
She is the white swan

3T some trouble on landing
3Tw very chest crashy
nice entry 3Lp throw almost 2 foot on landing no flow out
Trouble with exit of lift too
Does she have a sore foot?
Love the footwork sequence. Very musical
Like the death spiral entry
sbs spin very good
right into pair spin (a little slow on rotations),but nice swanish positions.

A rough skate; should go behind Zhangs.

K&S score 62.30

In to 2nd

[dorispulaski]

Savchenko & Szolkowy
Send in the Clowns

They are in the clown costumes with the face paint, and she has
the dreadful spiky bun clown hairdo.

Lovely 3F throw
3T ok his landing position not the best
3Tw okay
sbs spins okay
pair okay odd step over by Robin into the reverse spin

death spiral very smooth (I hate what they have to do to get
points on the DS these days)

Footwork very nice

Lift to end exit on the end of the song (very impressive that)

partial standing ovation

Should of course go into first, but it was a rather careful, tidy performance.

73.14 first place

[cleopatra20042004]

So far everyone has done well. K/S program had lots of little wobbles and it seemed very rushed esp at the end. I want to enjoy ZZ program, but she seems not to get into it at all. SS wasnt spectacular, it was ok for them (I think they can do better)