Pairs - Short Program - Comments

Eeyora said:

Word is on another message board a fan yelled out to Shen and Zhao "fall!" in Russian. I hope this doesn't continue. Last year at worlds I will admit I was a little unsure about how I felt about T/M's skating. But now I love them. Their choreography is brilliant. They have a real feel to their skating. The rivalry between T/M and S/Z should prove to be exciting.

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Well........that was just plain rude but I see they are in a country where pairs dominated for years. Welcome to the wonderful world of skating.

Sort of fair judging

I) woul say that S/Z was hold up a bit. Their short programme was marred with several small and big mistakes. The spins being the worst. It was a bit like seing them a they were in the beginning of their international career. Strong throws, but very ugly technic from his site, (how does COP view the mans position in a throw?) poors spins and basic stroking. You could have argued that they should have had lower marks than the other chinese couples and O&S, but obiously COP still gives a bit extra for established stars. Eurosport later showed photos of S with an ivepack on her left foot, so you may wonder ehether they will skate the free program. If it was not a pre-olympic year they would probably redraw, but I do not think that they would like to open the gate for T&M as entering the olympic as double World Champions, so I suppose they will compete and hope for a miracle skate.

The double Russian lead is very fair, based on two beuatifull and complete programmes

vixen62025 said:

Question for Rosaleen if you get to read these threads: on TV the attendance looked surprisingly spotty, which surprises me. Is that in fact the case? I would have thought (especially for Pairs, with Russia's deep history of domination in this discipline) that the place would have been quite full.

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Yes, the audience was much smaller than expected -- both of the Russian pairs commented on it during the press conference after the short program. The centre section across from the judges and the section next to it on one side are all reserved for off-duty judges, ISU and VIP's -- consequently they'll be empty most of the time <G>. The 1st 12 rows or so are the higher priced tickets (I'm assuming), the top 12-14 rows (not sure exactly how many rows there are) are the lower priced tickets and they seem to have more people in them.

I'll try to remember to comment on the size of the crowd at each event.

Some quick comments on the Pairs Short

Ina & Baldwin - Well skated but not in the same leage as the teams here in Moscow.

Pang &Tong - Their best this season. Looking forward to the LP.

Shen & Zhao - He's obvisously hurting from the injury.

T&M - Absolutely their best showing and crowd went wild.

Zhang & Zhang - Very good skate. No problems.

Obertas and Slavanov - Very good and again the crowd loved them.

Z&S - Always nice to see those lifts.

Canadian (W&F and M&B) - very nicely skated but overshowed by Savachenko and Szolowski (Germany). We will be talking about these three teams in the future.

Petrova & Tikonhov - Never skated better. Deserved their second place.

Joe

Joesitz said:

Ina & Baldwin - Well skated but not in the same leage as the teams here in Moscow.

Pang &Tong - Their best this season. Looking forward to the LP.

Shen & Zhao - He's obvisously hurting from the injury.

T&M - Absolutely their best showing and crowd went wild.

Zhang & Zhang - Very good skate. No problems.

Obertas and Slavanov - Very good and again the crowd loved them.

Z&S - Always nice to see those lifts.

Canadian (W&F and M&B) - very nicely skated but overshowed by Savachenko and Szolowski (Germany). We will be talking about these three teams in the future.

Petrova & Tikonhov - Never skated better. Deserved their second place.

Joe

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Very high quality Pairs SP.

I would say it was a fair outcome through the top 5 teams. Petrova & Tikhonov were flawless, Shen and Zhao had mistakes on the spins (both sbs and pair).
Zhang & Zhang need to work on the second mark, Pang & Tong better than all season, but still not enough on this exceptional night.

Obertas & Slavnov are still skating slower and laboured on some of the elements (like lift) and spins.

The Germans were better than the Poles, no question. Zagorska & Siudek went clean despite her serious recent injury, but some of the elements were not as good as the Germans, who are much better polished. The judges keep rewarding the Polish team for their OUTSTANDING LIFT, but there are other 7 elements for heaven's sake.....

Canadians couldn't fare better, too tough competition.

Herios - Joseph

Thanks Rosaleen for answering my question. I know the ISU always reserves a big pile of center ice seats for themselves/corporate sponsors, etc. (And then they wonder why people don't want to pay $700 for all event tickets to sit on the ends of the arena!) Sad for the competitors that such prime seats go empty.