Pairs Free Skate Play-By-Play

[sequinsgalore]

11 JAMES Vanessa / CIPRES Morgan (FRA)

Music: Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel performed by Disturbed, arranged by Maxime Rodriguez

Black jumpsuit / black sweater, grey pants

3Tw
3T+2T+2T
4STh - twofoot, hands down/stepout (fall?)
5RLi
2S - she pop, he did 3S
PCoSp
ChSq
5ALi
3FTh
BoDs
FCCoSp
3Li - bit tight exit

Messy throw and a pop, so not clean, sadly. They don't seem pleased

FS: 71.59+71.60 = 143.19 (SB), 218.53 (SB), 1/11

 

[draqq]

James / Cipres (FRA)

Beautiful catch on the opening 3Twist. Great ice coverage on the 3T+2T+2T! Wild step-out on the attempted 4S but looks rotated. Unique position in the first lift, right into three-turns but only a double salchow from Vanessa on the attempted sbs 3S, ouch. Good centering on the combo spin. Beautiful hip lift and a fantastic throw 3F. Good low position in the death spiral and nice sync in the flying camels in the sbs spins. And a nice behind-the-back entry into the carry lift with that fantastic drag exit.

Darn, those salchows let them down, but this Song of Silence program is rightfully iconic. Extremely modern in the shapes, costuming, and tone. This wasn't as strong in the elements compared to their Euro performance last year with this program, but this is still one of my favorite programs in pairs skating in this quadrennial.

 

[draqq]

Wow, 1st place for James / Cipres so far!

 

[sequinsgalore]

12 YU Xiaoyu / ZHANG Hao (CHN)

Music: Jyn Erso & Hope Suite (from "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story") by Michael Giacchino
Princess Leia (from "Star Wars: A New Hope") by John Williams

Grey-bluish dress / black outfit

3S - she fell
3Tw
3T+2T<< - she twofoot 3T and pop, he did 3T+2T
BoDs
PCoSp
5RLi
3LoTh
3STh - she fell
FCCoSp4
5ALi - iffy exit
3Li
ChSq

Oh no, quite many costly mistakes!

FS: 62.98+67.54-2.00 = 128.52, 204.10, 4/12

 

[draqq]

Yu / Zhang (CHN)

Ouch, a fall from Yu on the opening sbs 3S (might be <). Humongous 3Twist! A bit low from Yu on the 3T+2T, with the 2T looking fully downgraded from her. Nice lift transition out of the death spiral, right into a decent combo spin. Good reverse lift. Wonderful throw 3Lo but a split fall (ouch!) on the throw 3S. Fairly good sync on the sbs spin except for the last part. A little unstable in the last lift, but a better hip lift. And a high kick on that landing from Zhang in the ending pose, lol.

Unfortunately, those jump mistakes from Yu flattened the energy right from the start of the performance. If they had made the rotation, the Star Wars melodies would have carried them through. A very uncharacteristic fall on the throw 3S too. This might put them in 8th place overall, perhaps lower.

 

[sequinsgalore]

13 SAVCHENKO Aljona / MASSOT Bruno (GER)

Music: La Terre vue du ciel by Armand Amar, edited by Maxime Rodriguez

Blue/purple ombre costumes

3Tw - huge
3FTh
3S+2T+2T
3T
3STh
5RLi
3Li
CCoSp
PCoSp
ChSq
BoDs
5ALi

Yes!!! Clean skate, they fall to the ground of happiness. Could this medal (or win)?

FS: 82.07+77.24 = 159.31 (WR), 235.90, 1/13

 

[draqq]

Savchenko / Massot (GER)

Fantastically high, floaty throw 3Twist. Great flow-out on the throw 3F. Great sbs 3S+2T+2T! Beautiful sbs 3T right out of spread eagles. And wonderful throw 3S with fantastic height. First lift with great rotation, and a one-arm takeoff in the second lift with a interesting cartwheeling exit. Good sync in the sbs spins (only slightly mismatched at the end). Interesting positions in the combo spin with a nice hook on the exit and starting with pretty much no speed which is very difficult. Gentle and strong death spiral. And brilliant final lift with that one-armed carry!

Well, that could actually earn the gold medal! Not much else they could possibly do apart from having a throw 3A, but that was amazing! Level 4s and plenty of +3s all over the place. They will definitely podium; just a matter of what the top teams can possibly do to fight against that! One of the best Olympic performances in pairs that I've ever seen.

 

[draqq]

Wow, 159! So close to breaking 160!

 

[sequinsgalore]

14 DUHAMEL Meagan / RADFORD Eric (CAN)

Music: Hometown Glory by Adele

Dark red berry costumes

3Tw
3Lz - she hands down
4STh
3S+2T+2T
FCCoSp
5RLi
3FTh
5ALi
ChSq
PCoSp
3Li
BoDs

Wow, great skate! Hand down on sbs, but clean quad throw. She falls on her knees, they hug

FS: 79.86+73.47 = 153.33 (SB), 230.15 (SB), 2/14

 

[draqq]

Duhamel / Radford (CAN)

Good catch on the 3 Twist to open. Hands-down on the 3Lz from Duhamel (no < on it). Wonderful landing on the quad salchow. Fantastic unison in the 3S+2T+2T and very well-synced in the sbs spins. Very fast rotation in the first lift. Great landing on the throw 3Lz. Superb axel lasso lift and through-the-legs exit. Great centering on the multidirectional spin. Brilliant ice coverage on the last lift and a wonderful death spiral to end!

Well, that was a fantastic performance of Hometown Glory. Only mistake was the hands-down on the side-by-side 3Lz. They don't have the most complicated transitions, so they needed to hit every element and carry that momentum through the music - and that happened here! Wonderful throw quad salchow as well for a little piece of history.

 

[sequinsgalore]

15 SUI Wenjing / HAN Cong (CHN)

Music: Violin Fantasy on Puccini's Turandot by Vanessa-Mae
Nessun Dorma (from "Turandot") by Giacomo Puccini, performed by Luciano Pavarotti

Red dress / black outfit, both with sparkly dragon motif

4Tw
3T+1T+2T - he pop 2nd 2T, she did 3T+2T+2T
3S - she stepout, hand down
BoDs
5RLi
FCCoSp
3FTh
3STh
ChSq
PCoSp
5ALi
3Li

Oh, small mistakes on both sbs jumps. But they hit the rest, especially jumps. She fistpumps. I dont think they will win the FS, but is is enough for the lead?

FS: 76.29+76.79 = 153.08, 235.47 (PB), 2/15 - so close!

 

[draqq]

Sui / Han (CHN)

Nice catch on the opening quad twist. Sbs 3T+1T+2T, singling from Han on that second jump. Turn-out from Sui on the sbs 3S, ouch. Fantastic hip lift and somersault exit. One of the best sync on the sbs spins today. Brilliant throw 3F! And a solid landing on the throw 3S as well. Great speed through the combo spin (but only got a Level 2). Great speed and split position on the second lift. And a wonderful final lift with the spread eagle entry and smooth changes of position.

That should be good enough for second place behind Savchenko / Massot. Those two errors on the side-by-side elements will hurt them. I don't think their short program lead will be enough for them to surpass S/M with this performance. Their rough practices seemed to have carried through to their free, sadly. But a strong effort after their early mistakes to be clean on everything else.

 

[sequinsgalore]

16 TARASOVA Evgenia / MOROZOV Vladimir (RUS)

Music: Candyman by Christina Aguilera, Linda Perry
Nasty Naughty Boy by Christina Aguilera, Linda Perry
Ready Teddy performed by Elvis Presley

Black/yellow polka dot costumes

4Tw - bit tight catch
2S - she pop, he did 3S
3STh - hand down, stepout (fall?)
3T+2T+2T
5RLi
BoDs
FCCoSp
ChSq
3LoTh
5ALi
3Li
PCoSp

Costly mistake to start, I think they will drop to 4th. They seem disappointed

FS: 70.08+74.17-1.00 = 143.25, 224.93, 4/16

 

[draqq]

Tarasova / Morosov (RUS)

Alright 4Lz with a low catch but completed. Ouch, only a 2S from Tarasova in the side by side. Weird turn-out and a wild fall on the throw 3S. Better sbs 3T+2T+2T. Good back entry lift with a cartwheeling exit. Good back-outside death spiral. Great sync through the sbs spins. Strong and high throw 3Lo, and a nice one-armed position in the lift but a slightly rough exit. A strong final lift and a pretty good combo spin.

This choice of Candyman is so incongruous with this pair. The bombastic, pop styling of Christina Aguilera overpowers them. They just felt lacking in the energy after those opening mistakes. I have no idea whether this will go into third or fourth, especially with their lead from the short program.

 

[draqq]

Well, that was the podium I wanted and I actually got it. I suppose sacrificing that goat over that copper bowl was absolutely necess..... I mean, thank you Figure Skating Gods!

 

[draqq]

Twenty years of tears for Aljona! You cry it out, girl! You deserve that gold!

:sad4: :sad4: :sad4:

 

[draqq]

That damn 1T lost it for Sui/Han. That's got to sting.

 

[draqq]

Some more people to thank and appreciate in this stellar Olympic pairs event:

- Congratulations to James / Cipres for their Top 5 finish at the Olympics!

- Congratulations to Christopher Dean for his masterful choreography for Savchenko / Massot!

- Congratulations to Marchei / Hotarek for a brilliant and clean free skate to earn them a Top 6 finish!

- Congratulations to Ryom / Kim for representing North Korea well at this Olympic Games!

 

[dorispulaski]

And thanks to sequinsgalore and draqq for stellar play by play!

 

[gsk8]

Ditto!!!