Thursday practises - Pairs

Group 1

Miller/Moram - short pgm / he fell on sbs 3toes and they skated through at least a lift / bods is very nice and they end with a good combo spins / didn’t really see the pgm as I was responding to email.

Putnam/Wirtz - light yellow with red (same as last year) Sing, sing, sing / I’m glad they kept this pgm because it’s a very good one and they never really skated it as well as they could in competition last year / sbs 3sal were perfect / lift also was good - covered lots of ice (she doesn’t change pos though) thr 3s is good / they didn’t do the whole pgm / into the spirals now - very nice seq / combo spin is ok - starts out backwards but they almost change pos too often and it seemed a little sloppy /

Inoue / Bladwin - short pgm / sbs 2a takeoffs a little out of sync and bit far apart but clean / thr 3a she fell / lift is good - good speed / death spiral with change of hand /

Random notes after run-throughs / M&M great sbs spins perfect sync & close together / I&B another fall on 3a / P&W a number of very spinny twists - she still doesn’t get enough height on them / M&M tried at least one unsuccessful sbs 3t - so far haven’t seen clean ones from them / I&B going for 3a again - just did a double and she stepped out - nice thr 3l though / P&W - even the 2tw they just did was crashy on the landing / very nice sbs spins by I&B /


Group 2

Moyle / Seitz - both in black with white & silver trim / dramatic piano to open (Greig concerto) sbs jumps were good but I missed the takeoff - not sure what they were / thr 3l step out - lean in air, they did a gorgeous one in warm-up / sorry missed a bit there - was watching the Swedish girl attempt 3s and she just had the best one I’ve seen from her - fully rotated with a step out / M&S - combo spin to end is good

Zhang/Zhang - dark red with black / Spanish guitar / huge 2tw he puts his hands to his side when she’s in the air / taking a break / huge thr 3 sal by the Swedes but she fell / great thr 3l by M&S / now the Zhangs are in the pgm again - thr 3l is doubled but the Swedes just landed a very nice thr 3s / M&S have a quite nice 2tw / Z&Z throw 3l then sbs 2s / and a fall by the Swedes but don’t know what the throw was /

Pylkina/ Hogner - start pgm with spiral he has better extension than her / walked through lift or tw / sbs 3s clean!!!!!!!! - 1st one I’ve seen from her / taking a break now / and Z&Z did sbs 3s / she lost it on the bods /

Group 3

Spassova / Todorov - they’re wearing the same thing as yesterday - her in turquoise catsuit him in a royal blue one / they both have good positions on the spirals but they leg lines don’t match / pair spin is very nice - they skated through the jumps / tw & throws I think - at least I didn’t see them/

Marcoux/Buntin - her in white him in black (semi-sheer shirt) sbs 3t she stepped out / then they take a break / music is cherry pink & apple blossom white (I remember steven cousins skating to this at worlds a couple of times) sbs spins get a bit out of sync and far apart / pair spin is nice - changes right with music / another break / great entrance to thr 3l - him in spread eagle with her resting on his knees - hard to describe /

Vise/Trent - her in dayglo green him in black / great speed into a very good 2tw / skated through h sbs jumps / thr 3l her good knees on landing held it / bods got very slow at the end and I didn’t think they’d be able to exit it but they did / sbs spin - pretty much in sync, but it’s hard to see because they spin in opposite directions /

Random notes after - nice thr 3l by M&B and then a nice twist / and now we have all 3 teams talking to their coaches / nice sbs spins by S&T / nice lift by M&B with the helicopter exit - one of her legs sort of droops a bit in the lift (yes, I know I’m being picky) / no one’s doing to much of anything right now / V&T sbs 3t - he had a hand down / S&T thr 3s very low on landing & I think a hand down /

One of the (somewhat amusing) errors in the media guide - Jessica Miller & Ian Moram are skating for the USA!!! And Craig Buntin's home town is St. Leonard Quebec (it's actually Kelowna, BC) -