Pairs Event Preview

The 2007 Jr. Pairs champions K&B should walk away with this one too. And it will probably be a sweep for the Russians again, too. They definitely have the strongest junior pair teams this year. Chase and Speroff have a chance at the bronze, as they have had a couple more weeks to recover from their injuries. And Zhang and Wang, I hope, will return to last year's form and make this interesting. Sergejeva & Glebov fill out my top 6 picks for this event.


Pairs


Ksenia KRASILNIKOVA / Konstantin BEZMATERNIKH RUS
Third Qualifiers for the 2008 Junior Grand Prix Final
Third Qualifiers for the 2007 Junior Grand Prix Final
Sixth Qualifiers for the 2006 Junior Grand Prix Final
2008 Mexico Cup [JGP] 1 2 1 (132.84)
2008 World Junior Championships 1 2 1 (148.12)
2008 Russian National Championships 4 5 5 (157.52)
2008 Junior Grand Prix Final 2 2 2 (146.25)
2007 Cup of Russia 5 5 5 (149.44)
2007 John Curry Memorial [JGP] 2 2 2 (134.50)
2007 Pokal der Blauen Schwerter [JGP] 3 3 3 (125.34)
2007 World Junior Championships 3 2 3 (145.47)
2007 Junior Grand Prix Final 2 1 2 (146.58)
2006 JGP Liberec 1 1 1 (136.85)
2006 Chinese Taipei Cup [JGP] 3 4 4 (128.77)
2006 World Junior Championships 5 3 3 (132.66)
2006 Russian National Championships 10 8 9
2005 SBC Cup [JGP] 2 2 2 (125.19)
2005 Croatia Cup [JGP] 1 2 2 (131.78)
2005 Russian National Championships 10 8 8
2004 JGP Belgrade 7 5 6 (115.09)
2004 JGP Courchevel 6 3 4 (119.46)
Golden Skate Inteview and article
http://www.goldenskate.com/articles/2008/090708.shtml
Their 4th place Sr. Russian Nationals program (SP) for 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxH8agd4qAQ
Their Jr. Worlds' winning LP 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21ei0omoNC8

Lubov ILIUSHECHKINA / Nodari MAISURADZE RUS
2008 Ostrava JGP 1 1 1 (139.28)
2008 World Junior Championships 2 1 2 (144.86)
2008 Russian National Championships 5 4 4 (157.83)
Great Golden Skate article and interview with them!
http://www.goldenskate.com/articles/2008/092708.shtml
SP at Russian Nationals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUVZY_-IuWs
LP at Russian Nationals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YurWyNVuvt4

Ksenia OZEROVA / Alexander ENBERT RUS
2008 Ostrava JGP 3 4 3 (122.68)
2008 Russian Championships 4 9 6 (131.35)

Yue ZHANG / Lei WANG CHN
2008 Mexico Cup [JGP] 4 8 5 (118.91)
2008 World Junior Championships 4 7 7 (130.92)
2008 Chinese National Championships 6 6 6 (126.94)
2008 Junior Grand Prix Final 8 6 8 (121.07)
2007 Cup of China 4 5 4 (126.78)
2007 John Curry Memorial [JGP] 4 3 3 (127.83)
2007 Tallinn Cup [JGP] 7 1 3 (123.77)
2007 Cup of China SP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viy8OmfC9-Q
2007 Cup of China LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb48tcU6Vvc

Maria SERGEJEVA / Ilja GLEBOV EST
Third Alternates for the 2008 Junior Grand Prix Final
2008 World Junior Championships 9 6 6 (131.02)
2008 Estonian National Championships 1 1 1 (141.96)
2007 Cup of Russia 7 7 7 (130.21)
2007 Cup of China 7 6 6 (113.68)
2007 John Curry Memorial [JGP] 10 4 6 (117.64)
2007 Tallinn Cup [JGP] 8 6 6 (116.84)
2007 World Junior Championships 7 10 7 (121.32)
2007 Estonian National Championships 1 1 1 (126.73)
2006 Junior Warsaw Cup 1 1 1 (108.66)
2006 JGP Liberec 8 9 9 (109.87)
2006 Spin of Norway [JGP] 8 8 7 (109.45)
2006 Junior Haabersti Cup 1 1 1
2005 Junior Haabersti Cup 1 1 1
2004 Junior Haabersti Cup I 1 1 1

Here's a video of their 2007 Jr. Worlds SP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EkX-L64O04

Brittany CHASE / Andrew SPEROFF USA
2008 Mexico Cup [JGP] 11 5 7 (112.82)
2008 Indy Challenge SP 7th 44.43
2008 Indy Challenge LP 7th 76.28
2008 U.S. Novice National Championships 1 3 2 (116.99)
2008 U.S. Midwestern Novice Sectionals 1 2 2 (129.27)

Brynn CARMAN / Chris KNIERIM USA
2008 Mexico Cup [JGP] 10 6 9 (112.61)
2008 Indy Challenge SP 2nd 47.72
2008 Indy Challenge LP 2nd 80.46
2008 U.S. Novice National Championships 2 1 1 (120.53)
2008 U.S. Midwestern Novice Sectionals 2 1 1 (133.56)
2007 U.S. Novice National Championships 6 5 5 (109.80)
2007 U.S. Midwestern Novice Sectionals 2 2 2 (109.30)
Short amateur video of them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwCldcB1XJc

Anais MORAND / Antoine DORSAZ SUI
118.92 best score from Jr. Worlds (12th)
2008 Ostrava JGP 6 9 8 (112.56)
2008 World Junior Championships 11 14 12 (118.92)
2008 Swiss National Championships 1 1 1 (126.39)
2007 John Curry Memorial [JGP] 15 13 14 (94.82)
2007 Tallinn Cup [JGP] 15 15 15 (100.31)
2007 World Junior Championships 10 12 11 (113.34)
2007 Swiss Junior National Championships 1 1 1 (108.21)
2006 JGP Liberec 10 10 10 (109.24)
2006 Spin of Norway [JGP] 10 9 9 (105.26)
Their Ostrava LP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcsOUo_bxhc

Paige LAWRENCE / Rudi SWIEGERS CAN
Their condition could be questionable as they did not compete at their scheduled event in Mexico

Ice Network has a nice article about them.
2008 Indy Challenge
SP 8th (43.27)
LP 4th (79.36 )
2008 Canadian Junior National Championships 2 1 2 (129.07)
2008 Junior Western Challenge 1 1 1 (113.69)
2007 Pokal der Blauen Schwerter [JGP] 4 5 4 (122.98)
2007 Canadian Junior National Championships 15 12 14 (97.38)
2007 Junior Western Challenge 1 2 2 (98.33)
2006 Canadian Junior National Championships 14 12 14 (84.50)
2006 Junior Western Challenge 5 5 5 (75.50)

Maddison BIRD / Raymond SCHULTZ CAN
2008 Canadian Novice National Championships 3 3 3 (103.82)
2008 Novice Eastern Challenge 1 1 1 (105.11)
2008 Central Ontario Novice Sectionals 1 1 1 (101.84)

Malgorzata LIPINSKA / Bartosz PALUCHOWSKI POL
2008 Ostrava JGP 16 15 15 81.93

Alexandra TETENKO / Nikolai KAMENCHUK BLR

If you have a good eye for the skaters' identities, they are videos of the Indy Challenge from this youtube user. Unfortunately, the clips all have the same titles.

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=joannskater2&search_query=indy++&search=Search

I'd give Iliuscheckina and Maisuradze the edge over Krasilnikova/Bezmaternikh if they can skate reasonably clean.

I really hope Sergejeva and Glebov can medal. I loved them at Junior Worlds last year. Their Kalinka SP put many dance teams to shame.

I hope so! And it's true that K&B are not the most consistent of teams, so they may assist Iliuscheckina and Maisuradze by falling or having some other major screw up.

I'm thinking being in Belarus is so close to home that the Russians will do well here. Chase and Speroff are so new to this, hope they just make a statement
Carman and Knierim have not been living up to their Novice days. I'm surprised they haven't been replaced. But I still like them and hope again.