maria sergejeva reminds me so much of mikkeline kierkegaard, hair, smile, stiff elegance in her posture. during the warm up i had G&G flashbacks watching Barazova in pink, but other than the lovely air position during the lift, there is none of the security and solidity of G&G. katia may have been small but she was so fiercely determined. ah, well, still a lovely pair on their own merit. haven't seen the big guns yet. icenetwork doesn't let me forward.
oh and about that toupee suggestion someone made (brodeur/matatall)... men can bald early. his partner doesn't look like jail bait, so it's ok with me. plus, how do you secure a toupee firmly enough to prevent it slipping out of place?
i'm liking this competition better than TEB because i don't see so many ladies grabbing their feet during the death spirals, looking like they're missing part of a limb
mclaughlin and brubaker--skated to my favorite mushy music for pairs. good choice of costume, to borrow katia gordeeva's 'beautiful' dress from divas on ice, but maybe he could have dressed in something more formal looking--it looks like he came straight from his day job ;p
kawaguchi/smirnov... eh. i haven't liked any moskvina pair choreography since M&D, but i admire yuko's determination.
now somebody else needs to post something in this thread, otherwise i'll just keep editing this long post after i see pang/tong...
spoke too soon. pang/tong did an amputated leg death spiral. wonder how many there'll be in the long. i dislike that move no matter who does it. the throws and twist look great. good music. good program for them.
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Maria SERGEJEVA / Ilja GLEBOV EST 8 44.88
2 Mylene BRODEUR / John MATTATALL CAN 7 46.66
3 Anastasia MARTIUSHEVA / Alexei ROGONOV RUS 6 51.94
4 Nicole DELLA MONICA / Yannick KOCON ITA 5 53.56
Warm-Up Group 2
5 Vera BAZAROVA / Yuri LARIONOV RUS 4 54.42
6 Keauna MCLAUGHLIN / Rockne BRUBAKER USA 3 61.34
7 Yuko KAVAGUTI / Alexander SMIRNOV RUS 2 61.62
8 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN 1 65.40