Pretty solid performance by Hase and Volodin. Not very emotional or speedy, there were some messy nervous elements, but it was good enough to win this competition. She said she was very nervous and I anticipated that by putting them third in my predictions. I thought she would be tired. But they did very well in the short, maybe the incident in practice helped to shift the focus, and luckily the competition was messier in the free. Still work to do. Artistic/performance side needs further development. I think they excel when they skate clean; it just fits their style and image perfectly when everything is done smoothly and beautifully. If they don't skate clean, it really ruins the experience as you start to notice the lack of choreography, attack etc. Would also love for the reverse lasso lift that they do to get more speed, flow and ice coverage, the current state on it does not look very impressive compared to other lifts. Also to learn to control the nerves and put it to work. Like if they do well at Europeans, they could move to #1 ranking in the world standings and have to skate last in the short at Worlds.
Japanese short program is a perfect fit for them. Powerful and complex. Free is also good in terms of choreography, but I find the music somewhat monotonous, and by the end of the program it is getting annoying. They do have great attack to their skating, they are engaging.
Georgian team has got good throws and lifts. I can't say the same about their programs. The short program is a mess: the idea x music x costumes do not match. The free program looks weird, it's rather flat and empty, looked like element drilling. At no point I was interested in what was going on.
It's a shame Deanna and Max were not there. They really were missing.
Honorable mention is Ellie Kam who not only landed lutz throw, but also did 3s+2a+2a sequence. They might be a dark horse for the home worlds in March.
Camerawork was as french as ever.
in every way: performance-wise, movement-wise, emotion-wise (she's lovable) and save-the-mistake wise.
