Pairs Free Program

[Mirunna]

Congrats to Vera and Yuri for keeping their nerves and composure after Tatiana and Maxim. And of congrats to our 2012 european champions. Not the best I've seen them skate this season, but still very, very strong. I love their fighting spirit.

 

[waltzjump]

Aliona Savchenko is hosted at the Italian TV Raisport, co-hosting in English the broadcast! It is delayed; they just showed the Israeli team, and Aliona recalled her spinning accident at 2011 Euros, like Evgeni Kr. tonight; she says how difficult is to think what to do in such a short time. She seems a lovely girl.

 

[Mao88]

For those that missed it, here are the videos for the Pairs Competition:-

Pairs LP's

1. Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR/Maxim TRANKOV (RUS) - LP

2. Vera BAZAROVA/Yuri LARIONOV (RUS) - LP

3. Ksenia STOLBOVA/Fedor KLIMOV (RUS) - LP

4. Stefania BERTON/Ondrej HOTAREK (ITA) - LP

5. Mari VARTMANN/Aaron VAN CLEAVE (GER) - LP

Pairs SP's

1. Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR/Maxim TRANKOV (RUS) - SP

2. Vera BAZAROVA/Yuri LARIONOV (RUS) - SP

3. Ksenia STOLBOVA/Fedor KLIMOV (RUS) - SP

4. Stefania BERTON/Ondrej HOTAREK (ITA) - SP

5. Mari VARTMANN/Aaron VAN CLEAVE (GER) - SP

Interview

Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR/Maxim TRANKOV - Post Competition Interview

 

[Mirunna]

Lovely medal ceremony, with all 3 russian couples standing all together on the first place step of the podium, for the russian anthem, the guys holding a russian flag and all smiling and happy. Absolutely lovely

 

[gold12345]

Bazarova/Larionov are just beautiful. Yes, they have their weaknesses, but they have those classic Russian lines that are just so rare these days. They have lovely programs this year, and I'm happy for them to be scoring so well this season.

 

[colleen o'neill]

B/L's lifts were simply beautiful , and I love the neat ,sure , delicate exits. Just gorgeous from start to finish. I also want to say that I loved her dress ...the white inserts on the sides made her look less thin.

 

[3T3T]

Great result for Russia with a clean sweep of the podium. I think the last time they done that was in 1994 with G/G, S/N and M/D. A little bit disappointed for the Italians but from reading the protocols they were a distant fourth, still I really like there style. V/T were the class of the field, still not a fan of their short but I like the long.

B/L are really pushing to break in to the top tier but they are falling a bit short, she needs to work on the jumps, they are definitely improving though. Their lifts and twists are top notch. From watching S/K in the grand prix, I thought there was no way they would get out of Russian nationals let alone get on the european podium.

Was very impressed with J/C and V/VC. Spins seemed to cause a lot of problems tonight. Very poor coverage by Eurosport only 3 couples live and then highlights of the mens short.

 

[sky_fly20]

Russian sweep at the podium !
so I guess the Russian Skating Federation was very wise to send Stolbova/Klimov
if this would have been Martiusheva/Rogonov, I think they would have bomb it and they would not have a medaled
will the same thing happen to Polina K. ?

 

[mousepotato]

From watching S/K in the grand prix, I thought there was no way they would get out of Russian nationals let alone get on the european podium.

Well, no offense to S/K but they have V/T and K/S to thank for medaling at nationals and Smirnov for the chance to go to Europeans. It was bad luck from other skaters that got them there.

Was very impressed with J/C and V/VC. Spins seemed to cause a lot of problems tonight.

V/VC impressed me very much, I hope they stick with it.

 

[demarinis5]

Congratulations to the podium medalist. So happy for Vera and Yuri. Good placement for Berton/Hotarek, well done!

 

[blue_idealist]

I'd never seen Vartmann/Van Cleave before but I was very impressed by their free performance. Volosozhar/Trankov were close to perfect as always (although I noticed maybe a slight problem with one of the last lifts) and Stolbova/Klimov are becoming one of my favourite pairs teams.

 

[DianaSelene]

V/T have finally had all their jumps clean in the long program this season, but they lost a lot of points because of that spin and the lift. That's why they got around 137. With the clean spin and lift, they could have gotten 5-6 points higher.

 

[Mirunna]

Medal ceremony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwGqVeElHIg

I've never seen Maxim so happy

 

[euroskate]

It almost happened again! Tatiana had a balancing check problem during a foot change on the SBS spin, and almost completely lost momentum. But she trooped on and kept the spin going, however slowly.

Awkward exit on their last lift. On the replay, it seems Trankov had a bit of footing issue. But like the champs they are, they absolutely refused to let gravity and physics get the better of them, and covered up the errors admirably.

jesus they were really lucky on that lift. look at it in replay! trankov really struggled. it is only the experience and also some luck that he could save this.

 

[StellaCampo]

It seems to me V/T are always overscored. If S/S or K/S made these little errors across their program they would be punished more. This is just my impression.

 

[Mirunna]

It seems to me V/T are always overscored. If S/S or K/S made these little errors across their program they would be punished more. This is just my impression.

Well the scores were big for all the couples. Vera/Yuri scored a personal best in the LP even though they were far from perfect. Was Tatiana and Maxim's LP worth of 137 points? Probably not. But who cares, they were the clear winners. And I am sure that both K/S and S/S would have scored big as well

 

[blue_idealist]

It seems to me V/T are always overscored. If S/S or K/S made these little errors across their program they would be punished more. This is just my impression.

No way, S/S aren't punished that much for little errors, remember last year's Euros? K/S might get dinged though.

 

[sky_fly20]

it's usually K/S that are underscored
V/T have been making a big splash and the judges are happy to reward them
S/S aren't perfect either and they too get overscored

 

[DianaSelene]

With the same mistakes as V/T, S/S would probably get 139 or 140 so NO, S/S are the ones way overscored.

 

[Mirunna]

With the same mistakes as V/T, S/S would probably get 139 or 140 so NO, S/S are the ones way overscored.

How do you know? When is the last time S/S had problems with a side by side spin and a lift, and got 139 or 140? The only 2 times they got a score over 140 was when they skated clean both times(words 2011 and GPF 2011) The only time they got 139 was at COR 2011 when she had a step-out of the 2A(which is a minor mistake compared with the two mistakes V/T had because they lost levels on both the spin and lift, plus the -GOE).
I believe the scores were a bit inflated overall in pairs competition but I don't think anyone was over-scored compared with the others. V/T were on a league on their own. Plus, none of the teams behind them were clean.