Pairs long

[Jasper]

Cute reaction at the end. Took them a while to realize they had the scores they needed!

I think the judges rewarded Pang/Tong because they skated with the most passion and emotion. Petrova/Tikhonov did every element the best by far, but they didn't have an actual program.

Shocked that Pang's triple that she fell on was actually counted as a triple.

 

[coolio]

Ha, you are right....we are now into a new era of rivalry. T/M already won the world once and they will never achieve that again, and they can forget about medaling in Olympics as they are about to retire.

Once Z/S joins the rivalry next year....it will be triple medaling in doubles next yr for China . Let's face it...Russia aint the boss next year and Chinese are just on another level against the likes of US and Canadian teams....

 

[Jasper]

China is the new force in pairs, for sure.

Pang/Tong actually got 2 deductions... huh? I wonder why.

 

[mzheng]

China is the new force in pairs, for sure.

Pang/Tong actually got 2 deductions... huh? I wonder why.

The 2nd deduction could be finished behind the music.


Congrats to Pan/Tong. Love this program when it is skated all out. But the costumn is ugly......She is coming out of her shell, they show connections.

Z/Z was just blah, especially the boy Zhang completely lack of his spark after the mistake. The music was noizy, don't know what was BinYao thinking. PLEASE chose some wetern music for this team. This way at least audiance don't have to suffer the noizy. Since it looks no difference to Zhang/Zhang wether it is chinese music or western music, they don't care too much of music anyway.

Love canadians pair (the last part of program, fully music interpretation with the footwork going into the last throw, wow.) and I/B. Petick again was running out of gas by the end of program.

Just show you what media attention would do you in. It was reported after Olympics, Shen/Zhao and Zhang/Zhang got all of media attention when they were back to china. They could bearly find time to train. While Pan/Tong pluged into the rink started their trainning for worlds right way.

Call it sweet revenge for chinese pairs. Both team were not clean in LP yet were placed overall 1 & 2.....recall back in 2001 and 2000 (or was it 1999?) Shen/Zhao was clean, yet was placed behind the teams who skated not clean.

CoP good or bad is still up to debate!

 

[Jasper]

mzheng, Zhang/Zhang do skate to "Western" music in their SP (Kashmir by Zeppelin) and I think it suits their style perfectly. But I also LOVE LOVE LOVE their music and choreography in the LP. Why can't they skate to a great Chinese symphony? I think it's terrific.

 

[dugyiho]

I like their musical choice for the long program too. It's actually quite passionate (the music that is). But too bad for their mistake in the jump. They would probably be more into the music and sell this program if they were not distracted by the mistake.

 

[Jasper]

I like their musical choice for the long program too. It's actually quite passionate. But too bad for the mistake in the jump.

I completely agree. The triumphant climax to the music is especially dramatic and passionate.

 

[coolio]

mzheng, Zhang/Zhang do skate to "Western" music in their SP (Kashmir by Zeppelin) and I think it suits their style perfectly. But I also LOVE LOVE LOVE their music and choreography in the LP. Why can't they skate to a great Chinese symphony? I think it's terrific.

Yellow River you mean?...it is actually a piano concerto, or would it be Liang-Zhu, which is a violin concerto. But those are done to death and I dont think they want to be seen as cliches. I say P/T and Z/Z have chosen much better music and choreography than S/Z years ago, and also much more technically superior.

 

[dugyiho]

I remember Lu Chen skated to Chinese music before and it worked quite well for her.

 

[Jasper]

It lists the Zhangs music as "The Offspring of Dragons by Hou De Jian" on the ISU site.

 

[coolio]

It lists the Zhangs music as "The Offspring of Dragons by Hou De Jian" on the ISU site.

This music has been popularized by a popstar in Taiwan and has been popular in China and Taiwan for some time already. But yes, it is actually one of the more temporary Chinese music selections.

 

[CDMM1991]

He is the best male skater in the world. They are the only pair that I can say that I find myself watching the man more than the woman.

 

[Alsace]

So, for those who have seen all the programs, were I/B robbed?

 

[jan]

Hmmm....were I/B robbbed? I am not a fan of this pair but it was certainly nice to see a clean program skated. They had a lot of flow throughout.!!...lifts were better than the chinese... I find his stroking( Baldwin) to be choppy!
I think that the chinese seem to be getting inflated PCS scores. They do alot of two foot forward crosscuts ( don't pick up their outside foot).. I dont find them polished either. I will say they are more exciting though.
I think the russians were for me the best combo of polished technique and good over skating quality.. i wasn't impressed with the front loading in their program.

None of the teams were as good as the 2002 Olympic year where the top three teams were polished, had good skating technique etc.
I think I/B lost out because of their short program....don't know if they were robbed or not...they shouldn't have knocked out the russians for third.

 

[MissCleo]

:banging: So, since I have an anatomy exam tomorrow, I decided that it was much more important for me to study than to watch skating tonight on CBC. I figured that I pretty much knew who would win and all that. Of course, the one time that I don't watch is the one time that my favorite pairs skaters (inoue/baldwin and pang/tong) do extremely well. How long do I have to wait for ESPN to air the pairs long?:banging:

 

[Jasper]

I believe Tong has a background in ice dance, and he is definitely a tremendous skater. He gets better stretch and extension on spirals and spins than she does!

But Pang/Tong are second/third fiddle to the other Chinese teams no longer and good for them.

 

[Rgirl]

He is the best male skater in the world. They are the only pair that I can say that I find myself watching the man more than the woman.

CDMM! I too have been entranced by Jian Tong's skating since I first saw him perform on the ice. Jasper's note that Tong has a background in ice dance makes complete sense. But even so, I think you've got to be born with that kind of sinewy muscle-joint movement to be that exceptional. We should start the "We Watch Jian Tong!" club, lol. Just kidding. It takes the pair and mighty congratulations to both Qing Pang and Jian Tong.

I'm all a'flutter over Inoue/Baldwin's bronze! I thought more folks would be jumping up and down for them. A US pairs team on the Worlds podium this season? Who'da thunk it?! Wahoo!

And congrats to Petrova/Tikhonov, They've been like a pair of Energizer Bunnies in pairs skating. I think they looked better this season than they have since they won Worlds all those eons ago. For their age and with their record, World silver is a great medal to go out with, IMO. I just hope the Russian Federation doesn't give them doody for not winning gold.

I think Alexei Tikhonov was probably the happiest athlete on earth when the event was over. He always struggled so much with stamina, though this year I understand he really trained really hard both on and off the ice to improve his endurance. But I think stamina never came naturally to him and for Alexei to be able to get that albatross off his neck--that is, not having to worry about 4-plus minute competitive programs anymore--he must have been bowing to the skate gods that he and Maria made it through their last Worlds with a very respectable silver. Alexei Tikhonov: '06 World silver medalist and the skater Russia once traded to Japan in exchange for a van.

Ah, life.

Rgirl

 

[Rikku]

I'm all a'flutter over Inoue/Baldwin's bronze! I thought more folks would be jumping up and down for them. A US pairs team on the Worlds podium this season? Who'da thunk it?! Wahoo!

And congrats to Petrova/Tikhonov, They've been like a pair of Energizer Bunnies in pairs skating. I think they looked better this season than they have since they won Worlds all those eons ago. For their age and with their record, World silver is a great medal to go out with, IMO. I just hope the Russian Federation doesn't give them doody for not winning gold.
Rgirl

Sorry to end your flutter, but Inoue/Baldwin came in 3rd (only) in the FS; their final result is 4th. Petrova/Tikhonov's final result is 3rd. The Zhangs got the silver. But between the Zhangs and P/T it was very close; only 0.20 points seperate them.

 

[zeytin]

i couldn't watch both sp and fp because of time difference. but i read the posts and i have a question. did Petrova/Tikhonov skate a clean sp or did they have falls? i read the comments in ISU's site and Tikhonov said that it was their best skate, so why are they at third place when the two chinese pairs have falls at fp? ok it's not just about jumps or falls but i think Pet/Tik have better artistry than both chinese couples...Chinese couples are very strong at technical elements but if they made a mistake and Pet/Tik skated clean programs,they should have win the gold....

zeytin

 

[Jasper]

Petrova/Tikhonov had a clean SP EXCEPT for their throw, which she turned out of on the landing. That was enough for them to be in 3rd place going into the FS. Their FS was perfectly executed from element to element, but with poor choreography and unoriginality. I'm happy they didn't win gold just because they didn't have a program to the music. In this case, Pang/Tong had the best artistry and interpretation.