2010 Worlds: Pairs FS As it Happened...

Sorry these are late!
PAIRS FS NOTES…

I came in on Evora/Ladwig (USA)… missed a little, but it sounded like they blew a throw and maybe had trouble on a SBS? I’ll have to check back when time allows. 165.96 total; FINISHED 9TH in their Worlds debut (not too shabby).

Berton/Hotarek (from Italy; apparently coached by John Zimmerman among others)— she went down on the SBS 3toes…2twist lift… sbs 3sals were OK… DSpiral was ugly…throw 3sal OK…throw 3 loop OK (I can’t tell much about the quality of the landings from the hi angle they’re shot at)… 149.78 Total; FINISHED 11th.

Langlois/Hay (CAN) she didn’t fall on SBS 3sal, but very low landing and stepped out… throw 3sal she had big 2-foot… SBS 3 Toes FALL for her… throw 3lutz another big two-foot; she’s just very very unsure now… reverse overhead lift… another lift… death spiral… Not their best. 154.72 Total; FINISHED 10th.

Bazarova/Larionov (RUS) Good start, we’re told (it was JIP)… throw 3toe good… she falls on SBS 2ax SEQ… nice carry lift with fancy acrobatic exit… nice throw 3Loop… nice d.spiral too… good lift; I don’t know what to call that position though… pairs spiral seq good… pairs spin…really pretty good except for that one SBS pass… 172.04 Total; FINISHED 8th.

Zhang/Zhang (CHN)…SBS 2ax/3toes OK…SBS 3sal good…3twist… dspiral good… throw 3 loop & throw 3 salchows both good… everything’s clean; they finally look kind of happy. They’re still not my favorites by a longshot, but I’m glad they got it done anyway. 195.78 Total; FINISHED 5th.

P.S. as Weir pointed out in the “Loft segments”, she has a new haircut.

Dube/Davison (CAN)… 3twist good, 2ax seq good… star lift… she 2’d the SBS 3salchow… nice d.spiral… throw 3 lutz? Good… 1-handed press lift…throw 3Loop good…little glitch on pairs spin at end, but overall closer to what they wanted at Olympics, I’m sure… 177.07 Total; FINISHED 6th.

Denney/Barrett (USA)… nice 3twist… he falls on SBS 3toes… throw 3lutz great… SBS 2ax seq good… d.spiral good; not great… SBS spins good & fast…Carruthers mentions need for more stretch on the lifts… throw 3 loop great (always love that it’s on the swell of the music…) Not perfect, but nothing to be ashamed of either. 172.47 Total; FINISHED 7th.

Kavaguti/Smirnov (RUS)… went for the throw quad salchow this time but had the same old SPLAT as usual (I think Carruthers referred to it as a “bambi fall”… if so I see what he means). Doesn’t look like she dislocated anything this time though… God bless her for continuing to try, though a part of me kind of wishes she’d refuse at this point. Rest of program was OK except for a pitch forward and two hands down on the throw triple loop. They lose a little ground, but hang in for medals. 203.79 Total; WON BRONZE.

Mukhortova/Trankov (RUS)… I was hopeful they could pull up and over their teammates, but she popped the second half of an SBS 3toe combo… and then in one of the more unusual mistakes of the event, Trankov actually fell while getting Mukhortova into the throw 3salchow. Ah well… 197.39 Total; FINISHED 4th.

Savchenko/Szolkowy (GER)… seemed the most likely candidates to phone it in, as they didn’t seem very enthused on SP day. But—no, I don’t think they did badly here at all. Like everyone else it was far from perfect, and like many, the most noticeable error was on the SBS 3toes (she doubled)… but they do two 3t’s in sequence, and they got back in sync and both nailed the second jump. Good for them, as it was very close between 2nd and 3rd and that probably made the difference on their medal color. 204.74 Total; WON SILVER.

Pang/Tong (CHN)… In a testament to how worn out everyone is, even these two had an error when she doubled an SBS jump (3toe )… and I gasped a little, concerned that they might toss their gold away. But they got back and the Impossible Dream horse and rode that sucker out of town with all the grace they could muster, which of course is TONS… even if they took 2 weeks off of training after Vancouver just so they could get the energy to challenge here. Seems to have been effective. 211.39 Total; WON GOLD.

Up Thursday: Ice Dance OD in the AM, and Men’s Final in the afternoon…