2011 Worlds Pairs FS McNotes

Top 11 summaries from the Pairs Final… yes, it’s a Top 11 so I can include both U.S. teams...

1) Savchenko/Szolkowy, GER (144.87/217.85 TOTAL) Solid as a rock. A taut, pony-tailed, neon-pink rock.

2) Volosozhar/Trankov, RUS (140.38/210.73 TOTAL) What a year for these two! May this team, in the future, provide something the Germans didn’t really have this year: an apples-to-apples run for their money.

3) Pang/Tong, CHN (130.12/204.12 TOTAL) I say “apples-to-apples” because I don’t really think of P/T in the same skating style… more lyrical, less dynamic. Unfortunately Tong wasn’t getting his jumps off well in the first part of the FS (popping an axel here, doubling a triple there), which hurt their technical score.

4) Kavaguti/Smirnov, RUS (124.82/187.36 TOTAL) Not a bad outing for them, but with a fall on the throw 3Loop and a double-3 exit on the throw 3sal, they couldn’t enter medal territory this year.

5) Bazarova/Larionov, RUS (122.49/187.13 TOTAL) BazaNova’s problem this year has been the opposite of Kav/Smir—well-managed throws, but weaknesses in the SBS jumps. It happened again here; he fell on one SBS pass, and she stumbled around on the other.

6) Yankowskas/Coughlin, USA (117.18/175.94 TOTAL) – They should be so very proud of themselves! Save for a hand down on the throw 3sal, it was a glorious performance for them. Great way to send off their “Ave Maria” tribute.

7) Duhamel/Radford, CAN (114.20/173.03 TOTAL)

8) Moore-Towers/Moscovitch, CAN (106.31/163.17 TOTAL)

I’m talking about the two Canadian teams at once because I have the same thing to say about both of them… stick around! There was lots of promise within your skating this year; in fact, you almost qualified 3 teams for next year’s Worlds. With Dube/Davison out of the picture, Canada needs you.

9) Takahashi/Tran, JPN (100.94/160.10 TOTAL)—two falls (one on the SBS jumps and one on the throws) kept T&T from building on their 6^th place SP finish.

10) Berton/Hotarek, ITA (99.52/157.15 TOTAL)—Only one in the top 10 I haven’t seen yet, but it sounds like they’re holding steady, finishing similarly to last year.

11) Evora/Ladwig, USA (101.27/155.91 TOTAL)—I came in as they were getting off the ice and heard their coach say “good fight”… never a good sign. I soon saw why via the replays reel: Ladwig’s wicked fall on the SBS 3Toes… Evora’s wipeout on the throw 3Flip… a hot mess of an SBS 2ax combo… aye carumba! Too bad.