You are here: Home / Skating / Reports / Nebelhorn Trophy 2003 / Pairs SP

Nebelhorn Trophy 2003 - Pairs Short Program

I had already noticed some guy sitting in the row behind us all throughout the day, who I was so sure I had seen before, but I just couldn't figure out who it is. Now we finally found out, when he was announced as the Caller for the Pairs SP, it was Bruno Marcotte...very obvious now that I knew :P

Handy & Allen skated to "Violin Concert", they started off with successful sbs-3toeloops and also did a rather nice and secure 2twist. The throw-3salchow was just saved, the sbs spins solid. The position on their BODS wasn't all that great and they (or one of them, I don't remember) had a little stumble on the pairs spin. The program was choreographed classically, it was a bit boring, but at least they had a good skate.

Wakamatsu & Fecteau skated to a music called "Kirwani", their colorful costumes were very interesting, even though the blue "veins" on her legs looked a bit odd. They did some nice gliding elements at the beginning. He touched down on the sbs-3toeloops, I loved the very soft exit of the 2twist. She unfortunately fell on the throw-3loop. Their speed is ok, but not incredibly fast, maybe they can improve it a bit more. The sbs spin was nice, just a bit out of synch towards the end, the step sequence was very nice and the lift was very very cool with good ice coverage and they actually had good speed going into and out of the lift. They also completed a good BODS and a good pairs spin. They ended a tiny little bit behind the music. The program was modern with an a bit "oriental" style. They definitely were the most impressive of the pairs here and had superior style, also they managed to make their elements (minus the throw and jump here) actually look easy and they had good flow out of and into the elements. Their unison is good, despite a high height difference. She's a very charismatic tiny little skater with great flexibility and he complements her well, they defininitely have the "wow-factor", it just was a joy to watch them skate :) The BODS on the photo is actually from the warm-up, not from the skate by the way.

Brozovic & Futas did a 2twist where he didn't catch her all that well. They did sbs-3toeloops, but she fell. Their lift did not exactly cover much ice. She had a bad fall on the throw-3salchow, but the sbs spin had good unison and their death spiral was also good. Their speed was mediocre and they had an oriental style music and choreography, but their expression was a bit bland. Overall not an outstanding pair or performance.

Spielberg & Joeright did a Tango, I think it was still the same SP as last year. She fell on their sbs-3toeloops (and her jumps generally seem to be hopeless, because we never saw her do any 3toeloop or 2axel that was even somewhat close to being successful, neither in warm-up nor the practice we saw), but they did a nice 2twist and she landed the throw-3loop. Their lift had good ice coverage, the sbs spin was out of unison on the exit. Unfortunately they tend to lose speed during their elements, coming out of them without it and so their skating is lacking flow. Nevertheless they are a pair that is extremely pleasant to watch, they had a very charming program and captured the Tango attitude well, they have charisma and chemistry and she got such nice style. She looks and skates like a little clone of Sasha Cohen :lol: (I'm feeling kind of stupid always writing the same things as Stefka after she has already written it :P , but what can I do when we seem to think the same things so often ;) )

Fitze & Rex unfortunately were pretty much a disaster, which was disappointing, because I had expected at least a bit more improvement from them, especially in terms of choreography too. As always they were dressed all in black (ok there was SOME silvery glitter) and they skated to "Mission Impossible". Well the style and choreography of the program was pretty much exactly the same as last year, the same kinds of "dancing on one spot" in-betweens, the same program style, other than that still no transitions and still no "pairs-look". They started with a 2Twist, that was indeed a bit improved, better catch and better rotated. She touched down on the throw-3salchow and then they had a fall on the sbs-3toeloops (I forgot to note down who fell). The BODS was really bad, but then that's a difficult death spiral. The sbs spins were definitely improved as was the pairs spin. Disaster struck on the lift, because they fell backwards shortly before starting the exit and had a nasty splat. Due to that they missed up to half of their straightline step sequence. Eva looked as if she had hurt herself, she couldn't raise her free arm during the bowing, it looked as if her shoulder was hurt, so it wasn't surprising that they withdrew.

Bergeron & Davison also didn't have clean sbs-3toeloops, she had a mistake (I think she touched down at least). They used soft classical music and the program had a fitting style. She landed the throw-3loop very deep in the knee, but saved it and the lift was rather nice. The 2twist wasn't very high, but I liked the soft catch and exit. They had more transitions than most of the other programs in the competition, they did some spirals, then going into a nice BODS. I quite liked their program, they aren't the most exciting pair in the world, but they had a quite well-choreographed classical program, good flow between the elements and some nice transitions.

Kierkgaard & Jeschke were a very pleasant surprise :) ! First of all they look gorgeous together, great fitting body-types, already excellent basic unison, great chemistry, all the things that are needed to make a good PAIRS team are already there, which is truely great...and their elements are not looking bad at all either. Mikkeline seems to be a secure jumper, she landed nearly all her 3toeloops that we saw in warm-up and practice and of course in competition too. Their throw-3loop is not secure yet, of the tries we saw she landed only about 1/3, but the attempts all looked good, even if they failed. Anyway, in the SP they started with really good sbs-3toeloops, skating to the "Austin Powers" soundtrack, nice bluesy music that they interpreted and expressed well (and did I mention their great chemistry :D ). In the actual skate she stepped out of the throw-3loop after 2 and a half rotation (but she had landed a rather good attempt in the warm-up). The 2twist was their pairs elements that impressed me most, I mean it wasn't great yet or anything, but it was definitely good already, good height and a soft catch, the only weakness was that he kind of stopped completely before throwing her up, but hopefully they can get rid of that too. The lift wasn't bad, with ok ice coverage. Their speed still needs improvement. The sbs spin was a bit out of synch, but decent. The step sequence was a bit slow, but it had nice steps and they showed off their already very good unison during it and the final pairs spin was also solid. They were really great to watch overall, because they have spectacular star quality and match so well physically and I really didn't expect them to already look that good after all the problems they had with Mikkeline's health last year and because they themselves had said that their programs are not ready. Their slight lack of height difference does not seem to bother them and it gives them a rather cool "ice-dancish" look.

Kuzmina & Evdokimov had an oriental program, including the obligatory "egyptian arm movements". They did sbs-2salchows and she 2footed hers. Their 2twist was quite good and the throw-3salchow was clean too, but landed a bit on forward. Their other elements all were rather good as well and while I really wasn't crazy about the choreography, they were looking harmonic, fast and fluid, even if a bit bland.

Noennig & Bleyer left a rather good impression during Nebelhorn Trophy, Nicole finally seems to be able to land some things during competition, especially the throws, which is a definite improvement in comparison to last year. They skated to a fast version of a classical musuic. She doubled her toeloop, not sure about his. Their speed looked good and they did a nice high 2twist and she landed the throw-3salchow. The death spiral was ok, the sbs spin not really that good, but they did it very close together. They did a solid lift with no change of position, the pairs spin was good. Their style still looks rather athletic and without "embellishments" and I think their basic unison is not as good as K&J's and they don't have their charisma, but they have good flow and speed and if they can get some consistency to their skating, they can be a solid pair.