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Wednesday, the 24th: Pairs practice, ladies qualifying

On Wednesday we got up pretty early again, because we (especially Stefka this time ;) ) wanted to see the pairs practice. The day at the rink started really great :-P, because I managed to pour my coffee all over my jacket and pants. Luckily it was possible to wash it out of both nearly completely, so that it wasn't even visible anymore. We saw the group with all the Russians and I took a few photos again. Unfortunately Obertas & Slavnov practiced nearly exclusively only jumps and throws (with also unfortunately not too much success, but then better problems in the practice than in the competition ;) ), which made the photo taking of them quite impossible...

Here are some pictures from the practice:

Obertas & Slavnov with Moskvina
Julia Obertas
Sergei Slavnov
Petrova & Tikhonov sbs spin
Petrova & Tikhonov entering lift
Petrova & Tikhonov spin
Tatiana Totmianina
Totmianina & Marinin
Totmianina & Marinin pair spiral
Totmianina & Marinin Beautiful lines
Totmianina & Marinin lift, wheeee :)
Totmianina & Marinin

The ladies' qualifying was another competition with some skates that I REALLY would not have wanted to miss...

The first lady to take the ice was Gintare Vostrecovaite. She doubled all the more difficult jumps and 2footed some other jumps. I don't think letting her skate to very powerful "Moulin Rouge" music wasn't a very good idea, because she was too slow for the music. Something soft would have suited her better probably. There always were breaks in the choreography before the jumps. Sarah Meier managed a 3z and a 3f-2t, but also had lots of popped jumps and other mistakes. It was a cool dancy program.

I have to say the first part of the ladies qualifying was quite "entertaining" to watch, because on Wednesday they let some school classes come to watch for free and we ended up having some male teenagers sitting behind us. Before the ladies qualifying when I was still outside they had already yelled at me the incredibly charming pick-up line of "Hey girl! Come and sit with us!" and then when I came back inside, the very same guys were of course sitting 2 rows behind us :-P Anyway, they most obviously can't like EVER have seen any skating before, since we overheard sentences like:
"Wow, they are going at that speed and they are TURNING too!" (that was when the first group was warming up and where just changing between forward crossovers and backward crossovers or something like that :-P) or "that's cool, when they are turning like that" (that was referring to spins, I mean doesn't EVERYBODY in the world at least have heard of the word SPIN before?!) or "look, they are wearing just panties underneath" or "look at those short ones!" (meaning the flower girls :D ) or "oh what's that? Oh that's stuffed animals they are throwing on the ice!". Other than that they were absolutely only interested in the looks of the girls and thought everybody in the first 2 groups looked fab, except for Sokolova, because "she got SHORT HAIR!" and therefor was immediately deemed ugly (they of course were sitting way too far away to see the faces). They were immensly impressed by Jennifer Robinson and we felt tempted to tell them her age and marriage status. Most tragically after the first 2 groups they decided they need to sit somewhere else (and they were only going to stay till 1pm anyway, the point of time until they HAD to stay, because it's when a regular German school day ends).

Jenna McCorkell fell on nearly everything she tried, including the 2axel, but managed a 3s-2t and did a lyrical program. Jennifer Robinson landed everything including 3z-2t and 3s-2t, some of the jumps looked underrotated though. I like her LP from this year, it is beautiful and she had nice spirals and laybacks. Xsenia Jastsenjski only did doubles and two heavily unterrotated triples and her spins were slow, but she had nice flow and a lyrical program, skated in a nice style. Elena Sokolova was the first big highlight of the day, she skated great with a 3-3, was powerful and it was a very beautiful program. Idora Hegel was also very good, except for one 2footed jump and one fall (on the salchow). It was a nice program to music from Zorro.

Julia Sebestyen did only a 3loop and fell on the 3toeloop of all jumps (I think, not sure if my notes say toeloop or flip, but I remember it being the toeloop if I'm not mistaken). It still was a great program and footwork, skated with good energy and speed and there just is a very high energy to everything she does. Jennifer Kirk fell on the 3z, but did a 3t-3t and a 3f-2t. She stepped out of the 3salchow. She had nice speed and good flow and it was a fun program to watch. Diane Chen had no triples, except for an underrotated 3salchow, but she had a beautiful program, good ice coverage and a soft style.

Michelle Cantu has a nice balletic baby ballerina style and her program included nice MITF and a Bielmann. She fell on and popped all her triple attempts, the only clean jumps were her 2a and a 2salchow, but luckily her very good presentation (for her level) was rewarded in the second mark :) . Daria Timoshenko started great with a 3z-2t and a 3f, but she she screwed up everything else...it is a nice program and I liked the circular footwork. Anette Dytrt was next, she only had 2 really clean triples and a 3flip-2t with an extra turn in between. She had a nice layback, as usually, a flowy circular footwork and well-centered spins. My notes on poor Olga Vassilieva say that she was slow and landed nothing. Jenna-Ann Buys fell on all her triple attempts, landed some doubles and a 2axel. She has a nice soft style and I especially liked the graceful arms. Despite the mistakes it was a nice-to-watch program.

For the next group Tarasova came to sit in our row (for the afternoon events earlier in the week, we always sneaked into the area that was reserved for sponsors/skaters, nobody seemed to pay attention to where was sitting there as long as it was still empty in the rink). She was talking to the guy she was with most of the time and obviously had come only to watch Sasha, who she applauded before, after and during her skate. Nina Bates was first in that group, she was very slow and she didn't attempt any triples or even a 2axel. Her positions were nice, but everything was just very slow. Joannie Rochette stepped out of the 3flip and popped it on the second attempt, but the rest was clean and she got the 3lutz. It was a good skate and I really like her programs. Elena Liashenko 2footed two jumps and could use some more energy and speed. Sasha Cohen was definitely the highlight of this first group, she was completely clean, looked confident and secure from the beginning and was amazing to watch :) She received a good partial standing ovation. Valentina Marchei screwed up the lutz 2 times (usually that's one of her best jumps), but otherwise was good. Ji Eun Choi is a little balletic girl with very nice positions and nice spins (especially the layback). She managed 3 triples (not good quality), but had a fall on footwork and a problem with her attempted Biellman spin.