You are here: Home / Skating / Reports / Worlds 2004 / Wednesday, 24th - Pairs
Wednesday, the 24th: Pairs LP
Aganina & Knyazev were very slow in their skating and only did double jumps and double throws, except for attempting sbs-2axels, but she singled hers. She also aborted a sbs spin very early, after having screwed up the entry. It was not a good day for her and he seemed clearly stronger during this competition portion. Rennik & Saks started with ok speed, but soon got a lot slower in their skating. I have noted down "she seemed ill", I'm not sure anymore how I got to this conclusion, I think it was mainly because she did not look well at all after the program and seemed really powerless during the skate, definitely did not look like in the SP or like at Europeans. They also had not been at the morning practice (they would have been supposed to be in the group with the Russian teams that we watched). Their lifts looked laboured and she singled the sbs-2axel. They also did only double-throws and jumps besides that, but had a better "pairs look" than Aganina & Gnyazev.Boguslavska & Brovenko ended their program a bit behind the music and he fell on both the sbs-3t and the sbs-2a. They managed a 2footed throw-3salchow. They had a cute program to the beautiful music from "La Vita e Bella", with some especially nice cute dancy posing in between. Voloshovar & Kharchenko did not have the best skate today. They aborted one lift early and she stepped out of the throw-3toeloop. Their other throw was great though. Each of them stepped out of one of their sbs-jumps (2a and 3t). They had one of their usual great 3twists and the other elements looked good too, even if they seemed a bit slow today. They skated a beautiful romantic program. Orscher & Lucash also did not have their best skate, on the negative side, he fell on the sbs-3t and she fell on the throw-3toeloop, plus he stepped out of the sbs-2a (there's something in my notes behind that sentence that seems to say "late", so I suppose he had already pretty much landed it and then stepped out late). On the positive side, they managed an ok 3twist (and there really are not many teams in the world, who manage even a decent 3twist those days, apart from Chinese teams, O&S and V&K), they did a nice throw-3s, had a well choreographed program and I also especially liked their nice footwork, even if it was a bit out of synch.
Brozovic & Futas skated a nice classical program to a piano concert that included lots of interesting elements. She stepped out of both throws and he screwed up a sbs-jump. They had quite difficult interesting lifts, but had a stumble on one of the lift exits. I had seen this team at Nebelhorn Trophy in September and had not been terribly impressed, but they looked a lot better at Worlds, they especially did a much better job at presenting and expressing their programs. Such developments are always nice to see. Shapiro & Akolzin had problems with the sbs-3t and sbs-2a (even though I have no idea anymore what those were) and she fell on the throw-3s again. They did a throw-2t as the other throw. They cover a rather good amount of ice on their lifts. They are not slow and their pairs elements (meaning lifts, spins, unison, ...) are decent. There was a clear gap in ability between them and the three pairs they left behind them, which is probably more than they and most others could expect after the beginning of this season.
Marcoux & Buntin opened the next group. He fell on their second sbs-3toeloops and they were out of synch on a sbs-spin. She saved the landing of their first sbs-3toeloops. Other than that it was a dynamic fast entertaining program. Inoue & Baldwin skated a great program, despite some mistakes. They had problems with their sbs-jumps and she had one of those bad splats on the throw-3loop. But apart from that it was a well-skated program with very interesting elements and in-betweens and I was especially impressed by their great lifts. They were my favorites so far. Fitze & Rex skated something that could be called on of their "clean" (in parantheses) programs. They have become incredibly consistent, but they need to develop some quality on at least some of their elements, if they ever want to move up higher in the standings. Lefrancois & Blanchard had problems with the sbs-3s and their sbs spin was out of synch. Their LP is just too cute and a very entertaining program, I especially liked the lovely dancy footwork. Zhang & Zhang were pretty much clean, with a great 3twist. I'm not 100% sure if both sbs-3salchows were clean. The landing of one of the throws was a bit iffy. I did not realise they beat Z&S during the competition, so when I later heard we'd see them in the gala, I was delighted :) I love the Chinese teams. I haven't noted down anything on Zagorska & Siudek, except for that Dorota unfortunately fell on the second sbs-3toeloop.
Obertas & Slavnov had no mistakes, except for her stepping out of the first sbs-3toeloops. Some of their elements were a bit shaky in their execution, but ok and saved very well, so overall it was a good skate for them, especially consindering all the problems they had in the morning practice. Langlois & Archetto also had a problem with their sbs-3toeloops, he stepped out of it. One of their throws might have been 2footed, but I am not sure. I especially liked the MITF and in-betweens of their program. Petrova & Tikhonov unfortunately had a fall on the sbs-3t (from him) and she 2footed a throw as far as I could see. They did not look as powerful today as in the SP. I am not 100% sure if Pang & Tong's sbs-3t was 100% clean, but the rest of their program was simply great. The music is wonderful and I simply adore that program. Personally, I liked those 2 the best of the whole competition, even though I guess I'm probably the only one (well IIRC BlueRidge agrees with me :) ). But both Totmianina & Marinin and Shen & Zhao were great as well, I didn't take any specific notes about either of them (actually I like never took any notes about like the last groups of skaters, because they always skated so well that there was really not much to say. It's much easier to talk about the mistake, then to describe why something was great, most unfortunately :( ). Anyway, as far as I recall, both T&M and S&Z were flawless, with beautiful programs. I can't ever get enough of Totmianina & Marinin's beautiful lines (and btw, they couldn't have found better costumes than the ones they have) and I was so happy for them :)
When we left the rink on Wednesday evening, we saw Marcoux & Buntin and I asked Katja if she doesn't have their banner with her, so Susanne, Petra and her took the opportunity to have them sign it. They seemed to like the banner and Craig even asked them if they would pose for a photo with the banner, of course we (or better Steffi) took the opportunity to take the same photos, I'm sure she'll include them in her report. In terms of banners in generally, I have to say cheering with them is real fun, it somehow gets your all excited yourself if you cheer with them before the skate :-P (we had put the banners up in the rink, but always took them down for the competitions, so that we could wave them properly ;) One thing Steffi and I sorely came to miss during the competition was having rattles. Our friends had them and they are just so much better for cheering and making noise, clapping is so tiring and uneffective in comparison :-P We always lent us their rattles (thanks again ;-)) for C&S, O&S, Huot & Valkama, ... and we'll certainly make sure to get ones for ourselves for next season. We went to the hotel bar this evening to have some drinks and met the most weird barkeeper EVER. I don't think I want to try to get across how and why exactly he was weird in English, LOL, maybe Steffi will, but let me assure, he was weird. (oddly he got more normal as the week progressed :-P)
