Friday, February 18, 2011

Four Continents Championships: Pairs Free Skate

Group 1
1. Marley/Brubaker, USA: 51.35 TES + 47.51 PCS = 98.86 Total: 144.46
  •  They are in 10th place after the short program
  • This team has only been together for 6 months
  • They open with a nice high twist but a little bit of a crash on the landing
  • Nice triple toes + double toes sbs
  • Nice position in her overhead lasso lift and good stretch through the change of a position and a nice toss exit
  • Throw double salchow 
  • She his very expressive through the spiral sequence
  • Nice death spiral but slightly awkward exit
  • She doubled their side by side salchows
  • Very nicely landed throw 
  • She could use more stretch through her top leg in this lift but they have a nice carry feature with his on one leg
  • Decent unison on their side by side spins but some of their position variations are just slightly different from each other
  • Nice final lift with a one handed exit
  • Good positions in their pairs spin
2. Takahashi/Tran, JPN: 52.56 TES + 51.82 PCS -2.00 = 102.38 Total: 152.63 and into 1st place
  • They are in 8th place after the Short Program
  • Their costumes suit them nicely and the purple color is gorgeous on her
  • She takes an awkward fall on their opening side by side triple salchows
  • An effortless double twist with a good catch
  • Very nice throw triple salchow with a nice landing by her
  • They're off on these side by side spins
  • A nice entry into the death spiral but she doesn't have a great position and her working leg gets really close underneath her instead of being extended
  • She takes a fall on the double axel and she completes the sequence but he deletes the second jump
  • Nice dance lift straight into their lift with good positions
  • Throw triple nicely done
  • Good position variations in their pairs spin but a loss of centering toward the end
  • Nice air position in this second lift but a little awkward on the exit
  • She has great extension through the spiral sequence
  • She gets one leg higher than the other in her air position in the third spin and they should be even
3. Dong/Wu, CHN: 47.38 TES + 41.31 PCS = 88.69 Total: 135.10 and into 3rd place
  • They are in 9th place after the short program
  • He can't complete the second jump in their triple + double combination
  • Clean on their second set of side by side triples
  • Double twist with some nice height but not the execution you're used to seeing from Bin Yao's team
  • You can hear him calling the side by side spins but they have good unison
  • Nice entry to the overhead lift with a good carry feature and nice positions for her; I'd like to see a better position for her free leg on the exit
  • Nice height on the throw triple loop with a good landing but not a lot of ice coverage
  • They go right into their throw triple salchow with not as nice of a landing
  • Her air position could be better in this lift with more flexibility through her back
  • He checks his balance on the spiral sequence
  • She takes a squat into the death spiral and she's almost flat on the ice
  • I think they're really trying to mask her weak air positions with some of these variations in the lift
  • Not a lot of speed on their pair spin

Group 2
Zhang/Wang, CHN: 45.63 TES + 42.69 PCS = 88.32 Total: 138.93 and into 3rd place
  • They are in 7th place after the short program
  • I really like their costumes; very pretty blue color and an interesting design
  • Nice double twist but she might have been a little on his shoulder on the landing
  • Nice triple toe + double toes
  • She hung on to the landing of the triple salchow
  • Some better air positions for her in the lift but I'd like to see a little more stretch
  • Not a lot of choreography or transitions in this program
  • They're hitting very different position variations in their side by side spin and are really off unison timing wise
  • Looks like they might have had a bobble here on some footwork, seem a little lost
  • They go into their lift but abort it and skate down the center of the ice
  • Nice spiral positions
  • Very nice throw triple loop with good height
  • Good throw triple salchow
  • A nice entry into the death spiral but she doesn't have a great position and her free leg is very high
  •  Good stretch through the split position in this lift but she could use some more flexibility
  • Good positions in the pair spin and nice flexibility from her but not a lot of speed at the end
  • No performance at all in this program--I think if they had some better choreography and worked with their music more it would really help their scores
Moore-Towers/Moscovitch, CAN: 58.93 TES + 53.88 PCS -1.00 = 11.81 Total: 166.22 and into 1st place
  • They are in 5th place after the short program
  • Not really any height on their triple twist and she's on his shoulder on the landing
  • Good unison and execution on their double axel + double axel sequence
  • Nice throw triple loop
  • I'm glad to see she's pinned her bangs back today as she's had to shake them out of her face to see before during the program and it was distracting
  • Nice position in the first lift with a good flip exit
  • He looked off in the air on those sbs triples but landed the jump fine
  • Nice position on the spiral sequence
  • Sort of an awkward entry into the death spiral and she is completely flat--not crazy about this position
  • Good position in the pair spins and I really like the way she uses her free arm and their effortless exit from the element
  • A nice carry feature in this second lift and she has a great split; she almost goes into a handstand as he skates forward on one leg--great control 
  • Fall on their second triple throw
  • Not a lot of flexibility for her through some of the sbs spin positions and I'd like to see her really stretch through her free leg
  • Nice entry into their final lift with him on his knee and coming to a stand
Evora/Ladwig, USA: 53.57 TES + 53.50 PCS -2.00 = 105.07 Total: 157.30 and into 2nd place
  • They are in 6th place after the short program
  • He said his boot has been fixed.  Praying it holds up through the free skate!
  • Their twist looked pretty effortless but she didn't get a lot of height
  • She falls on their opening side by side jumps and he turns out of his landing but keeps his free leg up
  • Not a lot of height on their first throw triple and she's really forward on the landing
  • They lost the unison in their side by side spins in the middle but were able to pick it back up
  • Nice spiral sequence, but I'd like her arms to be more organic here and less placed
  • She falls on the first double axel in the double axel sequence
  • Good positions in the pairs spin and a nice exit
  • Evora seems to be going through the motions a little bit in some of this choreography
  • Great lift with him holding her on just the hip with one hand
  • Good throw triple loop and less forward on the landing
  • Nice backward entry into their final lift with a good carry feature but her position got a little awkward at the end and she could stretch through her legs a little more
  • Not a great death spiral position and not a lot of speed through their rotations
  • Nice final lift
  • Just seemed to be an off day for them and didn't seem like they were really performing this program

Group 3
Pang/Tong, CHN: 61.23 TES + 66.81 PCS = 128.04 Total: 199.45 and into 1st place
  • They are in 1st place after the short program
  • I think he singled the second double axel in their sequence and she didn't have a great landing
  • Nice side by side triples
  • Nice entry into the overhead lift with a good position change
  • A slight loss of unison in the middle of their side by side spins but they pick it up nicely
  • Very nice use of her arms and upper body to accept the positions in their pair spin and a nice exit from the element
  • Really nice height on their triple twist and a nice catch
  • Great height on their throw triple salchow
  • Really nice spiral position
  • They have such great speed and ease of movement through this program
  • Nice second lift with a good position for her
  • Great throw triple loop--I wish more teams worked on the height and ice coverage of the throws because they're truly spectacular
  • A decent death spiral position
  • Nice carry with a one arm hold and him in a spread eagle position
  • They seem to be performing their program much more here than they did at the Grand Prix Final and she looks like she might be wiping away a tear when they finish
Lawrence/Swiegers, CAN: 58.20 TES + 53.55 PCS = 111.75 Total: 171.73 and into 2nd place
  • They are in 2nd place after the short program
  • An interesting choreographical moment at the building with him supporting her in a run
  • Nice triple twist but lacking the height of the Chinese team
  • My feed froze up so I may have missed a few elements
  • Throw triple loop was good but she was a little sideways on the landing and might have put a hand down
  • She could work on her overhead lift position and they could have a smoother exit
  • Straight into another lift and I would like it if they had a little more variation if they're going to put the lifts back to back
  • Nice throw triple salchow
  • Good extension through their spiral sequence
  • Nice positions in their pair spin but they seemed to lose their centering before the change of foot
Duhamel/Radford, CAN: 66.55 TES + 55.32 PCS = 121.87 Total: 181.79 and into 2nd place
  • They are in 3rd place after the short program
  • Good height on their triple twist and a nice clean catch
  • Triple + double + double combination with a one arm variation on their final jump
  • An interesting entry into their first throw triple from a spiral position
  • A really nice stretched out air position for her in the first lift and a nice spread eagle for him
  • Nice unison on their side by side spins but a little slow
  • Another skater with the high death spiral position and the high free leg
  • Solid side by side triples
  • Good flexibility through the spirals but it looks like she may have been wobbling on her edge a bit
  • I'd like to see more flexibility through her back in the air in this second lift
  • A little forward on the landing of the throw triple salchow but she hangs on to it
  • Good speed through the final lift
  • Nice speed in the pair spin and good position changes
Yankowskas/Coughlin, USA: 57.16 TES + 54.56 PCS = 111.72 Total: 166.97 and into 4th place
  • They are in 4th place after the short program
  • Opening sbs double axels were well done
  • Nice height on the triple twist but there may have been a bobble on the catch with her free leg
  • Nice throw triple loop
  • Good Triple toe + double toe + double toe combination.  Nice to see the pairs doing the three jump combos
  • Nice air position in the first lift and a nice one arm exit
  • As far as the higher death spirals go, she has one of the nicer positions
  • Good unison on their side by side spins but they could both use more stretch through their free leg in the sit spin position
  • Nice spiral positions and great expression from both of them
  • She singles their throw triple salchow and two foots the landing--something must have gone wrong on the takeoff
  • Nice position in the second lift
  • Nice entry into the final lift with him holding her by her hip and a nice stretched out position
  • Good positions in their pair spin and I like the use of her arms here
  • Too bad about the throw error, because this was a lovely program otherwise
Gold: Pang/Tong
Silver: Duhamel/Radford
Bronze: Lawrence/Swiegers

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