Worlds 2004

Pairs’ Short Program

Marina Aganina & Artem Knyazev UZB

Who we miss.

Tatiana Volosozhar & Petr Kharchenko UKR

And now we are live and it’s a very empty looking stadium I must say… stands look miles away from the arena! Red tango dress for her, black velvet blouse for him with pleather pants…steps to begin… s/s 3toes but she falls out of his landing… didn’t make the rotation, landed on two feet… split double twist is good… she’s got stitching up one side of her dress… lift wherhe he lifrts her over his head in sitting position and nice changes and good speed… throw triple sal was lovely… great height and length. b/o d/s … music is tango by cirque du soleil…pair spin… good centering… and tango pose… straight line step where they’re very far apart to begin with… into s/s camel spins nice timeing into sit change sit to upright, very good timing and they maintain their distance. And tango pose to end. That wasn’t bad at all… aside from the mistake on the toe… Simon laments that this is the last worlds done with 6.0s…Chris a fan of the new system apart from the anonymity aspect…and so say all of us. He praises their shadow skating and unison…and Petr was short on the rotation….lots of connection between the two of them. Really high on the split twist too. Simon re-iterates the points of the interim system as we see the spins again on the slo mo and it was really good .., bit off on when they made the change, but positions were spot on in the spins.

Marks 3.8-4.8… 4.1-5.1… and we see a row of ones.

Sabrina LeFrancois & Jerome Blanchard FRA

He’s in black top and bottom, she’s in a black bathing suit with sparkles, no side on one side, and a little orange and yellow handkerchief on her left hip. Another tango. Why God, Why? s/s triple toes which are clean from both. Df from her says Chris? I did not notice. Split double wtist nicely cuahgt and landed. Throw triple sal very clean. Slide to a stop and turning and posing into s/s camel spins with really nice unison and also on the change to camel to sit and we get a great camera angle… they were spot on, and Chris calls it uncanny. Lift going in both directions and she even manages a wave! b/o d/s… nice position…. Pairs camel spins andchanges, well centred. Nice on the change. Circular step… good interp of the music and plenty of footwork… and stop. And at the risk of killing them dead, I loved it. Simon calls it superb. Very very good indeed… Chris didn’t like the music… thought a highlight was the lift, clockwise stop, anti clockwise… something you don’t see very often he says. Here are the toes… no, it was close but it stayed off. We see also the death spiral and she got down nice and low on that, those of you who remember my rants at euros will be sympathetic! See good shots of Stanislav Leonovich…

Marks… there’s Gwendal!!! Man he’s pretty. 4.6-5.0… 4.7-5.1… but look at pretty Gwendal! Sorry…a row of ones.

Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao CHN

Little purple/blue dress for her… mostly black for him with purple on the shoulders, gold accents on it, and we had a dicey moment in warmup, Xue was skating and had to stop dead to avoid Katie and Garrett who nearly ran into her. Could’ve been nasty. They take their times coming out, and look at that smile of hers… big round of applause for them, music is Kismet. She’s 25 he’s 30. Steps to begin, and they just look like champions… throw 3loop and that was huge! And she beamed coming out of it! Steps into the s/s triple toes…. And he’s down! She keeps n skating and it takes him a long tiem to get back into it… buger. Lift with nice changes oif position and good speeed… steps in a straight line.... into the b/o d/s and she’s not half as low as Sabrina was… s/s camel spins… change to sits and good unison but not as good as others we’ve seen already. I’m just saying… around for the split.. and she could have cleaned lightbulbs while up there. Pairs spins… good speed. And they’re done. Well now. ‘Twas her I was worried about….Simon says something went out of the program after he made that mistake, and I can’t disagree… yeesh. That teaches me to keep my mouth shut… we see the throw loop again and oh nmy…. We see the toe again and he got swing with free leg on the way out, but he should have held it… I’m baffled. Also stunned. It wasn’t magical says Simon, and Chris notes he even looked off balance on the spins, he also notes synchro wasn’t what we expected.

Marks 5.1-5.6…youch. 5.3-5.8. Can I be shallow and note that Xue gets better looking every year? Ok then.

Kathryn Orscher & Garrett Lucash USA

Black dress for her with choker and that leads into pattern on the back…him in black pleather pants plus black tshirt. Their second worlds. Runners up in American nationals. She’s 19 he’s 25, still got the blues is the miusic. His shirt is see through black net. I love this music. And straight away I’m admiring their flow along the ice… split double twist…do they rotate the other way? s/s 3toes which he doubles… steps along the ice… throw triple flip where that free leg was very low from her… around the corner for the lift smile woman! Good speed though we got a close up so I’ve no clue what his feet where doing and she falls off the death spiral… anddown she goes. Pairs spin… and she just looks stunned… they’re off the music methinks by quite a way…. Steps along the stagiht line… some nice stuff here but the stuffing’s gone out of them… s/s camels… to sits.. change sit… and theyr’e done. And what a shame… when it was good, says Simon, it was very good. Chris praises the 3flip… he has .5 in deductions. And she looks shattered. Mind you, in the close-ups, she doesn’t look happy, does look nervous… Great expression from her on landing of the flip… Vadim Naumov coaching them… d/s …lost b/o edge… you could see the skate stuttering and stuttering… and I must say that music nowhere near as good without the vocal.

Marks 3.8-4.6 and she’s in tears. 4.5-5.2… they are in 4^th.

Olga Boguslavska & Andrei Brovenko LAT

More black, with black net cutouts…also red on shoulders and wrists from both of them. And mostly from him. Which is really odd looking. And there’s pleather in the mix and it’s really bad….allegretto (pop version) is the music…13^th in euros.. bond play the music…. Lots of arm waving to begin… s/s tripel toes which she doubles and he’s short on rotation on. Simon calls it patchy. Yathink? 2twist makes me wince… very scrappy… throw 3sal is df I’m nearly sure… Chris concurs, mentions long wiat going into it…lift is very slow… with lean back in it… b/o d/s… she’s not even trying to lean back at the start, gets a bit better at the end… s/s camels to sit change sit… nice unison… and certainly good length, I could’ve made a cup of tea as they rotated… steps… good unison, I’m just not so sure they’re difficult or that they have anything to do with the music. Pairs spin… stop dead on the change. And good lord, by the end they’re almost going backwards they’re so slow…and stop and finish. And compared to what we’ve just seen, they really do suffer. Chris says speed across the ice nothing like what we’ve seen so far, which I did get…this their second worlds… and there is silence in the arena. Simon mentions that there’s only 19 couples this year. 3sal was defo double footed. .2 off. Press lift… chris again says slow across the ice. Spins also slow he says. It always makes me feel better when Chris agrees with me, I feel like I know what I’m talking about. Or course, this being my tenth year following on Eurosport, maybe I’m just a little Chris clone…

Marks 2.6-3.9…ooooh… 3.6-4.6… 5^th of 6.

Annabelle Langlois & Patrice Archetto CAN

Black dress for her red red inserts, and no back or shoulders. Black netty glovey things for the sleeves. Him in black velour pants and top, with red on the shoulder. I resist the urge to wave the flag after what happened to the Chinese… 5^th last year. Oooh that’s red scarfy thing on his sleeve must go. It’s a spansih flamenco theme they have going on… why, God, why??? Throw to begin… 3sal nad it was a beauty! Plenty of attitude anyway… comes on now… split 2 twist with hands up on ctach and that was class. Down for the s/s triple toes… spot on and I whoop! s/s slying camels to sits change sit and way out of synch and drifting apart… lots of pseed going into it. Lift … nice changes of position nad good dismount… move where he slides as she holds onto his waist… to the boards for a straight line step worthy of the name… crowd are getting into it and I’m typing in rhythm… b/o d/s and that is a godo position… good woman! And pair spins… they’re not budging… and that was done! Very very good… loved it! Yes Canada, stand and be proud! Just the synch on the spins was off…. Throw out of the top drawer says Chris, she nearly wnet out of it faster than she went in…Jan Ullmark is thrilled… we see throw again… and she had room to spare and Chris raves about her knee bend… triple toes were lovely and great shot on the coach cam… we see the lift… and the step… which really was that good because Chris said so. He would have these above the Chinese, below on the second mark.

Marks nikolai and shaelynn did the choreography… 4.9-5.5… 4.9-5.6…I want a written explaination of the 4.9s. Seocnd place and Chris tells it frankly like it is. They’ve bene dumped. And that is a direct quote. That’s insane, those marks should not be that low.

Milica Brozovic & Vladimir Futas SVK

Gold shirt for him with Egyptian style collar and it is vile with black/brown velvet trousers. Brown and gold dress for her, much with the cut outs. Music is carvan of light. She’s 20 he’s 24. start leaning over with his arms around her… she turns to face him… then skates away. He’s not that bad looking surely? Split double twist is nicely cuahgt… s/s triple toes and he doubles his. Which Simon misses. Again. He was off axis. Down for the lift which goes to one hand with a nice spinny dismount… steps… throw triple sal with step out… lots of waving the arms and a little shimmy…. s/s camel to sit change sit and losing all kinds of unison towards the end. Steps on the way around… into b/o d/s… bery nice, one of the best psitions we’ve seen and she knows it too, check that smile. Steps which look close together, not sure how they are or not, but slow and weak notes chris. Camel pairs spins to change and we see a backstage shot which shrinks their shot and that’s really annoying me… and thye’re done after those spins. And again, you could hear a pin drop in the auditorium. Chris thinks that he held back an awful lot, looked uncomfortable, she did well he thinks. Lack of confidence in landing of the triple sal he thinks. Diff angle in triple toe tells us that he did indeed double, so .5 min, .3 for that, .2 for the step off the sal.

Marks she’s happy he’s not… 3.5-4.3… 4.0-5.0… they are 6^th.

Rena Inoue & John Baldwin Jnr USA

Purple dress for her with enough sparkles to clothe a Las Vegas showgirl across the chest. He;s in basic black with purple on the wrists and in the V of his chest. Got a fair line of sequins going himself he does… Murder at the Cotton Club is the music… she’s 27 he’s 30 they were 10^th last year. Start off with her leaning against his back… plenty of dancing to start then… good speed, a notch up from last pair… s/s triple toes and timing way off, him ahead of her, he doubled his. .3 off. Around we go… throw 3loop with very pitchy landing… barrel turns from both coming out of it.. split double twist not too bad… little hops on the way down the ice into the s/s flying camles to sit change sit and good unison…. Really nice and variations on the way out… plenty of energy… lift with swing out dismount… steps … very nice, in terms of unison and fitting with the music… b/o d/s… very good arch from her and nice and low at the end.. pairs spin… final position is dead centred. Nice. Wasn’t prepared to like that, I must be honest, but like it I did… they can be proud of that methinks. Chris didn’t like it as much as Simon and I … he lacked the sparkle for Chris. We see Jill Watson as they come off the ice… I’m trying to decide if she’s aged well or if it’s all cosmetics… she really had to work on that throw and look at the state of her boots! I have one word for you girl, nad it is this. POLISH. Thank you. OK, on closeup, I think Jill’s aging well. Even if the makeup, I’ve gotta say, is quite caked on.

Marks … hewon jnr bronze at worlds in 90… 4.6-5.1… 4.9-5.6… they are in 3^rd. Which is about right.

Qing Pang & Jian Tong CHN

White tops and blue bottoms, dress of her, with blue skirt. More ivory than white now I come to think of it. This could be interesting, vis a vis the other Chinese pair. Illumination the music. Both 24. Pretty new haircut for her. Nearly matches his. Down the ice for the s/s triple toes… and they are clean. Steps… throw 3loop and the height on that…shakes head… speed into the lift which aint’s so great midway trhough, change a little ungainly? s/s spins… all out of kilter on the unison… and the whole way through aon changes and everything… steps are better, circular step this. Nice program … though I want someone to get her a burger….holy smokes! Split twist is huge and lateral aslmoast…. Pairs spins… and stop and change foot… this is very nice… d/s with good arch if not as much depth… and stop right on the music and dead me, mark that one. Superb says Simon, marking the synch or lack thereof in spins…we all saw it coming bfore it happened and then it semed to go on forever… in back spin chris says, she’s spinning on the wrong edge, ergo they are doing different spins… not really a ded as such chris says. s/s triple toes she didn’t have a good running edge but made it work… we see the throw again… they can do a quad and we can see why… split twist again, amazing. Lovely lines. Lovely flow along the ice too, and the music is just gorgeous…

Marks… chris has them second. 5.3-5.8…not on those marks… go odwn on second? Long wait for those… 5.2-5.9… 8 of 9 have them first, then a third! Whew!

Diana Rennik & Aleksei Saks EST

She’s 19 on Thursday. Greeny dress for her, matching t shirt for him with darker trousers. She has coloured net on her sides… msic is blue night shadow. So they skate in moss green. As you do. s/s 3sals which she doubles… throw 2sal with heck of a lean. ;ift … very slow along the ice and your basic up and down again… no much in the way of difficulty… steps down the cie into the split double twist which thye make heavy weather of. Steps in circular step… I am so not likeing this music. s/s spins… camel to sit moving further apart… got sytnch back in the end but a little late… into the b/o d/s ok arch and not too low. Into the pairs spin and can someone please get out and give tehm a push? Just a little one. And stop. And long long posing bit before the music stops. Yeah, did nothing for me. Apart from replace Nytol. Which say it out loud, it’s exactly what you think it is. Chris says she bottled out of the throw triple sal… he also remarks on the lack of speed… those s/s spins were really bad…see P&T being interviewd but we don’t have the audio…

Marks… 2.9-3.7… 3.6-4.0… they are 10^th.

Maria Petrova & Alexei Tikhonov RUS

Blue pale ice blue shirt for him in satin with black trousers. There is much chest on diplsay. Stop it, stop it! Navy blue dress for her, sleeve and shoulderless save for spangly netting and white trim on the skirt. Deep v of sparkles going down her middle as well, music given as music by Baxter. They take their time coming out… suspense is killing simon! And here we go… turns and reaches to begin… down the ice for the triple toes… and they are clean. Down we go again with kicks and turns and around the corner… split double twist is effortless… throw triple loop and that was clean. Beautifully landed says simon. And stop… and go into s/s camel spins to sit tto upright change sit…little travel from him on back sit… pairs spins…nice interesting positins… lift good speed… nice changes with good intricate dismount.. steps down the side of the rink… I’m not so sure I’m enjoying this but it’s certainly very well sakted… him in spread, her in spiral… and into d/s … very very nice one of the best so far and they’re done. Well now, that’s surely set the cat among the pigeons…they couldn’t have done more says Chris, as he has questions on the spins, he thinks combo spin lost momentum… they sold it well it was very polished…ahrd to call he says. Alexei looks pooped coming off! Simon notes that judges unwilling to reverse the trend and their trend has been going down…Chris says their aesthetics not as good as everyone else, ie their toes not as soft as the ones from the Chinese… he sees no ded, but thinks they will go down on the second mark… nice long shot of the lift…

Marks… 5.5-5.9…those arebest we’ve ahd … 5.5-5.9…and they’re leading a five/four split. 3 2s and a 3

Julia Obertas & Sergei Slavnov RUS

Birght hot pink tops and blouse for him. Navy blue bottoms. Lord, no man should wear that much pink. And he has sparkles on navy background on his middle. Thank you for not showing the chest. Thank you. Spanish medley is the music. And his hair is quite floppy at the front. It blows muchly. s/s tiple toes and are clean…landed quite far apart but I’m nitpicking. Split double twist is huge… they look surpremely confident notes simon…glding moves… very soft around the ice … throw 3flip and deep on the landing but it was clean… into the s/s spins …camel to sit change sit and good unsion but not so much on camel, they did get it back well, only to lose it on the upright position at the end… lift press lift… and good turns with change o position and down… to around the corner and down the cie in a straight line… not bad. d/s… getting better. Nice arch. And as low as any we’ve seen… pairs spin… change postion… and stop. And again, very very good…. She’s thrilled… and big hugs from him. And what do you do with that? The lads both loved it. Chris says style is beautiful… 12months work and not even that he notes… throw was great… you know, it nearly looked like she could put another turn in there… simon names them as future world champions…

Marks 5.0-5.7… 4.9-5.6… and they are in 4^th. Simon would have had them 3^rd.

Eva-Maria Fitze & Rico Rex GER

Black dress for her, with paler black on the top. He’s in white shirt and black pants and looks like a waiter. Ingo giving up coaching after this year for personal resosns. Now, I like these two, so I’m about to type with crossed fingers… mission impossible the music… she’s 24 he’s 27…. Lord she’s been tangoed… dancing moves to begin and I just love her smile… s/s toes… 3s are fine. Around the corner we go… spltit double twist not as well caught as toehrs we’ve seen…crowd are clapping… throw 3sal with one heck of a lean could’ve been disaster but she landed it… d/s where she’s not low at all, she’s just leaning back and not doing much else… s/s flying camels to sit hcnage sit… and stop… techno section into pairs spins… and they look happy… crowd clap again… of course geramny…duh… I just got that. Lift where she’s stirahgt upside down against his abck (candle lift?) steps… and slide to a stop and they’re done. And she’s happy… clenched fist right at the end from her…big hug for ingo and who can blame her really? She was very low off the ground on the toe… look at the lean on the sal and she worked hard to keep the foot off, and the look of utter relief on ingo’s face, you could just see him going oh no oh no oh no…phew!

Marks… 4.4-5.1… 4.6-5.1… whistles from the crowd… 7^th.

Dan Zhang & Hao Zhang CHN

Black and white on the top of their outfits, mostly black otherwise. Music is all alone…she’s 18 he’s 19… memories of kurt abound…. I love this music. Stpes to begin… two very rangy skaters … lift nice postions and he lifted her ip out of nothing… s/s 3toes which are clean… s/s camel spins…. To sit change sit… and upright …moving a bit far apart on the spins? Around the corner we go… throw 3loop… good length… huge split double twist… they do a 4 in the free and you can see why… circular step… which leads nicely into pairs spins, seamless is the word I’m looking for…and we need a death spireal which we get as the music fades and it could be lower, I’m just saying. And they finish her behind him, him kneeling, her leg draped over his shoulder. Simon is tipping these for 5/6^th, Chris adored this…split 2twist defied belief and gravity… and he flet that they were never going to miss… those toes were right in unison, and Bin Yao is now smiling! Smiling! I’ve never seen him smile! She had room to spare on that throw loop… split makes me shake my head, rotation so slow, chris has never seen anything like it, even in slo motion, was slo mo in real time! This, he says, has to be up there…

Marks… 5.3-5.8…very good… 5.2-5.7… 4^th. Behind the other two Chinese and the Russians, ahead of Obertas and Slavnov. Anabelle and Patrice are in 6^th. Considering what we’ve seen, that could have been worse.

Julia Shapiro & Vadim Akolzin ISR

Oh. My.God. And not in a good way. There is far far far far too much flesh coloured netting on his open shirt. Which, by the way, is a paisley nightmare. Ick. To the tenth power. Her dress is red, with gold sparkles, and it in no way shape or form compliments his. At all. They’re like two parts of different costumes. Music is blues for Elise, She’s 19 he’s 21. Oh god… make it stop… ti’s an electric guitar… split double twist is shakey… s/s 2axels… a blues electric guitar version of fur elise… I have heard it all… lift…. Very slow along the ice and no change of position… he pulls her along the ice… throw 3sal on which she goes down after a long lean in the air… d/s good arch not very low. Into the s/s spins as we see t&m backstage camels to sit change sit and not bad unison it must be said… steps… to the boards… straight line step… not much in the way of difficulty there. Slide to a stop… and big round entry into the pair sspins… change of position… and they are done. We’ve seen some fine performances tonight simon says but that was not one of htem… she aws a jnr world bronze medallist but was going nowhere in Russia (she skaes with sokolov?) so went to Israel. Split twist he only just caught her. Sal was leaning right from the off and only just made the three turns… never looked on and she never looked like she thought it was. speed along the ice wasn’t great either notes chris.

Marks3.0-4.0… 3.6-4.4… they are in 13^th.

Valerie Marcoux & Craig Buntin CAN

Blue shiny dress for her with no back, just a little strap to keep it all together and preserve her modesty…obviously Skate Canada are cutting back on funding that she can’t afford the material to finish off her dress. He’s all in black, music is caravan, both are 23. first worlds together 3^rd in 4CC… lots of attitude to begin with… lots of speed too… and she’s down on the triple toe. Ouch. Split double was very high and well caught… me like. More shots of T&M backstage as they do a life…ver y nice with helicopter effect… was it dodgy near the end? Throw 3loop…. Very nice. Steps to the flying camels… to sit change sit wehre we get a close up of her so I have no clue what the synch was like. Straight line step.. nice footwork, like where they turn into one another… into the d/s … nice position. Into the pairs spin… he gets very low in that sit spin bless him. And that was good and I liked it. Shame about that fall… and it will have hurt. But you’d never have known it from how she skated, she just went and went…very impressive as the lads tells any young skaters that you can learn a lot from that, putting mistakes behind you etch…and someone in that crowd can yodel! Great presentation, music really suited them… she rushed the triple toe and leaned throughout it and anyone who lip reads is going to be suing Richard Gautier methinks…lift chris says had difficult dismount…

Marks 4.0-5.1… hell of a range. 4.5-5.6.. they are 8^th. Just in front of the germans.

Dorota Zagorska & Mariusz Siudek POL

Brown dress for her with gold accents and he’s all soldier boy in black with gold buttons and wrist inserts…think Elvis’s dragon. Music is legend of 1900. Not sure of dress on top for her, makes her look quite chunky? But he doesn’t care for he kisses her hand to begin and I just go aswoon…and the throw triple loop with deep landing but it’s clean… s/s triple toes… and they are clean as well… very gentle paino music …s/s camel spins to sit drigting apart change sit… good unison… and out of that… into pairs spins… lovely flow to this skating… very easy on the eyes… uoside down entry into the lift and great changes of positions I could look at that all nigh.t… into the d/s which they do funny entry where is leg goes over her arm as he goes down and nice position from her… steps… along the diagonal of the rink… splti double twist with her hands over her head the whole way and they are done. And that, there is no o ther word for it, was simply gorgeous. Just wonderful. As good as Simon has seen from them in a short program… and I can’t disagree with him. 7^th last year… oh, it really was lovely… Richard Gauthier looks thrilled… big smiles… close up of the hand being kissed and I’m all agoo again! Landing on the throw was deep but she got it. Chris notes about their lines on the elements not being as good as some of the others… we see the lift again… how she changes those positions I do not know… and nice close up of the ending pose.

Marks… 5.2-5.6… 5.1-5.9… they’re 4^th. And that’s good! Ordinals of 3-6.

Tatiana Totmianina & Maxim Marinin RUS

Red and black sparkly dress for her. He’s in deep red shirt with much chest showing, and he’s got more blusher on him than Aunt Sally. And for that matter, so does she….variations on a theme of paganini… oooooh no! there’s no. netting on his chest. My eyes, my eyes! Steps around the corner of the rink to begin… lovely flow along the ice as I concentrate on his feet…. Throw 3loop is amazing. Down the ice for the s/s triple toes… which are also clean… beautiful chris calls it… the skating. Not the chest. Because the chest is ick. But not so is the split which is also done with her hands over her head and well caught. Lift is very nice and exited by bringing her down with one hand. Death spiral… nice arch and as low as any we’ve seen… into the s/s pairs spins… tino change camels to uprights… unison a little off but only a little… pairs spins… nicely centred. And that is that. And that was lovely. The skating not the chest. No, I’m not letting that go any time soon, I am traumatised! Simon can’t believe they could be lower than second, and I personally have that in first… and if they lead, that pushes Shen and Zhao into 4^th places…. Chris reiterates my comment about the s/s spins being out of synch. Split double twist not as big as the Chinese pairs but he thinks the finesse was wonderful… s/s triple toes came from no hesitation… program started with the serpentine step… we see the lift again and the speed was constant throughout. Every move was just a picture… stunning. Apart from the chest. Can I deduct for the chest? Because I should be able to.

Marks… 5.7-5.9… 5.8-6.0! Only one but that says it all… two have them second which I don’t get but what do I know? They’re first.

They first, P&T second with Pang and Tong in 3^rd. S&Zare 4^th then the poles, then the ZXhangs. Oberas 7^th, Langlose, Inoue, Marcoux are the 1-120. Fitze, LeFraoncois, Volosohzar, Orscher, Borozovic and then I lose it.

Back tomorrow for the men’s short.