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STANDARD DISCLAIMER
These are my own opinions and observations. I may not always be
100% accurate and my ideas are certainly open to debate and criticism.
I prefer the Russian style of skating and may not be as enchanted with
the "popular favorites" in North America. I hope that these reports are
enjoyable to most readers, but I do not apologise for stating my own
feelings.
First up in the pairs short were Marina Khalturina & Andrei Kryukov of Kazakhstan. New short program to gooey orchestral music ("Be My Love") in electric blue and navy costumes. He put a hand down on the triple sal. Sara Ward & Lance Travis skated to music by Andrew Lloyd Weber. She failed to complete the rotation on the triple sal, falling out, and I think he might have two-footed or cheated it himself. Unison problems. Shelby Lyons & Brian Wells had a new program to some type of ethnic music (Greek? maybe?) in pale blue and rust colored costumes. They both nailed their triple sals but looked hesitant on the hip lift and the double twist lift.
Stephanie Stiegler & Lance Zimmerman skated last year's tango program and landed clean double axels, a little out of synch. Strong presentation and good speed, but a strange twist lift. Silvia Dimitrov & Rico Rex of Germany both "sort of" landed triple toes in a rough looking new short program. Their pairs skills still need some work to match their solo triples success. Marie-Claude Savard-Gagnon & Luc Bradet of Canada had some problems in a short program to "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue." They both doubled their salchows and looked shaky throughout.
Finally, Oksana Kazakova & Artur Dmitriev of Russia skated a fairly disastrous short, both falling out of the triple toes, losing unison badly on the side by side spins, having difficulty with the exit of their lift (it was perfect in the warm-up, and very unique), and then having some kind of random fall that I don't think was on an element (it was in a corner and I didn't see it happen). They skated to a techno version of "La Cucaracha" and wore bizarre fluorescent costumes. Artur's had multi-colored stripes, while Oksana's had flouncy ruffles in alternating bands of bright colors with random ruffles/flowers/scrunchies stuck on in a cascade down one shoulder. The highlight of the costume was tiny bright-colored bows on her boots.
The pairs long program was not a very well-skated event. Dimitrov & Rex were up first in blue costumes with fringe and doo-dads. They had a mess of a program with only a split double twist and a throw double axel. Silvia fell on the SBS triple toes, and fell hard on a throw triple sal. They came down early from a lift, had very little in the way of unison, and then slipped off the edge in a BO death spiral. Ouch. Marie-Claude Savard-Gagnon & Luc Bradet skated to Strauss and "Swan Lake" in black velvet costumes, barely rotating a split triple twist (it was very difficult for me to see the landings of these because they were on the far side of the rink from me). She fell out of both throw triples and they again did only SBS doubles. Their BO death spiral was the best moment in a weak performance.
Sara Ward & Lance Travis skated to "Carmen" in incredibly unattractive black costumes with red sequined shapes on them. They landed a triple twist which she had fallen on in the warm-up, and got a throw double sal and SBS double sals. Sara fell hard on the throw triple loop, which she was nowhere near rotating, and then they attempted a lift which never got up into the right position. Lance's knees started to buckle and then he quickly got her back down, with a scrape but no major disaster. For some reason, they had really great SBS flying camels, but nothing else impressive. She cannot get off the ice in her jumps.
Stephanie Stiegler & John Zimmerman skated to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," with her in a nasty pink dress and him in black velvet. Their split triple twist is really scary. It's high, but strange looking, and never looks the same two times in a row. They landed SBS double toes which I guess are going to evolve into triples, a throw triple sal, SBS double axels, and then had a truly beautiful star lift, the best of the competition. John's footwork was very clean underneath and Stephanie was in a wonderfully extended position. She got the throw triple toe, although they came to a near-stop before the take-off, and then they had another really gorgeous lift, I guess I would call it a reverse press lift (I am not an expert on the various types of pairs lifts, please forgive). Then the music stopped, but S&Z continued to skate. As described elsewhere, they were nearly finished with their program, but then had to re-skate that final 30 seconds again later. The choreography is clever, stylish, and suits them well.
Marina Khalturina & Andrei Kryukov skated to the "Batman Forever" soundtrack in blue costumes. They had some problems with a shaky triple twist, him falling out of a SBS triple sal, and a throw triple loop that looked a bit cheated. The throw triple sal was fine, but they lost a lot of steam and concentration near the end, with two lifts never going to one hand as planned. After such a strong performance from Stiegler & Zimmerman, it was clear that they had lost their medal standing.
Next up were Shelby Lyons & Brian Wells, who had some minor problems throughout. First Shelby stepped out of the SBS triple loops, and then put a hand down on the throw triple sal. The throw double axel was fine, and the split triple twist was good. Some moves that I liked were a death spiral with Brian in a spreadeagle, and a reverse press lift (?) with a cartwheel-like dismount. The music was folk dance stuff, with froofy costumes. They did well with a fast footwork sequence near the end, but Brian did fall on the SBS triple sals. I didn't see any vast improvement or change in their style from the previous year, and they look very much like the "third-string" U.S. pairs team after Meno & Sand and Ina & Dungjen.
Oksana Kazakova & Artur Dmitriev's new long is to music from Handel. The costumes are black with mesh overlays and accents. Oksana doubled the SBS triple toes and then singled a double axel. Although they doubled the split twist, they did get off the throw triple sal and triple toe, and had some very well-performed lifts. This program is new, and they seemed to be "feeling it out" in some ways, but I loved the choreography, and obviously the music is gorgeous. They could do really well with this program if they can mesh a little better as a pair (pun intended) and if Oksana can land her triples. It looked like the ordinals were pretty split up.