Go Back to Competition and Show Reviews Index
First to skate were Shelby Lyons & Brian Wells of the US, who began with SBS triple salchows that Brian fell on. Double twist okay. Slow. SBS spins out of unison at the end. Lift looks labored. Oksana Kazakova & Artur Dmitriev of Russia skated last year's "Thus Sprach Zarathusra" ("2001") short program in new costumes, flowing burgundy dress on her and burgundy and black on him. SBS triple toes were perfect, delayed double twist gorgeous. SBS spins almost went off, but corrected, bit of a stumble on the footwork. Seemed a bit hesitant. Michelle Menzies & Jean-Michel Bombardier of Canada skated their Debussy program with a nice double twist and the usual M&B SBS triple salchow falls. Strong lift, spiral sequence good. Kristy Sargeant & Kris Wirtz of Canada were up next in awful yellow and brown costumes, perfect SBS triple toes, nice lift, collapsed a bit on the dismount, Some loss of unison in the SBS spin - he tends to whip into his camel entry, which is a dangerous habit because it makes it harder to control. I'm not sure the choreography suits them that well. Great BO death spiral.
Sarah Abitbol & Stéphane Bernadis of France skated next in awesome costumes that were described as "dipped in petroleum." They might have worn these for their Michael Jackson exhibition last year? Someone I was sitting with, someone far wittier than myself, guessed that the theme of the program was "Solid Waste." Anyway, it was cool, some sort of industrial music and theme. Huge double twist, SBS triple toes, he fell. Stéphane appears unable to do a spiral with the leg at the (minimum) hip level. They do the Yeltsova & Bushkov pairs spin, but not as well. Sandra Marchant & Chad Hawse of Canada skated next to "Tico Tico" in black costumes with teal accents. The last thing that man needs is a sash. Him: triple toe two-footed and underrotated, fell. Her: doubled the toe. How did I see these jumps so well? Because they took off at totally different times. Lift with two changes of position, slow pairs spin. Dorota Zagorska & Mariusz Siudek of Poland, who came in on my plane from Boston, also had problems with the SBS triple toe, he leaned forward on the landing, slid and fell. Excellent SBS spin unison, looked tight during program, lift with Shishkova & Naumov flip-up entrance, very well done.
Marina Khalturina & Andrei Kryukov of Kazahstan skated to "Be My Love" with solid SBS triple salchows, strong lift, good spin unison. Great performance for them. Leslie Rogers & Michael Aldred of Great Britain wore blue sparkly outfits which tended to emphasize the size of Michael's posterior. SBS triple toes, he landed but she was just a bit short of the rotation, bounced off the blade and fell. Spins totally out of unison, very far apart. She was in a perilously advanced state of wedgie-dom by the end of the program. Last up were the brother and sister team of Danielle McGrath & Stephen Carr of Australia, who wore burgundy and black costumes and skated to dramatic piano music. Nice double twist, SBS triple salchows which she fell on, nice flow, good quality in their elements.
First up in the long were Rogers & Aldred, doing last year's program to "Les Miserables" in silver costumes (his with black trousers). Double twist, SBS triple toes which she actually landed (a very rare occurrence in practices) but he fell out of (underrotated). Throw double sal only, overrotated on landing, BO death spiral, SBS double axels (she singled and fell out of)-double toes. Good SBS spin unison. Throw triple toe, she too far forward, fell. Back press lift okay, slow pairs spin, SBS double loops - she way off axis but landed somehow. Star lift to platter, FI death spiral. Next up were Marchant & Hawse, wearing black outfits and skating to music that included the 1984 Underhill & Martini music. Triple twist okay, FI death spiral her position good, SBS triple toes: he jumps, okay, lands, and *then* she takes off, jumps, falls. Throw triple toe, bad fall, leaning the whole time. Lifts okay. Throw triple sal ugly but landed. SBS double axels, no unison at all, he didn't land. SBS spins lost all unison, began way too close together. SBS 2 flip-2 toe sequence good, BI death spiral. I hope this was an uncharacteristic performance, because they were just abysmal.
McGrath & Carr skated next to the "faux Vivaldi" diamond ad music in black costumes. SBS triple sals, she a bit cheated and two-footed, but okay. Double twist, throw triple sal, she put a hand down. BI death spiral nice. Slow. Lift a bit abbreviated. Throw double loop. SBS double axels, she singled. SBS spins lost unison. Nice jump sequence with walley-2 flip-2 toe. He looks like he can just barely lift her. BO death spiral, only one rev. It may be time for this team to hang it up. Zagorska & Siudek skated to "Dr. Zhivago" in dark green and off-white velvet outfits. Split triple twist gorgeous, huge throw double axel, SBS triple toes! They looked great in practice and I had high hopes for them to sneak in for a medal here. SBS spins close together, good unison. Difficult lift with three changes of position. SBS double axels, she singled, he landed with legs crossed and fell. BI death spiral. Throw triple sal, she landed hunched over like Stephanie Stiegler tends to do. Did the "Jenni & Todd" lift with swoop dismount, his footwork messy underneath, slowed way down, dismount barely accomplished. She fell on another SBS jump. Some better lifts near the end. Choreography not very realized. FI death spiral. They have a lot of potential.
Lyons & Wells began with SBS triple loops - his was very low and scraped the ice with his free foot a bit, but okay. A bit of a collision on the triple twist, throw triple loop good, SBS spins lost unison, throw triple sal okay, SBS triple sals, she fell. FI death spiral. Star lift with very careful dismount, BO death spiral, kept up decent speed through the program. "Spinning" platter lift. SBS double flips - he took an awful fall off the edge, must have really hurt. Menzies & Bombardier were up next skating to "Schindler's List" and began with a BI death spiral. Throw triple sal beautiful, SBS double axels, he underrotated, bounced, but didn't fall. Phew. Triple twist okay, SBS double sals only, SBS spins with good unison. Throw double axel perfect. FI death spiral a bit short on the number of revolutions. SBS double flip-double toe sequence, seem a bit slow. Unfortunately, the sound system made their music a bit garbled. Nice choreography.
Kazakova & Dmitriev came back from some rough practices and a bad fall in the warm-up to skate well in the long. We had noticed Artur rubbing one of his shoulders in practice and appearing to be in some pain. In the warm-up before the long, Artur threw Oksana and, as far as I could tell, did not look before he did so and just missed hurling her right into Stéphane Bernadis (a fairly noticeable guy if one had even glanced in that direction). Oksana sort of flailed a bit in the air and then fell and slid into the boards, hard. In any case, both probably in some pain, their performance was a bit tepid, for them. It still would have been an incredible intensity level for most other teams, but since I have seen them skate much better, I could see the difference. They began with SBS triple toes, then SBS double axel-double toes (nice to see after Lausanne...) Triple twist okay, throw triple sal huge (this was the move Oksana had fallen on in warm-up), SBS double axels which Artur singled. Throw triple toe okay, SBS spins very fast, good unison. Dismounts from lifts a bit wild, FI death spiral gorgeous.
Sargeant & Wirtz skated next to more classical music I didn't recognize, beginning with SBS triple toes which Kristy fell on. Collided a bit on triple twist, throw triple sal strong, lovely FI death spiral. Don't look entirely comfortable with the choreography. SBS double axels, she fell, on a lean. Nice pairs spreadeagles. He tripped and fell on nothing in particular. Throw double axel, she very forward on the toe but okay. BO death spiral. Khalturina & Kryukov began with SBS triple sals, which she singled, then SBS double axel-double loops, okay. Throw triple loop okay, throw triple sal good, all in the beginning of their program. Lovely upside-down lift a la Wötzel & Steuer. Triple twist okay, FI death spiral, SBS spins good, BI death spiral weak. Lost almost all speed at the end, almost at a standstill. Last up were Abitbol & Bernadis with a new long to "Chariots of Fire" in nice costumes, red on her and black on him, both with coiling gold designs on them. Split triple twist, good height, throw double axel, she overrotated and fell out. Apparently they've been working on the throw triple axel, although I didn't see any in the practices here. SBS triple toes, both with minor problems, double toes. SBS double axels good, one handed star lift entry, cool pairs spin, throw triple loop good. Lifts look a bit labored, but okay. He may be injured. Not as strong a performance as last year, but they look like better skaters this year, smoother. I like both programs.
Go Back to Competition and Show Reviews Index