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ABBREVIATIONS
I have written out most jumps and other elements, but do use standard edge
abbreviations (F forward, B backward, I inside, O outside, L left, R right) and
SBS for side-by-side in the pairs.
I unfortunately missed the pairs short programs due to bad weather on Tuesday, December 2. I spent most of the day in the airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but did see about two seconds of a compulsory dance on the TV in the bar. :-) For information on the pairs short, check Dave Fraser's page. My notes begin with the long program practices. I missed the big excitement of the event, which was the female half of the German pair, Stefanie Weiss, getting run over by an American team (apparently MacAdam & Lucash) in the practices before the short, requiring multiple stitches. For the rest of the week, she was tooling around the arena in a wheelchair, along with the Japanese girl, Yoshie Onda, who broke her foot during the qualifying rounds. The consensus on Weiss was that the German team was at fault, by the way.
I had trouble differentiating Jaisa MacAdam and Natalie Vlandis of the US on the practice session, as both wore burgundy costumes and had their golden- blonde hair up in tight buns. This is particularly embarrassing because Jaisa is a local skater in the Boston area who I have seen many times in singles as well as in her pairs career with Garrett. I had forgotten that MacAdam & Lucash are now coached by Bob Young at Simsbury. Meanwhile, my immediate impression of Jered Guzman was that he looks identical to the actor Fred Savage (of "The Wonder Years" fame). MacAdam & Lucash were having some trouble with a hip lift that kept coming down early. I was very impressed with the flow and grace of the young Stieglers, who seem much more evenly matched in their expression and refinement than I was expecting. The overall quality of their skating is very high and I found them the most impressive of the American teams; they are coached by Irina Rodnina. Guzman appeared to be ill or out of sorts on the practice session. While their music was playing, he left the ice and went running off backstage. Natalie finally put her warm-up jacket on some time later and appeared to be leaving, but then he returned and they stayed on through the end of the session. He did a few big single axels and was obviously struggling with the jumps, looking discouraged.
The next group included the three Ukrainian teams and the pair from Uzbekistan. The Uzbek skaters were also included in the media guide as singles skaters, but I don't know if they were ever actually planning to compete in singles. He has a solid triple sal, but I didn't see many coming out of her. Yelena Kokhanevich & Vitali Dubina, the "middle" Ukrainian team, are quite similar in size and I was impressed that they had some very difficult lifts including one near the end of their program with a one-handed set-down. Alyona Savchenko of the third Ukrainian team looks a bit like Yelena Beloussovskaya; very leggy. Meanwhile, the top team, Yulya Obertas & Dmitri Palamarchuk, had the most dramatic size difference of any team at the competition, and made the most of it with the "Gordeeva & Grinkov" technique in some of the throws and the split twist. Basically, whether Obertas does or does not actually put her toe in the ice on the twist take-off is moot; he picks her up and throws her and then she rotates. Dmitri had some plaster or something on his chin; I don't know if she bonked him during a twist or if he had some personal grooming disaster that morning.
The next group included the two Canadian teams and the French team. Lenny Faustino of the higher Canadian team was wearing a back brace and is apparently coming back from a serious injury. He and his partner Jacinthe Lariviere had good unison for a new team and very strong lifts. Meanwhile, the Frenchies had the best choreography thus far with excellent expression and nice flow over the ice. Finally, the last group included the three Russian teams and the team from China. Qing Pang & Jian Tong have a bit of the Shen & Zhao technique in the throws, what I call the "sack o' potatoes" approach (to be fair, I haven't seen Shen & Zhao since Edmonton and perhaps they have improved in this [purely aesthetic] concern). Nevertheless, like Shen & Zhao, and like the best North American example of this "style," Urbanski & Marval, they get incredible height and distance on the throws (they were doing triple loop and triple toe). The split triple twist was also humongous and almost lateral in the air. Plus (please excuse my base nature), he's a major hottie. Speaking of, Vladislav Zhovnirski won the costume award for the week (a close competition with Kyu-Hyun Lee of Korea, see the men's review for the details). The long program costume he wore included a totally sheer white chiffon top over black pants with a CUT-OUT woven design down the length of each leg. Yowza. For the exhibition practices, Zhovnirski wore cut-off black jeans which were ripped in key areas. I guess Vlad likes to show it all off.
Oh yes, skating. The Italian team was also on this session, wearing horrendous blue bodysuits with an Italian flag design on them (obviously the same manufacturer of the Russian flag blue bodysuit, equally horrible, that Ilya Klimkin wore for his practices), skating to a bizarre, spastic version of Strauss waltzes which sounded mono instead of stereo and led to mental images of music tapes being chopped up with blunt machetes. It was almost as bad as the infamous "House of Blue Danube" porno-Strauss that Mojca Kopac had at '96 Worlds. Viktoria Maksyuta & Vladislav Zhovnirski were the clear class of the field at this event, with excellent elements and very stylish presentation. Probably a close second were Yelena Nikolayeva & Aleksei Sokolov, who are a little stronger with the lifts (they have a much greater size difference) and also had wonderful choreography. They are coached by Nikolai Velikov in St. Petersburg. Sokolov has a bit of the scraggly musician look and also won the coveted "Mr. Pouty-Pants" award for always looking ticked when people got in his way on the session. The Italians always seemed to be in somebody's way. The third Russian team, Alena Maltseva & Oleg Popov, wore incredible fluorescent pink outfits and also had a huge triple twist, but some trouble with the SBS jumps and throws. The throw triple sal is almost taken off from a lunge, giving the appearance that the jump is purely muscled.
First up were Irina Mladenova & Hristo Turlakov of Bulgaria. Am I nuts or was he an ice dancer before? Their music was all from "Mary Poppins" ... "Spoonful of Sugar," "Jolly Holiday," etc. I expected great things from the costumes and was bitterly disappointed. (Her neon orange dress, him B&W with matching orange tie). They did a poor double twist with a collision and her stumbling on the exit, and then SBS double axels, which she singled. Their back press lift was okay, slow and scrapey, but she did exit on one foot, which she did not often do in the practices. Throw double sal was okay, SBS change spins not bad, and then a SBS double loop-double toe sequence and a throw double loop. My favorite moment was a lift that I called the "frog" lift... well, we'll see if any of my pictures turned out. :-) What this had to do with Mary Poppins, I really don't know. They also had SBS double flips near the end and a poor FI death spiral with her leg bent.
Elisa Carenini & Ruben De Pra of Italy did the butchered Strauss in blue costumes, hers with a flowy faux scarf (made me think of Isadora Duncan; maybe I'm morbid). They began with split double twist (sort of), SBS single axel-double toe, he fell out of the latter. Throw double loop. Back press lift OK, simple. Lost unison on the SBS spins, nice FI death spiral, star lift into a one-handed position, SBS double loops. Another single axel-double toe sequence, a very poor BO death spiral, and a throw single axel. They were thrilled to skate (almost) clean and did manage to move up a notch in the final tally.
Tatyana Zaharyeva & Yuri Salmanov of Latvia skated next, wearing brown outfits with multiple illusion fabric "tears" to give the illusion of wearing pelts or the like... their music was "Conan." Now, there were several amusing things about this team. First of all, the greatest bad costume of 1997 Worlds (at least according to the Eurosport tapes I have of it, which I have barely watched ... let's face it, 1997 Worlds is not a pleasant thing to relive) was worn by the Latvian team of Oleg Shliakhov and his new partner, whose name I forget but it's something like Yelena Sirokhvatsova. They wore... fur outfits. They skated to... Conan. Their opening pose was... exactly the same as the opening pose of Zaharyeva & Salmanov. I can't say that all of the choreography was identical, because Shliakhov & Whatserface's program is not burned indelibly in my mind after one videotape viewing, but this alone gave me great pleasure. Of course, who in the world can I share this with except maybe that one obsessed skating fan who reads this on the net and ACTUALLY KNOWS WHO AND WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT??? Anyway, the other amusing thing about this team has to do with a team from ... Byelarus I think? ... at 1996 Worlds, who had several incredibly funny moments in their short program, including him attempting to drag her under him through his legs unsuccessfully, at which point she clonked him with her head (pretty hard) right in the crotch, and then a pairs spin of the "Meno & Sand" variety with his free leg over her where his total lack of extension meant that he kind of got his leg stuck on his partner with disastrous results. Well, Zaharyeva & Salmanov also performed this spin in tribute to this great pairs team whose names I seem to have completely forgotten, with similar results.
As to Z&S's program, they began with a huge double twist of the pick-up-and-fling variety, had a good throw double axel and a strong lift, but then things rapidly fell apart. FI death spiral was okay, SBS double axels she singled and he stepped out of, throw double sal she overrotated (maybe they were attempting a triple?) and put a hand down, both completely messed up a jump sequence, he put a hand down on SBS double loops, the SBS spins were a complete and utter disaster, and then we had the pairs spin where Yuri almost fell over trying to get his leg off her back, and then a very bad change into the backspin.
Next were Aneta Kowalska & Lukasz Rozycki of Poland, who skated to "West Side Story" in bright neon orange (her) and black with neon orange trim (him). They had an okay hand-to-hand lift, SBS single axels, good distance on the throw double axel, but were very slow on the hip lift. Their FI death spiral had only two revolutions, at most. They did SBS double flip-double toe and a throw double sal, lost unison on the change in SBS change camels. Double twist was okay, pairs spin a bit sloppy, okay SBS footwork.
Yekaterina Nekrassova & Valdis Mintals of Estonia were up next, some improvement from Edmonton, where I had last seen them, in cream coloured costumes with black trim. I seem to remember their music being romantic, probably classical, but I didn't note it down. They began with an okay double twist, throw double sal, SBS double toe loops, a scrapey but OK lift, SBS single axel-double toe sequence, and good SBS flying camels. There was some attempt to be expressive in this program, including a long "pairs two foot glide" with him behind her, arms wrapped closely around her. Throw single axel and an OK FI death spiral. They were just beaming when they finished; that's probably the best performance they've ever had.
Next up were Irina Galkina & Artem Knyazev of Uzbekistan, who had a considerably higher quality of basic skating and pairs technique than any of the preceding pairs. They wore nice blue outfits, hers with a white feather "boa" trim around the neckline. She had a cute short haircut, a bit like Nadya Kanayeva when last I saw her. They skated to classical music and began with a nice split triple twist and a good hand-to-hand lift with a flip-out dismount. The speed and sureness of their lifts was very enjoyable after the preceding couples! They then did SBS double salchows, lost unison on SBS flying camels, and then she fell on the throw double axel. BI death spiral was okay and their pairs spin had an interesting variation at the end: she linked her leg around his and he spun around holding her off the ice. Throw double sal was solid, SBS double lutzes good, nice one-handed lift with flip-out dismount again, slight bobble on her part on the landing. SBS double loop-double toe sequence a bit messy, and then at the very end of the program, he fell backwards on the FI death spiral. Artem had to take the bows with snow on his butt and didn't look amused, although Irina was laughing.
Yelena Kokhanevich & Vitali Dubina of Ukraine were next, skating to "Romeo and Juliet" by Tchaikovski, wearing fluffy pink costumes. They began with a nice split double twist and throw double loop (they were working on the throw triple in practice). BI death spiral was okay; she tends to bend her free leg too much. SBS double toes were messy, they were a bit scrapey in general. Throw triple toe was good, also nice unison on SBS flying camels. SBS double sal-double toe sequence, FI death spiral good. Some nice choreography in the program, but my favorite moment was the ending, where Vitali presented the dead body of his partner to the judges. Ah, the timeless love story... (no, not skater and judge, you cynic!)
Quing Pang & Jian Tong of China skated to "The Planets" in gorgeous purple, magenta and gold costumes. They are a very promising team to follow in the (pioneering!) footsteps of Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao. They had a bit of a messy catch on the split triple twist, she put a hand down on the throw triple loop. SBS double axels were solid. FI death spiral and SBS spins okay, nice lift with flip-out dismount. Throw triple toe which I think she doubled, SBS double axel-double toe sequence, a very good star lift. They skate with speed and have the beginnings of a real presence on the ice. She is a bit tall in comparison with some of the other women pairs skaters.
Jamie O'Reilly and Clinton Petersen of Canada were up next skating to very mild Paso Doble type music, her in an orangey-red dress with black ruffles, him in black vest and pants. They began with a good triple twist, but both messed up the SBS jumps, which were supposed to be triple toe loops. She fell out of the throw triple sal. Nice lift with her upside down behind his back, pseudo-swoop (but not really) dismount. SBS double axels were okay; she tends to get the "helicopter leg" effect on jumps but was okay here. Throw double toe was two-footed; she was having trouble getting off the ice on this one in practice (meant to be a triple toe). Nice Ina Bauer sequence into a FI death spiral, excellent unison on SBS spins. Good lift with flip-out dismount, jump sequence and then a pairs spin at the finish. Not a lot of personality on the ice but some strong pairs skills to work with. She may need work on the jumps.
Next up were Alyona Savchenko & Dmitri Boenko of Ukraine, skating to more "West Side Story" music and wearing the identical costumes that Yelena Beloussovskaya & Sergei Potalov wore when they skated to WSS a few years back. Shades of the Latvians. The costumes are memorable because they are quite unattractive, ornate yellow sparkly tops tied at the waist, over black pants on him and a bright yellow dress on her. Alyona had been wearing her hair in two ponytails at practices, but here had only the one, while Dmitri had his hair slicked back with loads of goop (and my mind happily wandered back to Aleksandr Abt's tango short program at Skate America...) They began with a pairs spin, good SBS double axels, and a split double twist. They did a throw double axel, throw double sal, SBS double axels (she fell), meant to be in a sequence with a double toe, which only he could accomplish (since he was still upright). SBS flying camels were badly mistimed, BO death spiral pretty bad on both of their parts, SBS double toe loops, FI death spiral much better. Some of the choreography might have been cute if it had been skated with a little bit more conviction.
Jaisa MacAdam & Garrett Lucash of the US skated to some kind of accordion music in burgundy costumes and began with a very nice triple twist and a good throw double loop, he fell on the SBS double axels, SBS spins okay. They then did a perfect reproduction of the "Meno & Sand" press lift, complete with the swoop dismount, very well-done. Pairs spin, throw double sal, down a bit early on the hip lift that they had been having trouble with in practise, but better. SBS double flip-double toe, and then a solid BI death spiral with Jaisa in a very pretty position. They have come a long way very quickly; I'm impressed!
Next up were Tiffany & Johnnie Stiegler of the US, wearing pale blue dress (her) and dark blue velvet with poofy sleeves including pale blue fabric inserts (him). These looked like Romeo & Juliet costumes, which was apparently their long program last year, but the media guide states that their music is "Giselle." She did have multiple bits of fabric braided into her hair for a faux-floral effect (or maybe it was fabric flowers... I couldn't see them up-close enough); I didn't recognize the music as coming from either source, but of course it could been from less well-known sections of either ballet. Tiffany looks more like her sister than when I saw her on TV last. They began with a nice split double twist (I *think* it was just a double, anyway), and then hit a throw triple loop, a bit forward on the landing but OK. They got the SBS double axels they'd had some trouble with in practise and then did an excellent one-handed star lift. Her air position is just gorgeous. Then they began to have some problems; Tiffany fell out of a jump in the next SBS sequence, their BO death spiral is not great, nice pairs spin, she fell on the throw triple sal. Another beautiful lift, I guess it was a platter lift, her hands and legs were free and she had a nice arch in her back. SBS double sals okay, lost unison on SBS spins, then Tiffany fell on the next lift dismount. This wasn't their night, but this team has many good qualities, particularly the speed and sureness of their lifts. I think I spotted Stephanie Stiegler in attendance to cheer her siblings on.
Next, Jacinthe Lariviere and Lenny Faustino of Canada skated to "The Godfather" in peach (her) and black (him). This music worked for them; he has that "thug" look down. :-) She looks a bit like Danielle Hartsell (paging Mr. X ... well, I don't want this page to become a gossip column :-)). After a long delay for the Stieglers' marks, they began with a good triple twist, and then a throw triple loop, but Jacinthe turned out of the landing. He fell and she may have doubled the SBS triple toes. They have good speed through the lifts. SBS double axels, she was messy, he fell again. Throw triple sal was just perfect. FI death spiral, SBS spins a bit off, SBS double flip-double toe sequence was OK. I assume he was having trouble with the jumps due to his injury, but it sure didn't seem to affect the lifts. This team also looks to have some real potential.
My favorites were up next, Viktoria Maksyuta & Vladislav Zhovnirski of Russia, who skated to Spanish music in black, white and magenta costumes. He wore the sheer white top and black pants with a magenta cummerbund, while she wore an interesting dress that was sort of black on one side and white on the other with magenta accents and a magenta rose. They are similar in size and both quite attractive. The choreography for this program was great and they had the best expression of any couple that night (the Frenchies were also good but were nervous in their performance; they are a bit later in this review); however, I will say that the program was a bit front-loaded. They began with perfect SBS triple toe loops, the only team to accomplish this in Saint John, then SBS single axel-double toe, and a gorgeous split triple twist, in my opinion the best of the night, although not quite as spectacular as that of Obertas & Palamarchuk. Viktoria fell on the throw triple loop, but the throw double axel was nice. A complicated lift followed, and then SBS flying camels with very good unison. Pairs spin and then seemed to lose speed a bit toward the end. FI death spiral. The ending of the program was a bit unusual and almost abrupt. I was glad to see them move way up in the standings.
Alena Maltseva & Oleg Popov of Russia were next in the hot pink velour costumes, skating to classical music. She has short dark hair and big light blue eyes, quite striking looking, while he is a big lug with close-cropped fair hair. Split triple twist was good, SBS double axels, she underrotated and stepped out. Throw triple sal was OK, FI death spiral nice, SBS double axel-double toe sequence. Throw double axel was low but OK, SBS flying camels had nice unison. This team has been together a few years, which showed in their pairs elements, but were not as dynamic or innovative as the other Russian teams. They certainly have some potential, though.
Next up were the third Russian team, Yelena Nikolayeva & Aleksei Sokolov, who have more of a size difference than the other Russian teams. They were skating to "Laurence of Arabia" in elaborate and attractive (in my opinion, anyway) olive green costumes. She is tiny with blonde hair, but looks about 12, whereas Obertas looks about 8. They began with a great throw double axel, covering a lot of ice, and then went into a wonderful lift that took off with Yelena, in front of Aleksei, doing a deep back bend into a hand-to-hand lift with a handstand-type upside-down position. SBS double toes, a good triple twist, she fell on the throw double loop. Another strong lift with a variant star lift position. Both fell on the SBS double axels, FI death spiral not bad, SBS spins were very good, both very low to the ice in the sit spins. SBS double flips. Finally, a move to make all of the skatefan-netizens quake with fear... a Besti squat (her, that is) death spiral. Too cool - I loved this program! They and Maksyuta & Zhovnirski give hope that Russian pairs does have a future. I wish I knew who coaches the other two teams. Information on the Russian skaters who were at Junior Worlds was not exactly in abundance. I managed to get my hands on the media guide, but of course the information on the Russian skaters was not included. Well, thank goodness I know all I need to know about the Australian team (no offense intended). Thought perhaps the newspapers would tell me something about the Russian skaters who medalled... no such luck.
Sabrina Lefrancois & Nicolas Osseland of France were up next, skating to dramatic music in interesting costumes, her in a pretty white dress with an empire waist, him in a black outfit with a white collar and one white triangular "lapel" in front. She is tiny and very pretty, with thick curly black hair and big dark brown eyes. They began with a triple twist, she fell on the SBS triple toes, SBS double axels were OK, platter lift, SBS flying camels had good unison. They have nice flow over the ice and this is a good program for them. The throw double loop was badly two-footed and then the throw triple sal was two-footed and underrotated, but she somehow stayed upright. FI death spiral was good, he stumbled during a lift but quickly recovered. SBS single axel-double toe near the end. Sabrina seemed upset while taking the bows, as they had been in medal contention after the short. I really liked this team, despite their having some troubles on this occasion.
Next up were Yulya Obertas & Dmitri Palamarchuk of Ukraine in matching teal-blue velour outfits with some sequins here and there. They had great music, very up-beat and fun. They began with SBS double axels, which she fell on. I don't think she landed many in practice either. FI death spiral was OK, and then they started with the "big" stuff. Throw double axel was huge, triple twist was ... even more huge. SBS double loops OK, pairs spin, SBS flying camels with good unison, throw triple sal was good. They have a fun extended footwork sequence at the end which really got the audience into the program. Yulya is pretty darned adorable. I can't believe that she has the body strength to check out of the throw jumps and the twist, but they are very solid on these elements. They also have good unison despite the size difference, and were, of course, very fast.
Last up were Natalie Vlandis & Jered Guzman of the US skating to "Laurence of Arabia" (yes, again) in unattractive beige and orange costumes. Triple twist was OK, but then she doubled and he singled the planned SBS triple loops. Nice star lift with a one-handed set-down. Throw triple sal OK, he singled the SBS double axels, Jered still having problems with the jumps. Natalie is not particularly graceful. SBS spins good, throw triple loop, she fell out. Lifts looked a bit labored/clunky; I really think he might have been ill. I also think of him as someone with a lot of personality on the ice, and none was in evidence on this occasion. They looked tired at the end of their program, finishing with a FI death spiral. Jered was not a happy camper taking the bows and they stayed on the ice while the marks were read, their arms around each other, as if waiting for the final word that no, they were not going to win a medal, at least not this year. I hope for good things from this team, who were obviously out of sorts at this competition.
Overall, the pairs event was pretty well-skated. The programs were not terribly interesting in terms of the choreography, but this is typical in senior competition as well. There were vast differences in the skill levels of the lower and higher ranked teams as well as some interesting distinctions between some of the closer-matched teams... some would have very difficult throws but simple lifts and only a (bad) double twist, while others would opt for simpler SBS and throw jumps but have much superior lifts or a triple twist. Strong teams for the US, Canada, Russia and Ukraine (as usual), and also for France and China.