Volosozhar & Trankov (RUS) Nail Their Free Skate in Gold Medal Victory

Volosozhar & Trankov (RUS) and Ksenia Stolbova & Fedor Klimov (RUS) after Pairs Final

(13 February 2014)  I was a golden day for Russia in the Pairs final where Tatiana Volosozhar & Maxim Trankov nailed their free skate to win their second gold medal of the Games.  Their teammates Ksenia Stolbova & Fedor Klimov moved up from third in the Short Program to take the silver medal, while Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy (GER) placed fourth in the Free Skate to finish in third overall, giving them back-to-back bronze medals in the last two Olympic Winter Games.  Thus far, figure skating has provide both of Russian's gold medals in the Sochi Games and a third of their total medal count.

It was clear that the medal results in the Pairs event would all come out of the last of the four warm-up group which consisted of relative newcomers Stolbova & Klimov, current reigning World Champions Volosozhar & Trankov,  2010 Olympic silver medalists Qing Pang & Jian Tong, and 2010 Olympic bronze medalists and four time World Champions Savchenko & Szolkowy.

Stolbova & Klimov led off the last group with a solid lively performance of their Addams Family routine.  It was cleaner more dynamic performance than in the Team event with improved scores in both elements and program components.  When their marks came up one could sense that perhaps the German team, who drew last to skate, would be fighting for the bronze and not the gold.  After the event Klimov said, "It's a dream come true.  We didn't expect it and we still can't believe it.  We are so proud of our country and our figure skating school, and that we have first and second. ... We hope that the Russian people are happy with us.  They supported us and we want to give them some of the happiness that we feel."

If the crowd was not revved up enough after Stolbova & Klimov, it was deafening for Volosozhar & Trankov.  As several skaters have remarked throughout the skating events, it sounded more like a hockey game than a figure skating competition.

Skating to music from "Jesus Christ Superstar," the team mastered the emotions and pressures of the moment to skate a dominating program.  All their leveled elements achieved level 4 and their program components averaged 9.73, with twelve marks of 10.0, seven of those in Interpretation.  At the end of the routine Volosozhar doubled over with her hands to her face while Trankov kneeled on the ice and fist pumped the air.  The couple then embraced, and the normally stern looking Trankov teared up like a baby.

Afterwards Trankov said, "Today was a big day for all of Russia.  Two of our couples have skated very well and I think everyone in our big country is pleased.  It was the hardest job of our lives.  We dealt with huge pressure today.  We already have gold in the team event, but this would be the realization of the goal and the dream of our lives."  Volosozhar said, "To be honest I was crying because I felt so many emotions; nerves, concentration. I'm still nervous and shaking, but I'm also so happy.  We did really well today.

Vancouver silver medalists Pang & tong skated next, and just edged out the German team by 0.44 points to place third in the Free Skate, but still ended fourth overall, 5.90 points out of the medals.  Age has eroded their skills, but they still skated a fluid  program to "I Dreamed a Dream."  Pang singled an Axel on their opening jump sequence, but after that the team skated a clean program.  Except for a level 2 twist lift, their leveled elements otherwise achieved level 4.  Their components averaged 8.62.

The Sochi Games are Pang & Tong's swan song as they retire from competitive skating now.  The team is to be married following the Games.  After their skate Tong said, "We're happy to have had the chance to skate our last performance at the Olympic Winter Games.  It's and honor.  We could have been more lucky if we won a medal."  He added, "We haven't planned our ceremony yet, as we've been focused on our training.  Now it's time for us to think about it."

Last to skate were Savchenko & Szolowy. The team took a no-guts-no-glory approach to the competition, including an attempt at throw triple Axel as the last element, or as Szolowy said after the event, "No risk, no medals."  A more conservative approach might have gotten them the silver, but they were not here to compete for the silver.

The team opened with a strong throw triple flip, but on the subsequent element, Szolkowy fell on triple toe loop.  The team then performed cleanly for the next nine elements.  On the closing throw triple Axel, Savchenko fell.  Had the team made only one of the two errors, or if they had executed a clean throw of lesser difficulty, the team would probably have made up the 2.90 points that kept them out of second place.  On the other hand, even if they had skated cleanly, with component marks that averaged 8.90 they still would not have won the gold.

The audience reacted warmly to the German's (though obviously, not with the same energy as for the Russian teams), and after Szolkowy's fall they cheered the team on as figure skating fans do to encourage skaters after a mishap.  After the event the team was visibly distraught, with Savchenko in tears.  During the flower ceremony the team was only going through the motions, and they left the ice early forgoing much of the post event photography and celebration that takes place.  In the press conference Szolkowy was stoic, while Savchecnko had red eyes from what must have been a good long cry backstage.

On their performance Szolkowy said, "Actually, I don't know what happened.  The warm-ups werre normal, no shaky legs or anything.  This is figure skating.  Welcome to our world."  He added, "We fell like we lost a lot.  We were two steps away from gold.  We need time to think about many things."

Canadians Meagen Duhamal & Eric Radford, who were though to have a chance at the bronze here after wining bronze at Worlds last year.  The team had an off night, with Duhamel falling on a triple Salchow and putting a hand down on throw triple Lutz.  After their skate Duhamel said, "I Don't know what happened.  We felt really good, we were in our zone.  The first half of the program was great.  I Don't know what went wrong.  I surprised my self on the Salchow. ... It wasn't our best, but we had three out of four great performances here."  The team ended the competition fifth in the short, seventh in the long, and seventh overall.

Duhamel & Radford were passed by their teammates Kirstin Moore-Towers & Dylan Moscovitch, who placed fourth in at Worlds last year.  The team skated a nearly clean and solid program, with Moscovitch doubling an attempt at triple Salchow.  The team [placed fifth int he long for a fifth place finish overall.  Afterwards Moore-Towers said, " We fell we were pretty great.  I was very happy with the performance, we were knocking things off one by one.  We had a small glitch but nothing to interrupt the program.  I didn't know we had as mall glitch when I was celebrating.  I still think it was great.  I'm just so excited."  Moscovitch added succinctly, "All in all, it was a great skate.  In the words of my illustrious partner, I had a brain fart."

Skating earlier in the evening the two American pairs skated in the first two warm-up groups.  Felicia Zhang & Nathan Bartholomey skated first, with only a minor error on a double Axel sequence.  Skating ot music from "Les Miserables," the team placed twelfth in the Free Skate following a 14th place result in the Short Program.  The team ended in 12thplace, a respectable finish fro their first major (Word or Olympic) international competition.

U.S. Champions Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir skated second in the second warm-up.  The team had three issues, with Casgtelli steping out of a tripple toe loop and also on an attempt at throw quad Salchow.  She also had a slightly flawed landing on triple Salchow, while the team's throw triple Salchow was well done.  The team placed ninth in the free, for a ninth place finish, meeting their goal for a top ten result in Sochi.  Said Castelli, "It's our final event and we wanted to do well but we're also pretty tired.  We're happy was came out with another personal best.