Kavaguti made her pair skating debut after turning up on Tamara Moskvina’s doorstep while the famous coach was teaching Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze in Hackensack, NJ. Although she had international experience as a singles, Kavaguti had no prior pair experience. Moskvina teammed her with Alexander Markuntsov and they won Japan’s first pair skating medal at an ISU championship, silver at the 2001 World Juniors. When that partnership broke up, she had other partners and, for a short time, she competed with Devin Patrick but they were only 15th in the 2006 US championship. Just a few months after that event, she tried out with Smirnov.

They did not attempt the throw quad Salchow here in Tallinn although they have tried it in past competition. However, their throw triple, which was their first element, clearly showed she had enough air time to complete four turns. The trouble is checking the torte from the rotation on the landing. She explained, "We were a little upset that we were told not to do it, but we trust our coach (Moskvina). We would like to do the quad throw Salchow at the Olympic Games. We are so happy and satisfied with our performance. The audience gave us energy. We are so appreciative for that. We didn’t expect to win."

That throw earned two +3 Grades of Execution, six +2s and one +1. Their only error came on their second move, the side-by-side triple toe loops in which she stepped out of the landing. All their Levels were deemed worthy of the maximum of 4 except for Level 1 on their triple twist and their next to last element, the pair combination spin. Only six of the 16 couples allowed into the final executed a triple twist and only two of those received more than Level 1 - Volosozhar and Morosov, and Bazarova and Larionov got Level 2. Kavaguti and Smirnov also got one +3 for their spirals, another +3 for the Axel Lasso lift and yet another for their final move, the forward inside death spiral.

Smirnov, her 25-year-old partner, said, "Today we skated better than at Russian Nationals (which they have won for the past three years). We were able to show a very high level of choreography." The routine was set to Valse Sentimentale and On the Blue Danube. Despite lying only 0.30 behind the Germans in second place after the Short Program, Smirnov said, "This win was very unexpected for us. I don’t have words right now. It’s just great." They skated 14^th, second in the last warm-up group of four, immediately after their teammates, Mukhortova and Trankov.

2. TS 211.72 Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy from Germany 2. FS 137.60 (66.88+70.72) The three-time champions were expected to stay in the lead they had established in the Short Program but they made several errors. Skating last, they began with side-by-side triple toe loops which were so synchronized and perfectly executed, they gained +2.20 for their GoE. (Two judges even gave them the maximum +3, four others punched in +2 and the other three officials awarded +1.) However, she stumbled out of their throw triple flip and doubled the triple Salchow. The rest of their 12 elements, set to music from the movie Out of Africa, had positive GoEs. One of judges who had given them a +3 for their sequence of triple toes, was the only official to award them +3 for three other elements, their pair combination spin, their spirals and their last lift. Another judge gave them a +3 for their last move, a throw triple Salchow which gained a huge surge of applause from the crowd. On this move, except for one other judge who gave a +2, the rest of the panel punched in "only" +1.

Szolkowy said, "I felt good, I went relaxed into the program. Of course we area little bit disappointed, but not too much. Of course we came here to win and to skate clean. We did some small mistakes but the rest of the program was quite good. Except for the two errors, it was a good performance. We just need to skate clean. We are getting too old to be nervous. Now, we’ll just practice as usual and focus on our elements. The Olympics is the biggest and most important goal."

There were reports that Savchenko was suffering from glandular fever and she had traces on mononucleosis in her body, but it was believed this was from earlier in her life and all she was plagued with was bad flu. She said, "My health is fine now. We were able to prepare well during the past two weeks. But we didn’t skate for one week after the Grand Prix Final and that was a shame."

4. TS 187.83 Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morosov, Ukraine 4. FS 120.23 (62.59 + 58.64 -1.0 time violation) Volosozhar said, "We did quite well. We fought for it, for each jump, and Stanislav went for each jump, which he doesn’t always do. So we are satisfied but it’s a little upsetting to be fourth for the second year. Yesterday, I felt that we were a little undermarked. It was fine to be in 4^th place after the short program, but the difference in points to the top three shouldn’t have been so big." He stepped out of the second jump in their sequence of two triple toes and then again on the triple Salchow which was downgraded. They performed to music from the movie Pearl Harbour. Everything else got a positive GoE. They even got one vote of +3 for their throw triple loop and two votes of +3 for their throw triple Salchow for which the other seven judges awarded +2.

5. TS 159.84 Vera Bazarova and Juri Larionov, Russia 6. FS 104.00 (56.06 + 48.96 -1.0) Skating to music from the movie Seven Years in Tibet, they finished behind the music but did not get a deduction. Larionov said, "We still had time (to the maximum four minutes and fifty seconds)." They did get a point off, however, because she fell on a double Axel which was meant to be a sequence of two and the rotation was downgraded. They also scored -1 GoE on their opening element, side-by-side triple toes. They still do not know whether they will be part of the Russian Olympic team. Their officials have told them that will be decided on their performances here."

Bazarova said, "The performance wasn’t totally bad, but we can do better. For a debut, it wasn’t too bad. I missed a jump (the double Axel) that I usually never miss. Somehow my legs weren’t listening to me today. Already in practice I had some trouble when my lace ripped off. Today we focused a lot on the elements and forgot about the choreography a little."

6. TS 156.80 Nicole Della Monica and Yannick Kocon, Italy 5. FS 104.16 (57.00 + 48.16 -1.0 for a fall) Della Monica said, "It was the seasons best score for us, but I don’t think it was our best performance. We can do better. But it’s ok. I fell on the throw loop. It was just one mistake, but it’s better to forget about it immediately and just to focus on doing the rest of the program clean." This equaled their last year’s placing in this event. They skated to The Mission.

7. TS 151.28 Vanessa James and Yannick Bonheur of France 7. FS 99.24 (51.40 + 47.84) The French national champions skated to Romeo and Juliet. She said, "We didn’t exactly fulfill our goals for this competition because we wanted to be in the top five, but it is almost impossible right now. We are a little bit disappointed because I made a silly mistake on the ice." She collapsed on the entry to their forward inside death spiral and got no marks for this element. (Done at Level 3, a forward inside death spiral has a base value of 3.2 points but even had they gained these points it would not have advanced their placing since they finished over five points behind the Italians.) Bonheur also had a mistake on his double Axel.

James continued, "But I recovered quickly and I did my hard elements afterwards. It is the first time that has happened. I am really proud of myself because I did all the jumps (including their first element, the triple Salchow) and the throws (throw triple Salchow and triple flip). I think it was a great experience for us. We love the crowd. We have a lot of supporters here – from France and from Estonia as well.

8. TS 144.95 Anais Morand and Antoine Dorsaz, Switzerland 8. FS 97.07 (54.19+42.88) The Swiss pair, who skated to Once Upon a Time in America, climbed from 11^th after the Short Program to better the 12^th place they had earned in their debut in this event last year.

5. TS 55.84 (30.96+24.88) Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov won the silver medals for Russia at the 2007 World Junior championships but just before he was to compete in that event again, he was suspended after diet pills were discovered in his system in a routine drug check in his home in Perm. That time has passed and they recently claimed the bronze in the Russian championships. She will turn 17 on January 28 and he is 23.

She admitted, "There were a few minor errors." She two-footed the landing of her triple toe loop. "But, overall, it felt surprisingly easy to skate, easier even than at Russian Nationals. We felt a good support from the crowd. Our training here have been going really well." He added, "After Russian Nationals, we had a training camp in Novogorsk (near Moscow)." They skated to music named Sadness.

12. TS 47.60 (27.20+20.40) Maria Sergejeva and Ilja Glebov represented the home country. She said,"We feel good after the competition. Yes, we made two mistakes but we try to forget about the mistake and to continue. The Estonian public was also very good. We say to them, ‘Thanks!’ We moved to Poland to train with Mariusz Siudek. Our goal is to stay in the top twelve." They performed to The Legend of 1900 by Ennio Morricone.