(12 December 2014)  Kaitlyn Weaver & Andre Poje from Canada were second at the World Championships in March 2014, just a few hundredth points away from the title. The world champions Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte from Italy do not compete in Barcelona. After they were defeated at their first Grand Prix by the French couple Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron as well as by Maia & Alex Shibutani from the USA, they decided to skip their second Grand Prix in France in order to have time to work on their programs. Therefore Weaver & Poje are the favorites in the ice dance competition and they confirmed this with a very strong short dance to the music of the Paso Doble “La virgin de la Macarena”. They gained 71.34 points and are more than six points ahead of the second place.

Their twizzle sequence and the rotational lift had a level 4 and got mainly a GOE of +2, their step sequence has a level 3 and their two Paso Doble parts also got two times level 3, which means that they met in both parts two of the three key points. Their components had an average level of 9.1 with some 9.5 as highest scores

Weaver commented: “It feels amazing to be doing the Paso Doble in Barcelona and do our best performance of the season. It’s nice to see our hard work being shown in the result.  Our two programs are polar opposites. The Paso is fierce and intense and our Free Dance has some passion but it’s more measured and shows the seasons of a relationship which everyone can appreciate.” Poje added: “There’s really not been a lot of time between NHK and here but we were able to use the little down-time we had really productively. We’re really excited by the program. We push our skating skills to the limit and we`re happy that that came across in our program.”

Weaver’s & Poje’s only real rivals for the gold are Madison Chock and Evan Bates from the USA, fifth at last season’s Worlds Championship who are currently second with 65.06 points. Their music was two pieces from Leon Minkus ballet music “Don Quichote”. They began with a brilliant Sidelong Lift (level 4). Their two Paso Doble parts got only a level 2. A few seconds before the end of the short dance, Bates fell which certainly influenced the components negatively, especially for performance. But they got even two 10.0 by one judge for choreography and Interpretation, which happened the first time in their career.

He commented: “There are always ups and downs and we’ve been having a lot of great performances and a lot of ups. It’s only natural that there are always going to be bumps in the road somewhere. It happened tonight. This will be a big learning experience for us and we can take a lot from it. We are going to rebound tomorrow and hopefully skate a great free program. There is a lot to be said for skating last in the Grand Prix Final as top seed. That’s a new experience for us and tonight should serve us well in the future.”

Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani sit on third place, gaining 63.90 points. Their twizzle sequence was performed in perfect harmony and great speed, therefore four judges rewarded it with a GOE of +3. They performed a midline step sequence instead of a diagonal step sequence in their two Grand Prix. The new element and their two Paso Doble parts got a level 2, their components were around 8.3. They met the Spanish character of their Paso Doble “The Last Corrida” and the Flamenco “Asturias Variations” very well.

“We feel really good”, Alex said. “It was definitely our best skate of the season. After the Grand Prix Series and our two Challenger Series events, we made some adjustments to the program based on the feedback we received. As every program does throughout the season, it’s just getting strong and stronger.” His sister added: “The crowd is amazing here. It’s so great to be here at the first major international competition in Spain for skating. It’s a real honor for us. They really responded to everything we were doing and it felt like we were able to take them through our performance as we were going through it.” Alex said: “We would hope that the with a Paso Doble and Flamenco short dance that we would hear some ‘Ole’s’ and that was certainly the case tonight.

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier sit fourth with 62.49 points. Gilles plays a lot with her costume which was linked to her arms in the same way which Jayne Torvill did it in her Spanish costume 30 years ago. This is no surprise because Christopher Dean choreographer their program. Besides the required Paso Doble (“El Gato Montes”) the students of Carol Lane and Juris Razgukiaevs interpreted the Spanish Waltz of the Capriccio Espagnol. Their Paso Doble parts got a level 3, Twizzles and Lift had a level 4 and the step sequence a level 2. Gilles said: “We were proud that we finally skated super clean and super polished. We definitely took the program up a notch from our performance at Trophée Eric Bompard. We both enjoy a step up and a challenge and doing something new and something different and this is what we’re doing with these programs. Poirier added:  “We had some very shaky performances at the beginning of the season but we’re getting comfortable doing it now. It’s a very challenging program and Christopher Dean helped us to choreograph it.”

Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron from France are currently fifth, gaining 61.48 points. Their Paso Doble parts got the levels 3 and 2, the step sequence only level 2 and the sidelong lift the level 4. Papadakis stumbled on the twizzle sequence which cost them two or three points. They met the Spanish character very well. Papadakis commented: “I thought we skated good, I made a little mistake on the twizzles which is why we got level three for those but I don’t know why we didn’t get the other levels.”

Cizeron also made a comment: “We gave a good dance performance, but the levels and the technical score were not what we expected, so we are a little bit disappointed. We didn’t really expect to qualify for the Final so we take it as a chance to compete. We skated in Madrid at the beginning of the season for a week, so it is a bit like coming back to where it started. We are skating for a public that knows the Paso so they make good judges.”

Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin are sixth after winning 60.25 points. Lift and twizzles had a level 4 the other three elements a level 2. Zhiganshin said: “In general our skate was pretty good, but I made only one mistake, I trod on my own foot. The crowd has been amazing, not just the Russians but everyone has supported us.” Ilinykh added: “We are very happy to be here. It’s like a present for an athlete to make it here. It’s a great experience and I would even say it’s like a little celebration for us to skate Carmen here in Spain.”

There is one strange observation: At every competition this season several dance couples complain that they do not understand why they did not get the levels they had in the competitions before. Some say it officially, but some are too shy or are afraid to criticize the jury, and only say this off the record. They criticize that each jury decides differently. But this should not happen if the rules are clear and all controllers and specialists know exactly what to judge.