2011 Skate Canada

Junior Pairs Event

by

Alexandra Stevenson

They finished the SP "only" 4.66 ahead of the silver medalists. They kept last season’s Short Program to Josh Turner Country Dance from last season, and performed it with extremely well, with a lot of energy and technical competence which ensured positive GoEs for all seven elements. They began with weakest element, the side-by-side double Lutzes.

The double twist was Level 3, the throw triple loop covered a great distance, and their straight line steps suited the music. Their last three elements, the pair combo spin, the Group 3 lift and their forward inside death spiral were all the maximum Level 4.

Han said, "Tonight was our best Short Program. We are quite happy with it. It was up to our level and the audience received us warmly which was nice."

2. Katherine Bobak, 17, and Ian Beharry, who turned 20 on November 28, earned 52.77 (28.06+24.71), not bad for a team who only teamed up in February. They train in Waterloo, Ontario, with Kris and Kristy Wirtz. Skating to I Had a Farm in Africa by John Barry, they were very pleased with their showing which had only one major error. They were saddled with an "e" for wrong edge take-off on the double Lutz. He said, "I really feel very good about today’s performance, especially in front of our home country crowd."

He played down the stress of competing and living up to people’s expectations. "It’s great we qualified for this in our first year together. We did what we do everyday at home. It was just like another day at the office. We enjoyed our skate."

3. Britney Simpson, 15, and Matthew Blackmer, who will be 20 on December 12, US, earned 50.91 (26.54+24.37). They gave an extremely impressive showing from the audience’s point of view to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in black oriental outfits, with only one error. They were given an "e" for wrong edge take-off for their side-by-side double Lutzes.

Simpson said, "It felt like what we have been training at home. It was so much fun with the Canadians here watching it. It was really easy to skate. What we’re coming here to do is to skate and not worry about placement. We want to enjoy skating and that is what we are going to show tomorrow in the long."

He said, "From a components standpoint, it felt really, really good. We emoted really well and had a strong connection between us. Overall, it was a great performance. We spend a lot of time on our component mark because we feel that is something we are strong at. We work on basic posture and stroking and enhancing the dynamics of our skating."

4. Ekaterina Petaikina, 16, from Moscow, and Maxim Kurdyukov, 21, who is from Ust-Kamenogorsk in Kazahkstan, although they are representing Russia, earned 48.75 (26.12+22.63) skating to Sarabande. He said, "We feel excellent. We posted our season’s best score and we feel we skated better than we ever did in practice. It is very important for ourselves to have such a good skate." She said, "Our goal coming in was to be In the top three."

5. Xiaoyu Yu, 15, who is from Beijing, and Yang Jin, 17, from Harbin in the north of China, earned 46.83 (24.61+22.22) skating to Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. They competed in both junior and senior Grand Prix events, placing seventh in Skate Canada and sixth in the Cup of China. In the Junior Grand Prix events, they earned two silvers. Last year they also qualified for the Junior Final, finished third overall, so their current standing was a disappointment, although they put a good face on it. He said, "It was a good performance for us. We made no major mistake." They did, however, get -0.26 off the base value of their opening move, side-by-side double Lutzes, and their straight line steps and the pair spin were only Level 1.

Asked how they handle jumping between senior and junior events as they have these past two seasons, he said, "Both are very good experience for us and a great opportunity to learn. We like doing both but I think we learn more by participating in the Senior events."

6.Tatiana Tudvaseva, 14, and Sergei Lisiev, 18, Russia, 45.47 (23.61+21.86), who are from Perm in the Ural Mountain and performed to Old City Quadrille, which was described as Russian folk music, learned nine days ago, they were the replacements for the US team, Jessica Calalang and Zach Sidhu, who withdrew due to his injury. Lisiev said, "We were very worried about performing. Overall, we feel we did well, except for the error on the throw triple loop." She managed not to fall but they received six -2s and three -1 GoEs. They also got an "e" for wrong edge take off on their side-by-side double Lutzs. 

1.  Overall 160.43 Wenjing Sui and Cong Han, China, 1. FS 103.00 (48.44+54.56). Skating to The Soul of Flamenco by Michael Laucke, they came charging out of the starting gates with ‘Full Steam Ahead’ emblazoned on their faces as they built up momentum for their throw quad Salchow. She landed on two-feet but showed no emotion. The judges removed -0.86 from the base value of 8 points but banking 7.14 was a good start.

They tore around for their three jump combo. It was meant to be triple toe to two double toes, but the first jump was also a double and the last on was given an arrow for slight under-rotation. That only got them 3.19. Then came their quad Lutz twist. She crashed into him before the rotation was completed and that moved the Tech panel to penalize the move, calling it a triple. That meant they banked only 3.40.

However, their back outside death spiral and flying camel combination spin were both Level 4 with just a minimal -0.10 taken off the base value of that first move and +0.07 added to the second.

They didn’t pay attention to the minimal requirements for the choreographed spirals, and they got nothing for them. However a throw triple flip was way better than satisfactory and they gained +1.40 over base with the entire panel of nine judges rewarding them by punching in +2s. They only got credit for single instead of double Axels.

However, they left the audience on a high. Their last three moves, a Group 4 lift, the pair combo spin and a Group 5 Axel Lasso lift were all Level 4 with significant positive GoEs. Even with the flawed performance, they regained the Grand Prix Final Junior title they had won two years ago by 7.78.

Han said later, "We are not too pleased with this performance as we made some errors on both solo jumps. The quad twist wasn’t too good either. I don’t know why we made those errors. Maybe we have a little nerves."

She said, "We felt quite good when we went out but we weren’t able to show our best. We didn’t skate as well as we had last year. We’ve now got our nationals coming up and we expect to go to Four Continents." Afterwards, she was searching around for a monitor to see their exact levels.

2.Overall 152.65 Katherine Bobak and Ian Beharry 2. FS 99.86 (48.98+50.88). Performing to the Adagio from Spartacus by Khatchatutian, dressed in deep red, in they opened with a Level 1 triple twist but got half a point removed." Their sequence of two double Axels got a slight -0.29 but their next four elements all had positive GoEs. The throw triple loop earned an extra 0.70, their Level 4 pair combination spin got +0.43 over its base value; their Level 3 Group 3 lift was rewarded with +0.57 and their throw triple Salchow was rewarded with +0.90.

Their solo change foot combination spin was deemed Level 4 but got a very slight -0.09 from the judging panel. After their choreographed spirals, which earned +0.30, their side-by side double flips got nothing over the full base value. Their final lift, an Axel lasso, got an extra 0.80 over the base value for Level 3. Their routine ended with a Level 2 forward inside death spiral.

Of course they were excited at earning silver. He said, "The performance felt amazing. We loved the crowd and felt ten times better having achieved our personal bests in both programs skating in Canada." She said, "The performance could not be better. We will keep working on our consistency for future events and will continue every day run-throughs."

3. Overall 146.35 Britney Simpson and Matthew Blackmer, US, stayed third overall although their Free, set to music from the movie, Titanic, was judged only fifth best with FS 95.44 (45.72+49.72). Simpson, who wore a cream colored dress, said, "We did what we came to do and it is so exciting. We got our two season’s best and did two clean programs. It was so amazing. The crowd is getting our emotion and kept pushing us with their applause. " Blackmer, who was in brown, said, "We did our best for the moment. My favorite part was when we finished the program. We felt a great connection with the crowd."

All of their elements received base value or better. They began with a double twist with a variation in which she threw one arm up above her head. Their forward inside death spiral and pair combination spin earned Level 4. They are trained by Dalilah Sappenfield.

4. Overall 146.17 Ekaterina Petaikina and Maxim Kurdyukov, Russia. 4. FS 97.42 (50.63+46.79). They skated to music from the soundtrack of Mr. & Mrs. Smith with an interesting end section in which they mime a fight. She said, "It went well and no matter what the result is, it was good for us to come here and to give two clean performances. There are only a few minor things that we can fix easily. I will come back to watch the senior pairs, most of all the Germans. Savchenko is my idol. We want to take something away (copy) elements like spins.

They had a great lift in which she did a handstand using his body with him in an outside spread position and then he lifts her up while she is upside down to an overhead position. They started with side-by-side triple toes and five of their elements gained the maximum Level 3. He said, "We are competing in the Russian senior championships next. We have only ten days to adjust to a short program with different elements and a longer free. But we will also do Juniors because we want to go to Junior Worlds."

5.Overall 144.71 Xiaoyu Yu and Yang Jin earned third place in the Free with 97.88 (53.90+44.98 -1) skating to Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, despite her fall on their triple toes. He criticized their free, saying, "Although we performed well today, with only one error, we need to gel more as a team and skate more as a whole. Of course, we’ll be routing for our teammates Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang."

6.Overall 133.79; FS 88.32 (46.10+42.22) The first impression Tatiana Tudvaseva and Sergei Lisiev provide as they flit around this arena which seats 3,400, is of their height difference. He is fully grown but she is still tiny. They performed to the music Ruslan and Ludmila by Rimski Korsakov skating in intense black with gold.

The replacements for the US team, Jessica Calalang and Zach Sidhu, who withdrew due to his injury, said they had enjoyed this opportunity. She said, "The public is very supportive here in Quebec and we feel we are like we are skating at home."

2011 Grand Prix Final Junior Pairs Medalists