(1 November 2016) The pair skating competition at Skate Canada 2016 in Mississauga had a mixed level. The teams who placed first, second and fourth place were good, the others less so. The big favorites and two time world champions Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford from Montreal won the event easily with 218.30 points.

 In the short program they reached a personal best of 78.39 points which was favored because the triple throw axel has a base value of 7.7 points and the triple throw Lutz only of 5.5 points. Skating to "Killer” by Seal, they opened with an excellent triple twist, followed by a side by side triple Lutz which was a bit disharmonic. For the first time in their career, Duhamel landed a triple throw axel, deep in the knee but on one foot. Most judges gave GOEs of -1 for this element. Then they nailed the four remaining elements all of which had a level 4. Their components were around 8.6.

Radford explained: "It is great to start the season with a personal best. It’s pretty difficult to do that, so of course we’re extremely happy. It was a big step to land that throw triple Axel. It has improved a lot in the last couple of weeks, but after Finlandia we had some doubts. We had a little bit of a plan that if it didn’t start working we would go back and do the throw triple Lutz”.

They began their free program to "Non, je ne regrette rien” by Patricia Kaas with a high triple twist and a side by side triple Lutz which was a bit shaky. Then Duhamel fell hard on the throw quad Salchow, but recovered quickly and after a very strong lift did a combination of triple, double and another double toe loop, the last of which she stepped out a bit. The other elements including a throw triple flip were very good, including difficult lifts. Their components were around 8.6, which might be a bit too much because their harmony as a pair is not that stellar.

Radford said: "I think this was a very good beginning of the season long program. There was the obvious fall on the throw quad. We always find it difficult after a really good short, when there is a lot of adrenalin and excitement to go out and maintain that through the long, just at the beginning of the season. I’m just really happy with how we fought back and we finished the program really strong." Duhamel added: "It was a major step up from Finlandia Trophy, where we missed all four of our risk elements. Our main objective was to nail the short and as we move on to NHK we have that in our pocket, so we're looking to pick up that long as well"

The silver medal for Xiaoyu Yu & Hao Zhang, earning 202.08 points, was a surprise because they have been skating together only for five months and Skate Canada was their first international competition together after the Chinese federation exchanged the partners of two pairs after the bad result at the world championships in Boston. Their highlight in both programs was a huge triple twist. In the impressive short program to music by Brand X, all elements were clean, including a triple toe loop and a triple throw loop.

Their long program to two music pieces by Emil Sauer was almost flawless as well. The triple twist (Level 4) got GOEs of +3 by all nine judges, the two triple throws were outstanding as well, the lifts (all Level 4) got mainly +2, the combination of triple toe loop and double toe loop worked as well, only the spin and the double axel were a bit shaky. Their components reached around 8.2.

Zhang explained: "The result today has come from our hard work the past five months. We had two not-so-perfect elements, and I hope we will show people an even better program at the Cup of China. We do not plan any quad element for the moment, but we are trying to do our current elements and jumps clean. Maybe we will put triple Lutzes into the program. The idea to exchange partners came from our federation, not from us, But we agreed very quickly that we match together better than with our previous partners."

The second Canadian pair Liubov Ilyushechkina & Dylan Moscovitch from Toronto won bronze with 190.22 points, but partly because of a bit of home advantage. Their triple twist at the beginning of the short program to the famous Tango "Jalousie" by Jacob Gade was impressive, but then Ilyushechkina doubled the side by side toeloop and he touched with his hand down on the triple toe loop. The other elments including a triple throw Lutz were good and the components had an average of 7.8. Moscovitch said: "There was an unfortunate mistake on the jump, we’ve been practicing really well, so it was a bit disappointing for it to happen, but all in all I think we regrouped very well throughout the program and we’re happy with how we executed everything else."

The first element in the long program to Josh Groban’s song "When you Say you Love me" was an excellent triple twist, but then Ilyushechkina fell on the triple throw lutz and again on the side by side triple toe loop and she also doubled the Salchow which he tripled. The three lifts and the triple throw loop had a very high quality and speed and the other elements were at least good as well.

Moscovitch commented: "Today was work for us. It was not an ideal run-through, but we stuck to our training, we kept refocusing and working together as a team. We were able to maintain the integrity of the program and get ourselves on the podium. We were tentatively planning on doing a throw quad lutz here, but the whole program wasn't ready enough to put it in. We're hoping to insert it into the program at some point this season, but we don't have a set date yet."

The U.S team of Haven Denney & Brandon Frazier, who train in Geneva near Chicago with Rockne Brubaker, came in fourth with 188.23 points, but would have merited the bronze medal because they made fewer mistakes than the Canadians and had a more fluent style. In the short program to the French version of the musical Don Juan, six elements were at least good, including a throw triple loop, but Frazier stumbled on the triple toe loop.

In the fluid and well choreographed free program by Marina Zueva to the soundtrack of "Somewhere in Time" by John Barry, they began with a good triple twist, followed by a clean triple throw loop. But then Denney’s side by side triple Salchow was downgraded and two-footed and she could add only a single toe loop. Her axel was single instead of double. The other elements were clean and none of them fell at all.

They were the only skaters in all four categories who competed at both North American Grand Prix. With a second place at Skate America and a fourth at Skate Canada they have to wait and see if they reach the Grand Prix Final in France. The experience from previous years gives them a probability of about 30 per cent to be qualified for Marseille.

Yuko Kavaguti & Alexander Smirnov from Russia, longtime students of Tamara Moskvina, finished fifth with 182.75 points. Kavaguti has almost recovered from the tear of the Achillles tendon in January, but she fell on the triple toe loops in both programs. The triple twist in the short program to "All Alone" by Joe Satriani was not clean, but four other elements were at least good, the lift even impressive. But in the side by side spin they were out of sync. In the long program to Debussy's "Clair de Lune", which was the same program as in the season 2012, Smirnov singled the Axel, but the other elements were clean.

Nicole Della Monica & Matteo Guarise from Milan in Italy are on sixth position, winning 178.67 points. In the short program to a modern version of Carl Orff’s "Carmina Burana," she stepped out of the triple Salchow and fell on the triple throw loop. The other elements were clean. In their "Love Story" long program, they had slight problems with the individual jumps, but all other elements worked well. Brittany Jones and Joshua Reagan from Canada did not have the same level as the others and finished seventh and last, earning 151.68 points. Vera Bazarova & Andrei Deputat from Russia withdrew some days before the event – too late to nominate alternates. Their coach Oleg Vasiliev was in the rink and denied rumors that they have split: "No, this is not true. Andrei has an ankle injury which prevents him from competing at the moment."