Skate Canada 2000

Pairs

Starting Order - Short Program

Short Program

Notes after the short program:

Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikharulidze began their quest to recapture their world title by winning the short program with 8 first place marks.  Skating to music called "Meadowland," their program was choreographed by Christopher Dean.   They started with side-by-side triple toe loops and then completed a nice double twist.  Elena landed a huge throw triple loop which had a wild landing edge but she held on for the ride.  The unison on the side-by-side spin was mediocre and the pair spin was fairly simple.  Overall it was well done, despite the rough spots.  On the artistic side, though, the presentation was a little cold.  They received first place marks from six of the seven judges.

Jamie Sale & David Pelletier, who had been first to skate, did a great job.  They were placed first by the French judge and second by the rest of the panel.   They landed throw triple loop, triple toe loops, and a nice double twist.  The unison on the side-by-side spin was excellent and the required back outside death spiral was very well done.  Their presentation was very with the music which earned them unanimous marks of 5.8 for the second mark.

Third in the short program were the reigning world champions Maria Petrova & Alexei Tikhonov.  On opening triple toe loops Petrova two footed the jump.   They then completed a nice double twist and throw triple Salchow.  The unison in the side-by-side spin was good but the death spiral mediocre.  Their presentation, to a medley of Russian folk music (with the "Volga Boat Song" the most recognizable selection), was fairly nice but not to the same standard as the top two teams.  They received six third place marks and a fourth

The Chinese team of Qinq Pang & Jian Tong have made progress since last season.  Like their countrymen Shen & Zhao, they came upon the skating scene with a lot of raw technique in the big tricks, and only later are they slowly improving in the connecting elements and presentation.  They started with a huge throw triple loop.  On triple toe loop Pang two footed.  Their double twist was also very strong, but the death spiral merely adequate.  They skated a tango routine with a marginal feel for the music, but it is still improved compared to what they have done in the past.  They received ordinals of third through eighth with the highest placement coming from the Chinese judge.  (The Chinese judge showed the same national bias for Li in the men's event.)

American Skaters Laura Handy & Jonathan Hunt, newly paired since J. Paul Binebose's dreadful injury last year, placed eighth in the short program with the Japanese and Russian judge placing them fourth and fifth.  They completed a decent double twist and then triple toe loops.  On throw triple Salchow Handy tapped the free foot on the check out.  In the side-by-side spin their unison started off decent but then got way off.  The back outside death spiral was only adequately done.   Overall it was a decent skate for a new team, but their presentation was somewhat mechanical and they showed little feel for the music.

Starting Order - Free Skating

Final Results

Jamie Sale & David Pelletier
Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikharulidze
Maria Petrova & Alexei Tikhonov

Notes after the long program:

Sale & Pelletier gave a great performance in the long program to win the gold medal.  Six of the seven judges placed them first, with the French judge placing them below Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze.

They landed throw triple loop and throw triple Salchow, triple toe loops and triple twist.  Their lifts were strong, varied, and controlled.  Their death spirals were first rate and they had great unison on side-by-side death drops.  The presentation was very well done with a great pair quality and good feel for the music.   The only error in the program was Sale singling a double Axel in a double Axel - double toe lop sequence.  With their win here and their good result at Skate America they have established themselves as strong contenders for a medal at Worlds this season.

Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze had a good, but not great, skate.  Their program is a Chaplin routine skated to music from the movie of that name.  It was an amusing routine that was well presented but had enough errors in it to cost them first place.   They landed triple toes and then on a double Axel - double toe loop sequence Sikharulidze had a major toe drag on the check out.  For their twist they only did a double and then on throw triple Salchow Berezhnaya fell.  On a later throw triple loop she probably two footed the jump.  The program included some nice positions and cutesy footwork in the middle, but with errors on the throws and the double twist second is where they belonged.

Petrova & Tikhonov presented a program with some interesting and weird looking moves but skated without speed and had shaky lifts and reduced difficulty compared to the first two teams.  They landed triple toes and double Axel - double toe loop combinations, a nice throw triple Salchow, but only throw double Axel.  On triple twist they bumped chests on the catch.  Their death spiral was the relatively simple forward inside.  They were placed third by six of the seven judges.

1999 World Bronze medalists Dorota Zagorska & Mariusz Suidek moved up one place to finish fourth.  Their program included some interesting things with fair speed but the flow was inconsistent.  Zagorska fell on double Axel in a double Axel - double toe loop sequence.  Their triple twist was mediocre.  They landed throw triple Salchow and throw double Axel.  A back outside death spiral was done decently as were their spins.  They moved ahead of Pang & Tong who started out strong but faded in the last third of the program from lack of stamina and made several major errors.

Handy & Binebose maintained their eighth place position.  Most of the elements were capably done but they had three major errors; no catch on triple twist, a fall on throw triple loop, and Handy falling on triple toe loop.  Their presentation was also capable but soooo slow.

Canadians Kristy (Sargeant) Wirtz & Kris Wirtz withdrew prior to the free skate.   They believe Kris has an inflamed right rotator cuff and decided to withdraw here to give the shoulder time to heal before competing next week at Nation's Cup.  Kris said, "We don't want to start off the season making mistakes due to injury. ... I am not the biggest guy out there to start with, imagine if I was only at 80%."   Kris believed the injury occurred in  a practice prior to the short program during a lift.

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