Pairs

Starting Order - Short Program

Short Program

Notes:

With the Canadian team of Sargeant and Wirtz placing second in the short, many of the locals felt that Kazakova and Dmitriev got a major gift in placing first, given all the problems with their program.  The two most significant of these were Dmitirev stumbling in footwork, and Kazakova bouncing off his shoulder in the setdown of their lift.  In addition their back outside death spiral was one of the worst of the night, with Kazakova barely getting her head below Dmitriev's waist level and Dmitriev in an all too upright pivot position.  On the positive side they landed triple toes, had a decent double twist, and the unison of their combination spin was outstanding.   Sargeant and Wirtz, on the other hand, skated a clean program with mediocre expression.  They both got their triple toes, the double twist was decent, and they had the best back outside death spiral of the night.  So who should have won?   Clean but a bit boring or interesting but slightly flawed.  A tough call.

Khalturina and Kroukov skated a clean program in slow motion to take third in the short.  They landed triple Salchows, and had a decent double twist.  All the other elements were also done with good technique, but they skated slow, they spun slow, they even jumped slow.

Lyons and Wells gave another lackluster performance.  As at Skate America, they were landing their side-by-side triple Salchows in practice, but when it counted Lyons got her's and Wells again fell.  They had a very nice double twist and the unison on the combination spin was excellent, but also like at Skate America, their expression was nearly non-existent

Starting Order - Free Skating

Final Results

Notes:

Kazakova and Dmitriev took the long program and the event skating to the same long program as last year.  The program is passionate and dramatic and holds up well, but the presentation to night was sloppy in places.  Nonetheless, it deserved to win with the only major technical error a weak catch in the triple twist.

Khalturina and Kroukov have come a long ways since their twelfth place finish at '97 Worlds.  They had many well done elements and their presentation was strong for most of the program.  They also made a few major errors and ran out of gas in the last 45 seconds of the program, by the end of which they both looked exhausted.  Khalturina popped a solo triple Salchow to a single (Kroukov landed his) and the triple twist was poor, with no real catch to speak of.  The throw triple loop and Salchow were both strong, as were the other lifts and pair elements.

Abitbol and Bernadis used a cut of very strong music from "Chariots of Fire" and they skated to it with intensity.  It was a very dramatic and powerful performance.  Their triple twist was huge, nevertheless the catch was a little late.   In throw triple Salchow Abitbol stepped out of the landing, and on solo triple toe Bernadis stepped out of the landing.  Throw triple loop was well done as were the lifts.  One of these, a star lift, had a very unusual and difficult entry.  The program had a lot of variety to it with one of the recently permitted pivot maneuvers replacing a second death spiral, a variation on a helicopter lift, and a whip-it near the end of the program.  They tied for second in the free skate with Khalturina and Kroukov.

Lyons and Wells skated better than they did at Skate America, but that is not saying a great deal.  Wells fell on a solo triple loop and in a jump sequence ending in double flip.  Their triple twist was poor and Lyons fell on throw triple loop and a solo triple Salchow.  They did manage throw triple Salchow, and except for a slightly shaky flip up swan, the lifts were otherwise decent.

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