2009 Skate America Pairs SP Live Commentary

6:20 CT Live commentary of pairs short program at the 2009 Skate America is to come.

Start List
Warm-Up Group 1

1 Xue SHEN / Hongbo ZHAO CHN
2 Brooke CASTILE / Benjamin OKOLSKI USA
3 Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG USA
4 Stacey KEMP / David KING GBR


Warm-Up Group 2

5 Keauna MCLAUGHLIN / Rockne BRUBAKER USA
6 Meagan DUHAMEL / Craig BUNTIN CAN
7 Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR / Stanislav MOROZOV UKR
8 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN


6:29 CT Judges being announced. Referee is Vanessa Riley.

Shen/Zhao, Castile/Okolski, and Evora/Ladwig get big crowd responses in warm-up. Commentary from Sandra Bezic and Andrea Joyce.

Arena a little less than half full.
Andrea Joyce just announced that this is Shen Xue's 31st birthday. Happy Birthday Shen!
Good throw 3F from Castile/Okolsi.
6:37 CT Warm-up concluded.


Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo (China)
3T-clean
throw triple twist-stunning amplitude
Throw 3R-great transition preceding it; beautiful landing, not as high as they are capable of
SBS Spins-improved
Pair spin a bit slow
Beautiful straight line step sequence
Very unusual position in death spiral
Excellent transitions and expression. Should be impossible to top for the remaining pair teams tonight.


TES: 41.40
PCS: 32.96
Total: 74.36 (New personal best)


Brooke Castile/Benjamin Okolski (USA)
3S-doubled his; fell out (and maybe doubled) hers
Throw triple twist-fairly low and awkward position when he caught her
Throw 2F-She barely picked in; her weight was back in the air
SBS Spin-little off unison
Decent pair spin
Program has a fun feel to it but they don't convey that much in the choreography, and probably didn't show that expression even more so because of the mistakes. Good speed. Discussing in Kiss and Cry how they want to rearrange some of their elements.


TES: 26.32
PCS: 23.20
Total: 49.52
Rank: 2


Amanda Evora/Mark Ladwig (USA)
Very nice speed
Throw triple twist-decent
SBS 3S-UR and fall from her; her blade almost touched his leg as she was getting up
Throw 3R-forward on landing but good entrance
SBS Spins-a little off
Decent pair spin
This music was used in the intro fluff piece of the 2004 Olympic Gymnastics team final for the women. Very quirky pair with nice athleticism that really needs to work on consistency and security of landing positions.


TES: 28.86
PCS: 22.18
Ded: -1.00
Total: 50.14
Rank: 2


Stacey Kemp/David King (Great Britain)
Nice extension from both
Split double twist-unremarkable
SBS 2F-landed
Throw 3R-no move in the field going in but very well done
SBS Spins-Off unison
Spiral in entrance to lift
Y-scale spiral to death spiral-very off balance and then basically omitted the element
Best quality of this team is extension, and their best technical element is their throw. Very simplistic skate, both technically and choreographically, and a peculiar mistake on the death spiral.


TES: 23.78
PCS: 19.68
Total: 43.46
Rank: 4


7:05 CT Warm-up Group 2 on ice. Good throw 3R from McLaughlin/Brubaker in warm-up.
Stunning throw triple twist from the Zhangs in warm-up.
Clean SBS 3S from McLaughlin/Brubaker, the element they have been having issues with in practice and previous competitions.
Step-out from Morozov on a side-by-side jump.


Keauna McLaughlin/Rockne Brubaker (USA)
Throw triple twist-good
SBS 3S-singled hers; fall out on his
Decent SBS-spin
Throw 3R-nice; slight loss of speed coming out
Great lift
Pair spin traveled slightly
Finished after the music
Very mature, polished program, but one which doesn't showcase their speed and athleticism to their potential.


TES: 32.50
PCS: 26.04
Total: 58.54
Rank: 2


Meagan Duhamel/Craig Buntin (Canada)
Throw double twist-good height
SBS 3T-good
SBS Spin-decent
Y-scale spiral into death spiral
Good lift
Throw 3Z-good transition preceding it; weight back in air but fought to keep landing
Very dynamic finish
Not a very polished pair but this team has both great energy and relates to the music and the audience. Nice skate.


TES: 33.84
PCS: 25.80
Total: 59.64
Rank: 2


Tatiana Volosozhar/Stanislav Morozov (Ukraine)
SBS 3T-fall out from him
Throw triple twist-very nice
Good lift
Throw 3R-leaning slightly to right side but good control on landing
SBS Spin-a little off in places
Slow footwork
Nice death spiral
Very strange music choice; parts where the woman is gasping made me gasping for the program to end. Very nice extension from her; good speed from both.


TES: 35.30
PCS: 26.40
Total: 61.70
Rank: 2


Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang (China)
Throw triple twist-very nice
SBS 3S-doubled hers
Throw 3R-lovely height and landing
Death spiral-lost speed when she changed to the second position
SBS Spin-OK until exit; she completely missed the sit spin
Program doesn't suit her at all; he actually makes an attempt to express the fun of the program. Footwork is a tad slow and appears even slower when matched against the quickness of the music. Very little extension as Bezic mentioned.


TES: 29.92
PCS: 26.92
Total: 56.84
Rank: 5



Standings After Pairs Short
1 Xue SHEN / Hongbo ZHAO CHN 74.36 1 (World Record)
2 Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR / Stanislav MOROZOV UKR 61.70 2
3 Meagan DUHAMEL / Craig BUNTIN CAN 59.64 3
4 Keauna MCLAUGHLIN / Rockne BRUBAKER USA 58.54 4
5 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN 56.84 5
6 Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG USA 50.14 6
7 Brooke CASTILE / Benjamin OKOLSKI USA 49.52 7
8 Stacey KEMP / David KING GBR 43.46 8

Men's SP commentary to come shortly.
 

COC Pairs Free Skate Live Commentary

Start Order
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Vanessa JAMES / Yannick BONHEUR FRA

8 47.28

2 Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG USA
7 48.02

3 Huibo DONG / Yiming WU CHN
6 50.32

4 Meagan DUHAMEL / Craig BUNTIN CAN
5 55.08

Warm-Up Group 2

5 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN
4 61.92

6 Lubov ILIUSHECHKINA / Nodari MAISURADZE RUS
3 62.54

7 Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR / Stanislav MOROZOV UKR
2 62.98

8 Xue SHEN / Hongbo ZHAO CHN
1 72.28


Vanessa James/Yannick Bonheur (France)
SBS 3S-doubled hers; fell on his
throw triple twist-messy landing
throw 3S-lovely
SBS spins shift from being on unison and off unison constantly
2A+2A+SEQ-he singled both of his jumps
Very creative exit to overhead lift
throw 3F-held onto landing
Pair spin-very slow
Very different forward entrance to final lift; drew gasps from crowd.

TES: 46.17
PCS: 42.32
Ded: -1.00
Total: 87.49
Grand Total: 134.77


Amanda Evora/Mark Ladwig (USA)
throw triple twist-slightly double footed
SBS 3T+2T-out of unison; UR on her part for the 3T
throw 3Z-landed on one leg but put her free leg down onto the ice very quickly
SBS 2A-landed
throw 3R- she was leaning slightly in the air but pulled landing off well
Superb lift where he balanced on one leg and glided across the ice
Fairly boring program with little emotional impact on the audience

TES: 49.10
PCS: 45.20
Ded: -2.00
Total: 92.30
Grand Total: 140.32
Rank: 1


Huibo Dong/Yiming Wu (China)
SBS 3T+2T-good
SBS 3S-both doubled with fumbled landings
throw triple twist-decent
throw 3R-deep landing but good control
throw 3S-same type of landing as that of throw 3R
Final pair spin-decent
Lifts are not the most difficult
A very bland team presentation wise

TES: 53.77
PCS: 42.40
Total: 96.17
Grand Total: 146.49
Rank: 1


Meagen Duhamel/Craig Buntin (Canada)
3T+3T+SEQ-rough landings from both on first jump but better landings on second
Adequate spiral sequence
double twist-OK
Pair spin- a bit slow
Decent unison on SBS spins
SBS 2A-singled his
throw 3R-good
throw 3Z-dropped free leg down very quickly upon landing
Best team we have seen thus far artistically.

TES: 52.68
PCS: 49.84
Total: 102.52
Grand Total: 157.60
Rank: 1

Warm-Up Group 2 out on ice. Zhangs did a beautiful throw triple salchow. Shen Xue is dressed in a darker pink dress and Zhao Hongbo is in red and black.

Zhao did clean 3T.


Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang (China)
2A+3T-wonky landings from both
SBS 3S-good
throw triple twist-excellent
SBS spins-decent
Throw 3S-superb
Throw 3R-good but didn't have the extension of position on landing that the throw 3S had
Great lift, awkward cut of music during that section of the program
Good final lift
Slow final pair spin
Pretty good program, one of their better ones IMO. They do try to emote to one another and create a relationship on the ice, but the key word here is try. They need to do.

TES: 65.77
PCS: 58.80
Total: 124.57
Grand Total: 186.49
Rank: 1


Lubov Iliushechkina/Nodari Maisuradze (Russia)
SBS 3S-she fell out of hers
Good one-handed lift
SBS 3T-two-foot and fall out from her
Throw triple twist-caught a little close
Throw 3Z-double footed
Throw 3R-looked double footed
Spin combo-started off well but she completely missed her exit and they thus became very out of unison
Finished well after music

TES: 40.44
PCS: 50.32
Total: 90.76
Grand Total: 153.30
Rank: 3


Tatiana Volosozhar/Stanislav Morozov (Ukraine)
SBS 3T+2T+SEQ-good
SBS 3S-singled his
Near fall on throw
Throw triple twist-nice
Throw 3S-double footed
Excellent lift
SBS spin-went back and forth between being on unison and off
She is a far more elegant skater than he is

TES: 54.41
PCS: 54.40
Ded: -1.00
Total: 107.81
Grand Total: 170.79
Rank: 2


Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo (China)
SBS 3T-slight wobble from him but otherwise good
SBS 2A+2A+SEQ-fall out on her second jump; his landings were shaky
Good SBS spin combo
Unusual position in death spiral
Throw triple twist-excellent
Throw 3R-great landing and transition beforehand
Throw 3S-nice
Excellent performance. Their passion and artistry as a team are second to none today.

TES: 62.13
PCS: 66.50
Total: 128.69
Grand Total: 200.97
Rank: 1


Final Standings
1 Xue SHEN / Hongbo ZHAO CHN 200.97

2 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN 186.49
3 Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR / Stanislav MOROZOV UKR 170.79
4 Meagan DUHAMEL / Craig BUNTIN CAN 157.60

5 Lubov ILIUSHECHKINA / Nodari MAISURADZE RUS 153.30

6 Huibo DONG / Yiming WU CHN 146.49

7 Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG USA 140.32

8 Vanessa JAMES / Yannick BONHEUR FRA 134.77