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.
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