And We're Off!

The 2013 Figure Skating World Championships started with full speed today in London, Ontario, Canada.

 As usual, the first to perform on ice were the pairs. Here's how some of the most known skaters did:

  • The age difference (aka experience) was the only problem Cheng Peng/Hao Zhang had today. The former Olympic medalist and his new partner only got 58.52 points
  • There were all kinds of wrong in Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise's program today, from double-footed jumps to silly mistakes in the twist. The Italians' mistakes amounted to a SP score of 47.82.
  • The first pair to impress was Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres from France. With great energy and an almost flawless program, they got 60.98 points.
  • Skating home put no pressure on Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch and if it did, the Canadians know how to work under pressure. They showed us great costumes, a fabulous presentation and a technically flawless program. Their side by side spins were out of this world. The judges gave them 69.25 points.
  • Very difficult and original elements, great presentation skills, but many mistakes - that's what Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy managed to deliver today. Good enough to take the lead for half an hour, but not nearly good enough to keep it. They obtained 73.47 points.
  • "Paint It Black" indeed - Stefania Berton/Ondrej Hotarek pulled off a program that was too slow and too flawed to hope for a repeat performance of their European Bronze medal...at least at this stage of the competition. They only got 59.07 points.
  • Yuko Kavaguti/Alexander Smirnov shined on ice and showed us their first perfect routine in years. Their score, which should have been higher, was: 69.98.
  • Qing Pang/Jian Tong only got 63.95 points. That's what silly (and frustrating) mistakes will do to you. 
  • Canada is on fire today! Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford aren't going (or staying) home without a medal. The Canadians wrote history by performing perfect side-by-side Triple Lutz jumps. "It felt so amazing," shouted Meagan. They got 73.61 points, and when they took the lead the crowd went wild!
  • Vera Bazarova/Yuri Larionov learnt today that a single mistake is enough to crash a dream. Vera's single Toe Loop jump brought them a score of only 61.91.
  • The sexiest and best program of the night was Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov's Godfather routine. The Russians comfortably took the lead with 75.84 points.
Thus, the first SP of the 2013 Figure Skating World Championships ended, leaving us seriously wondering if the era of German supremacy in pairs ice skating has come to an end. I say it has, but Volosozhar and Trankov are so good it's hard to regret it.

 To see the full results, go to: http://www.isuresults.com/results/wc2013/

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