Twist for Gold, Part 1

The Pairs Short Program's big absentees are the Japanese skaters, and the biggest names are Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov.

  • It is nice to see Cheng Peng/Hao Zhang finishing a not so good season with a clean SP. She seemed to struggle a bit with the dance steps of the program, but otherwise it looks like Mr. Zhang's experience is a good influence on her. They get 58.62 points.
  • Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir deliver a fun program, although their costumes could use some work (you just don't wear plain black clothes when you're skating on the Pink Panther). Except for his fall on the Triple Salchow and the tiniest lack of synchronicity in the side-by-side spins, the elements were good as well. Their score: 57.18.
  • Safri Duo seems to go well with French skaters, even though Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres seemed a bit slow this time. Still, their clean skate got the audience cheering throughout it. They get 58.73 points. P.S.: Check out who stopped by to cheer for team France - it's Winnie the Pooh and his friends!
  • Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford knew when they chose La Boheme that with great music comes great responsability, and it shows. We''ll forgive Meagan the silly mistake in the side-by-side spins because she landed the Triple Thrown Lutz. Their score: 69.94.
  • At this point in time, Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov are two names that are a statement on their own. Their skating is perfect, the presentation is at it best and the fans absolutely love them. They get 74.41 points.

As expected, Russia comfortably takes the lead, with Canada and France on the other two top places. And you can't say they don't fully deserve it.

For full results go to: http://www.isuresults.com/results/wtt2013/
To see the competition go to: http://livemanager.eurovision.edgesuite.net/isu/site/index.html

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