Twist for Gold, Part 2

The podium of the Pairs seemed settled before the SP even started, but one of the pairs decided to prove that they have a future together against all odds.

  • Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir delivered an ambitious program with original spins and lifts. Their speed was great and the music (Payadora by Julian Plaza) suited them very well. The only big mistakes were the fall on the thrown quad Salchow (but hats off in front of them for trying it) and the lack of synchronicity in the side-by-side spins. They got 115.12 points. Overall: 172.30.
  • Cheng Peng/Hao Zhang have improved since the Worlds. He seemed a bit less over-protective of her, which means that she is slowly rising to his level. Even if she might not reach it while teamed with him, the experience can only benefit her.Despite her fall on the thrown double Axel, the program was enjoyable to watch. Their score: 115.78. Overall: 174.40.
  • Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres got the crowd standing and cheering for minutes. By acing every element and especially the combination of triple, double and double Toeloop, they added difficulty to an already expressive routine. They got 115.58 points. Overall: 174.31. P.S.: You can read the pride on team France's faces.
  • Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford did not have a good day today. She fell on the side-by-side triple Salchow and singled the combination of Salchow-Toeloop. Artistically, his shirt, tie and pants and her purple dress did not do the music (Angel by Philippe Rombi) justice. Their score: 121.21. Overall: 191.15.
  • The first half of Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov's program looked as if the two hadn't warmed up completely. But after she fell on the triple Salchow and they lost synchronicity on the combination, they recovered with two spectacular thrown jumps. Artistically, the Russians were so good the audience seemed to have forgotten how to breathe and kept perfect silence. The audience must have also appreciated them learning how to say 'Thank You' the Japanese way. They got 136.06 points. Overall: 210.47.

Congratulations to Tatiana and Maxim for finishing a perfect season with an impeccable gold medal track, congratulations to Meagan and Eric for their silver medal and congratulations to Cheng and Hao for proving the disbelievers wrong.

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

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