Crystal Skate

The last final of the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships is here, and it's possibly the one we're most impatient to see. In the short programme, Gracie Gold put herself in the leader position, hinting at a possible gold medal in Boston. Can she carry the task until the end? And if she doesn't, which one of the ladies lining up for the chance to be world champion will take the title? Mirai Nagasu  shows once more she shouldn't be ignored. The only mistake is double-footing the landing of the triple Flip. The routine is set to music from The Great Gatsby . I love how she chose three different songs to cover all the nuances of the story from the romance to the glamorous parties. Gorgeous costume. Her score: 120.91 . Overall: 186.65 . Canada's Gabrielle Daleman takes on the role of Maria de Buenos Aires Photograph: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images North America Mao Asada  brings a sad story, Madame Butterfly , to the ice. Her facial expressions are phenomenal -...

The pairs' short programme left us all a bit dazed. The Olympic champions, Tatiana Volosozhar & Maxim Trankov finished on third place despite a great (albeit not flawless) routine. Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford exceeded expectations and finished ahead of them, but the biggest surprise were Wenjing Sui and Cong Han, who did a terrific Spanish Romance , which got them the first place. Will they be able to hold onto it? Alexa Scimeca/Chris Knierim  skate to one of the most beautiful soundtracks ever, that of Elizabeth: The Golden Age . It's glorious music, but a flawed performance. She falls both on the thrown triple Salchow and the side-by-side triple Toeloop, as well as steps out of the triple Flip. The side-by-side spins are not entirely in unison either. Their score: 118.69 . Overall: 190.06 . Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov  are not a lot better off than the Americans, but the quality is clearly higher. She singles out of the third triple Toeloop and falls on the side...

Ironically, the only final that seems predictable at the moment is the men's. Japan's hold on the gold  is strong, but can it be taken from Hanyu? Fernandez has great chances of taking the silver to Spain, while Chan could easily snatch the bronze. That doesn't mean we should underestimate the likes of Shoma Uno and Boyang Jin, who are waiting for the top three to make the kind of mistake that would knock them off the podium. Denis Ten 's beautiful Romeo and Juliet  suffers from a few technical errors. His biggest mistake is falling on the quad Toeloop. He gets himself back together in the second half of the programme, but this is not going to be good enough to get on the podium. His score: 151.58 . Overall: 230.13 . Deniss Vasiljevs  skates to Adagio for Tron  by Daft Punk. The medley is very smartly put together, but I'm not sure Jeff Bridge's voice makes much sense for the routine. It is a cool detail though. I love his camel combo spin - it's got an ...

The Olympic champions are back! How many times have we hoped to hear these words? Well, they're true tonight, and although they've been back all season long, tonight's the night when we get to see if Tatiana Volosozhar & Maxim Trankov are reclaiming their supremacy in the pairs skating. They're up against the technical Duhamel & Radford, their own team mates Stolbova/Klimov and the delightful Sui/Han. We shouldn't forget, of course, about Aliona Savchenko/Bruno Massot . They have a whimsical piece of music ( Creature de Siam  from Kurios ) and less whimsical costumes, but a good performance overall. That triple twist is huge! Their score: 74.22 . Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer  skate to the quirky It's Oh So Quiet  by Bjork. They don't get as crazy as the music requires and they're slightly out of sync with it too at times. I like the different feature on the low position of the pair spin though. Technically, she doubles out of the triple Salc...

The first final of these tumultuous World Championships belongs to the ice dancers. There doesn't seem to be a doubt in anybody's minds that Papadakis & Cizeron will leave Boston with another gold medal, but what about the other podium places? At the moment, it's the bronze that appears disputed between Chock/Bates and Weaver/Poje, but can the Shibutani siblings hold onto their silver position? Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte 's straight-line lift is one of the most difficult of the season. If they keep improving their difficulty level, maybe next season can be better for them. Their music is La Dolce Vita . Their score: 112.87 . Overall: 182.72 . Lots of drama from Penny Coomes/Nicholas Buckland . He struggles a bit, but manages to keep the straight-line lift on one leg. Otherwise, everything goes smoothly. Love the choreographic spin at the end, symbolising the butterfly being thrown around by the hurricane. The music is, of course,  Hurricanes and Butterflies  b...