Crystal Skate

The pairs short programme saw another unexpected result as the ones we all thought were going to win this without difficulties suddenly ended on second place. Here is what happened with the top five pairs yesterday. First of all, Julianne Seguin/Charlie Bilodeau , the winners of Skate America, ended on fifth place to everyone's dismay. They both fell on the side-by-side triple Salchow and she had a hand down on the throw triple Flip. Perhaps the pressure was too great going against the Germans. Their routine was set to Skokiaan  by Louis Armstrong. Their score: 61.72 . Aliona and Bruno's lift Kristina Astakhova/Alexei Rogonov  were another pair to under-perform in Moscow. They both double-footed the side-by-side triple Salchow and the side-by-side spins were not entirely in sync. The choreography for Io Ti Penso Amore  was so clever though - the lift was set to the highest notes and the death spiral to the soft part of the song. They got 65.61  points. Vale...

Over in the men's event, my predictions were shook until they shattered to the ground. Well, actually, not really, but there were a few bittersweet surprises for me in the top five. The first pleasant surprise came from France. Chafik Besseghier  exceeded my expectations and landed himself in fifth place. His music was Seal's It's a Man's World . I find his spins very interesting - some he needs to work on (camel), others he's really good at (low spins). His score: 80.68 . Alexei Bychenko  stayed true to his worth and ended right on the tails of the podium contenders. His quad Toeloop looked effortless and his personality on the ice was very endearing. The music, Chambermaid Swing , fit him like the gloves he was wearing. Again, some spins, like the umbrella spin, were not quite perfect, knees bent and all. He got 86.81  points. I've said this before about Mikhail Kolyada , but it is still true - he needs to make sure his comedic body language reaches his ...

The ice dancers got the party started in Moscow, quite literally, with tunes from the likes of Elvis Presley and  Grease  that got people moving their feet. Let's see what the top five couples of the competition brought to the game. Tiffany Zahorski/Jonathan Guerreiro  ended up in 5th place with music by Christina Aguilera and Parov Stelar. I have to say I'm not a big fan of this musical combo. The first part was super sexy, but the second was silly and completely destroyed the vibe they had going at the beginning. They also still need to work on their chemistry, but this is their debut at the Grand Prix Series, so there's time for that. Their score: 64.28 . Madison and Evan's dance was the grittiest of the day Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri 's concept was at an entirely different level. They chose to skate to the soundtrack of Grease , and everything about the concept, from the costumes to the rock 'n roll touches of the choreography, was perfect. Absol...