Crystal Skate

The NHK Trophy 2015, held this year in Nagano, was supposed to bring the most anticipated pair duel on the ice: Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford versus Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov. However, due to an injury suffered by Tatiana, the Russian skaters had to withdraw. This leaves the Canadians' way to the gold medal absolutely unobstructed, but raises a question as to who will climb on the other two steps of the podium. Amani Fancy/Christopher Boyadji  skate to La Vie en Rose , but the presentation is missing a spark. The dark costumes don't help with the mood either. Technically, she puts a hand down on both jumps. Their score: 42.52 . Vera Bazarova/Andrei Deputat  seem stronger than I've ever seen them, to be honest. The music is Nocturne No. 2  by Chopin. Love the transition out of the thrown triple Loop and into the death spiral. They get 64.06  points. Jessica Calalang/Zack Sidhu 's choreography is very clever. It's a Man's, Man's World  is a song ful...

Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford's supremacy in the pairs' event seems tough to interrupt, but Yuko Kavaguti/Alexander Smirnov are not famed for being the most lyrical pair for no reason. Let's see if they manage to get ahead and if Xiao Yu/Yang Jin are ready for their first Grand Prix Final ever. Dee Dee Leng/Simon Shnapir  never take their eyes off each other, which not only proves they have great chemistry, but also makes the presentation of Miss Saigon  more believable. They mess up every jump except the thrown triple Salchow. Their score: 92.33 . Overall: 138.24 . Mari Vartmann/Aaron van Cleave 's Concierto de Aranjuez  is lovely presented, but I'd love to see them push themselves a bit more and do some dance steps; this is Spanish music, after all. They have a couple of mistakes, mostly dodgy landings and lack of synchronicity. They get 96.67  points. Overall: 145.36 . See you in Barcelona! Photograph: Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images Asia Vera Bazarova/Andrei...