Pairs long program

As last year the 6 minutes of warm-up of the first group started at 14:15 when the competition is supposed to start at 14:30. I can't see any good reason for doing such a stupid thing, people complain that the hour written on their tickets is not the good one, the ones who arrived before time and that are alredy installed are disturbed by the newcomers, and the skaters could find it difficult to start their program (the first one then starts at 14:21) when the audience is not yet ready. Anyway...

If no other indication the man wears black pants ;-)

Sabrina Lefrancois / Jerome Blanchard    FRA
White shirt and dress. Classical music
Sbs 3T, 2Tw (maybe 3 but i think 2), th3S t-out, th2A light, sbs spin far from each other but OK, pair spin, sbs 2A double fall.
My marks : too tired to give marks.

Viktoria Shklover / Valdis Mintas   EST
In all in black, she in yellow. Grease !
3Tw, sbs 3T she 2, th3S 2 ft, nice exit on a lift, sbs 2S-0.5Lp-2T, slow entrance on th2A 2 ft, pairs spin with Kazakova-Mishkutienok / Dimitriev variation ('a la Ina/Zimmerman').

Qing Pang / Jian Tong   CHN
White and pink costumes with black 'belts', he even has pink boot covers (!!).
3Tw high, sbs 3T she 2.5, th3S, DS, pair spin, star lift, sbs 2A OK, th3Lp OK, sbs 1A - - 2T.
 

Group 2

Sarah Abitbol / Stephane Bernadis   FRA
She in yellowish/brow (reminds me of Laetitia 's Dead Can Dance costume).
Tristan & Iseuld, big crowd support of course.
Sbs 3T OK, sbs 2A he stumbles a little - -2T, th2A huge, on a big music part (seems like the th3A will be very efficient with the music at this moment... or better said, the music is so dramatic it is maybe on purpose for the th3A ?? will be grand then :-) ), 3Tw, th3Lp step out, betsi squat DS.
She dies at the end, in his arms...

Valerie Macoux / Bruno Marcotte   CAN
Dark blue pants for him and a black top, a light blue dress for her.
"Les Miserables". There is a middle song i can't identify, and another one that would be just before Fantine's song in the musical.
2Tw, sbs 3T Ok but not synchro, sbs 3T the same, maybe he doubles, same exit on lift as in the short program (she turning on his back), th 3Lp fall, sbs 3S !!!!!!, th3S great, sbs spin OK, star lift.
Maybe i was mistaken but they did / planned THREE sbs triples ! If that's right that's unbelievable !
But what about the Zayak rule then, if both sbs 3T or not in comnination ??

Dorota Zagorska / Mariusz Ziudek   POL
She in a 'peach' colour.
Sbs 3T she 2ft he doubles, sbs 2a - - 2T, 3Tw, th 2A, straight footwork so so, excellent and original exit on a lift, nice entrance on DS.
The music did not fit their program, which was quite slow sometimes.
 

Group 3
Jamie Sale / David Pelletier   CAN
Dark turquoise costumes.
Th 3Lp, sbs 3T she t-out, 3Tw high, th3S, sbs 2A she hand down+t-out, almost fell, DS combo, pair spin. The slow part has very good flair (so apparently i happen to like it ;-) ).

Elena Berezhnaya / Anton Sikharulidze   RUS
The Chaplin program.
The beginning is excellent !! so funny and well done. Sbs3T OK, sbs 2A -she had a flat landing at best-, scary landing on 3Tw, th3S take off on 2ft, sbs spin, th3Lp 2ft + t-out, DS, pair spin.
Excellent choreography, great flair in the program.

Kyoko Ina / John Zimmerman   USA
Black / white / purple costumes.
Sbs 3T, sbs 2A, 3Tw, step-2T--2T (most probably 3T--3t later), th3Lp, DS, sbs spin, th3S.
Kyoko landed the thrown jumps low on her knee, her hand being close to the ice, but they were clean.
 

Some comments from the press conference :
Anton said they were happy to win, etc ... but he pointed out the bad organisation, with pair practice starting everyday at 6h30 AM, which is way too early. It was very difficult for them to train in these conditions, it can even be dangerous; he hopes this will never happen again.
(totally agree with him... and the practice were way to early for me to see them, LOL)
Anyway he is happy with the free program, it is new for him to play a character... he worked on trying to look like Charlie Chaplin (in what i think he succeed).
David said they could had skated better, but they are happy with their silver medal, they can't complain.
Then i asked John how was his shoulder, as i thought this may be a reason for the somewhat low landing on the thrown jumps. He answered his shoulder is OK, there are ups and downs of course, but it is fine and he will continue to take care of it.