Grand Prix Final Recap: Pairs and Ice Dance

Beauty is pain.

Pairs

1. Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy (Germany) – Well it seems I spoke too soon. We might actually have a horse race! The Germans took my advice and took the throw triple axel out of both programs. Lo and behold, they skated two clean programs and took the gold in the Grand Prix Final. I’ve come to accept that the Germans are never going to be pretty, but they’re dynamic and exciting when they’re on. Their Nutcracker long program is still comical to me, as Aliona Savchenko is just not a convincing ballerina. This is a girl who loves to skate in skintight bodysuits to accentuate how ripped she is. Still, the execution was infallible today. This weekend was also the first time they really sold their weird snowflake short program. The costumes are still ridiculous, but that white unitard reminds us that Robin Szolkowy has the best butt in figure skating. Hopefully this is a lesson that their best bet in Sochi is a clean skate rather than impossible difficulty.

2. Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov (Russia) – I gasped and spilled my drink when Tatiana Volosozhar went down on a triple salchow in the free skate, and then again on the triple toe. This team has been so flawless all season long that it’s easy to forget they’re human and prone to error. At the same time, I was surprised at how cold their perfect performance in the short program left me. They usually stand out from the field for their technical precision, but in a competition where every team skated a clean short program, I was left wondering what made the Russians so special that they seem to set a new world record with each performance.  True, all of their elements are textbook perfect in a way that we haven’t seen since the great Gordeeva/Grinkov (except for their overhead lifts). However, their performances are a bit soulless compared to the Germans and the top Chinese teams. I’m especially bothered by just how empty that "Jesus Christ Superstar" long program is. You marvel over the height and distance they get on the throw triple loop, and then they just kind of skate around until the next throw. While the Germans don’t exactly succeed in serving Moscow Ballet realness, you can at least see that they’re attempting to create a program. The Russians often seem to be skating through the music until the infamous pose at the end where Tatiana dies for our sins.  There is a lot to admire about this team, but I wasn’t sad to see them lose. Still, they’re the favorites for Sochi, and this loss will be a motivator as they push through to the Olympics.

3. Pang Qing/Tong Jian (China) – I know that I should roll my eyes every time someone skates to Les Miz.  However, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t dabbing my eyes with Kleenex this morning as I watched Pang and Tong throw down a flawless long program. These two have earned the right to skate to whatever they damn well please at this point in their careers, but they somehow uncovered nuance and emotional resonance in “I Dreamed a Dream” that I thought had been lost to the ages after we all had to watch Anne Hathaway’s nose run in close-up for three minutes. Both of Pang/Tong’s programs almost make you forget you’re watching an obstacle course of required elements and take you back to the simpler times of the 6.0 system. I worry for them, as they’ve had issues with peaking over the past few years. At their age, it’s dangerous to be too hot at the Grand Prix Final when they have to make it all the way to the Olympics in top shape. Still, they have to be considered the bronze medal favorites with the way they skated this weekend in Fukuoka. If they land everything in Sochi, I think the judges will do what they have to do with the program components to get them to the podium.

4. Peng Cheng/Zhang Hao (China) – I had low expectations for this team coming into the Olympic season, but I must say that I’ve been incredibly surprised and impressed. They’re an oddly matched couple who have learned how to use their differences to their advantage. She got so much height on the quad twist in the long program that it looked like she was heading straight for the ceiling. You could hear the audience gasp. Their overhead lifts are the class of the field, no doubt thanks to his incredible core strength and her limber physique. They’re still developing artistically. It seems like every Chinese skater is required to do a “Yellow River Concerto” program at some point in their career to learn how to interpret music. Peng seemed very lost at sea last season, but she’s really starting to come into her own as an engaging presence on the ice. They’ve made a very strong case at the Grand Prix Final to be included on the Chinese Olympic team. I’d probably still take Sui/Han as the second Chinese pair, but it’s going to be a difficult decision.

5. Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford (Canada) – Things seemed to be looking up for Meagan and Eric when they skated a clean short program that put them within spitting distance of the Grand Prix Final podium. Then the long program happened. I don’t even know where to begin anymore. The Alice in Wonderland soundtrack does not lend itself to a figure skating program. There are some nice choreographic moments, like when he creates a “rabbit hole” for her to jump through, but the program never goes anywhere thematically. They’re not a lyrical team, and they have even less business trying to do ballet than the Germans do. However, they’ve never looked so out of their depth artistically than they do this year. I would honestly go back to last season’s “Angel” free skate if I were them. The more serious problem is in execution. Meagan’s two falls in the long program on side-by-side triples are sadly indicative of how this season is going for them. They should take a good hard look at the value added of those side-by-side triple lutzes. Even if they both land them, they tend to get underrotation calls from the technical panel. Might it be worth watering down the technical content a bit? For a team that builds its competitive advantage on technical elements, execution is absolutely key to racking up those points. I fear that the Olympic podium is looking unlikely for them.

6. Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch (Canada) – Kirsten and Dylan had a bit of a rude awakening in Fukuoka. Their programs are a bit conservative and simple, but they’ve achieved strong results this season through clean performances. Imagine their dismay when they ended up dead last after the short program, in which every pair was nearly flawless. They couldn’t have received a clearer message from the judges about where they really stand among the top pairs. Mistakes from Duhamel/Radford gave them an opening to move up in the long program, but both Kirsten and Dylan made costly errors on side-by-side jumps. Kirsten and Dylan have elements that make them stand out from the pack, particularly their overhead lifts. At the same time, it’s clear that they need to rely on the mistakes of others to get near the Olympic podium. In the run-up to Sochi, they need to focus on consistency and not letting their own mistakes bury them in the standings in an exciting and competitive Olympic field.

Ice Dance

1. Meryl Davis/Charlie White (United States) – The gauntlet has officially been thrown down for Sochi. The Canadians put up an admirable fight, but Meryl and Charlie have made it clear that they’re not losing to anyone this season. The short dance was likely too close for comfort, as the Canadians set a new world record with their best performance of the season. The Americans were a bit tighter than they’ve been, with obvious mistakes on their twizzle sequence. The judges gave them the benefit of the doubt and put them in first place by .02. Meryl and Charlie rebounded by delivering their best free dance of the season. The “Scheherazade” program is perfectly engineered to flourish in high-stakes competitions like the Grand Prix Final, with intricate choreography and gravity-defying lifts that build in intensity to a conclusion that dares the audience to stay seated. I said before that this program will always win over the crowd and the judges, and today was no exception. It’s certainly the most exciting and flashy of the free dances, and I think it’s going to play great on television during the Olympics. You can tell that Meryl and Charlie are well-trained and hungry for Olympic glory.

2. Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (Canada) – The biggest surprise of the Grand Prix Final to me was how much better the Canadians looked than they have all season. Particularly in the short dance, I saw a crispness to their technical elements that had been missing all year. I’m still not in love with the Louis Armstrong/Ella Fitzgerald short dance, but they were really selling me on it this weekend. Meryl and Charlie are the superior skaters, but Tessa and Scott are the better dancers. There was a lightness and ease to the Canadians’ short dance performance in Fukuoka that the Americans lacked. The free dance is starting to come together, and I almost love it. They are ethereal and contemplative where the Americans are passionate and aggressive. You could really make a case for either team, though I imagine Tessa and Scott don’t play as well to the layperson. My problem is still that I’ve seen it all before from them. Tessa looks regal and majestic, Scott presents her lovingly, they share a romantic glance, she stands on his leg and we marvel at her extension. The only exciting bit is when they pledge allegiance at the end, and we’re left to wonder what it all means. I really loved their “Carmen” free dance last year, when Tessa got to be sexy, and Scott was groping and growling at her. I have a feeling they’ll continue to improve and I’ll continue to warm up to their programs, but I still think they’re going to fall short in Sochi.

3. Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat (France) – In the Battle for Bronze, the French have a temporary lead after the Grand Prix Final. They almost blew it in the short dance, where Fabian appeared to be sleepwalking. Their flat performance had them in fifth heading into the free dance, and ice dance is not a discipline where one expects much movement in the rankings between segments. They rebounded pretty spectacularly in the free dance, where they were certainly the best of the teams that have been deemed politically acceptable for the Olympic bronze. They’re not in the same league as the top North American dance teams technically, but I’ll be damned if they aren’t often more entertaining. Their “Little Price” free dance is quickly becoming one of my favorite things this Olympic season. It is wonderfully French with the bizarre costumes and the Cirque du Soleil music rather than the film soundtrack. In the best European ice dance tradition, they actually tell a story through the dance. One also has to admire their creative programming, particularly the jaw-dropping “flower” lift at the top of the free dance. If we’re going to force a European dance team on the Olympic podium, it might as well be Nathalie and Fabian. The real story will shake out at the European Championships when Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov are back in the mix.

4. Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev (Russia) – I just can’t. I don’t know what else to say. I’ll give it to them they have impressive speed and ice coverage. Their free dance concept is creative, for better or worse. They have no business coming in higher than sixth here. These programs are choreographically empty and junior-ish, and they rely on easy open holds to generate speed. They lack the precision and attention to detail of the other top teams on their technical elements. Some of the lifts are certainly difficult, but never once does Ekaterina hit an appealing position. This girl has in the past been compared unfavorably to a slab of meat being dragged around the ice. Who thought it was a good idea to dress her up like Marilyn Monroe in the short dance? While I can appreciate their bizarre free dance choreography (honestly, if you have a problem with weird European performance art, ice dance is not the sport for you), I have no idea what it has to do with the music. The emperor has no clothes. I can’t remember the last time so much political maneuvering happened to aid such an undeserving team. If he hadn’t fallen, I bet they would have won bronze. I can already feel my rage coming for Sochi.

5. Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje (Canada) – The fix is in. Kaitlyn and Andrew should accept that fifth place is likely their ceiling in Sochi and focus on pushing through to 2018. I can’t believe what is happening to this team. Not only are they getting screwed over in their program components. Now they are the favorite punching bag of the technical panel, who analyze all of their technical elements with a fine-toothed comb. It’s a shame that such bold-faced cheating still happens under the allegedly objective IJS. I could maybe understand Kaitlyn and Andrew finishing behind the French in the free dance, but not behind the Russians. There is just no comparison in terms of passion and expression, intricacy of choreography, innovation of lifts, balance between both partners. The Russians have the advantage in speed, but not much else. It’s ok, I will cry by myself in a corner during the Olympics and lament about how nobody understands how amazing “Maria de Buenos Aires” is.

6. Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (Italy) – The Italians should also kiss their Olympic podium hopes goodbye after the Grand Prix Final. I can’t say that this is a great injustice. Their programs are nice and they’ve been skating well, but they lack the spark of the other top teams (Russians included). I am a skating uber-fan, so when I zone out and start texting during your free dance, there is a problem. They have a strong connection, and they’re very charming performers. The “Barber of Seville” free dance just never goes anywhere. I like the cutesy ending, but I found myself wondering if it was ever going to end at the two minute mark. They don’t do anything badly – maybe their edges could be a bit deeper on the step sequences. They also don’t do anything spectacularly. If I were them, I might consider scrapping this and going back to last season’s “Carmen” free dance. Now that Tessa and Scott aren’t skating to the same music, they might score better.