Vancouver 2010 - Pairs Free

Here is my new daily routine: Watch figure skating until 4/5AM. Go straight to bed. Get up next morning (i.e, about six hours later) and immediately read all the fallout from the 'night' before. Attempt to make my own thoughts on the event slightly more coherent. Aimlessly waste the rest of the day, counting down the hours until the next event. Rinse and repeat.

- As well as Requiem, West Side Story should be banned from competition next season, although I do generally like the Estonian's program. Neither were really 'on', though, and she singled the 2T in their combination.

- Strangely, I never get bored of Romeo & Juliet. I really thought the Polish pair were going to skate lights out and make up for yesterday, and then he randomly tripped up right at the end of the program. On a slightly unrelated note, it does make me laugh how BBC commentator Robin Cousins just refers to all the pairs girls as 'the girl' or 'the boy'.

- Kemp and King had nice lifts if nothing else. They had a nice throw 3t at the beginning, but other than that, their jumps were just a general mess. They really, really need a 2A or a triple, but they didn't even land their 2F clean.

- I LOVED James/Bonheur. I've seen this program a lot this season and I've only just realised just how much I like it. Vanessa looked so determined right at the beginning and really excited to go out there and perform. They each messed up a jump but wow, it didn't even seem to matter. One of my performances of the night, for sure.

- Anais Morand looks adorable in her little plaid shorts. I love her 'tano-style double twist, shame about the 2A sequence, which was a complete mess - also for some reason the camera just focused on her for the second one, while he messed up - and then she fell on the throw 3L. It just looked like they lost momentum, although they made an effort to sell it towards the end. They seemed cheerful enough in KnC, anyway.

- Gorgeous triple twist from Caydee and Jeremy. In fact, gorgeous almost everything, except for her singled axel.

- Evora/Ladwig have had such a great competition! They weren't perfect but they definitely got it back together by the end. Lovely throw triple loop. Amanda is adorable.

- Baby Russians forgot their jumps but they're very lovely anyway.

- Morozov = 1/3 clean jumps, which is actually pretty good for him. Throw 3L fabulous as ever. Throw 3S so nice and easy I thought for a second it was a double. Love hearing them call the spins. Actually loved that. I think I will miss Morozov next season/when Tatiana gets a new partner. He is his own special brand of charming.

- The Mission is another overused piece of music that I love. I loved the spread eagle 2A 2A from the Italians. Nice enough, just not really in the same league as the others in their group. Also, there are way too many girls with mid-length blonde hair. When Nicole Della Monica skated out, I thought for a second that Caydee had decided to make a second go of it.

- I have such a soft spot for Langlois/Hay. They had a ovely throw 3S. She is just like a little doll out there. Also, they were very cute in a really sad way at the end/in the KnC. Still, ninth place finish isn't bad for them in a comeback in a deep field. I hope they skate Worlds.

- Scary fall from Zhang/Zhang, I thought she was going to slice his face. GREAT sbs spins and throws but the program just seemed to go on for hours and hours.

- I love M/T's Love Story program. They had a stunning triple twist and gorgeous spins but she fell. Maria was unusually smiley.

- Dubé/Davison look so great together, and I love their outfits, but they were definitely not on form at all. They both looked so sad. I still would have had L/H above them though, by a million times.

- A million depressions for Kavaguti/Smirnov. Their KnC was heartbreaking.

- Her doubled jump (I didn't note what it was last night - 3(2)T, maybe?) and his fall on the 2a aside, S/S were absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful. Which only made their bronze sadder.

- Pang/Tong were wonderful. At the beginning, I was kind of hoping that they'd follow the trend and miss at least one element, just to give S/S silver and/or K/S bronze, but they took their opportunity skated absolutely lights out and good for them for doing it. I really liked their program.

- There were a couple of moments in Shen/Zhao's skate when I thought P/T were going to take the gold and if it wasn't for their short, they probably would have. S/Z were beautiful though, I finally 'got' them and their reaction was just gorgeous. I loved them throwing themselves over the padding at the barriers to hug their coaches/whoever was at the boards, and their faces in the KnC, both before and after their first place was announced, were just great.

It wasn't as specatacular a competition as the short and I was devastated for K/S but P/T saved the night as far as clean programs go and Shen and Zhao's story is one for the ages. I can't believe that the Olympic Pairs champions have actually been named! I am definitely interested to see who will retire (S/Z, obviously - and P/T? Zhang/Zhang?) and who will emerge over the next four years. I would love to see S/S stick around and take gold next time, but who knows what will happen. I'll definitely be keeping my eye on James/Bonheur, Baranova/Larionov, and of course Denney/Barrett.

It's the men's short tonight. I think I'll be a nervous wreck by the time it even begins!

xxx