Worlds 2010: Pairs Free

Well, the pairs event just wrapped up, so it's officially the beginning of the end of the 2009/2010 season. There were some great performances tonight; not too many clean performances, but some great ones nonetheless.

The Swiss, Morand/Dorsaz, started things off. I do love their costumes, I will definitely miss those next season. Anais has lovely extension and she is a real little fighter out there, love her. Everything went kind of wrong for Antoine on the SBS 2As and their pairs spin at the end kind of ground to a halt, but it wasn't bad for them at all. They finished in 13th.

I always have such high hopes for Kemp/King and they never really deliver. She fell on her 2F, and they just looked slow and sluggish and boring out there tonight. Shame. Apparently they just got engaged, though, so congratulations to them. Hausch/Wende were much faster but had a lot of mistakes. I think she was injured not long ago, though, which could account for it. They share Brezina's coach with the hilarious glasses. Sulej/Chruscinski were clean but dull. I seem to remember them having an awful skate in Vancouver, so it was nice to see them doing well, at least.

The gap between the first group and the rest of the groups is really pointless and really stupid, I hope they get rid of it again. If they did Worlds anything like they did Euros, it can't be saving them any money at all, because they put on 'shows' for the audience in the gap. It also means that the first group gets a really sparse audience, which seems completely unfair. However, on this occasion it meant that we got to see the top six men again (courtesy of Eurosport), so it wasn't all bad.

Evora/Ladwig didn't exactly melt down but it wasn't great, with a stepout by him and then a fall and a missed sequence in the 2As on her part. They just didn't have that same sparkle they had in the short or at the Olympics, which is a shame. Lovely throw 3L though, and they ended up ninth, which is actually pretty great.

I feel like I have seen James/Bonheur's FP a billion times this season and tonight they were just not 'on. He had a hand down on the 3S at the beginning and then a huge 3twist with a terrifying landing. I do love their music, though. It was just a little messy all round, really, which is a shame for the end of the season. The lift right at the end was downright scary, I was convinced he was about to drop her.

Finally got a chance to see Berton/Hotarek but they didn't start off well, with a fall from Stefania on the 3T. Other than that, they were pretty good, with nice throw jumps towards the end of the program; there's definitely potential there. I also always tend to like girls that skate with ponytails, and I loved their outfits.

Langlois/Hay did not have a good skate. Actually, Anabelle Langlois did not have a skate; Cody was just fine. She did not look on it at all, fighting on every landing and then down on what would have been 3T combination. Shame, because it's a pretty program and I like these two.

I don't like Bazarova/Larionov's outfits. They look like they are borrowed from the German pair and I think she should wear a pretty pink ballerina dress like she does in the short. Messy sbs jumps, but their triple twist is just beautiful and their lifts are gorgeous. Nice throw jumps, too. It's amazing to think that these are the third-ranked Russians.

I think the Zhangs bore me more than any other team right now. They were very out of unison on the sbs, which Eurosport promptly declared the 'perfect way to start a program'. Er, okay. Nice 3twist though. Have they changed their costumes since the Olympics?

I like the simplicity of Dubé/Davison's costumes, especially his. They were looking more on form than they have been doing lately. Apparently they're keeping this program for next season, but I just find it kind of boring. They're very pretty together, though, and they pulled up nicely to 6th place. Nice to see Jess land that 3S for once.

Denney/Barrett messed up SBS 3Ts, he fell and she doubled, but were pretty clean on everything else. I just find them kind of messy and frantic. It works better in their Firebird SP than here. They scored under the baby Russians on the free but stayed just ahead overall, leaving them in seventh place. I also think that Caydee needs to fix her makeup and hair because she is 16 and she looks about 25 most of the time.

Eurosport showed an interview with Brian and his coach in the ice resurface and aw, they are both so cute. Brian says he is not bothered about winning, just about having fun and being relaxed, which seems a much better mindset than usual.

Tamara Moskvina really is hilariously tiny. She barely reaches over the boards. I had everything crossed for Yuko & Sasha, but she had a big fall on that throw 4S. Incredible unison on their SBS spins, they almost looked mechanical it was that good. They basically threw away their chance of gold with another fall on the throw 3L, and the program didn't seem to capture the same magic that it did in Tallinn, but it was enough to give them the bronze medal and even better, her shoulder didn't dislocate once in the whole competition. Which is always a bonus.

Mukhortova/Trankov have probably my favourite outfits of anyone. I just love the fabric of Max's shirt. She missed second half of the combination and then, bizarrely, he fell on the throw 3S, which I'd never seen happen before. I do love their program, I will miss it next year and I will also miss them and their sulky ways; I kind of live for how miserable both of these two are all the freaking time. It makes me want them to win.

Savchenko/Szolkowy didn't get off to a fantastic start, with Aliona popping the 3T, but they got it on the second time around. Robin has lovely extension for a man. Now this would be a program I wouldn't mind seeing again next season. It is absolutely stunning. Aside from that one mistake at the beginning, they were absolutely foot perfect, performed the best I've seen it all season, and I think they were seriously robbed of first place in the free.

Pang/Tong's Impossible Dream was nowhere near perfect; she doubled the 3T and they were really out of time on the combination spin. I'd have had them second to S/S on the night, but the judges didn't agree. Well done to them winning the gold, but aside from that one performance in Vancouver, they really do nothing for me.

Eurosport did an interview with Ingo Steuer at the end and he says he thinks S/S will keep going, so that's good news at least. Hopefully next season will be better for them than this has been!