Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Figure Skating World Championships Los Angeles 2009: Pairs, short program

After the magnificent World Championships in Göteborg 2008 (the ladies long program still is before my eyes like it is happening today), the new championships have started in Los Angeles!

Most important of this first day was the short program for pairs. Immediately the tournament is exciting cause after the short program the gaps for and between the medal places are not too high. On third place we see the Chinese pair Peng/Tong, their skating was pretty good, it only sometimes just lacked a bit in presentation. Second placed is the Russian pair Smirnov/Kavaguti (though most people will know her as ‘Kawaguchi’) who surprised me in a very good way. They make their way to he top really fast! It was a beautiful dramatic performance from the beginning to the end, with a perfect choice of music, because they skated on ‘the swan’ and Kavaguti in her white costume really looked like one. First placed is the German pair Szolkowy/Savchenko, not really a surprise at all because their performance was almost flawless! I only didn’t like the ‘spiral of death’ too much, it didn’t look to elegant.

A perfect way to start a world championship, though I have to admit I can’t wait till Friday when my favorite Yu Na Kim will appear on the ice! But for now the long program of the pairs will be exciting enough!