The pairs kicked off figure skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Two-time World champions and reigning Olympic silver medalists Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze from Russia were in the lead over the Canadians, World champs Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. The top pairs all brought their A-game to the short program, and had it not been for a fluke fall at the end of Sale and Pelletier’s program, the top two could very well have been reversed.
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The four pairs that stood atop the standings skated in the first two groups of skaters, and it was Berezhnaya and Sikharudlize who were first of the four to go. They skated a clean program, but seemed lacking in the power and flow that they were known for. Execution-wise, every element was done solidly, but it was a beatable skate.
Sale and Pelletier were also strong in their short program, with their side-by-side triple toes and throw triple salchow done with the same precision as those of the Russians. Their lift was faster, stronger, and more difficult than that of the Russians, but it was a fall on their ending pose that gave the lead away. Though it was not a fall on an element, it was still a flaw in the program, and it made the judges’ decisions a lot easier to distinguish between them and the Russians.
The most underrated pair of the competition, China’s Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, were third with a clean short program. Their most visible issue was an off-unison exit out of their weak side-by-side spins, but everything else was well-executed. Presentation-wise, they were a tad underscored, but their placement was correct as a result of that error on the spins.
In fourth were 2006 Olympic champs-to-be Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, who were clean but seemed completely disconnected from the music. Though their musicality got better, this was a characteristic of theirs throughout their career, even when they won the gold in Torino.
Americans Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman were fifth after a clean program, but they did have a couple of slight struggles on their side-by-side elements. Zimmerman just hung on to his solo triple toe, and he was just slightly off on his solo spin. Both fourth and fifth places were completely justified. The other American entry, Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn, were in 11th after taking two falls.
It’s amazing to see how short the lifts were in the pre-IJS days. And it was actually the North American teams – Sale/Pelletier and Ina/Zimmerman – who had the best lifts, which is something that has carried forward into a number of the North American pairs today.
Two now very recognizable names were lower in the standings. China’s Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang, and Qing Pang and Jian Tong, were just getting their feet wet in the big leagues (though Pang/Tong had been to a few Worlds already). They were in ninth and tenth, respectively.
Interesting to note here as well, in 16th after the short were two familiar names, Aliona Savchenko and Stanislav Morozov. Of course, Savchenko is now three-time World champs with Robin Szolkowy, and Morozov skated with Tatiana Volosozhar and they were as high as fourth at Worlds.
PAIRS (after the short program)
1. Elena Berezhnaya/Anton Sikharulidze RUS VIDEO
2. Jamie Sale/David Pelletier CAN VIDEO
3. Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao CHN VIDEO
4. Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin RUS VIDEO
5. Kyoko Ina/John Zimmerman USA VIDEO
6. Maria Petrova/Alexei Tikhonov RUS
7. Katerina Berankova/Otto Diabola CZE
8. Dorota Zagorska/Mariusz Siudek POL
9. Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang CHN VIDEO
10. Qing Pang/Jian Tong CHN
11. Tiffany Scott/Philip Dulebohn USA VIDEO
12. Mariana Kautz/Norman Jeschke GER
13. Jacinthe Lariviere/Lenny Faustino CAN
14. Anabelle Langlois/Patrice Archetto CAN
15. Tatiana Chuvaeva/Dmitri Palamarchuk UKR
16. Aliona Savchenko/Stanislav Morozov UKR
17. Olga Bestandigova/Jozef Bestandig SVK
18. Natalia Ponomareva/Evgeni Sviridov UZB VIDEO
19. Michela Cobisi/Ruben De Pra ITA
20. Maria Krasiltseva/Artem Znachkov ARM
PLAY-BY-PLAY
#18 Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang CHN – throw triple salchow (not as big as their throw sal is these days) and steps into side-by-side triple toe, just awful side-by-side spins (Hao Zhang is actually on the inside edge on his back sit, but not on purpose), double twist (probably the biggest one of the event)
#11 Tiffany Scott/Philip Dulebohn USA – a whole bunch of crossovers into side-by-side triple toe (Scott fall), throw triple salchow (rough fall), double twist
#10 Kyoko Ina/John Zimmerman USA – double twist, side-by-side triple toe (Zimmerman hangs on), throw triple loop (not that big but complete), Zimmerman almost lost it on his solo camel,
#7 Jamie Sale/David Pelletier CAN – throw triple loop (easy), side-by-side triple toe (solid), double twist, strong side-by-side spins, strongest lift of the top pairs, fluke fall on the end pose – with the top two being so closely-matched, that fall, though not on an element, made it pretty easy for the judges to justify second place
#6 Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao CHN – throw triple loop (best in the competition), side-by-side triple toe, off-unison right at the end of their side-by-side spins, delayed double twist
#5 Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin RUS – throw triple loop, side-by-side triple toe (nice), double twist (not terribly high or explosive) – who would’ve thought when we were watching this program that we would’ve been looking at the future Olympic pairs champs?
#4 Natalia Ponomareva and Evgeny Sviridov UZB – side-by-side triple toe (Ponomareva bailed out, Sviridov steps out), speed into double twist, throw triple salchow (two-foot)
#3 Elena Berezhnaya/Anton Sikharuldize RUS – time traveling into the future, this music always reminds me of Johnny Weir’s 2006 Olympic free skate – tentative into side-by-side triple toe, forward spirals into throw triple loop (smooth), delayed double twist, weak position on the death spiral – clean, but it felt conservative, particularly in their speed
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