NHK Trophy - Pairs Short

This was definitely the cleanest pairs short that I can remember EVER seeing! Such a pleasant surprise and contrast to the usual splat fests that abound. With that said, here's my thoughts on the pairs.

Bazarova/Larionov (Russia): Nice side-by-side triple toes, but a little out of sync. Good double twist, throw triple, and death spiral. Kind of far apart in their SBS spin, but the unison was great. Good skate overall, but they could use maybe a little more polish. 34.36 TE 25.80 PC = 60.16 Total

Hausch/Wende (Germany): Very nice SBS triple toes. Double twist and throw triple salchow were nice. Footwork was slow though. Great SBS spin. 28.40 TE 22.09 PC = 50.49 Total

Yankowskas/Coughlin (United States): They seem like powerful skaters. Throw triple salchow was nice, but on the SBS triple toes John was a little bit low on height.  Really good lift and death spiral. 29.93 TE 24.26 PC = 54.19 Total

Zhang/Wang (China): Gorgeous twist. Their SBS triple toes were out of sync, but done well otherwise. SBS spin was out of sync too. Decent overall. Might just need a little more time; they seem like a young pair. 27.63 TE 22.09 PC = 49.72 Total

Brodeur/Mattatal (Canada): Slight collision on their twist. Triple toes slightly out of unison, but good. Nice throw triple salchow and really nice SBS spin. I love this music, and I think it suits them pretty well. Lift scared me for a second there. Lovely program overall. 31.00 TE 23.28 PC = 54.28 Total

Denney/Barrett (United States): Good opening with twist. SBS triple toes were a little wonky for Jeremy. Their throw was good, but I really hate the position they used for the death spiral. SBS spins were out of sync at first, but they adjusted and the speed was great. 30.22 TE 24.81 PC = 55.03 Total

 Takahashi/Tran (Japan): They fist bumped before they took their starting positions. Adorable. They did SBS triple salchows, which were out of sync and I think she may have underrotated hers. Double twist had an insane amount of height and their SBS spin was nice. Good transition into a throw triple flip (I think). They had a little slip in the footwork but otherwise it was fine. Really great lift and a lovely death spiral to finish. I definitely want to keep an eye on them in the future... I really enjoyed them! 31.70 TE 25.53 PC = 57.23 Total

Pang/Tong (China): Her dress is gorgeous! Nice, easy SBS triple toes and double twist. Fantastic death spiral, nice throw triple loop, and lift. Their SBS spins were out of sync, but other than that, really lovely program with nice transitions. 34.23 TE 32.87 PC = 67.10 Total

 ISU results page for Pairs Short