2010 Grand Prix Final – That Wacky Short Dance

The senior short dance at the 2010 Grand Prix Final did not quite turn out to be a celebration of the best ice dancing has to offer. Only Americans Meryl Davis & Charlie White (68.64) and Nathalie Pechalat & Fabian Bourzat of France (65.66) scored a personal best, leaving them in first and second, respectively. Teams in third through sixth are about a point and a half apart, but nearly 10 points behind the leaders.

Currently in third, Nora Hoffmann & Maxim Zavozin from Hungary take 55.98 into the free dance, 1.26 below their season’s best from Cup of Russia. Canadian teams are in fourth and fifth: Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje scored 55.51 (-3.97 from Skate America) and Vanessa Crone & Paul Poirier received 54.82, a whopping 8.13 down from Skate Canada. Russians Ekaterina Bobrova & Dmitri Soloviev’s 54.33 came in 6.47 lower than Cup of Russia. They are in sixth.

A look at the levels of the required elements helps tell some of the story of the “missing” 20 points. Hoffmann & Zavozin began with the same base score as Pechalat & Bourzat — 29.50 — earned by level 4s on the twizzles, lift, and second section of the Golden Waltz, and level 3s on the midline and first section of the Golden Waltz. The French earned Grades of Execution that were primarily +1s and +2s, whereas the Hungarians mostly ranged from -1 to 1.

Here at the Final, Weaver & Poje earned level 4 on both sections of the Golden Waltz, as did Davis & White. The Americans earned a net GOE of +.71 on each section; the Canadians only +.14 and 0. However, at Skate America, Weaver & Poje’s Golden Waltz levels were 3/4; so even though their GOE wasn’t as high as it was in Portland, they gained points with a 4/4’s base value a point higher than 3/4’s. The blown first twizzle by Weaver knocked that element down to a level 2 with a value of only 3.29 after the GOE deductions. At Skate America, they received 6.42 for their level 4 twizzles. The PCS comparison shows the GPF a little over a point less than Portland.

Crone & Poirier’s technical base value was their lowest of the season: 25.0. Their highest was at home in Canada — 29.5. Only their rotational lift earned a level 4 here at the Final. Their Golden Waltz was called 3/2, the midline level 2, and the twizzles level 3. Out of the 45 individual GOE scores, Crone & Poirier received only a single -1; everything else was 0 to +2. That brought their Beijing TES total to 26.86, but this was well below the 30.92 at Skate America and their season’s best 34.0 at Skate Canada. Their PCS total was between one and one and a half less than the earlier events.

Back at Cup of China, Bobrova & Soloviev scored 55.85 in their short dance, and they received a season’s best at home at Cup of Russia with 60.80. But this time in Beijing a frantic outing by Soloviev could only pull in a generous 54.33. After nearly turning his twizzle into a Charlotte — a level 2 with -.93 GOE — Soloviev spazzed his way through the next three level 3 elements (midline and Golden Waltz) before making it work in their level 4 rotational lift. Their PCS were more than two points below Cup of Russia’s. It was just not their night.

Although their short dance isn’t quite soup yet, Davis & White level 4s on everything except the level 3 midline — and PCS in the 8s and 9s — give the reigning World silver medalists an almost three point lead on the field. They may need every point they can get, as Pechalat & Bourzat’s free dance will be making its sixth competitive appearance and has gotten stronger each time out.

The free dance begins Saturday at 7:20 p.m. Beijing time, 6:20 a.m. EST.