The pairs free at the grand prix final did not come out the way anyone expected.
Duhamel and Raford could not manage to make up their point deficit in the free. They managed to move up one place, but still finished in second behind Stolbova and Klimov.
Stolbova and Klimov beat Duhamel and Radford by quite a lot. They won by about 13 points. Unlike Duhamel and Radford, they had a clean skate. They got positive GOEs on every single element in the free. They also got over 9 in each part of the PCS. They skated well, but their programs continue to not be my favourite. I'm not so sure we're going to continue to see this from these two, they haven't looked great up to this point, and they're missing some of the big elements other teams have. I'm not certain these programs are going to continue to be enough for them come worlds.
Duhamel and Radford had some issues in the free which kept them from recovering from the short. They had issues on both their throws, especially the lutz. I think their problem comes largely from the indecision about that throw. They need to decide definitively if they're going to go for the quad lutz, because they are clearly capable of the triple. However, even the triple has been looking off in competition. Perhaps it comes down to doubt, but they will need to rely on technical perfection if they want to win worlds again this year. Many of there elements were fine, but not particularly strong, which is extremely uncharacteristic of them. Here's hoping this was a one off, and is not going to become a consistent problem.
Kavaguti and Smirnov could not hold onto their lead over Duhamel and Radford, but did manage to extend their lead over Seguin and Bilodeau. They struggled on both of their side by side jumps, which hurt them significantly. Most of the rest of their elements were fine, but not spectacular. Most of them recieved between and 0 and a 1.5, which is not what these two are capable of. We saw some of their weakness in the jumps that had been absent for quite a while. They've come a long way in the last year, but they clearly still have some work to do on nailing the elements.
Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau surprised the world, finishing in fourth at the Grand Prix Final. They've only just moved up from Junior, but they are not letting that show. They're skating clean programs which is allowing them to move up quickly. They don't have some of the technical content the others have, they don't have a quad, but the elements they do have they do well. They suffer a little in the PCSs, which I think has a little to do with the fact that they are new seniors. They're generally good skaters, and they do have the choreography and transitions in their programs. With time, they're going to be a force to be reckoned with in pairs. All season, I've said they're going to be Canada's number two, and this is going to solidify that position. They'll be at worlds for sure, now we're just going to face the question of who will be our number two team.
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