4 Continents Championships- Pairs

Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford continue their winning streak. With only one major competition left in the season, there is a good chance that they will finish off the season undefeated. However, if they have any technical mistakes, that will not happen. Though the mistake on the side-by-side triple lutzes in the free didn't have much of an impact here, Worlds will be a different story. The competition will be too close for them to have any mistakes.

They are playing to their strengths this year, and as long as there are no technical errors, it should be enough to win them the world title.

Cheng Peng and Hao Zhang finished in second place overall, but the competition overall was not particularly strong. Just about every team had errors on at least one set of side by side jumps in the freeskate Peng and Zhang were no exception. They had two mistakes on their side-by-side jumps, first a fall and then only a single jump on the end of the combination. Like many of the other teams, the timing on their side-by-side spins was not consistently good.

These little details will become more important at Worlds than they are here. However the choreography in their programs is interesting and the music choice is very different from the other teams.

Qing Pang and Jian Tong have come back for the end of the season, and no one knew quite what to expect from them, but they did not disappoint. Though their throws were excellent, some of the side-by-side elements were not so perfect. Both sets of side-by-side jumps in the freeskate were popped, which is one of the greatest differences between them and some of the Russian teams. The style is similar, but having just come back, they are not as consistent as they will need to be to really compete at Worlds. If they skate the way they did here, they simply won't be able to make it onto the podium at Worlds.

Lubov Iliushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch are a brand new team, and doing quite well. They're working on difficult elements, and Dylan is always so comfortable in lifts. Their overall comfort together is what separates them from Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro.

A lot of their elements are not as clean as the other teams at the Four Continents Championships, but it is clear they both have the ability to be one of the best teams in the world. However, some of the choreography is a little too cheesy for my tastes, especially the opening pose of the freeskate.

Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro are doing well enough for a new team, but they haven't necessarily made the best choices for them this season.

The short program music choice doesn't necessarily suit them. They don't have the power for the music yet, and the disposition she needs for the Cell Block Tango isn't in her personality as a performer.

Chess is a better music choice, but some of the elements, though comfortable for Kirsten, don't seem to be natural for Michael. One lift in particualr requires him to push her up above his head, and he always struggles with that lift. Between that lift being too difficult and his bad posture in lifts, they don't have the ease they should. Most of the other elements are still rough around the edges, but over time they will improve.