The final group was a treat. And there can be no doubt about the medalists. Maybe someone can quibble with the gold and silver, but I certainly won’t. That was a clutch performance for the ages.
Final scores (free dance scores in parentheses):
- Virtue/Moir (Canada), 206.07 (122.40)
- Papadakis/Cizeron (France), 205.28 (123.35)
- Shibutani/Shibutani (USA), 192.59 (114.86)
- Hubbell/Donohue (USA), 187.69 (109.94)
Canadians also took seventh and eighth. The third U.S. pair, Chock/Bates, fell in the free dance (the only such accident of the session) and finished ninth.
Thanks for following along. See you for the women’s free skate and a couple more events this week.
Virtue and Moir win!!!
122.40 in the free dance.
It doesn’t even sink in for a second. They stare up, and finally Moir punches the bench in the kiss and cry to celebrate.
63.34 at the moment for the tech scores. The French duo got 63.98. Remember, Virtue and Moir led by nearly two points.
So if the French duo win this, it’s because of the artistic/component scores, and I’m going to throw a fit.
Oh my. They might have done it. Their scores are trending quite close to the French. I doubt they could’ve done any better than that.
They do a lift that makes her look like she’s dismounting the parallel bars in reverse.
Someone more knowledgeable than I am will have to explain to me why Papadakis and Cizeron are better than this.
Updated
If I’m reading this correctly, they need to beat their personal best by about three points to win this. Yikes.
But they look fantastic. And I didn’t realize the Moulin Rouge soundtrack included a Tom Waits-ish cover of Roxanne.
Virtue and Moir
It all comes down to this. The 2010 gold medalists. Silver in 2014, unsatisfying to them.
They’re being graded for “choreographic twizzles” instead of their fourth list.
Everything is being reshuffled. The diagonal step sequence is down from 4 to 3. One element is all the way down to 0.
Who was rooting against the Shib Sibs? I’ve got bad news. They’ve got bronze.
Scores for Hubbell/Donohue: 109.94. 187.69 total, down to third overall. Unless Virtue and Moir fall, they’ll be fourth.
Is it wrong to call this sultry? It’s not quite the 2006 ice dancing competition, where we were saying, “What happens in the Palavela stays in the Palavela.” But this is cool in any case. Good blues guitar and soul singing.
A little stumble from Donohue.
They’ve lost about 2.5 points to the Shib Sibs on the twizzles. They were 0.02 points ahead after the short program.
But a step sequence really impressed the judges. And it was fun to watch. I don’t really know this music, but it works.
Hubbell and Donohue start
It’s a bit of sultry saxophone and a sparse drum beat underpinning some terrific twizzles. But they looked like they went out of sync right at the end, and the yellow box comes up.
With two pairs to go ...
- Papadakis/Cizeron (France), 205.28 - season best
- Shibutani/Shibutani (USA), 192.59
- Bobrova/Soloviev (OAR), 186.92
I’ll go to the record book to see how this stacks up all time. But their scores kept going up and up. Highest number ever in free dance and overall, says NBC’s Terry Gannon.
I’ll nit-pick. Their last few gestures were not timed to the music.
But I probably only noticed it because everything else was so perfect. They’ll move into first for now, and Virtue and Moir will have to bring out their best ever to win this.
They have a slight edge over the Shib Sibs in twizzles. That’s a sentence I never imagined myself writing.
Their technical scores are through the roof thus far. And they do make it look so smooth.
For someone asking how to watch -- NBC in the USA. Maybe BBC in Britain? Surely CBC in Canada.
France’s Gabriella Papadkis and Guillaume Cizeron bring the Beethoven. Surprisingly for a dance competition, it’s a rendition of Moonlight Sonata that takes a few liberties with the tempo. I can hear my piano teacher now ...
Shib Sibs move into first place
114.86 in the free dance, very close to their season best.
192.59 overall.
Three duos to go. So the USA WILL medal here, because the only way the Shib Sibs miss out would be if Hubbell and Donohue pass them.
Judges apparently saw something on the rotational lift. It was just downgraded from level 4 to level 3 and cost them about 0.50 points.
On the other hand, their diagonal step sequence was just UPgraded to level 4.
They will sure be in first place so far.
Give them a medal. Give them something. Give them endorsement deals. I could watch that again, right now.
Ignore the yellow boxes. Their scores for the first five elements are very good.
Their combination spin is indeed the highest-scoring combo spin so far. The circular step sequence is 10.80.
This is simply beautiful. Will it earn a medal? Don’t know, don’t care. Just enjoying it. So is the crowd.
The Shib Sibs are up
Which means it’s time for Coldplay, and a piano-heavy version of Paradise.
Their opening combination spin is amazing.
Second place so far for the Italians. They get a one-point deduction. Tanith White believes it’s for an extended lift. 108.34 for the free dance, 184.91 overall.
All very pretty. Looking at the numbers, I think they’ll fall behind the OAR duo.
He lifts her up to his shoulders more often than a dad trying to get his kid a good view of a parade.
Lanotte lifts her up into a WWE piledriver. Do any ice dancers go into pro wrestling after their careers are done?
Italy’s Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte step up. They’re in fifth. They might struggle to hang onto that.
Omg I get to see them skate in person I’m pumped!!! And virtue and moir omg this is crazy!! @NBCOlympics @olympics pic.twitter.com/4QBZRsF2A5
— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) February 20, 2018
Scores with five skaters left
- Bobrova/Soloviev, OAR, 186.92 (111.45)
- Weaver/Poje, Canada, 181.98 (107.65)
- Gilles/Poirier, Canada, 176.91 (107.31)
- Chock/Bates, USA, 175.58 (100.13)
- Guignard/Fabbri, Italy, 173.47 (105.31)
- Coomes/Buckland, Britain, 170.32 (101.96)
The remaining order: Cappellini/Lanotte (Italy), Shibs (USA), Papadakis/Cizeron (France), Hubbell/Donohue (USA), Virtue/Moir (Canada).
Bobrova and Soloviev’s scores are all over the place. The twizzles and diagonal step sequence were substantially higher than others. The lifts were significantly lower.
I didn’t care for the choreography. White didn’t care for the transitions. But a couple of judges will surely say otherwise.
And indeed ... they’re in first, near their season high.
The judges didn’t seem to care for that headstand/lift, though. It’s nearly half a point lower than a couple of other performances in this group.
Tanith White isn’t happy with their transitions.
When it finishes, Bobrova puts her head down on the ice in ... despair? Relief? Happiness? Hard to say.
OAR’s Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev can certainly put some pressure on the final group. They open with their twizzles, and they look pretty sharp. What level, judges? Level 4. And Bobrova does something of a headstand on his thigh in their second lift, so this is off to a good start. Probably.
It’s a two-point deduction (one fall for each person) on top of the 6.5-ish points they lost for the missing element.
The three pairs in this group so far have been scored between 6.46 and 6.89 on their combination spin. Chock and Bates scored 0. That’s where they fell.
Scores: 100.13, total of 175.58. Third so far.
The crowd cheers them to the finish, but Chock cries after the last note, and it’s heartbreaking to watch.
Wipeout! He picks her up, puts her down and falls over.
Safe to say that’ll cost them a medal. Pity, because the choreography here is first-rate.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates (USA) are up.
The plaintive piano chords of Imagine are nice. The weepy violin and non-Lennon vocals are not.
The first two lifts, though, are among the best non-rotational lifts we’ve seen.
Their technical scores are still on screen, and they still look like the stock market in free fall. They’ll be barely ahead of their compatriots Gilles and Poirier.
Free dance is 107.65, overall is 181.98. First for now, but don’t get comfortable.
Weaver and Poje start strong, but they’re marked down a bit on a spin.
They make up for it with a dazzling diagonal step sequence and a big-time lift. Then a one-handed lift that defies imagination. Or gravity.
But alas, the twizzles.
Canada’s Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje have a chance to get on the podium. They’re eighth after the short program, but their season best is better than everyone but the big two and the Shib Sibs.
The music isn’t Edith Piaf, but it really wants to be.
So compared with the Canadians, Coomes and Buckland’s program was a little better on the twizzles (level 4 to level 2) but not quite as good on the lifts. Probably not enough to switch places with Gilles and Poirier, but probably enough to stay in the top 10.
Judges say ... 101.96. Total of 170.32, and they drop behind the Italians Guignard and Fabbri from the previous group. They seem displeased. That’s probably 11th place.
I need new terms for these lifts. Potato sack, maybe? That’s what they did on their rotational lift. Their circular step sequence was a little off, say the judges. (And for once, I saw it, too.)
Britain’s Penny Coomes and Nicholas Buckland are not skating to James Bond. We’re back to the other cultural export from Britain, Muse. It’s Butterflies and Hurricanes this time.
I’m sorry -- that last lift is a level 1? He held her ankle with one hand and spun her with her hair brushing the ice. Don’t they get points for danger or something?
His tux is sharp, too. Fun program.
Their career best free skate is 110.45, but their season best is only 103.46. Today: 107.31. Total of 176.91, and they will not fall out of the top 10.
They somehow turn themselves into a spider of sorts, perhaps recalling the tarantula Sean Connery smashed in one of the early Bond films. Maybe that’ll make up for the twizzles, which were marked as level 2.
Their lift is interesting. She does a split, one foot on his ankle and the other up with his arm. I think that should be more than 5.80 points, but I’m not a judge.
I don’t remember this many cellos in James Bond music. Ah, there are the horns.
Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are set to skate, just after Canada’s Cassie Sharpe claimed the ski halfpipe gold. The USA managed another medal -- Brita Sigourney took bronze.
Will NBC come back from commercial in time? Nope. Going with international feed. James Bond medley is about to start ...
Intermission is almost over.
I have my decaf green tea. I have my Triscuits. I have a spreadsheet that will let me compare every element each duo does. (I’m not kidding.)
Let’s do this ...
The 2014 gold medalist is answering a few questions on Twitter ...
Ice dance has certainly embraced a more lyrical style in the last 4 years. Subtle, elegant, contemporary body movements... it’s lovely. Stark contrast to the more dramatic styles even 1 or 2 Olympic cycles ago. ⛸ #Pyeongchang2018
— Meryl Davis (@Meryl_Davis) February 20, 2018
Meanwhile, NBC shows us Mikaela Shiffrin’s downhill training run, where she finishes just 0.05 seconds behind Lindsey Vonn. You sure you don’t want to compete in this event, Mikaela?
Also from Twitter, a question on who has the best hair tonight ...
Johnny Weir. By far.
— Kay Durrant (@durrant_kay) February 20, 2018
NBC’s figure skating commentators are indeed hard to beat.
From Twitter -- Charlotte L asks if there’s a schedule for the remaining pairs. Indeed there is.
Scores for second group
Name, country, total score (free dance score)
- Guignard/Fabbri, Italy, 173.47 (105.31)
- Hurtado/Khaliavin, Spain, 168.33 (101.40)
- Zagorski/Guerreiro, OAR, 162.24 (95.77)
- Kaliszek/Spodyriev, Poland, 161.35 (95.29)
- Muramota/Reed, Japan, 160.63 (97.22)
So Hurtado and Khaliavin can take pride in breaking 100 points in the free dance for the first time, but it won’t move them up. In fact, no one here changed positions at all. They were 11th through 15th after the short dance, and unless people stumble ahead of them, that’s where they’ll stay.
Time to resurface the ice. And take a break. Back in five ...
Updated
The combination spin is dazzling.
They save all their lifts for late in the program, which seems risky. But it plays appropriately to the music, which gets a bit brisker and peppier toward the end. Will this get them to 11th (at least)?
Spain’s Sara Hurtado and Kirill Khaliavin will dance to Don Quixote, just as they always do in Russia, where Khaliavin formerly competed and where they train.
It’s very playful, which is a bit of a relief after all these somber programs.
Their twizzles seem a little off. But the spins and lifts are solid. As Matthew Bellamy’s vocals ring out, he grabs her waist, lifts her straight up and spins magnificently.
In case you were wondering about the names -- they’re from Sydney and London, NBC’s Terry Gannon tells us. What did we say about national borders being fluid here?
OAR’s Tiffani Zagorski and Jonathan Guerreiro start with exactly the same bit of Muse that Guignard and Fabbri used. They seem a little more dazzling and daring with their first few elements. The judges don’t seem to agree.
It’s a nice program to piano-and-violin music that would ordinarily bore me (I majored in music but would much prefer these dancers break out some prog-rock epics) but works here. And it’s cleaner than their earlier programs, so perhaps they can move up from 15th.
Not much, though -- their score is 97.22 for a total of 160.63, less than a point behind the Polish pair.
Japan’s Kana Muramota and Chris Reed train in Canton, Mich. National borders are rather fluid in this sport, and Reed grew up in several countries.
They’ve had a rough go of the Olympics so far, including the team event. But this is an elegant program, even including the part in which she steps on his thigh. (Intentionally.)
And it’s not just me. Tanith White: “It didn’t connect with me. ... At certain moments they had me, and in others, they lost me.”
They’re also a good 4-5 points behind Guignard and Fabbri on technical elements.
“The purpose of a party is to have fun together,” says 1950s U.S. short film narrator as we hit what I suppose is the “swing break.”
Then we’re into a bit of reggae. This is starting to sound and look like some strange parody/homage to every style of American and Caribbean entertainment of the 20th century.
Poland’s Natalia Kaliszek and Maksym Spodyriev are skating to music described as “The Great Gatsby, Swing Break.”
They start with a lift that looks dangerous, as if he doesn’t quite have a good grip. Maybe it’s me. Nope, the yellow box pops up on the screen.
Guignard and Fabbri have a career-high free dance of 106.38. Their score here: 105.31. Not bad. Overall score: 173.47, way ahead of the first group as expected.
Guignard and Fabbri stood 11th after the short dance, and it’s not hard to see why. Their twizzle sequence raises the level of difficulty with a few changes of direction. But the judges only give them 7.80 for that, not substantially higher than the first group.
But Fusar Poli is applauding. Thank you, “enhanced” broadcast.
Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabrri are coached by Barbara Fusar Poli, the ice dancing legend mentioned below who started daggers through her partner after being dropped in Torino. Be careful, Marco.
Our Muse-ical is underway. It’s an instrumental passage, so you’d think it’s Beethoven, not Bellamy.
Are you ready for some Muse? The British band is a favorite in this household, but I’m not sure I’m for hearing excerpts from Exogenesis twice in this group of five dance duos. So be it.
Scores for first group
Name, country, total score (free dance score)
- Lorenz/Polizoakis, Germany, 150.49 (90.50)
- Lauriault/Le Gac, France, 149.59 (89.62)
- Min/Gamelin, South Korea, 147.74 (86.52)
- Agafonova/Ucar, Turkey, 147.18 (87.76)
- Mysliveckova/Csolley, Slovakia, 142.57 (82.82)
So Min/Gamelin dropped from 16th to 18th (barring catastrophes by upcoming duos). The Turkish duo swapped places with the Slovakians, which surprises me a little bit.
The strength these skaters have is always impressive. Ucar just scooped up his partner, flung her over his head and put her on his back like a backpack.
NBC’s Tanith White (formerly Tanith Belbin, see below) points out the gold detailing on his pant leg that draws attention to his feet, which are apparently not doing what they’re supposed to do.
They close with a move in which she’s horizontal and clinging to his ankles, and then he steps over her head. They avoided serious injury, and that’s the best thing I can say about that.
Turkey’s Alisa Agadonova and Alper Ucar save their twizzles for their seventh elements (out of nine). They were ranked last among the 20 pairs to advance from the short dance, but they’re only 0.57 points out of 17th.
They open with a couple of spins in which she impressively keeps her body while he spins her around as if this is rhythmic gymnastics and she’s one of the apparatuses.
(I’m saving the good metaphors for the contenders.)
Gamelin is American and used to compete with his twin sister. Their spins are otherworldly, leaving up to your imagination how they manage the movement necessary to rotate in such majestic stillness. Their twizzles are only level 2, which will make it difficult to move up.
He’s clearly showing off on the lifts. On one, he lifts his arms as if to say, “Look, Ma -- no hands!” Impressive, but it distracts a bit from what was otherwise a very sweet and graceful performance.
South Korea’s Yua Min and Alexander Gamelin clearly have the crowd on their side. They get a nice round of applause for an elegant lift and spin a few seconds in.
Haven’t seen much Twitter traffic (no Twitter for twizzles?) as yet, but this was a good one:
That straight-arm lift looks so incredibly difficult. I can barely do that with a casserole dish, let alone a full-grown woman wearing ice skates.
— sara (@sarrible) February 20, 2018
A few years ago, I could still lift my kids like that.
The German pair does indeed take the lead for the moment, not far off their personal best.
The final lift is dazzling. They look like Kate and Leo on the bow of the Titanic.
And their scores are certainly higher than the previous two pairs. (I’ll give a roundup of scores after each five-person group.)
Germany’s Kavita Lorenz and Joti Polizoakis will skate to the soundtrack of Pride and Prejudice. Presumably not the whole thing.
They open with slow piano. I don’t know fashion, but I rather like the simplicity of what they’re wearing. He’s in a white shirt and black pants. She’s in a pink dress. That, or the color balance is off.
This is free-flowing, and they get the highest score yet on those pesky twizzles -- essentially, side-by-side spins where they’d better be in sync.
That just seemed awkward. And because I take notes on these things, I can compare the Slovakians to our opening French pair. The latter got 11.40 points for Rotational Lift 4. The former got 5.20.
The Slovakians were 19th after the short program. They surely will not move up.
Slovakia’s Lucie Mysliveckova and Lukas Czolley are skating to Liza Minnelli singing selections from Cabaret. It’s bold and brassy, and I love it so much that I’m not going to harp on their lack of synchronization on their twizzles. They were pretty far off, and their first three elements are under review.
And it’s nowhere near their personal best. They’re at 149.59.
The “rotational lift 4” was quite impressive. I lost track of the number of spins Romain le Gac did while holding Lauriault off the ice. Judges gave it 11.40 points.
They’re required to change tempos at some point in the program, so we get a bit of Another One Bites the Dust.
It’s rather fun. And the judges seem relatively impressed. Maybe that’ll move them up a couple of places from 18th?
France’s Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain le Gac get us started. Their music is a Queen song I don’t remember, You Take My Breath Away.
This is the first of 20 dance duos to compete tonight (morning in South Korea). We’ll see the eight legitimate medal contenders in about two hours.
Let's do the math
Check out the scores from the short dance.
Now check out the personal bests for the free dance. Nine of the top 10 on the all-time top list are competing tonight.
If all nine of those pairs match their personal bests tonight, the final scores would be:
- Papadakis/Cizeron (France) 203.80
- Virtue/Moir (Canada) 202.00
- Shibutani/Shibutani (USA) 192.99
- Hubbell/Donohue (USA) 191.10
- Chock/Bates (USA) 188.76
- Cappellini/Lanotte (Italy) 188.64
- Bobrova/Soloviev (OAR) 188.17
- Weaver/Poje (Canada) 188.16
- Gilles/Poirier (Canada) 180.05
We weren’t kidding about the close race for gold and the separate close race for bronze.
Also noteworthy in ice dancing -- the judging.
Say what you will about the focus on jumps in men’s and women’s skating, but at least there’s something objective to measure. A quad is more difficult than a double.
Ice dancing is still quite subjective. Buzzfeed actually did a statistical analysis of scores and found there’s a bit of a discrepancy by country.
In any case, you’re simply not going to see wild swings here. Reputations precede everyone here. Also, there are fewer opportunities to fall.
Yes, we’re aware of the Glare Seen Round the World when Maurizio Margaglio dropped Barbara Fusar Poli, literally, in 2006. That’s the exception.
So no one’s going to land several quads and rocket up the standings like Nathan Chen. Fortunately for us, the standings are pretty close between first and second, and then there’s a six-way competition for bronze.
A few other notes on ice dancing ...
These are athletes who tend to date each other, though not necessarily their partners. The USA’s Tanith Belbin, who took silver in 2006 and placed fourth in 2010 with Ben Agosto, married Charlie White, who took silver in 2010 (yes, ahead of his future wife) and told in 2014 with Meryl Davis.
The USA’s Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue dated and then broke up. It must have worked. They upset the Shib Sibs to win the U.S. Championships, and they’re in third place here after the short program.
Hubbell and Donohue train in Montreal. So do Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who are poised to win their second gold medal bookending a silver in 2014. So do Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France, who are in second place.
Yes, that’s right. The three duos leading the way after the short program train at the same rink. Is it the water?
First up, the music ...
If you’re tired of Coldplay, you only need to skip one routine here. Unfortunately, it’s the “Shib Sibs” -- Maia and Alex Shibutani, the American social-media experts who stand fourth and really should be watched here. They’re dancing to Paradise around 10:48 p.m. ET.
If you’re not tired of Muse, you will be. Up sixth tonight, Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri will be dancing to Exogenesis Symphony Part III. Three pairs later, the Olympic Athletes of Russia’s Tiffani Zagorski and Jonathan Guerreiro also list a part of Exogenesis and Ruled by Secrecy. Three pairs after that, Britain’s Penny Coomes and Nicholas Buckland skate to Butterflies and Hurricanes.
But you’ll also hear some music that isn’t overplayed. A bit of Queen. Some Liza Minelli. A James Bond medley (Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who skate 11th). John Lennon’s Imagine (Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates, due up 14th).
Then back to the Moulin Rouge soundtrack for the final pair and likely winners, Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.
We have music. We have math.
Yes, it’s time for the free dance. The moves are beautiful. The judging is opaque. We will probably argue the result for a while, even if we’re pretty sure that the top two spots will go to Canada and France (not necessarily in that order).
The dance begins in about an hour. Stay tuned for a breakdown of what to expect. And please do say hello by email or Twitter.
Beau will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s news of a mishap from yesterday’s action:
The French ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron have made Winter Olympics headlines for all the wrong reasons – because of a wardrobe malfunction that left Papadakis overexposed on the ice.
“I felt it right away and I prayed,” Papadakis said after the top of her costume became unhooked and slipped. “It was pretty distracting, kind of my worst nightmare happening at the Olympics. I told myself: ‘I don’t have a choice. I have to keep going.’ And that’s what we did. I think we can be proud of ourselves being able to deliver a great performance with that happening.”
You can read the full article below:
