State of the Art: Pair Skating

Of all the disciplines I have always admired Pair Skating the most. Pair skating requires two equally skilled single skaters who have trained all their lines, edges and body movements to be as one plus numerous extremely acrobatic elements to be executed with perfect quality. It is true that pair skating looks horrible when the pairs try too difficult elements for their level. But when all is trained to the perfection added with good speed and interpretation of music not to forget the famous connection on the ice, Pair skating is pure joy to watch (read about G&G). The element of risk is always present what makes it ever so exiting.

It is good to remember that it was Pair Skating and Jamie Sale and David Pelletier who made Figure Skating to change the whole judging system by their Salt Lake City program of Love Story. Audience and whole Figure Skating family did not accept their silver after a clean program and couple of days later the political bias was revealed behind the results. Gold medal was shared and Figure Skating was never the same.

My favourite duo couple of years back were a classy Canadian pair of Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison. They had such smooth lines on ice and a sweet connection. Unfortunately their career ended for Bryce's knee injury leaving bronze medal at worlds their best ever result. This program is from their last season and has a really classy style.

But most recently, what is hot in Pair Skating? Interesting enough the reigning Olympic Champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov are having a break and Tatiana very pregnant. Aliona Savchenko, multiple World Champion has made a comeback with a new partner. Five years younger Bruno Massot is huge besides tiny Aliona and they have delivered some promising programs. Overall Pair Skating does not have one single star but a handful of pairs who can all win at their best day. They are all still building up to their very perfection but they all are a joy to watch.

Canadians Megan Duhamel and Eric Radford are great and athletic but compared to the legends of the discipline I still miss the harmony on ice. Young Russians Yevgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov (Their names are made for winning in Pair Skating 😃) are the most promising and have dominated the arenas this year. The other two Russian pairs are just an inch behind. Then there are Wenging Sui and Cong Han, Chinese porcelain dolls - so fast, so skilled and yet so small but rumored to be injured this season however there are other Chinese pairs who could podium at worlds. Europeans had a really delightful bronze pair Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres - long timers in the discipline but what a progress they have made this year!

So the doors are wide open for the new stars! Personally I always enjoy watching Italians Valentina Marchei and Ondrej Hotarek. Valentina was a great rival of Kiira Korpi in singles but couple of years back she switched to Pair Skating and has made a really delightful career there with Ondrej. With clean programs they are just knocking the door for top six at worlds.

Hall of fame: Pair skating perfection of Gordeeva and Grinkov

Worlds are just gone. Boston hosted great championships like USA always does. North America has done great things to figure skating and skaters however I still prefer the Russian deep soul. One of the most touching figure skating story is about my all-time favorite pair skaters Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov. We all know them as G&G.

They were the last generation of pure Soviet products. They had grown within the system where talented skaters just had to skate. They potentially could have had that grey Soviet glance in their eyes but on the contrary they both had a character and they both seemingly loved skating regardless the pretty ruthless system. They were one huge man and one tiny girl as they started. They went from win to win from 1986 to 1987.

photo: www.gordeeva.com

1988 was Olympic year and Galgary hosted the games. Canada is all about Ice hockey and figure skating. Soviet people could explore the western world very limited at that time but athletes had the luxury of being on the competitions. Gordeeva and Grinkov just melted the Calgary audience with their genuine, fresh and clean programs. Especially Ekaterina was the one to draw the attention. They won Olympics with the ages of 16 and 21. This victory gained them North American relations and ever since they were invited to North American tours. America just loved them. 

One would think that this is the story, but the story only starts here. They had age difference of 4-5 years and Ekaterina had been like a tiny girl. However after Olympics her body became to change and her skating suffered. Sergei realized that Ekaterina was not only getting the attention because of her open and honest personality but she truly was becoming a very beautiful woman. They became a couple, married and got a child while being professional skaters in US in the early 90’s.

For 1994 it was made possible for professionals to reinstate and make a comeback to competitive skating. So the duo did. They come back as husband and wife, parents of a baby, with a magic that was never seen on ice before. G&G had the programs of all times choreographed by Marina Zueva. She started together with G&G in the Soviet Union but turned out to be the most famous and successful choreographer and coach of ice dance during past fifteen years in North America. Their Olympic free skate on Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, telling a story of their lives and hunger for more, was just pure perfection – it had it all. (The video is from European championships since they skate this cleaner than in Olympics)

Pair made a golden comeback and was crowned as Olympic Champions again in Lillehammer despite some errors in the Olympic skate. They return to pros and continue in North American show of Stars on Ice. Just one and a half years later Sergei collapses on ice and dies of a massive heart attack with the age of 28. Ekaterina loses her husband, father of their child and her partner on ice. This brought a tragic end to their love story that Americans had just loved. Their skating truly had the best qualities of pair skating all times.

For me it is still not the love story that shines through. It is actually the deep russian soul that they could bring on ice from the very pressure of the soviet system. Sergei and Marina were the artistic engine of the couple where Ekaterina had the shine of a star. She has the capability to draw attention and embrace the ideas of those two. Sergei was the perfect partner for her. Marina Zueva describes him as the pure ideal of a male pair skater. Almost like a statue of Ancient Greece. This exhibition program of Lillehammer is one of my favourites and brings out their quality of skating.

Well, and the heartbreaking tribute to Sergei was skated just couple of months after his death and Ekaterina was seen alone on ice - skating for the memory of her husband.

I really enjoyed watching this couple when they were skating and I still do – thanks for youtube. Ekaterina has stayed on ice and has made performances as a single skater, continued life and found a new partner. However the magic was gone together with Sergei. I’m still waiting a couple to beat that or come even close. 

Great site about this couple: www.gordeeva.com