Up and coming in Canada

So Grand Prix season is now in full swing and we've moved on to Skate Canada. The pairs contest sees the first outing of Worlds Champs Robin Solkowy and Aliona Savchenko, along with a couple of exciting up and coming couples so let's dive right in.

Happily I caught full coverage of this one. Thank you Eurosport. I'll begin at the beginning with the short program. So Robin and Aliona flew right in to a commanding lead but their new program is....odd. It just doesn't have the easy flow and smooth quality of other pairs I've seen or in fact their own previous programs. I appreciate that they're trying to do something different but for me, its not quite there yet. Also the outifts they wear for it are really strange all in one suits so don't really help with the lines. However, they do skate it very well and there's no denying their quality. The two standouts of the short program were, in my opinion, Stefania Berton and Ondrej Hotarek and a pair I've never seen before Bruno Massot and Daria Popova. I loved Stefania and Ondrej's new routine to 'Paint it Black.' I loved the black outfits, loved the arrangement of the track and loved the edginess of the routine. Tons of potential in it, I think. I've always enjoyed watching them and she is absolutely beautiful and I think they could step up well this year. Similarly Bruno and Daria's routine had a sort of edgy quality to it. Again fabulous black outfits and a good sense of tone. Although they didn't skate it flawlessly, I really enjoyed anyway.
Staying with Bruno Massot and Daria Popova, their free program was really impressive. The opening was, for me, spectacular. In the opening section they had some beautiful moves and hit some beautiful positions. Again it wasn't flawless but its a really really lovely routine. Stefania and Ondrej's FP was also not flawless and had a couple of stumbles but I like how the routine builds and the big lift they did in the middle was excellent. Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford put in a solid performance on a classy and quite romantic FP to finish a very creditable second. The all-conquering  Robin and Aliona once again took to the ice in mystifying outfits. The eurosport commentary team hilariously informed our friend Nicky Slater they could "definitely see you in that outfit." Brilliant. But Robin and Aliona's FP was very interesting. It was a very brave flamenco inspired take on the classic 'Bolero.' Much much better than last season's 'Pina' which didn't entirely work for me. They won this contest comfortably but things could get interesting when the meet the other major contenders.