Germans Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy won the pairs event yesterday at the world championships. The reigning Grand Prix and European Champions basically blew the competition away, topping China's Zhang and Zhang by five points. In third were Canada's Dube and Davison.
From the International Herald Tribune:
Savchenko and Szolkowy weren't perfect. They botched their side-by-side triple salchows when he fell and she touched down, a mandatory one-point deduction. But they received seven level four marks for their elements, including a gorgeous lift where Savchenko was held aloft as if diving toward the ice.
The Germans finished with a total score of 202.86 while Zhang and Zhang scored 197.82. Savchenko and Szolkowy are the first Germans to win the pairs title since their coach, Ingo Steuer, won with partner Mandy Woetzel in 1997.
I was interested to see Ingo Steuer is the winning coach. I remember he and Woetzel (although I admit that my first memory of them is their nasty fall in the 1994 Olympics that knocked the wind out of Woetzel. He carried her off the ice...).