19/03/08
2nd Day of the Worlds
By the Skin of Her Blades
Tamar Katz finished 24th in the ladies' short and got through to the free programme tomorrow. I asked her coach Peter Burrows about his impression of her skate today:
-Tamar did a beautiful triple flip and a triple lutz-double toe loop combination, but when she set up for the triple axel going into the spread eagle position to get more points for that, her blade got caught in some small object on the ice.
We can only add that the ladies' short was a tough competition with 53 contestants - more than in any other division. Just one example will say it all - Tamar is in the same group with former European Champion Julia Sebestyen, 2008 European medalist Laura Lepisto and European top-ten skater Elene Gedevaneshvili.
Pairs - Free Skate
The pairs event concluded crowning the new World Champions Alyona Savchenko and Robin Szolkovy. Our team finished in the 17th position in their first Worlds. Coach Andrei Buskov comments:
-Hayley should have fought more to land the jumps she just gave up on, and that's what we are going to work on in the future. But the throw jump was clean, and the pair's alignment and flow across the ice have improved.
Hayley ( happy but frowning at herself):
-I am so proud to represent Israel and to be here for the World Championships. I simply had the time of my life, but I know I have to work hard to improve.
Another backstage observation:
The beautiful Isabel Delobel has a beautiful twin sister and is in the first place going into the original dance Thursday afternoon. Look forward to more updates from the Worlds.
