BOSTON -- Russian pairs, for so long the standard of figure skating excellence, did not come close to a medal at the 2015 World Championships.
Don’t expect a repeat of that failure at TD Garden this week.
“Pairs will be a game of Russians,” said Johnny Weir, NBC Olympics analyst and noted lover of all things Russian.
Both Weir and colleague Tara Lipinski tap Russia to go one-two here, which it hasn’t done since 2005.
The difference from last year is that the best Russian pairs are actually competing at Worlds.
Olympic champions Tatyana Volosozhar and Maksim Trankov and Sochi silver medalists Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov sat out the 2015 event in Shanghai, where the best Russian finish was fifth.
They’ve returned with force this season.
Volosozhar and Trankov, who wed in August, swept the Russian and European Championships in the winter. Stolbova and Klimov won the Russian Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Final in the fall. The pairs share a coach in Nina Mozer but haven’t gone head-to-head since the Sochi Winter Games.
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Which pair should be the favorite this week? Lipinski and Weir disagree.
“The reigning Olympic champions in my mind are on a different level,” Lipinski said of Volosozhar and Trankov, winners of 11 of their last 12 top-level international starts dating to 2012. “They have the air. They have the confidence of Olympic champions, and when they take the ice, they grab your attention.”
Weir called Volosozhar and Trankov’s “Dracula” free skate “downtrodden” and “labored,” questioning their conditioning after not competing at all in 2014-15.
He likes Stolbova and Klimov to break through for their first World title following four silvers and one bronze combined at the Olympics, Worlds and Europeans.
“Stolbova and Klimov of Russia have been in a class by themselves,” he said.
But their form is hazy, having not competed in more than three months due to reported back and shoulder injuries to Klimov.
What’s clear is Canadians Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford are not favored to repeat as World champions.
Further down, surprise U.S. champions Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea and Grand Prix Finalists Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim are even less likely to snap the U.S. pairs medal drought set to reach 14 years.
Scimeca and Knierim, who were the first U.S. pair to make the prestigious Grand Prix Final since 2007, can aim for the top seven, Weir said. They were seventh at both the Grand Prix Final and last year’s Worlds and have better international standing than Worlds rookies Kayne and O’Shea.
"[Scimeca and Knierim] have been on the world stage before, and they’re pushing the bar technically,” Lipinski said. “That’s all you can ask for, especially with the state U.S. pairs have been in for so long.”
Lipinski and Weir’s medal picks from last week:
Lipinski
Gold: Volosozhar/Trankov (RUS)
Silver: Stolbova/Klimov (RUS)
Bronze: Duhamel/Radford (CAN)
Weir
Gold: Stolbova/Klimov (RUS)
Silver: Volosozhar/Trankov (RUS)
Bronze: Savchenko/Massot (GER)
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