4th in NHK GP Tokyo

We stood our ground, 4th in short, 4th in long and 4th overall (it can happen that your fourth in both but drop!). It was a great feeling, being on the top group through the whole event and finishing in 4th behind some great pairs. Practice the day of the short was good but tough skating along side the teams scrapping it out for which shade of medal they want. The day went very quick, before we knew it we were back in the skaters lounge sitting getting a drink and sushi before our event started. All the tv screens on a live feed to exactly whats happening on the ice, behind the scenes at these events is quite amazing.

Our event drew close, we were warming up as the first group took to the ice. As ever we ignored what went on before us, focusing on what we need to do while lacing up our boots. Short wouldn't be televised on Eurosport which is a shame because its good when your friends and family can watch but the arena was packed with a lot of the world still getting a live feed. We stepped on closely followed by two world medalist teams and a well experienced triple axel throwing American team. We were up first! They called our names and we gaze shortly around in to the crowd, it was full. People of all ages sat in anticipation of our short programme, and we skated well. A few minor error's mostly to loose levels (points) on things but ended up with 49.36 which was easily a personal best for us.

Practice for the long went even better still, with a bit of leeway between us and the next down the list and only 5 points off a medal we felt relaxed and happy. All elements were going clean and for a personal best at this event we would need to do our elements good so we get higher points, and nothing looks better than making hard tricks look easy. Stacey almost took the Chinese guys head off on the exit of a lift, but that's the way it seems to go in this group. We stepped off the practice 10minutes before the end but we'd done everything we wanted, no need in hanging around for no reason. Home for a bit of r & r before the final event.

Our free programme was very early compared to the usual set up, again we were first to skate in the second group. We just hoped to skate the programme how we have been, with power until the last position. Our final score was 83.53 and the only poor element was the side by side flip that we threw in last week after Zagreb for safety... Ah well. But it was a personal best and we were very happy. After we skated a very polite Japanese OC worker informed us that because we were in the top 4 we managed to make the gala, which is another accomplishment for us at this event. Anyway still a long way to go from here, which can only mean bigger scores and stronger performances in our next events. Hope to see you there!