2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Pairs Figure Skating Odds

Pairs Figure Skating

The opening event of Figure Skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics will be the Pairs Event, which starts Sunday.

Bet The 2010 Winter Olympics

According to vancouver2010.com, in this event, team must complete both a short program (maximum 2 minutes 50 seconds) of required steps, jumps, spins and combinations and a free skate (4 minutes 30 seconds) both set to music. The free skate — worth two-thirds of a skater’s final score — allows the athletes to demonstrate their creativity, innovative moves and technical difficulty. Teams consist of one male and one female skater, who work in unison, incorporating lifts, throws and synchronized jumps, spins and spirals linked harmoniously by steps and other movements.

The two-time defending bronze medalists in Olympic competition, Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao are favored to take home the gold this time around.

Shen/Zhao have odds of 11/10 to win the gold medal in this event according to online sports book Sportsbook.com. Other short odds to win are Savchenko/Szolkowy (33/20), Kavaguti/Smirnov (7/1), and Pang/Tong (8/1).

The team of Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao compete for China and won the 2006 Olympic bronze medal. They also won the bronze in 2002.

Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy compete for Germany and they placed sixth in the 2006 Olympic games. They won the 2009 world championships last year.

The team of Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov compete for Russia and were the bronze medalists in the 2009 world championships.

Qing Pang and Jian Tong compete for China and they finished fourth in the 2006 Olympics. They also took fourth in the 2009 world championships.

The 2010 Winter Olympics take place from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada beginning Friday, Feb. 12. and concluding Sunday, Feb. 28. For complete odds on which duo will win the pairs figure skating event, see below.

Odds to win Pairs Figure Skating at 2010 Winter Olympics

X.Shen/H.Zhao 11/10

A.Savchenko/R.Szolkowy 33/20

Y.Kavaguti/A.Smirnov 7/1

Q.Pang/J.Tong 8/1

D.Zhang/H.Zhang 12/1

M.Mukhortova/M.Trankov 15/1

J.Dube/B.Davison 28/1

T.Volosozhar/S.Morozov 33/1

C.Denney/J.Barrett 66/1

V.Bazarova/Y.Larionov 66/1

A.Langlois/C.Hay 100/1