Vaidotas Lacitis - Veronika Golodneva, LTU, had made it onto the podium in the 2016 GrandSlam Stuttgart, claiming third place and their best ever GrandSlam result. Obviously, they had high hopes this year too, but with Zharkov - Kulikova returning to the floor at the Beethoven Hall, repeating as third was decedidedly more challenging.
They, too, danced very well and ended up in fifth place.