Cup of China, Day 2
09 Nov 2007 15:57
The Cup of China in Harbin went on Friday with the Original Dance, the Men’s Short Program and the Pairs Free Skating. Harbin hosts the Cup of China for the first time. The Cup of China is the second of six events in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. The skaters compete for a a global prize money of US $ 180, 000 per individual event of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating and receive points according to their placements. The top six skaters/couples then qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Torino, Italy (December 13-16).
Ice Dancing, Original Dance
Today’s competition kicked off with the Original Dance. The Original Dance for the 2007/08 season is the Folk/Country Dance. The skaters at the Cup of China chose Russian, Ukrainian, Scottish, Italian, Middle Eastern, Western and Hindi dances.
Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin of Russia strengthened their lead after the Compulsory Dance ahead of Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto (USA) and Italy’s Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali.
Domnina/Shabalin put out a powerful Cossack Dance that was highlighted by a well synchronized side by side midline step sequence, a straight line lift with him in a shoot-the-duck position and level-three circular step sequence and a one-armed rotational lift. The European silver medalists earned 62.20 points (32.30 element score/29.90) and have racked up 100.97 points so far. “Emotionally it was a strong performance, technically it still could have been better”, Domnina pointed out. “It was our first performance of this dance in competition, and we had to put a lot of effort in our preparations. We lost a lot of time, because Maxim first had meniscus surgery in May and then he suffered from appendicitis in September. That was a shock, and we didn’t know if we will be ready for competition (this fall).”
Belbin/Agosto completed a curve and a rotational lift with changes of positions, an intricate non-touching midline step sequence and a difficult dance spin in their entertaining “Appallechean Hoedown” and “Country Waltz” program. They effectively used a hat that added to the character of the dance. Like the Russian couple, the World bronze medalists were awarded a level four for all elements except for the circular steps that were graded a level three. The Americans picked up 60.81 points (31.90/28.91), setting a new seasonal best for themselves. So far they have accumulated 96.70 points. “I think the overall level of the performance was a step up from Skate America. It’s still early in the year, and we obviously have a lot of work to do, but the levels are high, and we’ll fix our circular (footwork) and keep working on it, but I really think the energy was much better here”, Belbin commented. “I think our free dance is a big asset for us this year. We feel very strong, very confident with it”, she continued.
Faiella/Scali’s characteristic Italian “Pizzica” dance included a one-armed rotational lift, intricate footwork as well as a curve lift and a dance spin with changes of positions. The Skate America bronze medalists scored 56.94 points (30.60/26.34), improving their seasonal best and remained in third place at 90.48 points. “As always, we enjoyed performing out Original Dance, and we skated really well. We’re pleased to have set a new seasonal best for ourselves”, Faiella said.
Alexandra Zaretski/Roman Zaretski (ISR) are standing in fourth place at 83.07 points. They got a new seasonal best as well for their Middle Eastern dance. Sinead Kerr/John Kerr (GBR) had chosen a Scottish Dance and he even wore a kilt. However, she stumbled in the circular steps and he struggled with a twizzle in the midline footwork and they remained in fifth place are 78.45 points. Anna Zadarozhniuk/Sergei Verbillo moved up from seventh to sixth with a characteristic Ukrainian Gopak (74.55 points).
Men, Short Program
Evan Lysacek (USA) edged teammate Johnny Weir by less than two points to take the lead in the Men’s Short Program. Stéphane Lambiel of Switzerland came in third.
Performing to “The Legend of Zorro” and dressed all in black, Lysacek landed a triple Axel, triple Lutz and quadruple-triple toeloop combination, but put his hand down on the quad. The two-time World bronze medalist was awarded a level three for both his step sequences and a level four for two of his spins. Lysacek got 81.55 points (44.90 element score/36.65 program component score), significantly improving his previous personal best of 73.49 points. “It felt much stronger today than at my first Grand Prix Skate America. It’s a good sign that I’m taking positive steps forward towards the later part of the season”, the 22-year-old US Champion commented.
Weir is not far behind the leader with 79.80 points (44.00/35.80). He delivered a strong performance of his program to “Yunona and Avos”, completing a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination, a high triple Axel, a triple flip as well as two level-four spins. “I was excited with today’s performance after a kind of shaky warm up”, Weir told the press. “I handled my nerves well and for the first Grand Prix of the season to come very close to my personal best and to feel like I skated well makes me happy.”
Lambiel opened his program to an expressive Tango, “Carne Cruda”, with a double Axel but then took a hard fall on his quadruple toeloop. He recovered to execute a triple Lutz and fast spins and precise steps, earning a level three for the circular footwork. The two-time World Champion scored 70.20 points (34.00/37.20). “The start into the season is always hard for me”, Lambiel admitted. “I concentrated too much on my quad and put too much energy into it. So I overrotated my upper body (and fell). The reason was, I planned to do a double Axel today because in the last two weeks I have changed my preparation (set up) of the triple Axel. I still need to get used to this.”
Sergei Davydov (BLR) is currently ranked fourth at 68.69 points. He gave a clean performance that included a triple Axel, triple Lutz-triple toe and a triple flip. Shawn Sawyer (CAN) hit a triple flip-triple toe combination and a triple Lutz, but two-footed and underrotated his triple Axel to come in fifth (63.41 points). Alexander Uspenski (RUS) finished sixth. He missed his triple flip but landed a triple Axel and a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination (60.90).
Pairs, Free Skating
The first medals were awarded in the Pairs event. Qing Pang/Jian Tong of China skated to the gold and qualified for the Grand Prix Final. Keauna McLaughlin/Rockne Brubaker (USA) claimed the silver in what was their first senior Grand Prix event. The bronze went to Canada’s Jessica Miller/ Ian Moram, who stood for the first time on the podium at a Grand Prix event.
Pang/Tong produced a big triple twist, a throw triple Salchow and loop as well as strong lifts in their routine set to “Romeo and Juliet” by Nino Rota, but they struggled with the solo jumps. Tong underrotated the triple toe and stepped out of it and the jump was downgraded. He also singled the second jump in the side by side double Axel-double Axel sequence.  The 2006 World Champions earned 111.27 points (55.59 element score/55.58), thus improving their seasonal best and racked up a total of 176.75 points. “This was as mediocre performance. We’ve made a lot of changes to our free program since Skate America, and we still don’t feel so comfortable with the program”, Pang told the post-event press conference.
McLaughlin/Brubaker also had chosen “Romeo and Juliet” as their theme, but they picked the classical ballet version by Sergei Prokofiev. The reigning World Junior Champions opened their dynamic program with a high triple twist, but then had to overcome a few errors. She fell on the throw triple Salchow (which was downgraded) and he aborted the following lift prematurely. They also missed the side by side triple Salchow – she fell, while he stumbled. The team showed a solid double Axel and two difficult Lasso lifts that both were graded a level four. The Americans also received a level four for both spins and collected 95.44 points (49.52/47.92) which added up to 154.66 overall. “Obviously we struggled in the free skate. I think nerves played a little bit of a factor. It’s wonderful that we were able to come out second and it’s great to medal. Sometimes you learn more from the harder skates, the skates that you have to struggle through and I think it will be good going into NHK (their second Grand Prix assignment) knowing what to expect”, Brubaker explained.
Miller/Moram risked the quad throw Salchow and he fell on both solo jumps, but they
completed a double twist, a throw triple loop and two level-four lifts. The Canadians scored 86.84 points (46.72/43.12) and defended their third place with a total of 137.30 points. “Being third after the short was definitely something new for us. I think that played a little bit of a role in our skate today. It may not be the free skate that we wanted but we definitely take the result and we’re extremely happy”, Moram said.
Yue Zhang/Lei Wang (CHN) were fourth in their first international competition at the senior level (126.78 points) and Jiaqi Li/Jiankun Xu (CHN) finished fifth (125.08 points).
Pang/Tong pocketed 15 points in Harbin and are now qualified for the Grand Prix Final with 28 points. McLaughlin/Brubaker got 13 points and will compete at the NHK Trophy, where they’ll meet the Chinese again, who were assigned to the competition as their additional event. Miller/Moram took 11 points and will skate again next week at the Trophee Bompard in Paris, France. |
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