NHK Trophy, Day 3
01 Dec 2007 14:47
The NHK Trophy in Sendai, Japan went on Saturday with the Free Dance, the Men’s Short Program and the Ladies Free Skating. The NHK Trophy is the sixth and last event of the 2007/2008 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating and held for the first time in Sendai. The skaters compete for 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). Skaters are vying for the last open spots for the Final at NHK Trophy.
Men, Short Program
Today’s competition kicked off with the Men’s Short Program. Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic skated to the lead with Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi following as a close second. Stephen Carriere finished third.
Skating to “Melodie in Crepuscule” and “Gypsy Swing” Verner hit a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, a triple Axel and a triple Lutz. Once he had the jumps under his belt, he put a lot of energy in his footwork and interpretation, earning a level four for both the circular and straight line.（ 风车手和闪电臀果然有用~~~ ）Two of his spins were graded a level four as well, and the European silver medalist collected a new personal best of 78.15 points (42.00 element score/38.25 program component score). “I feel great right now, but I don’t want to talk too much, because I gave many interviews in Paris (Trophee Bompard) and then I didn’t skate well”, Verner explained. “After Paris, I just tried to forget about it and take the experience. I didn’t make any changes and my practices were just the same as before Paris”, he added, referring to his disappointing performances at Trophee Bompard.
Takahashi excited the crowd at Sendai City Gymnasium with his creative routine to a Hip Hop version of Swan Lake. He produced a triple flip-triple toe, triple Lutz, level-three footwork and got a level four for his change foot sit spin. However, the World silver medalist stumbled on his triple Axel and wobbled in his final spin. The suspense rose and the capacity crowd of over 4,000 went dead silent before the marks were announced: 77.89 points (39.64/38.25), just behind Verner. “I made an error on my triple Axel and on my spin, but the audience was behind me and my step sequence was better than at Skate America. There it was only a level one, now it was a level three. I didn’t change it, but I had more training, it was cleaner, had more edges”, Takahashi said.
Carriere opened his program set to “Stairway to Heaven” with an intricate circular step sequence (level three) followed by a triple Axel and a triple flip-double toeloop combination, but he stepped out of his triple Lutz. The 2007 World Junior Champion was awarded a level four for all his three spins and scored 67.85 points (35.40/32.45), slightly surpassing his previous personal best of 66.85 points. “Today was a bit bittersweet. The performance wasn’t what I wanted, I was a bit hesitant in some elements. I am really happy that I got a lot of (high) levels on my other elements. For tomorrow, I will definitely put everything aside and go all out”, the 18-year-old told the press. He also talked about getting injured in practice on Wednesday. “I fell on a double Axel, and the heel of my left skate went into the toe of my right foot. It went down and cut in between one of my toes. I had to get a couple of stitches. The cut is deep, but not really deep to severe any tendons. I am really thankful for that. It was kind of scary”, Carriere revealed, but added that he doesn’t feel bothered by the injury.
Yasuharu Nanri (JPN) is just 0.30 points away from the podium at 67.55. The Japanese delivered a strong performance to “Moonlight Sonata” and nailed a triple Axel and a triple flip-triple toe combination. Sergei Davydov (BLR) is sitting in fifth place (66.25 points). He also skated well, and only his triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination was shaky. Sergei Dobrin (RUS) landed a quadruple-triple toeloop combination but stumbled on his triple Axel to finish in sixth place (66.14 points).
Ice Dancing, Free Dance
The Ice Dancing event concluded with the Free Dance. Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder of France captured the title and their second gold medal on the Grand Prix circuit this year. Canadians Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir earned the silver, and Russia’s Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski claimed the bronze. All three medalists qualified for the Grand Prix Final.
Delobel/Schoenfelder produced a lyrical dance to “The Piano” soundtrack, telling the love story of a deaf woman and a hearing man. The European Champions produced a one-armed rotational lift, a curve-rotational lift, well synchronized twizzles and a difficult side by side step sequence. Their circular step sequence was graded a level three as was a serpentine lift, and their spin again was only a level two. The French received 96.91 points (49.10/47.81), which is a new seasonal best and were ranked second in the Free Dance. Overall they held on to first place at 197.54 points. “We are very happy with this competition. Our Free Dance was good for the moment, we just wanted to skate clean”, Schoenfelder commented. “The technical level of this competition was very high. We know of course that we still need to improve our technical elements, but I think we have a good program and we’ll be able to win the Original and Free Dance once we have the technical elements”, he added.
Virtue/Moir’s romantic Free Dance to “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” featured smooth step sequences and excellent lifts including a curve-rotational and straight line lift with changes of position for Virtue right on the music. The Canadians were awarded a level four for seven out of eight elements, only the final lift was graded a level three. Virtue/Moir got 100.18 points (52.90/47.8) and set a new personal best for themselves. They won the Free Dance but overall remained in second place at 196.89 points. “Tessa and I had a lot of fun out there on the tonight. We’ve been trying to show the connection in our skating and tried to take the elements one at a time. We felt like we did everything we can do this week. We had a really good OD and Free Program and hope to build on it going into our first Grand Prix Final”, Moir explained.
Khokhlova/Novitski put out a dynamic performance to “Night on Bald Mountain” and “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and completed impressive lifts that showed off Khokhlova’s flexibility as well as difficult steps and a dance combination spin with many different positions. The Muscovites earned a level four for all elements but for the circular step sequence (level three) to score 94.89 points (50.70/45.19), but received one deduction as Khokhlova slipped and fell in the ending pose. The Russian couple accumulated a total score of 186.96 points. “We are satisfied with how we skated today, we felt strong on the ice. We just had a little mistake at the end”, Khokhlova said. “Overall it felt easy to skate, easier than at our first Grand Prix event.”
Sinead Kerr/John Kerr (GBR) came in fourth with an interesting futuristic dance to “The Landing” by Engima (172.37 points). Kristin Fraser/Igor Lukanin (AZE) placed fifth. They skated to “Time to Say Goodbye” (162.15 points).
Delobel/Schoenfelder now advance to the Grand Prix Final with the maximum of 30 points after winning their two events. Virtue/Moir picked up 13 points in Japan and qualified for the first time for the Final with 28 points overall. Khokhlova/Novitski grabbed the last spot in the Final with 24 points.
Ladies, Free Skating
In what was a dramatic Ladies Free Skating, Carolina Kostner of Italy came out on top and ended a five-year-long streak of Japanese winners at NHK Trophy. Switzerland’s Sarah Meier took the silver medal, and Nana Takeda of Japan pulled up from fifth to capture the bronze.
Performing to “Dumsky Trio” by Antonin Dvorak, Kostner hit a triple flip-double toeloop combination, a triple Lutz (but fell on the double toe that she added for a combination), a triple Salchow and a double Axel-double toe, but she doubled her loop and singled her last Axel. The European Champion produced a level-four straight line footwork and earned a level four for the combination spin as well as a level three for two others spins. Kostner got 103.45 points (47.81 element score/56.64program component score) and finished second to Meier in the Free Skating, but defended her overnight lead at 164.69 points total. “I was not quite satisfied after the program, because I made many mistakes on my jumps, but I am happy with my spins and steps. I tried to be clean on them, and it was rewarded”, Kostner told the press. “Now I need to work on my jumps and to become more consistent and calm.” Asked about qualifying for the Grand Prix Final for the first time in her career, she answered: “It means a lot to me, because it will be held in my hometown (Torino). This was something we’ve worked for from the beginning of the season. It shows that we are on the right way.”
Meier’s program to “La Folia in Black” and “Red Autumn” by Tokuhide Niimi contained a triple Lutz-double toe-double loop combination, a triple Salchow and toeloop as well as three level-four spins, but she stumbled on a triple flip and doubled her second flip and Lutz. The European silver medalist scored 104.01 points (51.29/52.72) to win the Free Skating and to move up from third to second with 163.17 points. “I was very disappointed after my performance, because I wasn’t satisfied with my Free Program, but I am proud to be a medalist. After my last competition (Trophee Bompard), I have worked a lot on my spins and steps and improved my levels. Now I have to work more on the jumps, most of all on the flip”, the 23-year-old said.
Takeda gave an inspiring performance to “Otonal” and landed a big triple loop, two triple toes (one in combination with double toe), a triple Salchow, triple loop-double Axel sequence and showed strong spins, especially a beautiful position in her layback spin (level three). Her only mistake came when she went down on an underrotated triple flip. The 18-year-old earned 99.77 points (53.33/47.44), which was a new personal best for her, and pulled up two spots with a total score of 154.83 points. “I didn’t think that I would be able to medal here. I was ready to go home, when I found out that I won a medal, and I was shocked and surprised. Only when I stood on the podium and saw the flag going up, I realized that I had the bronze medal. I hope to skate well in the future to be able to step on to the podium again in a major competition like that”, Takeda commented.
World Champion Miki Ando (JPN), who stood in second place after the Short Program, slipped to fourth after a shaky performance with three falls (145.81 points). Laura Lepistö (FIN) finished 5th (145.58 points). Mai Asada (JPN) withdrew before the Ladies Free Skating citing high fever. She stood in 11th place following the Short Program.
Kostner secured 15 points with her win and qualified for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final with 26 points overall. Meier got 22 points from her two events and is the first alternate for the Final. Takeda earned 11 points in Sendai and collected 16 overall. Ando did not qualify and is the second alternate. |
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