ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Day 1
13 Feb 2008 16:26
The 2008 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships opened Wedensday in Goyang, the Republic of Korea with the Compulsory Dance, the Pairs and Men’s Short Programs. 97 skaters/couples from 16 ISU members are competing in the Championships.
Ice Dancing, Compulsory Dance
The ice dancers started today’s competition with the Compulsory Dance, the Yankee Polka. Although the Polka is a bouncy dance, the basic principle of stroking and effortless flow must be adhered to. The partners must remain close together to minimize the whipping action generated by the short precise steps and rapid turning movements. The Yankee Polka was invented by James Sladky, Judy Schwomeyer and Ron Ludington. It was first performed in 1969.
Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir of Canada danced to the lead followed by two U.S. couples, Meryl Davis/Charlie White and Kimberly Navarro/Brent Bommentre. All three couples achieved a new seasons best in the Polka.
Virtue/Moir edged out their training mates Davis/White by less than one point. The Canadians put out a characteristic and strong Yankee Polka to score a new seasonal best of 38.22 points (20.07 element score/18.15 program component score). “It’s a different feeling. I suppose we had that a little bit at Nationals”, Virtue commented when asked how it felt to enter this event as the favourites. “There is always pressure, the teams are amazing, and we know that we have to skate well and have to lay down three solid performances. It’s certainly not a comfortable position and we are well aware who is coming up behind us. We’re just trying to do our best and skate like we’ve been training.”
Davis/White gave a solid performance of the Yankee Polka as well and also achieved a new seasonal best with 37.36 points (19.48/17.88). “I don’t think it was actually our seasons best. I think we could do a better Polka, but it felt pretty good”, Davis commented. “(We can improve) our unison and being much more together and I think that we can make it much more powerful. We want to get as much experience as we can in the season going into Worlds. Four Continents is a great place to get out there one last time before you compete at Worlds”, she continued.
Navarro/Bommentre, who had been working on the Polka with one of its creators, Ron Ludington, earned 34.36 points (18.31/16.05) to finish third. “This being the last Polka of the year, we wanted to do the best Polka ever. It was a lot better than it was two weeks ago (at Nationals)”, Navarro said. “It will be sad not to do it (the Polka) again this year. This is the first dance we competed at Nationals together a couple of seasons ago, so it’s fun to do it again as we have some history with it. We got to work with Ron Ludington (one of the creators of the dance) on it in Delaware, that’s always fun. He has all sorts of special advice and secret tricks.”
Jennifer Wester/Daniil Barantsev (USA) are currently sitting in fourth at 30.95 points, just 0.01 points ahead of Canada’s Kaitlin Weaver/Andrew Poje (30.94). Allie Hann-McCurdy/Michael Coreno (CAN) round up the top six (29.73 points).
Pairs, Short Program
Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang of China grabbed the lead in the Pairs Short Program with their teammates Qing Pang/Jian Tong and Rena Inoue/John Baldwin (USA) coming in second and third.
Skating to “Piano Fantasy”, Zhang/Zhang delivered a flawless program that included a triple twist, a throw triple loop, a side by side triple Salchow as well as a difficult lasso lift. The 2006 Olympic silver medalists were awarded a level four for their pair combination spin and a level three for their side by side spin and the death spiral. The Chinese picked up 70.45 points (40.80 element score/29.65 program component score). “Overall we are quite pleased with today’s performance, but we were a little bit tired. We did a lot of competitions this season and so we felt tired in the second half of the program”, Dan Zhang told the press. “Tomorrow’s free skating will be a challenge for us. As Dan said we’re a little tired from our previous competitions plus I also changed my boots just two weeks ago and I’m not yet so comfortable skating with them”, Hao Zhang added.
Pang/Tong opened their romantic routine to “O Doux Printemps d’Autrefois” with a solid side by side triple toeloop, a triple twist and throw triple loop. Their Axel Lasso, their death spiral and their side by side spin were all graded a level four by the Technical Panel. The reigning World silver medalists scored 67.70 points (39.21/28.49), slightly improving their previous personal best. “This was an okay performance. It went rather smoothly”, Tong said. “I had back pain last night after practice so we didn’t come this morning (to practice). Our goal is to improve with each competition that we are doing”, he explained.
Inoue/Baldwin hit a double Axel, a throw triple loop, a double twist and a level-four Axel Lasso lift in their dynamic program to “Beethoven’s Last Night”. However, their pair combination spin received only a level one. The current Four Continents bronze medalists scored 57.40 points (31.86/25.54). “I thought we skated really well. I’m very satisfied with our performance. For a couple of elements we didn’t get the level we wanted to get. So hopefully we can figure it out why it happened and what we did wrong. Hopefully by tomorrow for the long program we can fix it”, Inoue said. “We just took a break from competing”, Baldwin answered when asked why the couple sat out the Grand Prix events last fall. “We were still skating, we were touring from April and we came back home on January 7 and then just decided to get ready for our US Nationals, because we miss the feeling of satisfaction you have after a good performance. We wanted to get ready and face that challenge.”
Brooke Castile/Benjamin Okolski (USA) came in fourth. They produced a triple twist and a throw triple Salchow, but she singled the side by side Axel (56.44 points). Jessica Miller/Ian Moram (CAN) were fifth with 54.88 points. They landed a side by side double Axel, a throw triple loop and a double twist. Jiaqi Li/Jiankun Xu (CHN) are sitting in sixth place. They hit a big throw triple loop, but their triple twist and their side by side triple toeloops were shaky (53.26 points).
Men, Short Program
Daisuke Takahashi of Japan skated to the lead in what was an exciting Men’s Short Program. Evan Lysacek (USA) and Canada’s Jeffrey Buttle finished second and third. All of them achieved a new seasonal best score.
Takahashi put out an inspiring performance of his popular “Swan Lake” hip hop version short program, hitting a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, an excellent triple Axel and a triple Lutz out of footwork. The crowd cheered for his spectacular footwork sequences that were graded a level four for the circular and a level three for the straight line. The reigning World silver medalist also earned a level four for his change foot sit spin and his combination spin. He racked up a new personal best score of 88.57 points (48.74/39.83). “It’s all about the audience. They make me go faster, they are excited and I’m feeding off their energy. The highlight of the program is the footwork for me, because I feel like a true dancer when I’m doing it. The short program was good for me. For the free skating, I hope to do two quads”, the 21-year-old said.
Skating to “The Mask of Zorro”, Lysacek gave a powerful performance as well that included a quad-triple toeloop combination, a triple Axel and a triple Lutz. His fast paced footwork drew extra applause, and the defending Four Continents Champion was awarded a level three for both step sequences. He also had a level four for two of his spins and scored 84.06 points (46.06/38.00), surpassing his previous personal best of 81.55 points. “I’ve made a lot of improvements since Nationals. I went home and trained in a more relaxed environment. I felt a lot better tonight and I think I was kind of able to go on muscle memory and not try to make it happen quite so much”, Lysacek told the press. “At Nationals I knew there was a lot riding on it and there was a lot of stress on me, so to be able to come here and just have a more chill environment is just kind of a pleasure for me.”
Buttle landed a triple flip-triple toeloop combination followed by a strong triple Axel and produced three level-four spins in his expressive program set to “Adios Nonino” by Astor Piazzolla. Only his triple Lutz was wobbly. The two-time Four Continents Champion collected 83.85 points (45.85/38.00). “When I went on the ice I didn’t feel my best, but at home (in practice) sometimes I don’t feel my best either. I went out there, the jumps felt great, the Lutz was a little shaky. I have no idea what happened. It went up a little bit weird, and it came down funny. It was as if I’ve never done a triple Lutz before”, the Olympic silver medallist said. He had switched back to last year’s Short Program after struggling with his new program earlier this season. “It was a tough decision. I didn’t want to let go of it and I still actually do it in exhibitions”, he added. “I was blown away by how receptive the audience was. I was a little bit tired this evening and my warm up went really poorly, and the Korean audience was very supportive. I’ve had some great success here in Korea, my first Four Continents Championships was here and I won them. It was a huge surprise, maybe that’s why my popularity here in Korea began.”
World Junior Champion Stephen Carriere (USA) came in fourth at 74.08 points. He did a three turn out of his triple Axel, but landed the triple flip-triple toe combination and the triple Lutz. Chengjiang Li (CHN) produced a quad-double toeloop combination and a triple Axel to finish fifth (72.25 points). Vaughn Chipeur (CAN) is currently ranked sixth with 70.83 points. He put down a hand on his triple Axel, but the rest of the performance went well. |
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显身卡
CD那镜头给的真是，放VM的时候老是把脚给切了，这还怎么看
我们家evan的4-3是越来越稳定了
