ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2008 - Gothenburg - Day 1
18 Mar 2008 21:36
Teunis Versluis
© Teunis Versluis
The 2008 ISU World Figure Skating Championships opened Tuesday in the Scandinavium Arena in Gothenburg, Sweden with the Compulsory Dance and the Pairs Short Program. 8569 spectators attended the event today. A record number of 203 skaters/couples from 48 ISU members have been entered for the World Championships. Puerto Rico is represented for the first time at ISU World Championships with one entry in the Ladies division. The World Championships return to Sweden for the first time in 32 years. Gothenburg hast hosted World Championships once before in 1976. Overall, Sweden has hosted World Championships seven times before in Stockholm in 1947, 1934, 1922, 1909, 1905, 1901 and 1897.
Ice Dancing, Compulsory Dance
The ice dancers opened the competition with the Compulsory Dance. The Compulsory Dance drawn for the World Championships was the Argentine Tango.
Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder of France danced to the lead followed by Canada’s Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir and Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski (RUS). Delobel/Schoenfelder gave a strong performance of the Tango, showing off deep edges and excellent unison. They earned 40.73 points (20.79 element score/19.94 program component score). “We wanted to have fun here and enjoy (the competition)”, Delobel said. “It was a good compulsory dance, we wanted to show a special interpretation to make the dance more interesting. We are happy with the marks”, her partner added.
Virtue/Moir had drawn to skate next to last out of the 31 couples and turned in a characteristic Argentine Tango to score 38.71 points (20.00/18.71). Khokhlova/Novitski came in third with a new season’s best of 37.98 points (19.52/18.46)
Reigning World bronze medalists Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto (USA) are standing in fifth place after she fell in the second segment of the second sequence on a turn (35.02 points).
Pairs, Short Program
The competition continued with the Pairs Short Program. In what was a competition at high level, Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang of China captured the lead ahead of Germany’s Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy and Yuko Kawaguchi/Alexander Smirnov (RUS).
Zhang/Zhang turned in an excellent performance of their dynamic “Piano Fantasy” by Maksim Mrvica.  胡说些什么啊，明明是by William Joseph，严重侵权！ The reigning Grand Prix Final silver medalists produced a huge triple twist, a side by side triple Salchow, a throw triple loop and a level-four pair combination spin. The Chinese posted a new personal best of 74.36 points (43.50 element score/30.86 program component score). They also set a new record for the Short Program score by surpassing Savchenko/Szolkowy’s 72.14 points from the Grand Prix Final in December. “We beat out personal best. The most important thing is still to come, the free skating. The crowd here was just great. We are always hoping to give a good performance for the crowd”, Hao Zhang said. He had surgery just shortly before Worlds to remove a furuncle from his left leg. “The surgery was very unpleasant”, he revealed. “Overall it (the injury, surgery, recovery) took two weeks and then we came here directly.”
Savchenko/Szolkowy, who had drawn to skate first out of the 21 couples, started well into their exotic “Asoka” routine with a high throw triple flip and a triple twist. But Savchenko stumbled on the side by side triple toe. The European Champions recovered to complete a difficult Axel Lasso lift and received a level four for their spins and a level three for the step sequence. They scored 72.00 points (40.75/31.25).
Kawaguchi/Smirnov turned in a solid performance to “Rondo Carpiccioso” by Camille Saint-Saens that featured a strong side by side triple toeloop, a triple twist and a throw triple loop. The European bronze medalists got a level four for their side by side spin and the pair spin. Kawaguchi/Smirnov picked up a new personal best of 71.42 points (42.28/29.14) to finish third. |
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