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2008 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships - HighlightsCompulsory Dance; Pairs and Men's Short Program
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The 2008 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships are being held Feb. 13-17 in Goyang City, Republic of Korea at the Seongsa Ice Rink. It is the third time since 2002 that the Republic of Korea has hosted this event. Approximately 99 skaters from 16 different countries are competing in Goyang City.
The ISU will be awarding prize money totaling $350,000 to skaters and couples that place first through 12th. In addition, the top three skaters and couples per discipline having earned the most World Standing points during the 2007-08 season, will be awarded with a World Standings Bonus.
Following a decision of the 51st Ordinary Congress of the ISU in June 2006, no Qualifying Rounds will be held. All skaters/couples will compete in the Short Program, and the top 24 will advance to the Free Skate.
The competition kicked off on Feb. 13 with the Compulsory Dance and the Pairs and Men's Short Program.
The Compulsory Dance (CD) of the event was the Yankee Polka, which consists of two sequences and was created by James Sladky, Judy Schwomeyer and Ron Ludington. It was first performed in 1969.
Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are the leaders after the CD, followed by USA's Meryl Davis and Charlie White and Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre. All three teams earned a seasonal best in this dance.
Canada's Tessa Virtue, 18, and Scott Moir, 20, currently lead the field after the Compulsory Dance (Yankee Polka). |
Virtue (18) and Moir (20) showed very good edges and excellent character in their dance, earning 38.22 points (20.07/18.15) points.
The team says coming in as the "favorites" at this event, was a different feeling compared to that at Nationals.
"I suppose we had that a little bit at Nationals," admitted Virtue. "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."
The Canadian champions were spotted having an intense discussion with coach Marina Zueva in the "Kiss and Cry" area after their skate, but it had nothing to do with the CD itself.
"Marina is always continuing to teach us and we're always learning," explained Moir. "We're such a young team, so we're trying to get as much experience as possible in the next couple of years. We're taking each moment to learn as much as possible. I think the Yankee Polka went well today. We're very happy with it. We're learning how to compete with pressure and against of some of the best teams of the world, and we're trying to break that barrier into the top three."
Davis (21) and White (20), who skated with good speed, are less than a point behind with 37.36 (19.48/17.88) points.
"We definitely like the Polka," said White, "and we didn't get a chance to compete it at either of our Grand Prixs. I think we performed well and I'm glad we got a new season's best."
"I don't think it was actually our season's best," countered Davis. "I think we could do a better Polka, but it felt pretty good. [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."
Teammates Navarro (26) and Bommentre (23), who have been working on the Polka with one of its creators, Ron Ludington, earned 34.36 (18.31/16.05) points.
"We're really happy," said Bommentre. "That was a season's best for us. It was really solid."
"This being the last Polka of the year, we wanted to do the best Polka ever," added Navarro. "It was a lot better than it was two weeks ago [at Nationals]. It will be sad not to do it 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."
USA's Jennifer Wester and Daniil Barantsev are currently in fourth with 30.95 points. "I'm happy with how we performed," said Wester. "Nationals was rough, so here we were both happy after the first sequence when there were no uncharacteristic errors (like at Nationals). This is my first big international (competition). It was a lot of fun. I was more nervous, but it was a nice change of pace."
Barantsev used to represent Russia six years ago with former partner Natalia Romaniuta. Together, they took the World Junior title in 2001. "It's nice to come back and to see all the people I know," he said, adding that he's never competed at Four Continents before. "A lot of people remember me from when I was skating for Russia. It's just a lot of fun to be at the big championships and I forgot how much fun it was."
Canada's Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje are in a close fifth with 30.94 points. The team admitted to working a great deal on their unison, edges, technical aspects, and showmanship. "We're proud of how far we've come this year," said Weaver."
"We've been working a lot on this compulsory dance just trying to make it more mature and get new feeling on it," added Poje. "I think we improved it a lot. It was more of a challenge for us, but we kind of overcame that by working a lot."
Teammates Allie Hann-McCurdy and Michael Coreno are in sixth place with 29.73 points, have experience with this CD as they skated it at Skate Canada and Canadian Nationals.
"[This is] the best we've skated," said Coreno, "so the marks kind of reflect that. We've never been to Four Continents. This is our first year on the Four Continents team and our first year on the World team."
"It's always good when the marks go up with the improvement of the performance," added Hann-McCurdy. "I think that's a good start of the week for us."
Dan Zhang, 22, and Hao Zhang, 23, of China perform their Short Program to "Piano Fantasy". |
The Chinese lead the pairs with Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang in the front, followed by teammates Qing Pang and Jian Tong. USA's Rena Inoue and John Baldwin are currently in third place.
Dan Zhang (22) and Hao Zhang (23) produced a solid short to program to "Piano Fantasy" which earned them 70.45 (40.80/29.65) points.
"Overall we are quite pleased with today's performance," said Dan Zhang, "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."
The 2007-08 Grand Prix Final silver medalists opened with an outstanding triple twist, followed by a huge throw triple loop and good side-by-side triple toeloops. The team also delivered two good level 3 spins.
"Tomorrow's free skating will be a challenge for us," added Hao Zhang. "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."
Pang and Tong, both 28, earned a new personal best of 67.70 (39.21/28.49) points for their routine to O Doux Printemps d'Autrefois by Jules Massenet. Their quixotic program, in which all elements received positive Grades of Execution (GOE), featured solid side-by-side triple toeloops, an excellent throw triple loop, and a very good level 4 lift with a one-armed dismount.
"This was an okay performance," said Tong. "It went rather smoothly. 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."
Inoue (31) and Baldwin (34) opted for a safe throw triple loop in their energizing routine to Beethoven's Last Night by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The current bronze medalists also produced good side-by-side double Axels, a level 4 lift, and very good flying camel combination spins.
"I thought we skated really well," said Inoue. "I'm very satisfied with our performance. For a couple of elements we didn't get the level we wanted, so hopefully we can figure out why and what we did wrong. Hopefully by tomorrow for the long program we can fix it."
The team, which was touring during the Grand Prix season and didn't compete until last month at U.S. Nationals, earned 57.40 (31.86/25.54) points.
USA's Brooke Castile (21) and Benjamin Okolski (23) are currently fourth with 56.44 (32.13/24.31) points. The U.S. bronze medalist opened with a good pair combination spin, triple twist, and throw triple Salchow, but then Castile singled her jump on the side-by-side double Axels. She later had a bobble going into the side-by-side combination spin, which was subsequently graded a level 2.
"I'm not too happy," admitted Castile."One of my big goals for this competition was to do a good short."
"I just didn't do it," she continued, when asked about the popped Axel. "And you can't do that in the short program."
Jessica Miller (26) and Ian Moram (28) of Canada are currently in fifth with a new personal best of 54.88 (32.34/22.54) points. The 2007 Cup of China bronze medalists skated a fairly solid routine to Wayfering Pilgrim by Roy Buchanan, which included side-by-side double Axels, a throw triple loop, and a very good lift.
The Canadians had fun and felt relaxed throughout the program. "The best part for me was to be able to think between the elements," said Miller. "We were going for a personal best," added Moram, "but I didn't expect it to be that high, and I'm really excited about that."
The team plans to do a throw quadruple Salchow in the long. "It would be very weird to do it without it," said Miller. "It's a mental thing, that's what it all boils down to on the quad."
USA's Tiffany Vise and Derek Trent are in eighth place (45.82 points) after making costly mistakes. Trent fell on a triple toeloop and the team fell out of their death spiral when Trent put his hand down on the ice to keep from losing his balance.
"It was not a good skate," noted Trent. "It was messy, it was rushed. The rink was bigger and we were trying to fill it out and got behind the music. I don't think nerves had anything to do with it. My toeloop hasn't been good. I went for it and I missed it. The death spiral is a good element for us, so that was just a stupid mistake. It happens. We're just going for a good long tomorrow, that's all we can do."
Vise (22) and Trent (27) also plan to do a throw quadruple Salchow in the Free Skate.
China's Jiaqi Li and Jiankun Xu are currently in sixth with 53.26 points.
Japan's Daisuke Takahashi, 21, performs to a modern "hip-hop" version of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. |
Japan's Daisuke Takahashi is currently the leader after the Men's Short Program, with USA's Evan Lysacek and Canada's Jeffery Buttle trailing close behind.
Takahashi delivered an upbeat routine in which all of his jump elements were superior in quality. His triple flip-triple toeloop earned a GOE of +2.14, his triple Axel a +2.43, and his triple Lutz of a +1.85. All of the Japanese champion's elements received positive GOEs for that matter, including two level 4 spins and an excellent level 4 circular step sequence which drew loud cheers from the audience.
"It's all about the audience," explained the 21-year-old. "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."
In the end, Takahashi earned a new personal best of 88.57 (48.74/39.83) points for his impressive routine to a "hip-hop" version of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. "The short program was good for me," he added. "For the free skating, I hope to do two quads."
Lysacek placed second with a new personal best of 84.06 (46.06/38.00) points for his Zorro routine. The defending champion opened his program with a clean quadruple toeloop-triple toeloop combination, a triple Axel, and a triple Lutz. He also delivered an excellent level 4 flying sit spin, as well as very good level 3 circular and straightline footwork. Lysacek also earned positive GOEs on all of his elements, however, the judges weren't as generous with the points as they were with the leader.
"I've made a lot of improvements since Nationals," said the 22-year-old. "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. 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 drew lots of cheers when he took to the ice with his stirring program to Adios Nonino by Astor Piazzolla. The Canadian silver medalist opened with an excellent triple flip-triple toeloop, followed by a equally good triple Axel, but then two-footed the landing of his triple Lutz. Despite the mistake, he delivered three very good level 4 spins as well as good circular and straightline footwork, earning 83.85 (45.85/38.00) points for a third place finish.
"When I went on the ice I didn't feel my best," admitted the 25-year-old, "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. [The Lutz] went up a little bit weird, and it came down funny. It was as if I've never done a triple Lutz before. I thought I skated better at Canadians. The Axel here was much nicer. I upped the difficulty on one spin that probably helped the score."
Buttle, who has been struggling with his new short program this season, switched back to last year's Adios Nonino. "It was a tough decision," he said. "I didn't want to let go of it and I still actually do it in exhibitions. 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."
USA's Stephen Carriere turned out the landing on his opening triple Axel, but quickly recovered to land a triple flip-triple toeloop combination and triple Lutz. The current World Junior champion also produced three level 4 spins and good footwork to place fourth with a new personal best of personal best 74.08 (40.12/33.96) points.
"It was kind of weird," said Carriere. "It was like I didn't feel I was in my body – like I was just kind of out there doing it. I feel good, but I think the time change may be part of it. I took a nap earlier today and it was one of those naps that when you get up, you don't really feel any better."
Chengjiang Li of China is in fifth with 72.25 (38.78/33.47) points. The 2005 Four Continents silver medalist skated a clean program to The Yellow River which featured a quadruple toeloop-double toeloop, a triple Axel, and a triple loop.
"It was the best performance of the season," stated Li. "My other short programs this year didn't go too well. It didn't feel too hard to skate tonight. However, I'm feeling not so comfortable in general. I just want this to be over and to go home."
Canada's Vaughn Chipeur is currently in sixth place (70.83 points), after his routine to A Blues Concerto by Russo. The 23-year-old put his hand down on a triple Axel, but otherwise landed a triple flip-double toeloop combination and a triple Lutz.
"I feel pretty good about my performance," said Chipeur. "Obviously I would have liked to have the triple-triple (combination). It was probably the last time I performed this program so I went out there trying to make the most of it."
Chipeur, who is competing at this event for the first time, feels ready to be here. "It was nice to keep my season going after Nationals," he said. "I'm here with everything to gain and nothing to loose. It was a little hard to keep going after Nationals, because usually that's it and my season is over. But I knew that I was coming here and that was exciting and that motivated to keep training."
Takahiko Kozuka of Japan is currently in seventh place with 67.48 points. The Japanese silver medalist landed a good triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination, but fell out of the landing of a triple Axel.
"I'm very sad about missing my triple Axel," admitted the 18-year-old. "I felt tight on the jumps, but it was better afterwards. I won't try the quad in the free skating, but I want to do my triple-triple combinations and my goal is to land all my jumps successfully."
USA's Jeremy Abbott sits in ninth (60.87 points) after falling on a quadruple toeloop attempt and a triple Lutz.
The U.S. bronze medalist was extremely disappointed.
"I've been training really well before nationals, and after Nationals, leading up to this event," said Abbott. "I had somewhat of a breakthrough on my program at Nationals. As anybody who's been following my season knows, I kind of had disastrous short programs all season and I had to claw my way back."
" The long is a whole other program and a whole other day," the 22-year-old continued. "I love my short program. I love it to death – it's so much fun, but I feel I have an easier time connecting with my long."
The event continues with the Original Dance, Pairs Long Program, and the Ladies Short Program.
