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2007 NHK Trophy - Figure Skating HighlightsCompulsory Dance and Pairs ShortNov 29, 2007
The sixth and final qualifying event of the 2007-08 ISU Grand Prix Series continues with the NHK Trophy which is being held Nov. 29 - Dec. 2 in Sendai, Japan at the Sendai City Gymnasium. Approximately 57 skaters from 18 different countries are competing for points and global prize monies totaling $180,000 in U.S. dollars. The points will go toward qualification for the Grand Prix Final in which the top six competitors from each discipline will be invited to compete for a total purse of $272,000 U.S. dollars. The Grand Prix Final of Figure Skating will be held Dec. 13-16, 2007, in Torino, Italy. The competition kicked off on Nov. 29 with the Compulsory Dance. Ice Dance (Compulsory Dance)The Compulsory Dance (CD) for this event was the Argentine Tango. The dance was invented by Reginald J. Wilkie and Daphne B. Wallis and was first performed in 1934 at the Westminster Ice Rink in London, England. Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France placed first in the CD, followed by Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and Russia's Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski. Delobel and Schoenfelder displayed strong edges in their refined tango, earning 38.96 (19.94/19.02) points. The team was happy with their performance. "There were quite a few people in the audience for the compulsories," Delobel commented, "and it was nice to compete for them." When asked about their current lead, Delobel responded: "We'll just stay relaxed and we'll do what we want to do. Each part of the competition is separate and we're trying to show our best in each part." Virtue and Moir produced a polished performance despite the fact that it's the first time they performed the Argentine Tango in international competition. They earned them 34.67 (17.36/17.31) points for a second place finish. The Canadian silver medalist felt it went very well. "It was similar to how we were training it at home," said Moir, "and we're looking to build on that for our performance tomorrow." Virtue loves the passion of the tango and claimed that it's one of her favorite dances. Khokhlova and Novitski, earned 34.23. (17.42/16.81) points for their strong and expressive tango, and are currently close on the heels of the Canadians by less than half a point. "We skated quite well I think," said Khokhlova. "We didn't have a long break (since Trophée Bompard two weeks ago), but we still tried to prepare as well as we could." The Argentine tango was also a first for the Russian silver medalists, who claimed they were not phased in the least. "This is one of the easier and older dances," commented Khokhlova. Great Britain's Sinead Kerr and John Kerr and Kristin Fraser and Igor Lukanin of Azerbaijan are currently in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Pairs (Short Program)Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy place first in the short program with a comfortable lead ahead of Ukrainians Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov. Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison of Canada are currently in third. Savchenko and Szolkowy delivered a strong and intense routine to music from the Asoka soundtrack, earning a new personal best of 70.32 (39.92/30.40) points. The German champions opened with a throw triple flip which received a +1.40 for Grade of Execution (GoE), followed by an good triple twist and solid side-by-side triple toeloops. They also produced good spins, as well as a level four Axel lift and backward-inside death spiral. "Our program today was much better than last week in Moscow (Cup of Russia)," noted Szolkowy. "We still had a few small mistakes in the elements and there are things left to work on. For tomorrow we want to skate a clean program and want to show what we do in training." Volosozhar and Morozov earned a new personal best of 60.14 points (34.62/25.52) points with their routine to Peter Gabriel's The Feeling Begins. The Ukrainian champions produced a very good throw triple loop, a level two triple twist, and a level four lift, but judges deemed that their opening side-by-side triple toeloops were not flawless, giving them a negative GoE (-.20). The team also only received a level one on their death spiral and pair combination spin. The team felt their skate went quite well despite a few mistakes. "There is room for improvement," acknowledged Volosozhar. The team has been working with choreographer Nikolai Morozov (no relation to Stanislav) since May. "The first three months we basically worked on skating skills and footwork," Volosozhar shared. Dube and Davison had a nearly flawless skate, but Dube fell on a throw triple Salchow and the team lost a bit of unison on their side-by-side spin. The Canadian champions otherwise delivered a level four Axel lift and a solid throw triple loop, earning 58.16 (32.92/26.24) points for their routine to Gino D'Auri's Galicia Flamenco. While this is a non-scoring event for the team, they felt it was their weakest performance since competing at Skate America at the beginning of the season. "I think we're going to learn from that," said Dube. "We can't always skate perfect. It was a little bit shaky. For tomorrow we're just looking to reverse all that and have a good performance and up our speed and our performance level." USA's Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker are currently in fourth with 55.66 (31.98/24.68) points after their routine to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. The 2007 Cup of China silver medalists opened with a good level three backward-inside death spiral, but McLaughlin stepped out of (and put her hand down) on the landing of her jump in the side-by-side triple Salchows. While the team produced a good level four lift, McLaughlin fell on a throw triple loop and the team lost unison during their side-by-side combinatination spin. Canada's Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay are in a close fifth with 54.24 (30.80/23.44) points. The event continues with the Original Dance, the Pairs Long Program, and the Ladies Short Program. |
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