|
|
|
|
2007 Skate America - Figure Skating HighlightsCompulsory Dance, Pairs Short, and Men's ShortOct 27, 2007
Skate America is the first of six events of the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix (GP) series and is being held at the Sovereign Center, Oct. 26-28, in Reading, Penn. Approximately 57 skaters from 13 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 of Figure Skating 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 skaters were seeded and invited for the six GP events according to the results of the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships. Competitors who finished first through sixth place in each discipline are considered seeded and are assigned to two GP events by drawing, while those who placed seventh through 12th, are invited. Should one of the top six from 2007 Worlds retire or opt out of the GP, then the next highest ranked skater becomes seeded. Next priority is given to skaters who achieved a seasonal best score which was equal to or better than those who placed seventh through 12th at the ISU World Championships 2007. If vacancies still remain, then competitors who placed 13th and below at the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships are selected in order of placement. Pair teams can compete in a third event if there is an open slot, however, it is considered "non-scoring" in terms of points. Prize money still applies according to placements. The Grand Prix Final will be held Dec. 13-16, 2007, in Torino, Italy. Skate America kicked off on Oct. 26 with the Compulsory Dance. Ice Dance (Compulsory Dance)
The Compulsory Dance (CD) of the event was the Austrian Waltz, which consists of two sequences and was created by the Austrian brother-and-sister team of Susi and Peter Handschmann. It was first performed in 1979. U.S. Champions Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto skated like World Championship contenders, finishing in first place and easily outdistancing their competitors with a score of 36.03 points. Skating last of the ten couples under the new ISU ’s start order-by-world ranking rule, the two-time and reigning World bronze medalists displayed deep edges that seemingly melted the ice around their sure-footed blades. The Austrian Waltz is known as one of the most difficult compulsories and has been a challenge to the duo that is making their season debut in this event. It is characterized by elegance of line combined with the typical lightness of the Viennese Waltz. It should be performed with strongly curved edges, bending of the skating knee and wide extended movements of the arms and free legs while maintaining a soft flow throughout the waltz. "Compulsories are like piano scales," described Agosto. "There are no short cuts. You get better with repetition, and Tanith and I feel like it is finally coming together for us." "The dance felt really strong," added Belbin. We tried to make a lot of improvement to the tightness of our positioning and extensions. The greatest critique we can have at this point is – it can be more waltz. It was a little conservative, but it was very solid. It was a good start." Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France scored a new personal best of 34.56 points for a second place finish. The French silver medalists exhibited strong body lines complimented by willowy upper bodies that captured the feel of the waltz rhythm. The team, who earned bronze at last year’s event in Hartford, Conn., hope to improve on that placement. "We are happy with our position," declared Bourzat. "Now we will work to keep it." In third place are the always-entertaining Italian team of Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali. The two-time Olympians skated with a light-hearted lilt to their steps and a new confidence, earning a score 31.43 points for third place. While they are in a medal position, the Italian champions will need to keep a peripheral eye over their shoulders and focused on the Azerbaijani team of Kristen Fraser and Igor Lukanin who finished just .24 of a point behind (31.19 points). The American team of Meryl Davis and Charlie White placed a disappointing fifth place (30.16 points), but are better known for their difficult programs later in the competition. Teammates and local favorites Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre are currently in sixth place. Pairs (Short Program)
In a small field of competitors, Canadians Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison took the lead after the short despite skating an error-laden program. The tandem barely edged out top-seeded Qing Pang and Jian Tong of China, who also had a disappointing skate. Performing to Galicia Flamenco by Gino D'Auri, Dube stepped out of the opening side-by-side triple Salchows and later put a hand down on a throw triple loop. However, the team earn positive grades of execution for their split double twist with a lutz entry, a lift, and two spins. Despite the mistakes, the Canadian champions earned superior levels on many of their other elements which allowed them to slip past the Chinese by .48 of a point with a new personal best of 60.80 points. "Our goal coming out was to hit the mark of 60 points, explained Davison, "so we were pretty happy with it. It wasn't perfect. We had a couple shaky spots, but overall we are happy with what we did." Until now, the Canadians were mostly known as the team that had the horrific accident at last year's Four Continents Championships when Davison's blade sliced Dube's face during a side-by-side spin. Fully recovered from the accident, Dube's only reminder of the accident, physical or mental, is a faint scar stretching from her nose to midway on her cheek. "Every time I have an injury and get back from it, I put it to the side and move forward to the next thing," Dube shared. "So I guess it is what I always strive to do with everything that happens to me so that I can just do my job." Absent from Pang and Tong's program was their trademark power and speed that historically has carried them through to great scores in the short program. After an uncharacteristic step-out on the opening side-by-side triple toeloops by Tong, the duo executed their high flying split triple twist from a lutz entry that earned high grades of execution but only a level one in difficulty. The program began to noticeably slow down after that, perhaps in part to the sedate music selection of Massenet's O Doux Printemps d'Autrefois, but mostly because the team suffered from fatigue after having arrived late to the competition. "We just arrived yesterday at 4 o'clock," explained Tong. "We are very tired, and so today it was not good." In addition to their split twist, Pang and Tong earned level one grades of execution for their circular steps and combination spin, which added to their scoring woes and allowed the Canadians to slip by for the victory. It should be noted, however, that the Chinese team's group 5 Axel lasso lift was the highest scoring element of the competition (7.60 points). The current World silver medalists currently sit in a very close second with 60.32 points. In third place and skating to an elegant program to Francis Lai's Love Story, were Russia's Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov. The pair, who is making their Grand Prix debut at this event, skated with the traditional elegance and classical style reminiscent of many of the former Russian Olympic Champions. In doing so, Bazarova and Larionov won the hearts of the audience with the only clean program of the evening. Though the elements were beautiful to look at, the 2007 Junior World silver medalists earned only level one grades of execution (GoE) on three different elements for a personal best score of 56.76. "What we did today for this competition was okay," proclaimed Larionov through an interpreter. "We did everything our coach told us to do." But the team understands that they need to execute more difficult elements to be more competitive on the senior level. "Our coach told us not to try more than we can do and not attempt what we could not," admitted Larionov. "We are happy with that." Finishing in a distant forth place were Americans Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig who skated an innovative, yet almost impossible program to Stray Cat Strut, earning a new personal best score of 46.18 points despite two deductions. The 2007 Nebelhorn Trophy bronze medalists, who train in Florida, opened with a flawed split triple twist from a lutz entry, but immediately went into their group 5 Axel lasso lift which earned a level 4 from the Technical Specialist. Evora completed the revolutions on an attempted throw triple Lutz, but lost the edge on the landing, and the team transitioned directly into a downgraded set of side-by-side triple Salchows that finished with Ladwig's behind landing on the ice. Even with those mistakes, the program was a crowd pleaser that demonstrated a high level of attention to detail. This enabled Evora and Ladwig to stay ahead of teammates Meeran Trombley and Laureano Ibarra who are currently fifth (45.48 points). Trombley and Ibarra, in just their second season together, were a late replacement to the event to fill in for Naomi Nari Nam and Themistocles Leftheris who withdrew due to injury. U.S. pairs champions Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski also withdrew from the event due to a foot injury. "They are very upset that they will not be able to compete at Skate America and Skate Canada, but they will be healthy and ready to go for the U.S. Championships," said coach Johnny Johns. Men's (Short Program)
The most anticipated match-up of the first day of men's competition ended up being closer than expected, but between different competitors. Initially, it was thought that this event would provide the backdrop for a fantastic show-down between Japan's Daisuke Takahashi and current U.S. Champ Evan Lysacek. In reality, though, Takahashi ran away with the short program by skating a technically superior and highly entertaining program to a hip-hop version of Swan Lake, bettering Lysacek's score by more than 12 points. The true match-up now seems to be between Lysacek, Canada's Patrick Chan, France's Alban Preaubert, Russia's Andrei Lutai, and USA's Steven Carriere, who placed 2nd through 6th respectively. They are all separated by less than one point. Takahashi skated a clean-as-a-whistle program complete with a triple Axel, triple flip-triple toeloop combination, and a triple lutz out of footwork. The current World silver medalist's clean and interesting entrances and exits into each element earned him positive GoEs on each of the eight required elements. The highlight of the program was the audience-pleasing step sequences in which the 21-year-old combined skating elements and hip-hop dance elements. "I went to hip-hop dance classes in Manhattan for two months to prepare for this program," explained Takahashi. Still, the current World silver medalist believes that his program could still use some work. "Today's performance was not bad for me," declared Takahashi. "My spins need to be fixed, but for the first time competing this short program, I am happy. Being second [at Worlds] gave me a lot of confidence. I wanted to skate like a medalist here." Lysacek opened his Mask of Zorro program with a hard fall on the first half of a quadruple toe-triple toe combination that was downgraded to a failed triple jump by the Technical Specialist. Skating in his trademark black in a costume designed by fashionista Alexander McQueen, the two-time and current Four Continents champion skated the rest of his program with gusto and earned positive GoEs on each of the remaining seven required elements. The 22-year-old later shared with the press that he will not be wearing black for his freeskate - a first since the 2003-04 season. Lysacek finished second with 67.70 points - which probably resulted from not completing a combination jump that would have likely placed him within striking distance of Takahashi. "I lost a lot of points with the quad because it was counted as a triple," explained Lysacek. "I think that I executed the rest of the elements pretty well. I'm working hard, and I'm trying to take steps forward and grow as an athlete." In third place is Chan, the reigning Junior World Championship Silver Medalist, who landed his first triple Axel in competition tonight to earn him a personal best 67.47 points. Skating to music from the Chinese soundtrack The Banquet, the 16-year-old's lone mistake was doubling the back half of his planned triple flip-triple toeloop combination, but his youthful excitement pulled the crowd into his performance which allowed him to recover quickly. "I was very happy with the triple Axel today," gushed Chan. "The spins were a bit shaky for me, but I know that I can fix that with practice." Frenchman Preaubert is the comedian of figure skating, and did not disappoint on this night. In skating to music from The Addams Family soundtrack, Preaubert was able to hide his flaws in posture and skating basics with a talented blend of tongue-in-cheek choreography and technically difficult jumping passes. Though the 2006 Skate America bronze medalist landed four clean triples in his short program, he did not score as well on the other elements in his program - earning mostly level ones and twos - which was just enough to keep him behind Chan in the standings despite more difficult technical content. Russian silver medalist Lutai performed a triple Axel, a quadruple toe-double toe combination, and a triple loop to finish in 5th place with the second highest technical marks of the night. However, his program component scores were significantly lower as he focused most of his energy on executing the jumps. In sixth place in his first senior GP event, Carriere skated a pleasant program to music by Led Zeppelin with a personal best score of 66.85 points. Though he, like Chan, doubled the back half of his combination jump, Carriere earned the third highest program component scores of the competition to keep him in medal contention. American Ryan Bradley struggled with his jumps tonight, doubling his Axel as well as only completing a triple toe-triple toeloop combination to finish in 8th place. The event continues with the Original Dance, Pairs Long program, Ladies Short Program, and the Men's Long Program. |
|||||||||
USA's Tanith Belbin (23) and Benjamin Agosto (25) sit in first place after the Compulsory Dance (Austrian Waltz). 
Canadians Jessica
Dube (20) and Bryce Davison (21) took the lead after the short.
Japan's Daisuke Takahashi leads the men after his short program to a modern arrangement of Swan Lake.