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2007 Skate America - Figure Skating HighlightsOriginal Dance, Pairs Long, Ladies Short, and Men's LongOct 28, 2007
The second day of Skate America continued with the Original Dance, Pairs Long Program, Ladies Short Program, and the Men's Long Program. Ice Dance (Original Dance)Competition continued today at Skate America with the Original Dance (OD), which was a hit with the skaters and the audience alike. The OD for the 2007-08 season is the Folk-Country dance. For the first time, the competitors had the opportunity to choose from a multitude of folk dances that not only allowed the skaters to express themselves as they wish, but also allowed the audience a glimpse into different cultures through the music, movements, and costumes of the colorful and sometimes brave competitors. Leading the pack were overnight leaders Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, who dressed in hillbilly garb, skated to a blend of bluegrass and country waltz music that was an immediate hit with the audience. The U.S. champions studied for their program as if it were a college examination - exhausting books, video, and internet resources on the subject. "We searched everywhere for music that represents the American spirit," explained Belbin. "And we thought that this program would be a good vehicle to present American folk dancing. Belbin went on to explain the costumes that they chose for the competition. "I actually found both of our costumes on the internet, using the designs of a high fashion designer called D-Squared. Ben's costume is, believe it or not, an exact replica of something from the runway."
Not only was their 'Appalachian Hoedown' program extremely entertaining, it was also very challenging on a technical level in that each of their elements earned the sought-after level four from the event's Technical Specialist. Belbin and Agosto began their program with a combination spin reminiscent of the music and continued to perform an energetic program which seemed to fill the arena with smells of hay bales and moonshine. "The fact that you have such a wealth of choices frees you up as an artist," said a happy Agosto. "We know that we need to work on gaining more speed on our elements, but that will come with repetition." The two-time and reigning World bronze medalists scored 59.24 points, well off of their personal best of 67.54, but still lead the competition by 3.76 points with a total of 95.27 points overall. Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France held onto second place with a passionate and sexy flamenco from music by Guadiana and José Mercé. The team used a prop fan to compliment Pechalat's vigorous movements to the staccato-like music and the duo earned positive GoEs on five of the six required elements to score a total of 59.95 points. "We are glad to be here, both in placing and physically," stated an excited Bourzat. "We love our OD and we think that this is a good dance for us." The French silver medalists trained in flamenco in Madrid, Spain, in preparation for this program, and tried to get as close to real thing as possible. "My costume was designed there," shared Pechalat. "We worked to make sure that everything was authentic." The team's total score of 91.51 puts them within striking distance of the top spot going into the free dance. Italy's Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali produced an interesting pizzica (Italian folk dance) using music from the Solento area of their homeland. For geography buffs, that is the commonly referred to as the heel of the Italian boot. The two-time Olympians again showed improved difficulty in each of their elements, matching the French team with their technical score. Lower scores on the program components, however, kept the Italian champs from moving up in the standings. They earned 54.56 points and remain in third place with a total score of 85.99 points. "We were very comfortable on the ice with this very typical Italian folk dance," said Scali. "We want to be ready to compete and we want everybody to know that. We are working hard and I think that we have improved. We know that there is more to work on and we will keep working to make that happen." Moving up to fourth place was the young American team of Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who skated to the Russian folk standard Kalinka. Donned in costumes representative of the rhythm, complete with a Russian military hat worn by White, the duo skated a clean program that was technically difficult but which lacked the power and maturity of those ranked ahead of them. "We wanted to do a dance that was suitable in contrast to our free dance," explained Davis. "We have practiced this dance a lot, but we know that we still have much room for improvement." The U.S. bronze medalists, known for earning level fours on all of their elements in this phase of the competition, fell just one element short with their performance, earning a level three for their rotational lift. Still, the team moved up one spot with a segment score of 52.84 and a total of 83.00 points overall. In sixth place are the current U.S. pewter medalists Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre who performed an African Folk Dance that mesmerized the crowd with its authenticity of character. The duo, dressed in skirts and wearing tribal makeup, used fascinating choreography given to them by Michael Velez - a dancer in the Koresh Dance Company in Philadelphia - to maintain their position from the compulsory dance. Navarro and Bommentre have been taking frequent classes in Afro-modern dance from Velez in order to prepare for this dance - a practice that they plan to continue throughout the season. "We researched this dance as much as we could," declared Bommentre. "And all of the information that we found indicated that I should wear a skirt. So, I decided that I would wear it." Navarro added: "We had to work within the ISU rules, though. Technically, I shouldn't be wearing a top." After the competition, the team will return to dance class and consult with Velez who will, according to Navarro, "See what we did well, and help us to build on what we have done." Pairs (Long Program)
With no expectations of placement, Canadians Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison came into the 2007 Skate America competition with simple goals; to earn 60 points in the short program and 110 points in the freeskate. Not only did they exceed their own goals in terms of score, but in the process they won the competition over the more experienced Chinese team of Qing Pang and Jian Tong. "We knew that we could strive to be close (to the Chinese)," Davison said excitedly. "We didn't know that we would be this close!" Dube and Davison skated a spiritual and haunting program to The Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice that began like a dream. Opening with a clean double twist that moved into an easy double Axel-double Axel jump sequence, the Canadian champions captured the audience from almost the first beat of the music. As the program progressed, however, the team started to make errors on some of the high scoring planned elements. Most notably, while Davison landed a clean triple Salchow, Dube was only able to manage a double which cost the team valuable points. Additionally, Dube fell on the throw triple Salchow, taking a mandatory deduction as well as negative GoEs. Nevertheless, they earned a new personal best score of 112.46 for a total score of 173.26. "I don't know what happened (on the triple salchow)," admitted Dube. "I thought that I was going to land it, but it just got away from me." Luckily for the Canadians, Pang and Tong not only made technical mistakes, but they also performed elements that earned generally lower levels from the technical caller. The three-time and reigning Four Continents silver medalists began their Romeo and Juliet program with a nice set of triple toeloops, but quickly blew the momentum by singling both jumps in a planned double Axel-double toeloop combination. Pang went on to land the throw triple salchow, but fell to the ice on their second throw jump - a triple loop. The team maintained second overall with a total score of 165.19 points. "We are very tired," confessed Tong. "Today is better than yesterday, and we will try our best to improve before our next competition." Tong later explained that they wished to arrive to Reading earlier, but the airline tickets that they received for the event had them arrive at 4 A.M. the day prior to the short program. Citing jet lag, the team said that should they be assigned to Skate America in the future, they will ask for an earlier arrival time. Skating in their first senior event, Russians Vera Bazarova (14) and Yuri Larionov (21) earned the bronze medal in their third international competition in as many weeks. The pair has already competed twice on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, winning gold and silver medals which qualified them as the top seed for the Junior Grand Prix Final in December. The team skated admirably for their first outing at this level, but finished their program noticeably ahead of their music. "We have been traveling so much and competing on the junior circuit that we haven't had much time to work on the senior program," stated Larionov. Bazarova added, "We just put the additional lift into the program recently, and we have only skated this long program a few times before tonight." Still, the 2007 Junior World silver medalists earned an impressive 102.82 points for their routine to music from the Eragon soundtrack which featured strong spins, a nice split triple twist, and a double Axel-double Axel sequence. As the top ranked American team in this event, Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig performed about as well as they have in recent history to Maurice Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe, placing fourth. The couple started out slowly, earning negative GoEs on their first four elements, but regrouped to finish strong with a nice throw triple loop to go with their level three and four lifts. "We had errors, but it was a good fight for us," declared Evora. "We have to do something different than everyone else, and right now we are still working to be able to complete each element in the program." Evora and Ladwig earned 94.22 points in the freeskate, a new personal best for them, and 140.40 points overall which also eclipses their previous personal best. "We now know how well that we can skate," proclaimed Ladwig. "We know that we belong at this level, and we know that when we put it all together we will be competitive." Teammates Meeran Trombley and Laureano Ibarra were crowd favorites on this evening, executing a high-flying split triple twist with a Lutz entry as well as a nice throw triple Salchow. However, the team was downgraded on their side-by-side jumps, and Trombley fell on the throw triple loop. Based in Colorado Springs, the team earned a personal best 86.94 points in the freeskate and 132.43 overall to finish in fifth place. Dube and Davison earned 15 points toward the Grand Prix Final, and will compete again next week at Skate Canada, while Pang and Tong (13 points) will compete next at Cup of China. This was a solo Grand Prix event for Bazarova and Larionov who earned 11 points. Ladies (Short Program)
The ladies event was a highly anticipated competition that included the debut of current Junior World Champion Caroline Zhang of the United States on the senior circuit, as well as an exciting meeting of current World Champion Miki Ando from Japan and former World Champion Kimmie Meissner of the USA. When the skating was complete, it was Meissner who sat atop the leader board with a total of 59.24 points, far off of her personal best of 64.67, but enough to fend off a strong challenge by Ando and Zhang. Meissner was able to capitalize on small mistakes from her fellow competitors even as she skated a program with similar technical content. In fact, only three-tenths of a point separated the top free in the technical elements, but it was Meissner's command of the program components that catapulted her into the lead. The U.S. champion used last year's music The Feeling Begins by Peter Gabriel to present a more sophisticated and physically mature program than in previous seasons. Meissner also included a credible attempt at a triple lutz-triple toeloop combination, but it was downgraded on the second jump. Additionally, the 18-year-old was penalized with a negative GoE for a last minute change of edge on her solo triple flip jump. "I have a lot of things I know that I have to work on," said an optimistic Meissner. "But I am excited that I put out a good program that I can be proud of this early in the season. Meissner earned level fours on her opening spiral sequence and her flying sit spin, but was disappointed with her low levels on her step sequences. "The footwork bugs me," giggled a frustrated Meissner. "I guess that I just have to put some more turns in." Ando began her Samson and Delilah program with a gem of a triple lutz-double loop combination, and seemed to be heading for the overnight lead in the competition. However, the defending champion fell late in her straight line step sequence which not only gave her a required deduction, but also resulted in a level one with negative GoEs. "The mistake on the footwork was stupid," said the 19-year-old. "I never do that in practice, so I was surprised when it happened." Ando, who trains with Nikolai Morozov in Hackensack, NJ, finished the short program in second place with a total of 56.58 points. The Japanese silver medalist is recovering from a shoulder injury that occurred earlier in the season at a competition in her home country. "Because of my right shoulder injury, I had to make adjustments to my layback and some of my jumps," relayed Ando. "Considering my condition right now, I think that I skated alright." Skating first of the main competitors, Zhang was able to live up to the expectations that the media has been placing on her since she won the junior worlds title last spring. The 2006-07 Junior Grand Prix Final champion opened her program with a valiant attempt at a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, but it was downgraded to a double on the front half. On her next element, the triple lutz from footwork, Zhang was given negative GoEs and credited with a change of edge going into the jump (i.e. a "flutz"). "I have been working on improving all of my jumps," said the wide-eyed 14-year-old. "I haven't been paying too much attention to making sure that I hold the edge on the Lutz since I have been here, but I will continue to try to improve it." Zhang presented her program to Spanish Gypsy by Ray De Tone with moves replete with a flexibility that is reminiscent of Sasha Cohen and with a steady maturity that belies her tender young age. She earned a total of 56.48 points for third place after the short. Yale University freshman Emily Hughes of the U.S. had difficulty with her jumps and finished in a distant and disappointing fourth place. "I thought that the jumps were there," said Hughes. "I didn't think that it was as bad as the scores indicated." Hughes later learned that her opening triple flip and her triple lutz on her combination were both downgraded by the Technical Caller. Hughes did, however, receive high levels on her spins and spiral sequence to give her a total of 47.66 for her program to George Gershwin's I Got Rhythm. "It's been really hard (to balance school and skating)," admitted the U.S. silver medalist. "I am still trying to find my pace between the two. But I still love skating, and having such encouraging results last season is motivation for me to continue to find the balance in the two." Finishing in fifth place was Ando's teammate Mai Asada, the older and more elegant sister of World Silver Medalist Mao Asada. Skating to Tchaikovski's Romeo and Juliet, Asada made a mistake on her triple lutz-double toe combination, but executed everything else cleanly to earn 46.82 points in the short program. Canadian silver medalist Mira Leung was sixth with 46.04 points. Men (Long Program)
In the men's competition, it was a case of one skater winning the battle with another winning the war. In what turned out to be a closer competition than expected, USA's Evan Lysacek won the free skate with an inspired performance to Puccini's Tosca, but was unable to overcome the deficit that he had incurred in the previous night's short program. Overnight leader Daisuke Takahashi of Japan skated a flawed program with two major mistakes; nevertheless, he was able to win the gold medal for the second time in three years with help from commanding lead of his flawless short program. "I am happy with the result," Takahashi cautiously stated. "But I am not happy with the skating." The two-time and current Japanese champion opened his Romeo and Juliet program with a gigantic quadruple toeloop that was so big he was unable to control the landing in order to execute the second half of a planned jump combination. He then fell on his triple Axel before landing five clean triple jumps, and then fell again on a triple Lutz attempt. In all, Takahashi received a total of eight points in deductions for the two miscues, but earned the highest marks of the night for his program components which kept him on the podium's top step. The current World silver medalist scored 148.93 points in the freeskate, and with an event total of 228.97 points, outdistanced Lysacek by almost nine points overall for the win. "I definitely wasn't expecting great marks," said the 21-year-old. "I am still learning about the new scoring system, and it surprises me that I received such high scores for what I did." Lysacek also opened his program with a quadruple toe loop, but unlike Takahashi, was able to land his next element, a triple Axel. In all, Lysacek landed seven triple jumps to Takahashi's six, including a triple Axel combination and a triple flip-triple toeloop combination to earn a total of 152.38 points (220.08 points overall). "I was coming in today with such a large deficit," lamented Lysacek. "So I wasn't really looking for the win, per se. I just wanted to continue to fight through the competition to make it a success overall, which I think it was." The audience embraced the impassioned Lysacek, who seemed to pour his heart out a little more with each connecting move in his routine to Tosca. As the music began to build towards the end of the program, so did Lysacek's performance quality. The audience's reaction began to build as the U.S. champion executed a crisp straight line step sequence which was full of edge changes, turns, and modern dance moves. "I try to have a synergy with the music," explained the 22-year-old. "I think tonight was actually pretty good with that, and I wanted to make sure that when I stopped the program, that I made a statement." Finishing in third place was Canada's Patrick Chan, who, with a stirring performance to Vivaldi's Four Seasons, demonstrated that he is a skater to look for in the future. The 16-year-old opened with a solo triple Axel, an element that he landed for the first time in competition in the short program, and completed six other clean triples to earn the second highest technical scores of the night. "I definitely wanted to make a good impression here," admitted Chan. "Since I landed the Axel last night, I felt pressure that everyone would expect it tonight. Once I landed the Axel, I was pretty much under myself." Chan fell on his last jump attempt, a triple flip, but enjoyed high program component scores for a new whopping personal best of 145.86 points. The 2007 Junior World silver medalist's combined total of 213.33 points easily eclipsed his previous competition best by almost 30 points. "Overall, I thought that the program was excellent," gushed Chan. "I've never seen the program components so high in my long program, so putting emphasis on that really paid off." Moving up from sixth to fourth place was reigning Junior World champion Steven Carriere of the Unites States. Carriere skated a sultry program to Hollywood Nocturne by the Brian Setzer Orchestra, landing six clean triples along the way, including two Axels. The 2006-07 Junior Grand Prix champion also eclipsed his own personal best total score with 196.33 points, edging out Frenchman Alban Preaubert by a little less than two points. Preaubert landed a total of eight clean triple jumps, but was unable to earn high levels on any of the other elements in his program to music from the soundtracks of Dracula and Interview With A Vampire. The 22-year-old earned only one level two in all, which allowed Carriere to move ahead of him in the standings. USA's Ryan Bradley skated an entertaining, yet up-and-down program to a Charlie Chaplin medley. His routine included six triple jumps, but his fully rotated quadruple toeloop had a shaky landing. It also appeared that the U.S. silver medalist lacked a bit of his typical charm and playfulness for which audiences have grown to know him. Bradley, who was eighth at this event last year, scored a total of 181.66 points to finish sixth. Takahashi earned 15 points at this event, and will compete next in his home country of Japan at the NHK Trophy. Lysacek (13 points) will compete next at Cup of China, while Chan (11 points) is slated to compete next at Trophee Eric Bompard. The competition continues with the Free Dance, the Ladies Long Program, and an exhibition. |
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USA's Tanith Belbin (23) and Benjamin Agosto (25) maintain the lead in Ice Dance after performing an 'Appalachian Hoedown' in the Original Dance. 
Jessica Dube (20) and Bryce Davison (21) skate to The Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice, placing first in the long program and overall. 
USA's Kimmie Meissner (18) leads the ladies competition after her short program to Peter Gabriel's The Feeling Begins.
Japan's Daisuke Takahashi (21) performs his long program to Tchaikovski's Romeo and Juliet.