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2007 Skate America - Figure Skating HighlightsFree Dance and Ladies Long Progam
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Skate America concluded on Sunday with the Free Dance and the Ladies Long Program.
With nary a challenge from their nearest competitors, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto ran away with the gold medal with a performance that earned the four-time U.S. champions a partial standing ovation from the crowd in Reading, Penn. France's Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat held on to claim the silver, while Italians Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali earned bronze.
Skating to a compilation of music composed by Frederick Chopin, Belbin and Agosto earned 97.68 points for the program that represented a feeling of being in a dream.
"What we are trying to portray is the ideal dream of what love should be in everybody's mind before they live their lives and become jaded," explained Agosto.
The music arranged by Emmy Award winning composer Joseph LoDuca represents the first piece of classical music that the reigning Worlds bronze medalists have used since their debut season in 1999, and showed a new sophisticated style that brought a new dimension to the team's skating.
"We felt that we had the time to devote this year to improving our skating to the level that it would be able to accent classical properly," shared Belbin. "When we started choreographing, the program came together so quickly that everyone agreed that this could become something special."
USA's Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto perform their first 'classical' piece to a compilation of music by Chopin. |
Belbin and Agosto were rewarded with level fours for seven of their eight elements, falling short only on the midline step sequence in which Agosto made a minor miscue.
"This is the probably the best debut of a free dance that we have had in quite a few years," said a delighted Belbin. "We not only got the feel for how much potential this program has, but also how enjoyable it is to perform it."
Pechalat and Bourzat skated to a theme program entitled "Craziness" in the dance style of vogue in which Pechalat portrays a woman working through the different stages of insanity. Bourzat played the role of the slightly off-center man who attempts to contain her. The duo scored a total of 90.33 points for the program and 181.84 points overall to shatter their previous personal best by more than 14 points. Bourzat attributes their meteoric increase in score to making changes in the off-season.
"We worked with Alexander Zhulin on choreography this summer," relayed Bourzat, "and we made other changes that worked out for us. Change is good."
Faiella and Scali skated an avant-garde program to music from the movie soundtrack Yentl, but instead of using the story associated with the Streisand film, the team opted to present the life cycle of a butterfly.
"We realized that we could really play with the arms and hands with this music," Scali explained. "It gave us the feeling of something that was flying, so that is how we approached the choreography."
The program opened with Faiella representing the butterfly leaving the cocoon, but the mood was quickly lost as Scali fell on a three turn shortly after the music began.
"My mistake was something that broke the feel of the program," said a disappointed Scali. "When the mistake is at the beginning of the program, it is difficult to overcome, but we have practiced a lot for this competition, so we were prepared for everything."
Overall, the Italian champs received three level threes and high GoEs to score 86.29 points and 172.28 overall.
Finishing just out of medal position in fourth place were U.S. bronze medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who skated a dark program to an instrumental version of Eleanor Rigby/ Eleanor's Dream by Paul McCartney. The team, known for earning the highest level on all of their elements, fell short today in earning just level three on two of their elements: the serpentine lift and the midline steps in which Davis fell behind her more polished partner.
"We're definitely further along than we were at this point last season," declared Davis, "but we have a lot to work on, and we know that we can improve."
Americans Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre finished in sixth place with an emotional performance to Corinne Bailey Rae's rendition of Since I've Been Loving You.
"Brent has always wanted to skate to Led Zeppelin's version of this music," explained Navarro, "but I thought it was not appropriate for us at this time in our careers. When I found this version, I knew that this is what we had to skate to."
Dressed in more traditional costumes than in their African Tribal original dance, Navarro and Bommentre conveyed the story of two lovers trying to break free of each other using the ice as a backdrop to this heartbreaking story.
"At the end, we kind of give up on giving up and decide to stay together," Bommentre said.
Belbin and Agosto, who earned 15 points, will share the ice again with Faiella and Scali (11 points) at Cup of China.
Pechalat and Bourzat (13 points) are scheduled to compete next at Cup of Russia.
U.S. Champion Kimmie Meissner (18) performs to Nessun Dorma from Turandot for her long program. |
For the second day in a row, the winner of the freeskate at 2007 Skate America had to settle for the silver medal overall. Japan's Miki Ando, who is currently nursing a shoulder injury, bested overnight leader Kimmie Meissner of the U.S. in tonight's competition. However, she was unable to overcome the deficit that she accumulated in the short program and settled for the silver medal.
None of the ladies were able to skate a clean program, and many were penalized by a strict Technical Specialist who downgraded 22 triple jumps in just this portion of the competition among the 11 competitors.
Meissner, who skated a newly choreographed program to Puccini's Nessun Dorma from Turandot, made mistakes on four jumps. In addition to stepping out of a triple salchow and popping her second triple Lutz into a single, the college freshman received downgrades on the second half of her opening triple flip-triple toeloop combination and her triple loop.
"The callers are just being stricter this year on everything," announced Meissner. "You have to be sure that what you put into your programs is clean."
The former World champ was able to land two clean triple jumps to go along with a double Axel-double toeloop-double loop combination to score a total of 103.99 points in the freeskate and a competition total of 163.23.
"I want to keep working to be more consistent," Meissner declared. "I want to clean everything up and increase the levels, but I am happy to win my first Grand Prix and to hear the national anthem for the first time since I won Worlds."
Ando also made mistakes in her program, but managed three clean triple jumps in her routine to Carmen by Bizet.
"It was pretty good, but I am not ready for competition," shared Ando. "My training is not 100% due to my injury. I was happy to get second place."
Ando outscored the winner by 1.32 points in the freeskate with a total of 105.31, and finished with 161.89 points overall. Like Meissner, Ando popped one jump into a single, but was only downgraded on one triple - her opening triple lutz. Additionally, the Japanese silver medalist earned a level one on her layback spin as she did in the short program.
"I am not able to do the positions that I need to be able to do in the layback because of my injury," explained the 19-year-old. "I want to get healthy so my spins can get better."
In her first senior competition, USA's Caroline Zhang won the bronze medal with a performance that many thought was the best of the evening. However, Zhang was the biggest victim of the Technical Caller's high standards in being downgraded in five of her triple jumps in the program. In all, Zhang was only credited with a clean triple flip and a handful of double jumps, but high levels and positive GoEs on her spins, as well as a fine set of program component scores, helped the current Junior World champion to keep her feet firmly planted on the podium.
"I didn't expect a medal," admitted the 14-year-old. "I was hoping for a top six placement. I can't believe that I have a Grand Prix medal!"
Zhang's competition total of 153.35 is far off of her personal best, but she took the scores in stride.
"I am going home to work on fixing the downgrades on everything, and I want to improve my footwork and spins."
Finishing in fourth place was teammate Emily Hughes, who landed three clean triple jumps and earned generally high levels on her non-jumping elements to claim her highest placement at this competition.
"This is definitely vindicating for me," said an excited Hughes who is juggling studies at Yale with her skating. "I wanted to be vindicated even more, but it is motivation for next time."
Hughes skated a dramatic program to Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, displaying a more sophisticated and stronger side to her skating. The U.S. silver medalist attributes her newfound maturity to her new training environment.
"Skating with Mark (Mitchell) and Peter (Johannson) has been a great experience for me," said the 18-year-old. "Being there is helping with everything, and the longer I am there, the better everything is getting for me."
Finishing in fifth place was Canadian Mira Leung who showcased a new look and better packaging to earn her highest finish in a Grand Prix event. Leung skated to music by Rachmaninov, landing four clean triple jumps, but received lower program component scores to keep her just out of reach of fourth place.
Georgian Elene Gedevanishvilli rebounded from a dismal short program to move up to five positions to sixth place overall.
Meissner picked up 15 points and is scheduled to compete at Trophy Eric Bompard in Paris, France next month.
Ando, who pocketed 13 points, will compete in her home country of Japan at the NHK Trophy, while Zhang (11 points) competes next at Cup of China.
The next Grand Prix figure skating event is Skate Canada which will be held next week in Quebec City, Canada.
