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2008 World Figure Skating Championships - HighlightsCompulsory Dance and Pairs Short Program
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The 2008 ISU World Figure Skating Championships are being held Mar. 18-23, 2008 in Göteborg, Sweden, at the Scandinavium Arena. Approximately 203 skaters/couples from 48 countries are competing. In addition, Puerto Rico is represented for the first time at ISU World Championships with one entry in the Ladies division. Göteborg last hosted the World Championships in 1976. Overall, Sweden has hosted the World Championships seven times between 1897 and 1947.
The ISU will be awarding prize money totaling $710,000 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 skated. All single skaters will compete in the Short Program with the top 24 proceeding to the Free Skate.
The competition kicked off on Mar. 17 with the Compulsory Dance and the Pairs Short Program.
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 from France put a comfortable distance between themselves and the rest of the field as they scored 40.73 (20.79/19.94) points for their rendition of the Argentine Tango. The 2008 European silver medalists executed all the steps in extremely close position and added their own unique twist to the dance as they started to perform it even before they hit the opening position.
Isabelle Delobel, 29, and Olivier Schoenfelder, 30, of France lead the Ice Dance field after the Compulsory Dance (Argentine Tango) at the 2008 ISU World Figure Skating Championships. |
The team from Lyon began their performance with Delobel (29) leaning on the boards while Schoenfelder (30) skated around the center of the rink, putting on his jacket and studiously ignoring his partner. The jacket was used to enhance the character as Delobel tried to slip it off his shoulder later in the dance. The French champions, which are known for their excellent basic skating skills, were smooth and confident, maintaining a strong flow throughout the dance and demonstrating the kind of unison which can only come from years of experience.
"We wanted to have fun here and enjoy the competition." said Delobel. "It was a good compulsory dance," added Schoenfelder. "We wanted to show a special interpretation to make the dance more interesting. We are happy with the marks."
Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir were the only other team to reach 20.00 points in the technical mark. The 2008 Four Continents champions received 18.71 points for program components and finished second with a new personal best of 38.71 points.
"We never really judge our performance on the scores," said Moir. "We know exactly how it feels and how it went."
Virtue (18) and Moir (19), who made the dance their own by modifying their upper body movements throughout the entire routine, clearly stood out among the 29 performances before them. Though their footwork was neat and precise and though they skated close together, the Canadian champions lacked the flow demonstrated by the veteran French team.
"We really like this dance," said Moir, "so it was really fun to compete and there were a lot of Canadian flags out there... a bit surprising."
Jana Khokhlova (22) and Sergei Novitski (26) of Russia were third with a new personal best of 37.98 (19.52/18.46) points. The 2008 European bronze medalists also efficiently used their upper body to express the tango character, while maintaining very good flow and speed throughout the dance, and showing sharp and precise movements. However, the Muscovites, who unexpectedly found themselves as the leading Russian team after the withdrawal of teammates Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, appeared a bit tense.
"We feel very sorry for Maxim, Oksana and Alexei Gorshkov (their coach)," said Novitski. "For us, this is maybe a small chance to present ourselves." "We feel more responsibility now," added Khokhlova. "We found out about it only two or three days before we left, and it was rather unexpected news for us."
Federica Faiella (27) and Massimo Scali (28) also set a new personal best after they scored 37.15 (19.45/17.70) points for fourth place. In a dance where all couples are supposed to execute the same steps in exactly the same manner, the Italian champions made some subtle changes in their arms movements in order to enhance their excellent and expressive tango. The team left a strong impression with their sharp and passionate style, and were among the best teams in terms of expressing the character of the dance properly.
"We love to skate and to have a strong interpretation of the music with strong emotions in the compulsory dance," said Scali. "We felt great today. We skate the best we can. We know it is hard competition for us, but the marks today were unbelievable and we are very happy with our performance".
U.S. champions Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto were the highest ranked team coming into the competition as they were the only ones to ever win a World Championships medal. Last year's bronze medalists, who often found themselves behind their main rivals after the compulsory dance, said in a recent interview that they worked very hard to improve their Argentine Tango.
Belbin and Agosto opened the dance with very strong skating on deep edges while displaying an excellent tango character with their sharp and precise movements. Unfortunately, their improvements were for naught as Belbin slipped off the edge of her blade half-way through the second pattern.
"I don't know what happened," said Belbin afterwards. "It's just a freak accident. It has never happened before. It's hard to continue in the dance, because you're so distracted that you don't even know what you are doing. In the competition, it should make it easier. It's always easier to come back from behind, to skate with nothing to loose. I think we have absolutely nothing to loose after what happened here."
The team was executing the key sequence of steps in the so-called "section 5" of the dance, which has the lady doing a twizzle before the couple glides on a deep curve in a face-to-face hold. Belbin lost her balance during the twizzle. Agosto couldn't provide support for his partner as they were separated at that moment, and Belbin fell behind him. The team took a hit in the technical mark, only earning 16.88 points, but they earned the second highest presentation score (19.05 points), and are currently in fifth place with 35.02 points.
"We are kind of bummed," admitted Agosto. "It's a very good dance for us. We've been training really hard, feeling really confident. It happens, it's a part of sport and you have to move on and deal with it. The rest of the dance felt really good, we are happy with our performance. We just need to avoid little mishaps."
Nathalie Pechalat (24) and Fabian Bourzat (27) of France rounded out the top six with 34.82 (18.05/16.76) points. The team from Lyon started off very strongly, skating on deep edges and in close positions, but their second pattern wasn't as sharp as the first one. Their interpretation, however, was very strong and they maintained the good flow throughout.
"It felt very good," said Pechalat. "Although we have practiced a lot on the original dance and free dance, and didn't had a lot of time practicing on the Tango, but it felt really good."
"It is up and down," said Bourzat of his knee injury. "I still feel pain sometimes and it makes practice shorter."
USA's Meryl Davis and Charlie White are currently in seventh with 34.80 points, followed by Great Britain's Sinead Kerr and John Kerr (33.48 points).
 Dan Zhang, 22, and Hao Zhang, 23, of China perform a pair combination spin during their "Piano Fantasy" routine. |
Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang of China set a new world record for Pairs Short Program to win this segment of the competition. The 2006 Olympic silver medalists scored 74.36 (43.50/30.86) points, beating the previous record set by Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy during the Grand Prix Final by more than two points.
Zhang and Zhang opened their program with a huge lateral triple twist and impressive throw triple loop. The 2008 Four Continents silver medalists went on to nail the side-by-side triple Salchows - an element they had some problems with during practices, but their non-jumping elements were not on the same level.
They received a level 4 for their pair combination spin and lift, while their flying spin and death spiral were rated a level 3. The choreography of their program was quite good, and while the execution could have been sharper in some places, the team from Harbin attacked their program throughout.
"We beat our personal best," said Hao Zhang. "The most important thing is still to come - the free skating. The crowd here was just great. We are always hoping too give a good performance for the crowd. It's the last competition of the season, so we will try to give our best tomorrow. "
Hao Zhang recently had surgery to remove a furuncle from his left leg. "The surgery was very unpleasant. Overall, it (surgery and recovery) took two weeks and then we came here directly. It still hurts occasionally, but I'm trying to overcome it."
The favorites to win the event, Savchenko (24) and Szolkowy (28), drew the first starting number. The 2007 European champions opened their program to Asoka with a huge throw triple flip and high lateral triple twist (level 2), but Savchenko later Savchenko stepped out her jump on the side-by-side triple toeloops. Their non-jumping elements were very strong, receiving mostly level 4s from the technical panel (except for a level 3 step sequence), and the choreography and interpretation of their program were among the best in the field. Despite the mistake on the jump, the German champions earned 72.00 (40.75/31.35) points and are currently second.
"That was no problem," said Szolkowy on skating first. "Nowadays, skating at the beginning doesn't equal getting low scores anymore. The pressure can only from yourself, but we tried to give our best here."
Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov of Russia, who were fourth after the short program at last year's World Championships, have proven that they belong among the ranks of the elite despite a rocky start of the season. The 2008 Russian champions have improved upon all of their elements from earlier competitions, gaining a level 3 on most of their non-jumping elements and approaching the side-by-side jumps and the throw triple loop with confidence.
Though Kawaguchi had to fight for the landing on the throw triple loop, she managed to keep her hands and foot off-ice. It was this confidence that really set them apart from most of the other teams, and they beat their previous personal best by almost 10 points, earning 71.42 (42.28/29.14) points for third place.
"We've worked a lot on the choreography," said Smirnov, "and I think this was one of our best performances, especially considering the choreography part. I'm definitely very pleased."
Kawaguchi partially agreed. "I'm pleased with the score, but the performance could have been a bit better. The throw was shaky, but I didn't touch down with my second foot or with my hands. I hung into it. The throw wasn't the most difficult element for me, the death spiral was."
At the press conference, the Russian team was told that they appeared more confident. "I'm happy to hear that you found our performance confident," said Kawaguchi. "Personally, I think we still lack confidence, but if you think otherwise, well, it's good."
Jessica Dubé (20) and Bryce Davison (22) of Canada gave a mesmerizing performance to Galicia Flamenco, earning a new personal best of 68.66 (40.52/28.14) points for a close fourth place finish. The 2008 Canadian silver medalists opted to do only a double twist and had some problems during the final pair combination spin, but otherwise were smooth throughout.
"We are very happy," said Davison. "This is the best short program we did this year."
The team had a less than par short program at the Canadian National Championships in January, and then took a break from the Four Continents.
"For me it was a bit difficult to put it behind us," said Dubé, of their performance at Canadian Nationals, "but once I did, training and preparing was much easier."
China's Qing Pang and Jian Tong, who were last to skate, failed to give a strong and satisfying finish. Though the 2008 Four Continents champions were smooth and confident, showing off interesting choreography in their routine to O Doux Printemps d' Autrefois, they took a hit in the technical score when Pang underrotated his jump in the side-by-side triple toeloops. Their other elements were strong, but the current World silver medalists only received a level 2 for their step sequence. Despite the error, the earned a new personal best of 67.87 (37.58/30.29) points for fifth place.
"It was more or less on the level of our practices," noted Pang.
"We've seen that everybody has performed very well and we tried our best as well," added Tong, "but we made some small errors. Maybe it affected us that we skated last. Hopefully we can do better tomorrow in the free skating and catch up."
"The previous skaters did quite well," added Tong, "and maybe 70% got a new seasonal best, and we got a new season best, but we did mistakes. We will try to forget about it and do our best tomorrow."
Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov of Russia are currently sixth with 64.09 (36.94/27.15) points after both skaters struggled on the landing of their side-by-side triple toe loops. Mukhortova turned out of landing and put her foot down, while Trankov had to work very hard to avoid doing the same. The 2008 European silver medalists were otherwise very strong, and all their non-jumping elements (except for a level 1 twist and step sequence) received a level 4. However, their grades of execution and program components scores were not good enough to catch up with the teams ahead of them.
"We got a new personal best with not such a good skate," noted Mukhortova. "It makes us a little happy. We were tight at the beginning and relaxed only towards the end of the program."
"We did the elements quite well," added Trankov. "For example, the side-by-side spin, I don't think that we gave away many points there. The only thing was, of course, that we weren't able to do [the triple toeloops] too well. We did a good triple twist, then I thought we'd do a good toe. Maybe we wanted it too much.
Trankov also admitted to losing time on preparation due to his arm injury. "We couldn't practice lifts so much. My right warm is swollen and I have troubles bending it. Nobody really knows the reason, maybe it's a pinched nerve."
Canada's Meagan Duhamel and Craig Buntin, who are making their first appearance at this event as a team, are currently seventh with a new personal best of 60.01 points.
Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov of the Ukraine finished in eighth place with 59.53 points after Volosozhar fell on a throw triple loop.
The event continues with the Ladies' Short Program and the Pairs Long Program.
