2009 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships - Free Dance and the Ladies Long Program - Highlights

2009 Four Continents

February 4-8, 2009
Vancouver (BC), Canada

DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY 4
FULL RESULTS

STANDINGS

ICE DANCE (FINAL):

1. Davis/White USA
2. Virtue/Moir CAN
3. Samuelson/Bates USA

PAIRS (FINAL):

1. Pang/Tong CHN
2. Dubé/Davison CAN
3. Zhang/Zhang CHN

LADIES (FINAL):

1. Kim Y. KOR
2. Rochette CAN
3. Asada JPN

MEN (FINAL):

1. Chan CAN
2. Lysacek USA
3. Kozuka JPN

The 2009 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships continued with the Free Dance and the Ladies Long Program.

Ice Dance (Free Dance)

It was a tight race for the gold medal in Ice Dance at the 2009 Four Continents Championships from start to finish.

Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir took a small lead into the free dance over Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White. In the end, however, it truly came down to one level on a dance spin. To put it in sports terms, Virtue and Moir lost by a revolution.

American champs Davis and White have been solid in competition all week, and today they skated a brilliant free dance to music from Samson et Dalila. This week is a coming out of sorts for Davis and White, who broke through with their first international championship title.

"It felt powerful and emotional," White said of the program. "Those are the two things that have been really key this season for us. It felt like we could go out there and give it everything we had."

The young Americans demonstrated technical mastery in all of their elements, earning level fours on everything save the circular steps. However, the most impressive part of the program was the huge step forward that this duo took in terms of telling the story of the program.

"Things have been coming together this season," Davis explained. "Last season and the year before we were working on different aspects of out skating, and I think that this season it all came together. We have been working pretty hard and we are happy with our performance."

The gold medalists earned a total of 96.74 points for their free dance, and 192.39 points overall, which is the second highest total internationally this season.

Virtue and Moir have fought all week to perform at their highest possible level while Virtue struggles to recover from her October surgery. After winning both the compulsory and original dances, the Canadian champs came into the free dance with a hesitating confidence.

In the warm-up Virtue appeared to be struggling with most of the elements, but she pulled it together in the actual performance when it counted.

"We are pleased with our skate," Virtue said tenuously. "In some ways it was better than nationals, and others it wasn't."

In their opening combination spin, Virtue put her foot down momentarily causing the team to lose a level on the spin. The mistake cost Virtue and Moir .70 points in base value, more than enough to propel them to the win had they not made the mistake. Still the silver medalists were thankful for the experience, and didn't seem to allow the loss to affect their mental state.

"To get out internationally before we go to worlds is huge," Moir shared. "We always like doing this competition. We knew that if we were able to do it, then we would be here."

However, Virtue and Moir's Pink Floyd program shows great promise, and could be a signature piece for them if they are able to skate up to its potential. The lifts in particular are crowd-pleasers, and earned the silver medalists crucial bonus points in Grades of Execution (GOE). For now, however, the program was somewhat frantic and sloppy in spots.

"Certainly mileage will help with that," Virtue admitted. "I think it's a good vehicle for us. I think that this program can definitely develop a lot more."

"It is good for our confidence just to be here no matter what our placement is," Moir added. "It's important for us internationally."

Virtue and Moir scored 94.51 points in the free dance, and lost the title by a slim .58 points with a total score of 191.81.

"It feels really good for us to get this under our belts and it's a confidence booster," commented Virtue. "We're heading home feeling really positive. We're really proud of Meryl and Charlie. They certainly deserve it."

Finishing in third place in their first senior international competition was USA's Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates.

"We've been dreaming big since we were really little," said Samuelson of she and her partner who have been skating together for nine seasons. "We saw ourselves representing the U.S. all over the world."

Bates added, "Hopefully this is the first of many Four Continents Championships. We're really happy to be on the podium with two of the best teams in the world. For the future, hopefully this means a lot of good things."

The reigning World Junior champions skated like they belong on this level, presenting a mature look with their Amazonic program. In fact, Samuelson and Bates carried their technical mastery over from the original dance, and scored the second highest technical scores behind Davis and White.

"We were able to execute all elements and give a good performance," Bates said. "It was a personal best, so we are really happy."

As a compliment to their technical prowess, Samuelson and Bates are developing into majestic performers who can draw you into their performances. A score of 89.90 points in the free dance is a new personal best for the duo, and they just fell short of eclipsing their personal best overall with 180.79 points.

In fourth place was the young Canadian team of Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier, the silver medalists behind Samuelson and Bates at last year's World Junior Championships.

Poirier agreed. "We got our speed and performance level up. We projected well to the audience."

Crone and Poirier, like the champions, earned a level four on all of their elements save the circular steps with their routine to Doce de Coco. A new personal best of 88.03 points in the free dance gave Crone and Poirier a competition total of 176.82 points.

Finishing in fifth place were teammates Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje with a commendable performance to music from Doctor Zhivago. USA's Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre continued to struggle with levels in their Fatboy Slim medley program to finish in sixth place.

Ladies (Long Program)

In front of a sold-out crowd, the three ladies with the highest scores so far this season went head to head in a competition for the ages.

It was Joannie Rochette's home crowd in Vancouver, Canada, but it was hard to tell given the number of fans in the house to support Japan's Mao Asada and Korea's Yu-Na Kim.

All three ladies received such boisterous applause that one might think that all three ladies were skating in their hometowns.

"I was surprised that there were so many Korean people in the audience," Kim said. "I was so happy to see so many faces from overseas. It's good to perform so well for them."

Rochette added, "The audience was great. It is sometimes stressful to skate in front of a home audience, but I think that this is good practice for the Olympics next year. Tonight I felt them supporting me, and that inspired me to perform well."

Asada agreed, "I was so happy to see so many Japanese people. They gave me power."

Because of her almost six point lead after the short program, Kim had some room for error in the free skate. Skating last, all she had to do was skate clean, and the Four Continents title was hers. Though she opened strong with her trademark triple flip-triple toe loop combination, Kim struggled on her next two jumping passes. The first was an underrotated triple loop jump, a move that is somewhat new to the skater.

"I tried a triple loop this time, and it was hard to do this time," Kim explained. "Maybe I will try it against next time, and it will be better."

After the mistake on the loop, Kim next tried a triple Lutz-double toe-double loop combination, but again, did not receive full credit because both the Lutz and loop were called short of rotation. However, the Worlds bronze medalist rebounded, and landed three more triple jumps in her Scheherazade program, edging out Rochette for the win.

"It is nice to win, but I never see the short program and freeskate as two events," explained Kim. "I try to skate my best every time, and see it as one competition."

Kim did not win the free skate, but her free skate total of 116.83 points, coupled with her significant lead from the short program, gave her a winning total of 189.07 points.

Rochette skated beautifully to Concierto de Aranjuez, and perhaps had the most well-balanced performance of the night, blending strong technical elements with a delicate artistry that drew the crowd into her performance.

"This was a good performance that I can build on for the World Championships," said Rochette. "I will go home from here and get some good rest so that I can start my preparations for the next competition."

The five-time Canadian Champion started out strong with a triple Lutz-double toe loop-double loop combination, and landed three more triple jumps before making a mistake. Rochette lost credit for a triple Salchow on the end of a triple toe loop sequence because she had to take too many steps between the two jumps.

"When the triple toeloop wasn't landed good enough for doing the triple Salchow (for the sequence), I wasn't sure if the rules allowed to do a Salchow anywhere else," explained Rochette. "But I just wanted to do it for myself. Now I know that it doesn't count and I should just do a nice triple toeloop."

Rochette later singled an Axel in her second jump sequence in the program. In total, the silver medalist lost about 7 points of base mark that would have propelled her to her first international championship gold medal.

"Although I missed points on my sequence and did a jump that was not counted, I was happy with the overall performance," Rochette said.

Rochette finished ahead of Kim in the free skate with 117.01 points, but her competition total 183.91was not good enough to overtake the winner.

Finishing in third place after a disastrous short program, Asada opened her Waltz from Masquerade free skate with an intended triple Axel that was popped into a single. Immediately, the Japanese Champion set up for the jump again, and this time nailed it. Including the Axel, Asada landed four triple jumps, and won the free skate with 118.66 points.

"I was just planning on trying the Axel once," admitted Asada. "But I made a mistake the first time, so I tried to do it better the second time."

Asada skated without expression through most of her program, concentrating on the technical elements as if checking off items on a list. It was wasn't until the end in the straight line steps that the World Champion seemed to come alive, and by then it was too late to give Kim a challenge for the title.

"This is the best that I have skated my program all season, so I am happy with how it went," said the defending champion.

Asada finished with a total of 176.52 points, a total far below her personal best.

Moving up from fifth place with a strong performance was USA's Caroline Zhang. Skating to Ave Maria, Zhang skated a technically brilliant program, with only one glaring error- a slight under rotation of the back half of a triple flip-triple toe loop combination.

"I was watching the whole thing backstage and really didn't expect to finish any higher than sixth – so I'm totally thrilled," said the U.S. bronze medalist.

Zhang, who will not be competing in the World Championships in March, bested her fellow Americans, and made a case for the team to be reconsidered. The former World Junior champion's technical elements score was the highest of the night, but she seemed pleased with her skate, and chose not to focus on missing the World Championships in her hometown.

"It's really exciting! I didn't know that until now," Zhang said about being the top American finisher. "I guess I just wish that I did better at nationals so that I would have the opportunity to compete (at Worlds)."

Zhang scored 113.06 points in the freeskate and a 171.22 points overall, her highest total since the 2008 Grand Prix Final.

Finishing in fifth place after two inspired skates was Cynthia Phaneuf of Canada. The student from Quebec landed five clean triple jumps, and blew away her personal best in the free skate by more than six points.

"I am disappointed about missing a medal," admitted the Canadian silver medalist, "but I am very happy about my skate. If I skate like this at Worlds, it will be achievable for Canada to earn three spots for the Olympics."

Though the 21-year-old made a couple of minor errors, Phaneuf attacked her "Cleopatra" program, and skated with such joy that the audience couldn't help but cheer her on.

"The audience was so wonderful," Phaneuf gushed. "It was so much fun skating for them."

Phaneuf earned 108.43 points for her freeskate, and her competition total of 169.41 bettered her personal best by almost ten points.

Japan's Fumie Suguri had a rough outing, falling from fourth to sixth place overall with a competition total of 167.74 points.

"I just need to practice more and more," admitted the former World medalist. "My coach knows how to get good results. I trust him."

Americans Rachael Flatt and Alissa Czisny finished in seventh and ninth place respectively, while Japan's Akiko Suzuki placed eighth. Amelie LaCoste of Canada rounded out the top 10.