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2009 World Figure Skating ChampionshipsLadies Short Program and Free DanceMarch 28, 2009
The 2009 World Figure Skating Championships continued with the Ladies Short Program and the Free Dance. Ladies (Short Program)The highly anticipated duel between Korea's Yu-Na Kim and Japan's Mao Asada was finally back in action today with the ladies short program. Canada's Joannie Rochette had a little something to say about that, but the day belonged to Kim as she annihilated her competition with a short program that would have been competitive in the men's field this week. Kim opened her "Danse Macabre" short program with a gorgeous triple flip-triple toe loop combination, and then a brilliant triple Lutz. "I am very happy with how I did today because I had a very good performance," said the Four Continents Champion. "I have been doing very well in training, and I am happy that I could transfer that over to the competition ice." Along with her rock-solid jumps, Kim also earned level four for all of her elements except her step sequence, and along the way, broke the world record for highest score for a lady in the short program. With a total of 76.12 points, the The athletic 19-year-old eclipsed the former record by almost five points. "I skated a good short program today, but I don't know how many more times I can increase my score," Kim said. "I knew what I scored at Four Continents, so I had in mind what the score could be after I finished. I was shocked at how high the score was." The Staples Center was full of Yu-Na Kim fans, and when she finished her program, the roar of the crowd was almost as deafening as it was last night when hometown boy Evan Lysacek won the men's title. "The American crowd has been great," said the leader. "There are so many Koreans here, too, so I feel comfortable skating here." Rochette stands between Kim and Asada in second place, and proved that she must now be factored into the rivalry. Skating to Gershwin's Summertime, Rochette somehow transported the audience to Catfish Row, the fabled location of the opera Porgy and Bess, and somehow steamed up the cold ice in the Staples Center.
"My goal was to reach out to the public, and that was what was missing at the Four Continents," Rochette admitted. "My elements were not perfect, but I am satisfied with what I did." The Canadian champ opened with an easy double axel, and then performed a nice triple lutz-double toe loop with her delicate touch. Rochette also landed a triple flip on her way to a new personal best 67.90 points. Rochette was rewarded with three level fours, but could only muster a level three on her step sequence and a level two on her closing layback spin. However, she earned the second highest program component scores of the day. Rochette is looking for her first Worlds medal, and leads the reigning World Champion Asada by more than a point. "I feel confident for the long program, and I am anxious to come back tomorrow. The free program is my strength." Asada has struggled with her short program all season long, and after her opening triple flip-triple loop combination, it looked as if she might have turned that around. However on her next move, a planned triple lutz, Asada only managed a double that immediately took her out of the running for the lead. "I am not satisfied," said the Grand Prix Final champion. "I missed the lutz, and I can do much better in the second half of my program. I'm pleased that I did the triple flip-triple loop combination, but I didn't attack the lutz enough. That is disappointing." Skating to Debussy's Claire de Lune, Asada regrouped and finished her program strong, earning a new season's best 66.06 points for her efforts. Still, the Japanese champion was disappointed in her performance, and has a new game plan for tomorrow's freeskate. "I will not do the lutz in the free program," said the 18 year-old Asada. "Instead, I will try two triple axels." In fourth place is Asada's teammate, Miki Ando, who is on the way back up the ranks after a disappointing season last year. The 2007 World Champion, Ando opened with a credible attempt at a triple lutz-triple loop in which the second jump was downgraded. "I got nervous, and the triple-triple was downgraded," Ando said of her performance. "I knew right after the triple-triple (that it would be downgraded), so I was fine. I am just enjoying this experience. The audience is saying good luck in Japanese and in English. It made me happy to hear that, and it gave me power for the skating." After the mistake on her combination, Ando gave a stellar performance the rest of the program, and brought life to the music "Memoirs of a Geisha". Like the top three skaters, Ando earned a season's best 64.12 points, and finds herself in medal contention. Ando and teammate Fumie Suguri missed the call for their warm-up group to enter the ice, so both had to rush to prepare for their short program. "I couldn't hear the announcement," Ando said. "I was nervous. I just had to concentrate and give the best possible performance." Sitting in fifth place after a dismal performance is Carolina Kostner of Italy, who opened her program by putting her hand down on a triple flip-double toe loop combination. The European silver medalist followed that up with a two-footed triple lutz. "I'm really not satisfied with my program," Kostner admitted. "I think it could be much better. I guess this will be one more experience to try and find the right balance for competitions." The reigning silver medalist, Kostner skated to Omette Coleman's "Mujer Sola" and "Canaro en Paris" by Scarpino and Calderella. Kostner never really made a case for a higher finish with this program, but still managed a season's best 63.18 points to earn a spot in the final warm-up group in the freeskate. In sixth place is the reigning European Champion Laura Lepisto, who skated a clean program to Karl Jenkins' "Imagined Oceans. Lepisto skates with less technical content than the leaders, but what she does, she does cleanly and with flair. The Finnish silver medalist's most difficult jump was a triple loop, but her component scores pushed her to a total of 59.66 points for her short program. "I'm a little disappointed with the jump combination and my spiral was a little shaky," said Lepisto. "But I am very pleased with my points. The other elements were good quality, and I got the points that I needed from those elements." Right behind Lepisto is American silver medalist Rachael Flatt, who opened her "Breakfast at Tiffany's" short program by stepping out of a triple flip that was to be her jump combination. Ever the thinker, Flatt tacked on a double toe loop to her next jump, a triple lutz so that she would not lose valuable points. "I'm disappointed with how my combination came out," Flatt explained. "Other than that, it was a good program. I knew that I needed to get a combination, so I tacked it on the triple lutz. It wasn't a triple-triple, but I was still getting points, and that is important now." The 2008 Junior World Champion is making her debut at the World Championships, and she skated a fit in well with the seasoned competitors. Her total score of 59.30 points gives her hope of moving up in the freeskate where she has been known to earn high scores. Finishing in eighth place is Georgia's Elene Gedevanishvili, who is best known for making the final flight of ladies in the freeskate at the 2006 Olympic Games. Known as a brilliant short program skater, Gedevanishvili did not let herself down today, equaling her highest finish in four tries at the World Championships. Gedevanishvili opened with a flawed triple lutz, and could only manage a triple toe loop-double toe loop combination before she stepped out of her double axel. "I hadn't practiced on this ice as we were always on the practice rink," said the spunky 19 year-old. "The first triple toe wasn't so good, so I couldn't do a triple-triple as planned. But I rotated the axel. For me, it is very important to do well here and to prove something to myself after my disappointing 25th place finish at Europeans." Gedevanishvili scored 58.82 points with her "Cabaret" program, but is in a precarious position heading into the freeskate with three skaters behind her trailing the Georgian by less than one point. One of those skaters is Suguri who is in ninth place in her return to the World Championships after a three-year break. The 28 year old skated a polished program that was marred by a minor error on her triple flip as well as a level one on her layback spin. "I was a little more nervous than usual today," Suguri admitted. "We had a little problem in the six-minute warm up, and I didn't really enjoy it. I just did it. Tomorrow I will enjoy it." Suguri received a one point timing deduction, but still earned 58.40 points overall. Had the Japanese silver medalist earned just one level higher on the layback and stayed within the time guidelines, she would have been skating in the final group in the freeskate. After taking most of the season off to heal from a career-threatening back injury, Switzerland's Sarah Meier gave a courageous performance, and finished in 10th place. The 2008 European silver medalist is returning to competition after a four-month hiatus, and almost skated a clean program. The only mistake was a step out on her triple flip, but everything else was clean. Meier scored 58.36 points in the short program, and is within striking range of her highest finish (6th) at a World Championship. "I am relieved it went so well," admitted the 24 year-old. "It wasn't perfect, but I had been injured for quite some time. It was only a few days before we left that I decided to come here, and I did my short program really only once before in practice." Junior World Champion Alena Leonova is in 11th place in her first World Championships, while the European bronze medalist, Susanna Poykio of Finland is in 12th. Elena Glebova of Estonia is in 13th place, and American champion Alisa Czisney had a horrific short program and sits in 14th place. Canadian silver medalist Cynthia Phaneuf is in 15th. Ice Dance (Free Dance)
As expected, it was a tight race to determine the final placements and medals in the ice dance competition. Five teams had a very real shot at harvesting medals, and so many of the teams gave season's best performances with everything on the line. In the end, the medals went to the top three teams after the original dance, and only two teams swapped placements in the top ten. Winning their first world title was Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia, who skated a competent program to Khatchaturian's "Spartacus". The 2008 European Champions earned level fours on seven of their eight executed elements, and defeated their training mates, Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the United States by a little more than a point. "Maybe in two days I will be excited and show my emotion about winning the title," Shabalin admitted. "But right now, I don't know how to feel. Of course I am happy, but I don't think that I understand what has happened yet." After struggling with a knee injury all season, Shabalin admitted tonight that he was still feeling pain, even though he refused to admit it publicly throughout the competition. "I think now I can say that it hurts," said the champion. "But I couldn't think about it because I had to skate." The Russians earned 100.85 points in their free dance, just .58 points more than the silver medalists, and 206.30 points overall. "We are friends," Shabalin said of his training mates. "But we are not close. I hope that will come." Belbin and Agosto skated before Domnina and Shabalin, so they had to wait to see if their score would hold up for the gold medal. The five-time US Champs skated a credible program to Puccini's "Tosca", and like the champions, earned 7 of 8 level fours. "The difference in gold and silver could have been our level three twizzles, but who knows," Belbin said. "We know that we are never going to have a title handed to us, so we are just going to have to be extremely perfect." The silver medalists showed inventive and difficult lifts throughout their program, and nearly managed to defeat the Russians on the technical components as a result. "This year we made so many changes," Agosto explained. "The coaching change and just trying to change everything about the way we perform. This program really allowed us to develop a new side to ourselves in a new and mature sense." Belbin and Agosto earned a season's best 100.27 points and 205.08 points overall to return to the podium after a year's absence. Finishing in third place with an intense performance skated to the music of Pink Floyd are the Canadian champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. "Tonight was all about us," Moir admitted. "We just wanted to go out and skate not for what the judges thought, but what we thought. We skated the best that we could, and we are very happy about that." The 2008 silver medalists earned level four for all of their elements, and as a result, equaled the champions' technical components score. Any sign of Virtue's injury was masqued by the great performance that was put forth, and their lifts were arguably the most interesting and daring of the evening. "I felt way stronger and was able to push through the performance more at the end," Virtue said. "I wasn't even focused on my legs. Mentally it's such a treat to not have that constantly running through my mind." The bronze medalists finished fourth in the free dance, and narrowly edged out their training mates by just .04 points overall. Their free dance total was a season's best 99.98 points, as was their competition total of 200.40 points. If the audience would have had a vote tonight, perhaps Davis and White would be wearing medals around their necks. The American champs received the loudest ovation of the evening, and there were many who felt that they should have been standing atop the podium. "I think that was probably the best performance that I ever felt," said an elated Davis. "Competing at Worlds in our home country has been wonderful, and to finish with a performance like that with that kind of audience reaction just means the world to us." The Four Continent's champions earned the highest technical marks of the night, outscoring the gold medalists by half a point. In fact, Davis and White placed third in the free dance with 100.03 points, but the deficit lingering from the compulsory dance was just too much to overcome. In total, Davis and White earned 200.36 points overall, a new personal best for the duo. Moving up to fifth place was the French team of Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat with a bizarre if not technically challenging program to circus music. "My hands were shaking because I was so eager to get out on the ice," admitted Bourzat. "The American crowd gave us good support." Pechalat added, "We had a good competition overall, and we are very happy with our performance. We love this program and we were very ready." The French earned personal best scores in each phase of the competition and overall, but were unable to move into medal position because the other teams were just a tad bit better. "We aren't far away from the World podium," said a philosophical Bourzat. "We should be able to touch it next season." The French champions scored 95.99 points in the free dance and 194.36 points overall. Slipping to sixth place after placing fifth in both the compulsory and original dances were the European champions Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski from Russia. Khokhlova and Novitski were given credit for six level four elements, but incurred a one point extended lift deduction that dropped them down a placement overall. "Coming here we were ready for anything," admitted Novitski. "We could win or end up far away from the podium. Obviously the second possibility came true. But this is not our last World Championships. I think that we skated our free dance very well today." The Russians earned 94.39 points for their Rachmaninov program, and 193.41 points overall. Sinead Kerr and John Kerr from Great Britain maintained their seventh place position after the original dance, their best placement at the World Championships. "This has easily been the most successful season for us," John said. "We would have like to been a little higher, but we can't complain. There is always next year." Sinead agreed, "It's been fantastic. I think that we were really ready for this World Championships, and having it in Los Angeles was incredible." The European bronze medalists earned 90.64 points for their "Muse" free dance, and totaled 186.07 points overall. Finishing in a disappointing 8th place are Italian champions Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali. The European silver medalists had a tough time recovering from a disappointing compulsory dance, and never performed up to their usual standards. "I am proud of Federica," Scali said of his partner. "She hasn't been feeling well the past few days. She has been dizzy and close to passing out. We think that she is a little dehydrated. But after yesterday, we had to skate clean and we did. So, we feel really proud." French silver medalists Pernelle Carron and Matthieu Jost finished in 9th place with a total score of 178.72 points. "We gave all of our energy in this program, and the public supported it very much," Carron said. "The music had a lot to do with that, and I am very happy with our performance tonight." Italians Anna Capellini and Luca Lanotte finished in 10th place with 175.50 points. "We felt like we fought through to the end," Cappellini said. "But it was one of those days when things weren't flowing perfectly. We didn't get scared. We fought." American silver medalists Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates placed 9th in the free dance and finished in 11th place overall in their Worlds debut while Canadian silver medalists Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier slipped to 12th place in their first trip to Worlds. The event concludes with the Ladies Long Program. |
Korea's Yu-Na Kim posted a new Short Program record score of 76.12 points at the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships.
Russia's Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin placed first in the Free Dance to win the title at the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships.