Day Two Press Report

Skate America International continued in Colorado Springs on Friday with the Original Dance, Men's Short Program, and Pairs Free Skating Program.

Ice Dance

Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio (ITA) retained their overall lead in the Dance event at Skate America, but the standings below them shuffled after the Original Dance. The Italians successfully interpreted the ballroom style in their performance to "Puttin' on the Ritz", earning all seven first-place ordinals. "Our main idea is to put the ballroom dance into the ice," said Margaglio. "That's been our project. "Fusar-Poli and Margaglio worked with the current ballroom dance world champions from Italy to create the program; Margaglio also said they watched old footage of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire to develop the atmosphere for the program.

Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz (CAN), second after the Compulsory Dance, fell to third overall (fourth in the Original Dance) after Kraatz stumbled before their straight line footwork. Kraatz said that was the first time something like that had happened to them since 1994 Canadian Nationals. "I caught an edge," said Kraatz. "It was an honest mistake. I tried to recover as soon as possible."

Despite a stumble of their own, Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas (LTU) moved up to second overall after finishing second in the Original Dance with an upbeat, jazzy number.

Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky (ISR) placed third and moved up to fourth place overall, while Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev (USA) are now in fifth place. The Ice Dance competition concludes on Saturday with the Free Dance.

Men

Three-time World champion Alexei Yagudin, captured the Short program competition with a technically clean and well-presented program. Yagudin opened his program with a quadruple toe-triple toe combination, becoming the first man to do the quad-triple combination in the Short Program. This is the first season the ISU has allowed the quad to be used in combination in the Short Program. Yagudin followed the quad combination with a triple Axel and triple Lutz, earning 5.7-5.9s for required elements and 5.8-5.9s for presentation. Yagudin continued his battle with the altitude, however, despite arriving in Colorado over a week ago. "I am just a person who cannot skate in the mountains," he said, referring to Colorado Springs' altitude of 2,100 meters). "I had all the different stuff in the beginning of the Short. When I made them, I though I just want to finish the program."

Timothy Goebel (USA) nailed a quad Salchow; triple Axel-triple-toe combination and a double Axel to finish in second.

Canada's Emanuel Sandhu was a surprise third-place finisher. Sandhu skated a clean, upbeat program with a completed quadruple toe loop, triple Axel-triple toe combination and a double Axel. "I have a whole new perspective on skating," said Sandhu. "I do what I do because I love it. I have a fresh outlook."

Vincent Restencourt (FRA) stands in fourth place, while Todd Eldredge's (USA) return to eligible competition was stalled with a disappointing performance, which landed him in fifth place. Skating first, Eldredge fell on his quadruple toe attempt, and followed that with a fall on his triple Axel. Eldredge competed in Skate Canada last year, but is truly back on the eligible circuit full-time this year after a two-year layoff. He wants to have another shot at the Olympics in 2002.

Pairs

In a repeat of the 1999 Skate America final, Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier captured the hearts of the crowd with a romantic and technically well-choreographed Free Program to defend their Skate America title and win gold. Skating to Waxman's "Tristan and Isolde Fantasie". Sale and Pelletier received the only standing ovation of the competition thus far, and won all nine first-place marks. The couple's only mistake was when Sale doubled the side by side triple toe loops. "We know it's a long season," said Pelletier. "From here to March we need improvement. That's not our 'A' skate."

Sale and Pelletier took the lead over Short Program leaders Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China, who performed their program from last season. The pair had problems on their side by side triple toe loops near the end of the program - he doubled it and she stumbled on her landing.

Russia's Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin held off Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman (USA) to grab the bronze. Ina and Zimmerman skated first and earned three third-place votes, but the Russians, who skated a rousing number to music from "West Side Story" picked up four first-place marks to reach the podium.

The Pairs event was cut in number by one for the Free, as Germany's Mariana Kautz and Norman Jeschke, eighth after the Short, withdrew from the competition Friday morning. Kautz suffered a minor sprain in her ankle during the warm-up for the Short program.

Saturday , Skate America continues in Colorado Springs with the Free Dance and the Ladies Free Program.

For further information please contact:

Grand Prix of Figure Skating & Final		Skate America International
Aline Bussat, ISU Media Coordinator		Bob Dunlop, USFSA Director of Media Relations
Tel:	+41 21 612 66 66				+1 719 635 5200
Fax:	+41 21 612 66 62				+1 719 635 9548
E-mai:	 bussat@isu.ch				bobdunlop@aol.com 

ISU Front Page