Cup of Russia in St. Petersburg, Russia, continued Saturday with the Free Programs for Ladies, Pairs and Men and the Original Dance (Rhythmic Combination).

Ladies

The Ladies event opened with the Free Program. Elena Sokolova of Russia, second in the Short Program, was the first of the medal contenders to skate. Sokolova showed great improvement since her first Grand Prix event, which was Skate America three weeks ago. The 20-year-old reeled off a triple lutz and then a triple toe-triple toe-double loop combination, but she over rotated the second triple and two-footed the loop. Sokolova risked a triple salchow-half loop-triple loop sequence later in her dynamic program set to "Masquerade Suite" by Aram Katchaturian, but stepped out of the last jump. The judges awarded her marks up to 5,8 for technique, and for presentation.

Overnight leader Irina Slutskaya (RUS) knew she would need to do well in this strong field. The World silver medallist from Moscow started with a triple lutz-double loop, but two footed the loop. She completed a triple salchow-double loop combination and four more triples, as well as excellent spins. However, Slutskaya did four combinations in her "Don Quixote" program although, according to the rules, only three are allowed. Consequently the judges were forced to make a deduction and Slutskaya received marks ranging from 5,6 to 5,8 for technique and 5,7 to 5,9 for presentation.

Sarah Hughes (USA), who sat in third before the Free Program, was last to skate. Also skating to "Don Quixote", the 15-year-old delivered a solid performance that featured a double axel and six triples. However, Hughes did not complete her planned triple salchow-triple loop combination as she popped the loop. The standings of the Short Program remained unchanged: Slutskaya took the gold, while Sokolova finished second and Hughes claimed the bronze medal.

All three ladies were quite pleased with how the competition went. "There were some little mistakes, that's why the marks went down", said Slutskaya. "I didn't change my program, it was just that not all the planned elements worked."

Sokolova was proud of her two triple-triple combinations, even if they weren't perfect. "The main goal for this competition was to do these triple-triples. I wanted to do them last season, but it didn't work in competition. Now I'm fed up with being a practice champion!"

Hughes said she felt stronger than in her previous competitions. "The Grand Prix helped me a lot to learn to skate without taking a break", she explained. Sasha Cohen (USA) delivered a good program with six triples and a double axel. However, her triple loop, as well as her flip and the axel were shaky. The 16-year-old stayed 4th overall.

Cup of Russia was Slutskaya's first scoring event. She currently has 12 points and will compete again at the NHK Trophy in two weeks. Sokolova is now finished with her Grand Prix competitions and has 16 points overall and has to wait and see if that will be enough to qualify her for the Final. Hughes is in the same situation, as she scored 7 points at Cup of Russia and another 9 points from the Sparkassen Cup.

Pairs

The Pairs at the Cup of Russia delivered an interesting and high level competition. First in the last flight, were the European Silver Medallists from Poland, Dorota Zagorska/Mariusz Siudek. They delivered a strong performance to music from the Polish motion picture "Pan Tadeusz". The husband and wife team completed side by side triple toeloops, side by side double axels, a triple twist, a high double axel, as well as difficult lifts. Only the triple throw salchow had a lean in the air. "We are very happy. We had a very bad short program at Skate Canada - Dorota fell twice. That never had happened to us before, and so we were very nervous here. We wanted to prove that we can do much better", explained Siudek. The Polish pair came out with the bronze medal.

Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao of China were up next and were determined to give their best, which they did. The two-time World silver medallists pulled off side by side double axels with steps into triple toeloops, a second triple toeloop, a huge triple twist and throw triple loop. However, their lifts were not the most difficult. Their performance to the Violin concert "Spirit of Spring" by Chinese composer Du Mingxin, received high technical marks up to 5,9 and marks up to 5,8 for presentation, leaving some room for the last couple to skate. Shen/Zhao stayed in the Kiss and Cry area to watch their competitors Elena Berezhnaya/Anton Sikhuralidze (RUS).

The two-time World Champions opened their entertaining "Charlie Chaplin" program with side by side triple toeloops and a double axel-double toeloop sequence. Berezhnaya had a shaky landing on the triple throw salchow and triple throw loop, but the triple twist was fine. The program contained many innovative and interesting moves as well as spectacular lifts. While the technical marks for the Russian pair were about the same as for Shen/Zhao, the presentation marks gave the Russians the edge over their main competitors. Berezhnaya/Sikhuralidze scored 5,9s from all seven judges and were placed first by all of them. "I didn't really think at first that this program would work", said Sikhuralidze. "It is difficult to combine all the technical elements with funny moves. But our choreographer Igor Bobrin managed it." When asked what they need to do in order to beat Berezhnaya/Sikhuralidze, Zhao answered: "We have to work more on our presentation and on the flow of our program."

US-Champions Kyoko Ina/John Zimmerman put in a strong free skate to "Variations on a Theme of Paganini" by Andrew Lloyd Webber and surged from a seventh place finish after the Short Program to fourth overall.

All three medallists had chosen Cup of Russia as their second scoring event. Berezhnaya/Sikhuralidze are currently second in the overall Grand Prix standings (21 points) and are qualified for the Final. Shen/Zhao have 18 points, which should also be enough to qualify. Zagorska/Siudek collected 12 points and will have to wait and find out if they have qualified.

Men

Evgeni Plushenko(RUS) does not often get a chance to skate at home, and he wanted to please his home crowd. When the 18-year-old took to the ice, he looked focused and then produced another fantastic performance similar to the one he did last week at the Sparkassen Cup. Plushenko, who lives and trains in St. Petersburg, since seven years, nailed a quad toeloop-triple toeloop-double loop combination, directly followed by another quad-triple toeloop. He went on to land a triple axel and three more triples, but he doubled the lutz. The program to soundtracks from "Once Upon a Time in America" and "Mortal Combat" featured many original moves and especially drew a lot of applause for a successful Tango interpretation. No one was able to beat this last night. The European Champion even got two 6,0s for presentation - the first 6,0s at this competition so far. "I prefer this program to last year's because it consists of different styles", commented Plushenko. "This program is a bit like myself." The Russian rated this performance higher than last week's. "I did two quad combinations this time", he explained.

Below him, the standings shuffled as no one managed to skate clean. Ilia Klimkin, fourth in the Short Program, pulled up to spots and captured the silver medal. The 21-year-old Russian landed a quadruple toeloop, a triple axel and two more clean triples, but he two-footed a loop as well as a toeloop and fell on the second triple axel. Klimkin's ballet program to "Prelude à l'après-midi d'un faun" featured unique elements such as a triple salchow out of a camel spin, and a hydro-blading spread eagle move. "For me, to finish second was really the best I could expect. I'm very pleased. My programs are little dramatic pieces on the ice, and hopefully people like them."

Matthew Savoie (USA) dropped down one spot and took the bronze, his second of this Grand Prix series. Savoie hit a triple axel-triple toeloop and a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, as well as a triple salchow and lutz, but he doubled a loop and two footed a double axel. Savoie also impressed with a well-centered combination spin. "I'm pretty happy with this performance", he said. "It's probably the best I've done so far (this season). I'm happy that I was at least competitive in that strong group."

Bulgaria's Ivan Dinev, third after the Short Program, popped his quadruple toeloop attempt to finish fourth, also as a result of other errors. The competition came too early for World Bronze Medallist Michael Weiss who remained in sixth place. The US-Champion had a disappointing skate. He looked hesitant and only managed to land cleanly a triple flip and a triple lutz. Weiss had missed three weeks of practice because of a stress fracture in his left foot.

Plushenko gained 12 points and will be skating for points at the NHK Trophy. Klimkin got 9 points and will also be looking to score again in Asahikawa, while Savoie is now done and has 14 points.

Ice Dance

The ice dancers concluded the competition day with the Original Dance, which was the Rhythmic Combination including two or three rhythms from the following: Foxtrott, Quickstep, and Charleston, March. World silver medallists Barbara Fusar Poli/Maurizio Margaglio from Italy retained their lead after the Compulsory Dance, although Margaglio stumbled during the side by side step footwork. Overall their Original Dance to music from "Puttin' on the Ritz" was fast and expressive. "I'm human", said Margaglio on the mistake. "I lost my concentration. It happens." Russian Champions Irina Lobatcheva/Ilia Averbukh stayed in second. Their Foxtrott and Quickstep was elegant and featured nice spins and an original lift at the end. "We are pleased. We didn't do so well in practice this morning, but tonight it was good. Again, we were nervous, but we are happy with how we've skated", Averbukh explained. Israel's Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovski impressed with fast and difficult side by side footwork, although at some points their skating lacked finesse. The Israeli team remained in third place.

Cup of Russia concludes Sunday with the Free Dance and the Exhibition Gala.

For further information please contact:
Grand Prix of Figure Skating & Final					Cup of Russia 
Aline Bussat Ingwersen ISU Media Coordinator			Vladimir Rausch, Press Officer
+41 21 612 66 66							+7 812 301 95 86
E-mail: bussat@isu.ch 

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