The NHK Trophy in Asahikawa, Japan continued Friday with the Orignal Dance, the Ladies Short Program and the Pairs Free Skating. The NHK Trophy is the sixth and last of the qualifying events of the Grand Prix of Figure Skating.

Ice Dance

Today's competition opened with the Original Dance. The top three contenders skated in reverse order from the Compulsory Dance results. Kati Winkler/Rene Lohse (GER) put in another convincing performance to music from "Cabaret". Their Charleston and Quickstep were both very entertaining and contained good footwork. "I felt so tired", said Winkler. "The jet lag hit me today! It wasn't great today, but we went through the program quite well." Next up were Lithuania's Margarita Drobiazko/Povilas Vanagas. The World Bronze Medallists skated a funny and fast Charleston and Quickstep that featured good footwork at high speed and a nice lift. Their marks ranged from 5.3 to 5.7 for composition and from 5.3 to 5.8 for presentation. "It was a good performance. It was easy to skate today, because it is quite cold in the rink", Vanagas explained. "You always can improve on something, and we'll fine-tune the program now that we have time after the Grand Prix series." Today, Marina Anissina/Gwendal Peizerat from France skated last. The World Champions started well with an elegant and smooth Slow Fox Trot to "More" by Nat King Cole. However, their straight line footwork in the Quickstep "Dancing Fool" was out of sync at the beginning. "We still have a lot of work to do", commented Anissina. "The performance today wasn't perfect, but it was better than at the previous two competitions. It is physically difficult to do the footwork towards the end, but we'll stick to it." Anissina/Peizerat received marks up to 5.8 for both composition and presentation. All nine judges placed them first, but were divided for the other couples. Drobiazko/ Vanagas finished ahead of Winkler/Lohse, although the German couple took three second-place ordinals. Tatiana Navka/Roman Kostomarov (RUS) pulled up one spot to 6th. They overtook Sylwia Nowak/Sebastian Kolasinski of Poland who had fallen during their program.

Ladies

All top contenders in the Ladies event skated in the first warm up group. Overall, the competition was on a very high level. Russia's Irina Slutskaya was the first to take to the ice, pulling off a clean performance to "Culture" by Chris Spheeris that included a triple lutz-double loop combination, a triple flip, a double axel as well as excellent spins. Slutskaya received marks up to 5.8 for required elements and for presentation. "I'm happy with how I skated", said the 21-year-old Muscovite. "It was OK to skate first - I warmed up, went out and did it." Her teammate, Maria Butyrskaya, immediately followed. The 1999 World Champion also delivered a strong Short Program. She landed a high triple lutz-double toeloop combination, a triple flip, a double axel and produced nice spirals and spins in her flowing "Scène d'amour". Butyrskaya was also pleased with her performance. "It was similar to the program I did in Paris. Maybe the flip was a bit better here, but I felt more inspired in Paris!" she laughed. Butyrskaya scored marks ranging from 5.5 to 5.7 for required elements and from 5.7 to 5.9 for presentation. One judge put her first and one had her third, while the remainder voted for Slutskaya, who seems to have performed better spins and a more difficult jump combination. Japan's Fumie Suguri came in third with a clean program. Skating to "Rustle of Spring", the 19-year-old completed a triple lutz-double toeloop combination, a triple flip and showed nice spins. "I skated my best, and I'm really happy to have done so well, especially in Japan", Suguri declared. "Sometimes it is hard to skate at home, but I felt the support of the audience, and it made me stronger." Tatiana Malinina (UZB) slightly two-footed her triple flip and came in fourth. Suguri and Malinina are both still hoping to make the Grand Prix Final. Angela Nikodinov (USA) doubled the flip and she now sits in fifth before the Free Program. Although World Junior Champion Jennifer Kirk, did not make any major mistake, the quality of her elements was not as strong as those of her competitors and the American came in sixth.

Michelle Currie (CAN) was forced to withdraw today, after she injured herself in practice when she landed a triple flip.

Pairs

Overnight leaders Maria Petrova/Alexei Tikhonov of Russia skated first in the last flight. The World Champions opened their program with side by side triple toeloops, but Tikhonov touched down with his hand. The couple recovered from this shaky start and landed a double axel-steps-double toeloop sequence, a throw triple salchow and throw double axel. Although their romantic program to "Le Tourment" and "Vision du Paradis" by French composer Saint-Preux also featured spectacular lifts, it still was not enough to win. The Russians dropped to third place in the Free Program, finishing third overall. World Silver Medallists Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao (CHN) were still hoping for their first win of this season. The Chinese team put in a technically strong performance. They reeled off a double axel-steps-triple toeloop sequence, another side by side triple toeloop and two impressive triple throws in their dynamic program "Spirit of Sping". Their marks were as high as 5.9 for both technical merit and presentation. Nonetheless, the judges had left a little bit of room for Sarah Abitbol/Stephane Bernadis (FRA). The World Bronze Medallists landed a side-by-side triple toeloop, but Bernadis put his hand down on the double axel. The emotional "Tristan and Isolde" program also included good lifts, a triple throw loop and a huge double throw axel, but it was Shen/Zhao's night as they won the gold, while the French had to settle for the silver medal. "We are honored to have won this competition", said Zhao. "However, I think we skated better at the Cup of Russia." Shen had broken a nail in practice and said she was in pain, but didn't let it influence her performance. Abtibol/Bernadis were happy with the silver medal. "I believe this is the place we belong tonight", commented Bernadis. "It was a good competition for us, although it was difficult because of the jet-lag and the long trip. We travelled about 25 hours to come here." Tikhonov added: "We didn't skate badly, but I missed the triple toeloop. It wasn't enough, we lost, and this means there is something left to work on. We hope to skate better at the upcoming competitions." Petrova/Tikhonov plan to include the triple throw toeloop again in their next competition. They had downgraded the difficulty of their program with a double throw axel because Petrova was injured earlier this season.

At the NHK Trophy, all three medal winners are qualified for the Final. Abitbol/Bernadis scored 9 points, while Petrova/Tikhonov got 7. Shen/Zhao had already qualified before coming to Japan and the NHK Trophy was their additional event.

The NHK Trophy continues tomorrow with the Ladies Free Program, Men Short Program and Free Dance.

For further information please contact:

Grand Prix of Figure Skating & Final			NHK Trophy
Aline Bussat Ingwersen, ISU Media Coordinator		Hiroshi Kobayashi, Press Officer
+41 21 612 66 66					+166 63 22 94
E-mail: bussat@isu.ch

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