The NHK Trophy in Asahikawa, Japan concluded Sunday with the Men's Free Program and the Exhibition Gala.

Men

First to skate in the last flight was Chengijang Li of China. He was fifth in the Short Program and, Li knew that if he put in a strong performance, he still had a shot at a medal. Li took off with a quadruple toeloop-triple toeloop combination and a quadruple salchow a few seconds later. Skating to upbeat drum music by "Blue Men", he hit three more triples but put his hand down on the ice on his triple lutz. Towards the end of his program, Li ran out of gas, doubled a jump and looked slow. "I have a slight cold and I felt tired", he explained. "I'm happy with my performance, but I could have skated better artistically", he added. However, Li surged from fifth to third and claimed the bronze medal, his the second in this Grand Prix series. The Four Continents silver medalist was ranked second in the Free Program.

European Champion Evgeni Plushenko (RUS) had suffered from a bad headache after the Short Program and was not feeling a 100 percent. Nevertheless, the 18-year-old delivered another brilliant performance and easily won the competition, and it was his third win. Plushenko pulled off a quadruple toeloop-triple toeloop-double loop combination, a triple axel-triple toeloop, another triple axel, a triple lutz-double loop combination and three more triples, as well as fast steps and good spins. The entertaining routine to various motion picture soundtracks (Once upon a time in America and Mortal Combat) drew a lot of applause from the audience. Plushenko received marks ranging from 5.8 to 5.9 for technical merit and 5.9s plus one perfect 6.0 for presentation. This was to be the only 6.0 at the NHK Trophy. "It was a good skate, I did everything", commented the Russian. "Yesterday, I went to bed at 8 PM, and I even felt that I had fever. I don't know what it was, if it was the jet-lag or something else. It was better this morning, but something wasn't right with my body."

Ilia Klimkin of Russia was second after the Short Program and hoped to make the Grand Prix Final for the first time in his career. Klimkin's performance had its ups and downs. The 1999 World Junior Champion popped his opening triple axel attempt and badly stumbled on his quadruple toeloop, but then he landed a triple axel-triple toeloop combination and four more triples. The program to "Prelude à l'après-midi d'un faun" featured original spins, but Klimkin skated very slowly. The 21-year-old waited anxiously for the marks in the kiss & cry and jumped up with joy when the marks came up. He was placed third in the Free Program, which meant that he remained second overall. "It is a great result to finish second", the Muscovite said. "I could have skated better, but it is a happy end for me. I'm participating in the senior Final for the first time, and it is a further step in my career." The judges were quite divided on Klimkin and the following skaters.

Ben Ferreira from Canada who was in third after the Short Program had a disappointing performance and dropped to seventh place.

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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