| 2002 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Day Three |
The 2002 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships continued in Jeonju City, South Korea, with the Free Dance and the Men's Free Skating.
Ice Dancing, Free Dance
The ice dancers started Saturday's competition with their final Free Dance. Naomi Lang/Peter Tchernyshev (USA), the 2000 Four Continents Champions, kept their lead after the Compulsory and the Original Dances to recapture their title. The other two teams are new on the podium: Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto (USA) won the silver medal and Canada's Megan Wing/Aaron Lowe claimed the bronze. For both couples, it was their first medal at an ISU Championship.
Lang/Tchernyshev skated an expressive, smooth Blues that featured original lifts and moves. They had transformed a former exhibition number into their competitive Free Dance, and it went over very well with the audience at the Jeonju Ice Rink. The Judges awarded the US-Champions marks from 5.4 to 5.6 for technical merit and from 5.6 to 5.8 for presentation, which meant first-place ordinals across the board. "It feels wonderful", Lang commented on winning the title again. "To see the American flag go up on top again - for us, that makes it even more special. We were a bit tired today. The jet lag hit us hard. Now we know we can do our program no matter how tired we are, how jet-lagged we are, we know we can go through it anyway." Lang felt that the Four Continents were an important step for them towards the upcoming Olympic Winter Games. "I think it gives us some pull, going into it."
Belbin/Agosto presented an entirely different Free Dance. Skating to a piece of music entitled "The Plight of Sarajevo", the young team told the story of happiness, destroyed by war and the return of peace. The reigning World Junior silver medallists showed dynamic footwork and innovative hydro-blading moves in their routine. The received marks up to 5.5 for technical merit and up to 5.6 for presentation. "We feel it's a really strong free dance for us and that we can skate it very well", Agosto said. "It was Igor's (Shpilband, their coach) idea. He brought us the music and he told us the story that he had in his mind about the people of Sarajevo, his experience of winning Junior Worlds in Sarajevo and then all the happiness he associated with that and then also all the sorrow that is brought by war and continuous struggle. I think we grasped these concepts, and then especially after the events of September 11th we saw some of those same circumstances in our own country."
Wing/Lowe, also coached by Shpilband, selected a very modern, techno-like music for their Free Dance. Skating with power, the team completed strong lifts and spins - and really enjoyed stepping onto the podium. "It's our first international medal since St. Gervais in 1995. It's a long time! It feels so good right now", an ecstatic Lowe said. "The people responded quite well. I thought they would be much more reserved, but they were right there. It's (the music) something more modern. Some people like it, others need to warm up to it. You can't keep doing the same thing."
Men, Free Skating
The Men's event brought some surprises as the standings after the Short Program shuffled. Song Gao of China, who was in fourth place after the Short Program, was the first of the medal contenders to skate. Gao set the standard with a triple Axel-triple toeloop combination, followed by a scratchy triple Lutz-triple toeloop. Skating to "The Man in the Iron Mask" soundtrack, the 20-year-old went on to complete three more triples and a double Axel, but he doubled the loop and lacked speed. The marks went up to 5.6 for technical merit and up to 5.4 for presentation, and Gao took the lead at that point.
Japan's Takeshi Honda was next to skate. In fifth place after a faulty Short Program, the defending Four Continents silver medallist felt the pressure to deliver. He opened his performance with a beautiful triple flip out of footwork, but then he fell on his quadruple toeloop. Honda recovered to land a triple Salchow, triple Axel-double toeloop combination and another triple Axel in his romantic program set to "Concerto de Aranjuez". However, he doubled the loop and stepped out of the triple Lutz towards the end. His strong presentation marks that went up to 5.7 allowed the Japanese to pull ahead of Gao.
Overnight leader Matthew Savoie (USA) was up next. The 21-year-old had been ill yesterday and was not in top shape. Although he started off well with a triple loop, triple Axel-double toeloop and produced fast spins, he tired visibly after the first half of his program and made some errors. Savoie was ranked fifth in the Free Skating and dropped to fifth place overall. His teammate Johnny Weir, who skated next, saw the marks and knew that the door was wide open for him. The reigning World Junior Champion was third after the Short Program and still could win. Weir nailed a triple Lutz-triple toeloop in the first seconds of his program to Chinese movie soundtracks, but then he singled the Axel. Although he pulled off four more triples and an excellent combination spin, he did not manage to land a clean triple Axel. Weir slipped to fourth place.
Last to skate was Jeffrey Buttle of Canada, second after the Short Program. The 19-year-old rose to the occasion and turned in an inspiring performance that featured a triple flip-double toeloop combination, a triple Lutz, a shaky triple Axel, three more triples and strong spins in original positions. The only major glitch was a mistake on the triple toeloop, where he put his hands down on to the ice. With a great smile Buttle waited in the Kiss & Cry for his marks. The Judges awarded him marks ranging from 5.0 to 5.5 for technical merit and 5.3 to 5.8 for presentation of his "La Strada" program. Buttle was second in the Free Skating but moved up to first to capture the title in his first senior Championships. Honda won the Free Skating, but was too far behind to get the gold medal and claimed the silver instead, while Gao clinched the bronze.
"The biggest experience I'm taking away was just to be out there with these big names", Buttle said. "To some people skating last is a bad situation to be in, but I did good, so I'm happy. I chose the music to my program, because I liked it, so I enjoyed skating it and the joy came across. It was a lot better than at Canadian Nationals."
Honda was disappointed with his performance. "I'm upset. I did well in practice and in the warm up, but I was tired. I felt stressed out. But I have to deal with it and move on. I have to be strong for the Olympic Games, and I want to have a great performance there."
Gao made quite a comeback after missing out a season on the international circuit, as he hadn't qualified for the Chinese National team last year. "Coming here, I had hoped to medal. I could have done even better here", he commented. "This is my first international senior event, and to get a medal is great. It's a fresh start for me."
The Four Continents Championships conclude on Sunday with the Ladies' Free Skating and the Exhibition Gala.
Results Ice Dancing FPl. Name Nat. Points C1 C2 OD FD 1 Naomi LANG / Peter TCHERNYSHEV USA 2.0 1 1 1 1 2 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 4.0 2 2 2 2 3 Megan WING / Aaron LOWE CAN 6.0 3 3 3 3 4 Beata HANDRA / Charles SINEK USA 8.0 4 4 4 4 5 Josee PICHE / Pascal DENIS CAN 10.0 5 5 5 5 6 Weina ZHANG / Xianming CAO CHN 12.0 6 6 6 6 7 Tae-Hwa YANG / Chuen-Gun LEE KOR 14.0 7 7 7 7 8 Rie ARIKAWA / Kenji MIYAMOTO JPN 16.2 8 9 8 8 9 Nozomi WATANABE / Akiyuki KIDO JPN 17.8 9 8 9 9 10 Jia QI / Xu SUN CHN 20.4 11 11 10 10 11 Ru FAN / Bin SUO CHN 21.6 10 10 11 11 12 Julia KLOCHKO / Ramil SARKULOV UZB 24.2 13 12 12 12 13 Natalie BUCK / Trent NELSON-BOND AUS 25.8 12 13 13 13 14 Aimee HARTOG / Daniel PRICE AUS 28.2 14 15 14 14 15 Kirstie KETTLETON / Trevor SIEDERS AUS 29.8 15 14 15 15 Men FPl. Name Nat. Points SP FS 1 Jeffrey BUTTLE CAN 3.0 2 2 2 Takeshi HONDA JPN 3.5 5 1 3 Song GAO CHN 5.0 4 3 4 Johnny WEIR USA 5.5 3 4 5 Matthew SAVOIE USA 5.5 1 5 6 Xiadong MA CHN 10.0 8 6 7 Roman SKORNIAKOV UZB 11.0 6 8 8 Makoto OKAZAKI JPN 12.0 10 7 9 Yamato TAMURA JPN 12.5 7 9 10 Derrick DELMORE USA 14.5 9 10 11 Jayson DENOMMEE CAN 16.5 11 11 12 Zhengxin GUO CHN 19.0 14 12 13 Vladimir BELOMOIN UZB 19.0 12 13 14 Bradley SANTER AUS 20.5 13 14 15 Dino QUATTROCECERE RSA 23.5 17 15 16 Daniel HARRIES AUS 24.0 16 16 17 Stuart BECKINGHAM AUS 26.0 18 17 18 Mauricio MEDELLIN MEX 26.5 15 19 19 Gareth ECHARDT RSA 27.5 19 18 20 Manuel SEGURA MEX 30.0 20 20 21 Tristan THODE NZL 31.5 21 21 22 Michael GILPIN MEX 33.0 22 22 R Emanuel SANDHU CAN For further information please contact: 2002 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships Aline Bussat Ingwersen, Kim Tae Wan, ISU Media Coordinator Press Officer Tel: +41 21 612 6666 Tel: +82 63 224 1276 or Fax: +41 21 612 6677 +82 63 224 1380 E-mail: bussat@isu.ch