| MasterCard Skate Canada International, Day One |
MasterCard Skate Canada International launched on Thursday with the Pairs' and Men's Short Programs and the Compulsory Dance.
Pairs, Short Program
The Pairs opened Thursday's competition with the Short Program. Reigning World Champions and home crowd favorites, Jamie Sale/David Pelletier (CAN), won the first part of the competition, ahead of Russia's Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin and Qing Pang/Jian Tong of China.
The Canadians had drawn to start first and they skated their playful Tango "Jalousie" with confidence, nailing each of the required elements. Their routine included an excellent triple throw loop, side by side triple toeloops and a lift with variations of position. The Judges awarded the Canadians a straight 5.8 across the board for required elements and marks ranging from 5.8 to 5.9 for presentation. "It felt really good, solid", Sale said. "It's the second performance (in competition), and it's improving. We still have some work to do. We are happy that our training is showing." She also explained that she felt more relaxed than last week at Skate America. "It was fun. At Skate America, it was fun too, but I was holding back a little."
Totmianina/Marinin also put in a strong performance. Their program choreographed to a piece from the Russian Rock Opera, "Star and Death of Joaquin Murietta", featured effortless side by side triple toesloops, a triple throw loop and a one armed lift. The marks reached up to 5.7, both for required elements and for presentation. "We were more confident than at Skate America", revealed Marinin. "The atmosphere here at the rink was very good, as it always is in Canada. The crowd supported us, and that helps."
Pang/Tong overcame a shaky start when he stepped out of the landing of the triple toeloop. The rest of their program, set to the soundtrack of "Seven Years in Tibet", was fine although they lost speed in their step sequence. "Our skate was so-so", Tong commented. "Our presentation could have been better."
Currently sitting in fourth place are Canadians, Annabelle Langlois/Patrice Archetto, who did a double throw Salchow in their Short Program.
Men, Short Program
Three-time World Champion Alexei Yagudin of Russia took the lead with a very fine performance, while Canada's Emmanuel Sandhu and Elvis Stojko are currently sitting in second and third place. Yagudin was first to take to the ice, setting the standard with a quadruple toeloop-triple toeloop combination, a high triple Axel, a triple Lutz out of steps and two spectacular step sequences. After completing his very original program, "Winter", the Russian received straight 5.8s for required elements and 5,9s, across the board, for presentation. "I was very calm when I went out to skate. It was hard to skate first, though! The only thing I can improve now are my spins, they were a bit slow. After I did all the hard elements, I sort of didn't care so much about the spins", Yagudin admitted.
Skating last was Sandhu, who thrilled the home crowd with a dynamic routine to modern dance music. The 20-year-old opened his program with a quadruple toeloop-triple toeloop combination, followed by a triple Axel, a triple Lutz and good spins. His marks ranged from 5.6 to 5.7 for required elements and from 5.5 to 5.8 for presentation. Sandhu was ecstatic after his performance and hugged his coach Joanne McLead. "I felt really focused", he explained. "It was nice to sit backstage and to collect my thoughts and then deliver, deliver, deliver. That's what I did."
Stojko was second to skate, right after Yagudin. He fell on his opening quadruple toeloop, but then nailed the triple Axel, triple Lutz, but looked a little slow overall. "It's nice to be back being healthy", said the three-time World Champion referring to last season, when he was hampered by various injuries. "Getting used to feeling healthy while competing is new for me. Now I have to let it happen, not to be anxious on the take-offs. It's a good stepping stone. I'm in the hunt for Salt Lake."
Reigning World bronze medallist Todd Eldredge (USA) also went for a quadruple toeloop combination, but he barely held onto the landing. The American recovered instantly to land a triple Axel, but almost came to a standstill after the triple Lutz. However, his spins were amongst the best in the field. In a split decision (five to two Judges) Eldredge placed fourth. "I was surprised", he commented on his marks. "I turned out on the landing of the quad, but I didn't see many other mistakes (in my program)."
Ice Dancing, Compulsory Dance
The Compulsory Dance for Skate Canada is the Golden Waltz, which is considered to be one of the most difficult compulsories. To the delight of the audience, Shae-Lynn Bourne/Victor Kraatz of Canada clearly won the dance with Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovski (ISR) finishing second and Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder (FRA) coming in third.
Bourne/Kraatz skated a very strong and flowing Waltz that captured the feeling of the dance perfectly. The four-time World bronze medallists displayed deep edges and soft knees, sweeping up all first place ordinals from the Judges. Their marks ranged from 5.5 to 5.7 for technique and from 5.6 to 5.8 for presentation. "We did it like in practice", Bourne said. "That is our ultimate goal. It was a step up from last year." Kraatz pointed out that they learned to do the dance so well when they were still training with their former coach Natalia Dubova. Dubova is the creator of this compulsory dance.
Dubova's current students, Chait/Sakhnovski, turned in a good Waltz too, but then Sakhnovski had a slight stumble. "My blade got caught in Galit's long skirt", he explained. "Next time the skirt will be much shorter, a mini-skirt!" Nonetheless, the couple from Israel earned second place ordinals from all of the Judges. They received marks from 5.1 to 5.4 for technique and from 5.4 to 5.5 for presentation.
The French team also showed a smooth and clean Golden Waltz. "It was the first day of the new season. We did well, it was a soft and fluid Waltz", commented Delobel.
Skate Canada is the second of six events of the Grand Prix of Figure Skating. Full results are attached and also directly available on the ISU Internet site on ww2.isu.org . Skate Canada continues on Friday with the Original Dance, Ladies Short and Pairs Free Program.
Results Pairs FPl. Name Nat. Points SP FS 1 Jamie SALE / David PELLETIER CAN 0.5 1 2 Tatiana TOTMIANINA / Maxim MARININ RUS 1.0 2 3 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN 1.5 3 4 Anabelle LANGLOIS / Patrice ARCHETTO CAN 2.0 4 5 Stephanie KALESAVICH / Aaron PARCHEM USA 2.5 5 6 Danielle HARTSELL / Steve HARTSELL USA 3.0 6 7 Chantal POIRIER / Ian MORAM CAN 3.5 7 8 Viktoria BORZENKOVA / Andrei CHUVILYAEV RUS 4.0 8 Men FPl. Name Nat. Points SP FS 1 Alexei YAGUDIN RUS 0.5 1 2 Emanuel SANDHU CAN 1.0 2 3 Elvis STOJKO CAN 1.5 3 4 Todd ELDREDGE USA 2.0 4 5 Anthony LIU AUS 2.5 5 6 Andrejs VLASCENKO GER 3.0 6 7 Ben FERREIRA CAN 3.5 7 8 Johnny WEIR USA 4.0 8 9 Yosuke TAKEUCHI JPN 4.5 9 10 Roman SEROV RUS 5.0 10 11 Stanick JEANETTE FRA 5.5 11 Ice Dance FPl. Name Nat. Points CD OD FD 1 Shae-Lynn BOURNE / Victor KRAATZ CAN 0.4 1 2 Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI ISR 0.8 2 3 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 1.2 3 4 Eliane HUGENTOBLER / Daniel HUGENTOBLER SUI 1.6 4 5 Svetlana KULIKOVA / Arseyi MARKOV RUS 2.0 5 6 Megan WING / Aaron LOWE CAN 2.4 6 7 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 2.8 7 8 Katerina KOVALOVA / David SZURMAN CZE 3.2 8 9 Alla BEKNAZAROVA / Yury KOCHERZHENKO UKR 3.6 9 10 Josee PICHE / Pascal DENIS CAN 4.0 10 11 Nakako TSUZUKI / Rinat FARKHOUTDINOV JPN 4.4 11 For further information please contact: Aline Bussat Ingwersen, ISU Media Coordinator Tel: +41 21 612 66 66 Fax: +41 21 612 66 77 E-mail: bussat@isu.ch or MasterCard Skate Canada International Patrick Kenny, Press Officer Tel: +1 306 657 45 05 (press room)