| MasterCard Skate Canada International, Day Two |
MasterCard Skate Canada International continued Friday with the Ladies Short and the Pairs Free Programs and the Original Dance.
Ladies, Short Program
The Ladies event brought a few surprises, as Sarah Hughes (USA) took the lead ahead of teammate Michelle Kwan and Japan's Fumie Suguri. Irina Slutskaya of Russia stands in fourth place after this first part of the competition.
Hughes opened her program to "Ave Maria" with a double Axel followed by a triple Lutz-double loop combination, a flying camel spin and a triple flip. The 16-year-old received marks from 5.4 to 5.7 for required elements and from 5.5 to 5.8 for presentation. She picked up six first place ordinals and one second place. "I'm happy with my performance", Hughes said. "It's a good start of the competition, and I'm looking forward to my long program."
Skating to "East of Eden", Kwan started off well with a double Axel but then she fell on the triple Lutz and did not complete a combination. The four-time World Champion recovered to land a triple flip out of steps, but her spins seemed to lacked speed. "I felt really good in the warm up", Kwan commented. "When the music came on, I felt awesome. I made a mistake on the triple Lutz, which is a little shock to me. I've been landing it consistently." With marks up to 5.4 for required elements and up to 5.9 for presentation, the American collected three second place ordinals, two third and two fourth place ordinals.
Four Continents Champion Suguri, also performing to "Ave Maria", put in a strong Short Program that featured a high triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, triple flip, double Axel and good spins. "I skated my best", the Japanese commented. "It's good for the begin of the season, but I still have to improve my edges, to make them sharper and cleaner."
Slutskaya doubled the Lutz in her Lutz-double loop combination but then completed a triple flip out of steps, a double Axel, a strong footwork sequence and good spins. "I think it has been two years since I missed a Lutz in the short", Slutskaya said. "I don't really know what happened. Maybe I was a bit nervous or tired. It's the third day here and I feel the jetlag."
The Judges were divided on the competitors ranked second to fourth with each skater receiving second, third and fourth place ordinals. World Junior Champion Kristina Oblasova singled the Axel and stepped out of her triple Lutz in the combination to place ninth.
Pairs, Free Program
The Pairs finished their competition with the Free Skating. First to skate in the last flight were Qing Pang/Jian Tong of China, third after the Short Program. The Chinese had a rough start when she stepped out of the double Axel and he barely held onto the landing of the triple toe in their opening jump sequence. Then Pang fell on the triple twist, and the pair dropped to fourth place overall.
Next up were Canada's Annabelle Langlois/Patrice Archetto, who stood in fourth after the Short Program. Competing in their first Grand Prix event, the team rose to the occasion and delivered an emotional Free Program to "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg". Their performance featured a triple throw Salchow, a triple twist, side by side triple toeloops and a triple throw toeloop. They also showed a nice death spiral with an original entry. Their only mistake came when Archetto popped the side by side triple Salchow. The Canadians received marks up to 5.5 for technical merit and up to 5.6 for presentation. They pulled up one spot and clinched the bronze medal. "It was a great skate", said an encouraged Langlois. "It was our first Grand Prix event, and we are pleased that we did all our elements except for the triple Salchow. It was a great experience", her partner added.
Then, it was the turn of Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin of Russia, to take to the ice. The students of the 1984 Olympic Pairs Champion, Oleg Vasiliev, skated a technically demanding program set to "West Side Story". They opened with side by side triple Salchows and then went on to reel off a triple flip, triple throw loop, triple twist, a side by side triple-double toeloop combination and a nice one armed lift. This earned them marks from 5.5 to 5.8 for technical merit and presentation and they won the silver medal - which made a perfect birthday present for Tatiana who turned 20 on Friday. "I competed for the first time on my birthday", she smiled. "I really liked it! In the morning, I found flowers in my room and many people congratulated me." The team rated this performance above last week's at Skate America. "We were calmer and it was physically easier", Totmianina explained.
Overnight leaders Jaime Sale/David Pelletier were the last team to skate. They looked tense at the beginning, but then got into their Rachmaninov program right away, nailing a beautiful triple throw loop, side by side triple toeloops and a side by side double Axel-double toeloop sequence. Their lyrical performance also featured a triple twist and a pairs spin with original positions. However, Sale doubled the throw Salchow. The home crowd favorites received marks from 5.7 to 5.9 for technical merit and from 5.8 to 5.9 for presentation to take their second gold medal in a row at Skate Canada. "We felt very nervous", Sale admitted. "We heard the marks and we knew that everyone was skating very well. It was nerve-wracking. But it was a good opportunity to take advantage and to take it around. We both did that."
With two wins at Skate America and Skate Canada, Sale/Pelletier have now already qualified for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final to be held in Kitchener (CAN) this December. The Canadian pair has scored the maximum of 12 points in each event and has not entered a third Grand Prix event. Totmianina/Marinin didn't choose Skate Canada as a point scoring competition. They will skate to score again at the Trophée Lalique in Paris. Langlois/ Archetto earned 7 points and will skate at the NHK Trophy in Japan.
Ice Dancing, Original Dance
In the Ice Dance event, Canada's Shae-Lynn Bourne/Victor Kraatz defended their lead after the Compulsory Dance with a clear victory in the Original Dance (OD). Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovski of Israel stayed in second ahead of Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder (FRA).
Bourne/Kraatz had to overcome a small shock at the beginning, when their music skipped and they had to start again. "It happened", Bourne said. "You have to be focused. I don't think it threw us off." The four-time World Bronze medallists indeed skated an expressive Flamenco and Tango program to music from "Girl Fight" and "Chicago". Skating with deep edges they displayed difficult footwork in their entertaining routine. The Judges awarded them all first place ordinals, with marks up to 5.8 for composition and up to 5.9 for presentation. "Our unison and expression was stronger than last week", Bourne commented referring to Skate America. "It was a step up."
Chait/Sakhnovski turned in a passionate Original Dance, using the rhythms of Flamenco, Paso Doble and Tango. They executed fast paced footwork and a difficult lift. Their marks reached up to 5.6 for composition and 5.7 for presentation. "Today was good. Until our next Grand Prix event, we still have a lot to work to do - on edge quality, on presentation and speed", Chait said. Delobel/Schoenfelder had chosen a Flamenco and a Tango rhythm for their OD. The French team delivered a strong and expressive dance that featured good lifts and strong footwork. "We worked with Flamenco dancers", Delobel commented. "We prefer this season's OD to last season's. It has more style, and more interesting choreographic elements."
MasterCard Skate Canada International is the second of six international qualifying 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 Saturday with the Ladies and Men's Free Programs.
Results Ladies FPl. Name Nat. Points SP FS 1 Sarah HUGHES USA 0.5 1 2 Michelle KWAN USA 1.0 2 3 Fumie SUGURI JPN 1.5 3 4 Irina SLUTSKAYA RUS 2.0 4 5 Galina MANIACHENKO UKR 2.5 5 6 Sarah MEIER SUI 3.0 6 7 Laetitia HUBERT FRA 3.5 7 8 Marianne DUBUC CAN 4.0 8 9 Kristina OBLASOVA RUS 4.5 9 10 Nicole WATT CAN 5.0 10 11 Annie BELLEMARE CAN 5.5 11 12 Tamara DOROFEJEV HUN 6.0 12 Pairs FPl. Name Nat. Points SP FS 1 Jamie SALE / David PELLETIER CAN 1.5 1 1 2 Tatiana TOTMIANINA / Maxim MARININ RUS 3.0 2 2 3 Anabelle LANGLOIS / Patrice ARCHETTO CAN 5.0 4 3 4 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN 5.5 3 4 5 Stephanie KALESAVICH / Aaron PARCHEM USA 7.5 5 5 6 Viktoria BORZENKOVA / Andrei CHUVILYAEV RUS 10.0 8 6 7 Chantal POIRIER / Ian MORAM CAN 10.5 7 7 8 Danielle HARTSELL / Steve HARTSELL USA 11.0 6 8 Ice Dance FPl. Name Nat. Points CD OD FD 1 Shae-Lynn BOURNE / Victor KRAATZ CAN 1.0 1 1 2 Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI ISR 2.0 2 2 3 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 3.0 3 3 4 Svetlana KULIKOVA / Arseyi MARKOV RUS 4.4 5 4 5 Eliane HUGENTOBLER / Daniel HUGENTOBLER SUI 4.6 4 5 6 Megan WING / Aaron LOWE CAN 6.0 6 6 7 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 7.0 7 7 8 Katerina KOVALOVA / David SZURMAN CZE 8.0 8 8 9 Josee PICHE / Pascal DENIS CAN 9.4 10 9 10 Alla BEKNAZAROVA / Yury KOCHERZHENKO UKR 10.2 9 11 11 Nakako TSUZUKI / Rinat FARKHOUTDINOV JPN 10.4 11 10 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)