| ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: Sparkassen Cup on Ice, Day 1 |
The Sparkassen Cup on Ice in Gelsenkirchen (GER), opened on Friday with the Compulsory and Original Dance and the Ladies and Pairs Short Programs. The Sparkassen Cup is the third qualifying event of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating.
Ice Dancing, Compulsory & Original Dance
The ice dancers started the competition with the Compulsory Dance. The Quickstep was chosen as the Compulsory Dance for the Sparkassen Cup. Reigning World Champions Barbara Fusar-Poli/ Maurizio Margaglio of Italy took the lead with a confident, lively dance. The Judges awarded them marks ranging from 5.4 to 5.7 for technique and from 5.6 to 5.9 for timing and expression. Canada's Marie-France Dubreuil/Patrice Lauzon came in second. The team from Montreal put in a solid performance that earned them marks up to 5.1 for technique and up to 5.4 for timing and expression. "It was pretty good", Lauzon commented. "It was as good as we could do it for this time of the year."
Sitting in third place, after the Compulsory Dance, were the two time World Junior Champions Natalia Romaniuta/Daniil Barantsev (RUS), who displayed good speed and light footwork in the Quickstep. "It was good, but it could have been better, of course. You always can do better", Barantsev said. "I was really nervous, I couldn't even sleep last night!"
The couples returned later on in the evening for the Original Dance (Spanish Medley).
Fusar-Poli/Margaglio put in a Paso Doble and a Flamenco with Spanish flair. Their program contained many original and typical moves from ballroom dancing. The Judges awarded the World Champions marks ranging from 5.5 to 5.8 for composition and from 5.7 to 5.9 for presentation. "This is our first competition, and it's always hard to be perfect", Fusar-Poli said. "But we are ready, and we are happy that the audience and the Judges liked our program." Margaglio added: "It was easy for us to skate, we were very confident. There was a lot of support from the crowd."
Dubreuil/Lauzon chose the Tango and the Spanish Waltz as their OD rhythms. The Canadians produced strong lifts, but looked hesitant in their side by side footwork. "I know I can do the side by side footwork much better", Dubreuil commented. "There were no major errors, but it wasn't as snappy as usual." During the program, Lauzon felt something under his blade. "It made a big nick in my blade", he said. "I knew something wasn't quite right. I have to fix it until tomorrow." Commenting on skating the Compulsory and the Original Dance in one day, he continued: "We like doing that. It's better than doing two Compulsories."
The Russian World Junior Champions Romaniuta/Barantsev stayed in third. The young team had a minor problem at the end of thir side by side footwork, when Barantsev almost slipped. They showed difficult steps in their Tango and Flamenco routine, but were holding back in some places. "My body went a bit out of control at the end of the footwork", Barantsev smiled. "Overall it wasn't bad for our first competition. We started to put together this OD only in the middle of August, because Natalia had been injured. We changed it in some places recently, and we didn't feel yet a 100 percent comfortable with it today."
Pairs, Short Program
World bronze medallists Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao of China won the Pairs Short Program ahead of Maria Petrova/Alexei Tikhonov (RUS) and Kyoko Ina/John Zimmerman (USA).
Zhao fell on the side by side triple toeloop, and the side by side spin was out of sync, but Shen landed a huge triple throw loop in their dynamic program to "Kismet". The marks ranged from 5.4 to 5.6 for required elements and from 5.7 to 5.8 for presentation. They got six first place and one third place ordinal. "We lost some training time", Shen explained. "After the Masters (in the USA) I had an ankle injury, and then Hongbo had a bad fall in practice. He suffered from a slight concussion." Coach Bin Yao added that they each lost two weeks of training due to these injuries.
The other top teams also seemed to struggle with the side by side triple toeloop. Tikhonov stumbled and touched down, but the team completed the rest of their "Nutcracker" program without further problems, including a triple throw Salchow and a high triple twist. "He wanted to do it (the triple) too much", Petrova said. "Overall I'm pleased with the program, it went better than at the Goodwill Games. Tomorrow we'll fight again. Everything is still open." Ina/Zimmerman delivered an expressive Blues program set to "Shine on you crazy diamond", that featured a triple throw loop, double twist and a nice death spiral, but John Zimmerman fell on the triple toeloop. "Everything was good, it was just a bit of bad luck", Ina commented. "We can't change anything today, we move on. Tomorrow is a different story."
The Judges were divided on the couples. Petrova/Tikhonov had four second place ordinals, two thirds and one first. Ina/Zimmerman got three second places and four third places. Standing in fourth place are Canada's Valerie Marcoux/Bruno Marcotte.
Ladies, Short Program
Maria Butyrskaya of Russia captured the Short Program with Angela Nikodinov (USA) and Yoshie Onda of Japan finishing second and third respectively.
Performing to "Tunes of the White Nights", a Russian movie soundtrack, Butyrskaya opened her program with a triple flip followed by a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination. She also completed the required double Axel, a layback spin and footwork in a straight line. The lyrical program earned her marks ranging from 5.4 to 5.8 for required elements and from 5.6 to 5.9 for presentation. "It was really weird, I suddenly tightened up after I did my jumps", Butyrskaya said. "Usually, I relax after the jumps and skate with more flow, but this time I somehow got really nervous. This happens rarely to me. I thought of the previous two competitions (the Goodwill Games and the Masters) where I had missed two elements and thought, now you'll miss two elements again!"
Nikodinov delivered a solid performance that featured a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, a triple flip, circular footwork and a beautiful layback spin. Her marks went up to 5.7 for required elements and up to 5.8 for presentation, and she picked up one first-place ordinal. The American had to compete without her regular coach Elena Tcherkasskaya, who has fallen ill. "This was the first time for me to skate this new program. The element I was most afraid of was the double Axel. I was very nervous, but once the music started it was like every practice. I performed for myself, for Irina (Rodnina, her coach) and I had Elena in my mind," Nikodinov explained.
Four Continents bronze medallist, Onda, was the third skater to pull off a clean program, landing a triple Lutz-double toeloop, triple flip and double Axel, although her footwork and presentation seemed less solid than those of her competitors. "There is not much to say, it was a clean program. It was great, I felt very good", Onda told the press. Onda's mark reached 5.7 for required elements and presentation.
2000 World Junior Champion Jennifer Kirk (USA) fell on her triple Lutz and now sits in fourth place, while reigning World Junior Champion Kristina Oblasova stepped out of her combination to finish fifth.
The Sparkassen Cup on Ice continues on Saturday with the Men's Short Program, the Ladies Free Program and the Free Dance.
For further information please contact: Aline Bussat Ingwersen, ISU Media Coordinator Tel: +41 21 612 66 66 Fax: +41 21 612 66 77E-mail: bussat@isu.ch or Sparkassen Cup on Ice Gerd Heydn, Press Officer +49 209 954 32 71 (press room) Results Ice Dancing FPl. Name Nat. Points CD OD FD 1 Barbara FUSAR POLI / Maurizio MARGAGLIO ITA 0.4 1 2 Marie-France DUBREUIL / Patrice LAUZON CAN 0.8 2 3 Natalia ROMANIUTA / Daniil BARANTSEV RUS 1.2 3 4 Alia OUABDELSSELAM / Benjamin DELMAS FRA 1.6 4 5 Agata BLAZOWSKA / Marcin KOZUBEK POL 2.0 5 6 Valentina ANSELMI / Fabrizio PEDRAZZINI ITA 2.4 6 7 Stephanie RAUER / Thomas RAUER GER 2.8 7 8 Nozomi WATANABE / Akiyuki KIDO JPN 3.2 8 9 Jill VERNEKOHL / Dmitri KURAKIN GER 3.6 9 10 Anna MOSENKOVA / Sergei SYCHOV EST 4.0 10 Pairs No. Name Nat. 1 Valerie MARCOUX / Bruno MARCOTTE CAN 2 Valerie SAURETTE/Jean-Sebastien FECTEAU CAN 3 Xue SHEN / Hongbo ZHAO CHN 4 Katerina BERANKOVA / Otto DLABOLA CZE 5 Marie-Pierre LERAY / Nicolas OSSELAND FRA 6 Maria PETROVA / Alexei TIKHONOV RUS 7 Tatiana CHUVAEVA / Dmitri PALAMARCHUK UKR 8 Victoria MAXIUTA / Vitaly DUBINA UKR 9 Kyoko INA / John ZIMMERMAN USA Ladies FPl. Name Nat. Points SP FS 1 Maria BUTYRSKAYA RUS 0.5 1 2 Angela NIKODINOV USA 1.0 2 3 Yoshie ONDA JPN 1.5 3 4 Jennifer KIRK USA 2.0 4 5 Kristina OBLASOVA RUS 2.5 5 6 Tatiana MALININA UZB 3.0 6 7 Silvia FONTANA ITA 3.5 7 8 Susanna PÖYKIÖ FIN 4.0 8 9 Anne-Sophie CALVEZ FRA 4.5 9 10 Marianne DUBUC CAN 5.0 10 11 Andrea DIEWALD GER 5.5 11