| Grand Prix of Figure Skating - Skate America, Day One |
The senior Grand Prix of Figure Skating kicked off Thursday with Skate America in Spokane, Washington.
Ice Dancing, Compulsory Dance
The ice dancers were the first to take to the ice today. The Compulsory Dance chosen for Skate America is the Austrian Waltz. This Waltz is used for the first time in senior competitions this season as it used to be a junior dance only.
The competition brought a surprise when World bronze medalists Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovski (ISR) didn't perform the Austrian Waltz to its full potential and finished fourth. Elena Grushina/Ruslan Goncharov of the Ukraine took the lead in the first portion of the dance event with Russia's Tatiana Navka/Roman Kostomarov in second and Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto (USA) in third. Grushina/Goncharov produced a flowing Waltz, showing off their strong edges. The range of marks was 5.2 to 5.5 for technique and 5.2 to 5.7 for timing and expression. "The Austrian Waltz is a new dance where you can see the abilities of each team very well", Grushina commented. "It was hard to learn, because nobody knew it. We had books, but books are just books. We also watched tapes, but they were rather old-fashioned. However, we learned the steps, and we enjoy this dance."
Navka/Kostomarov proved good speed and improved technical skills in their Waltz. Their marks ranged from 4.9 to 5.4 for technique and from 4.8 to 5.6 for timing and expression. "I think this event was really judged as it should have been. I'm very happy with the result", Navka said. "I don't like this Waltz too much, but I think we did well."
World Junior Champions Belbin/Agosto received a lot of applause for their lilting, soft Waltz that expressed the character of the dance very well. They earned marks from 4.9 to 5.2 for technique and from 5.1 to 5.4 for timing and expression. "It felt very solid. This is the dance we felt most prepared for in a long time for compulsories", Agosto explained. "It's a very comfortable dance for us. We really enjoyed trying to get into the intricacy of it and showing nice, deep edges." He added: "We just noticed our lowest artistic mark was higher than the other team's lowest mark. Then the result came up. It was a bit of a surprise, a good one."
Pairs, Short Program
Reigning World silver medalists Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin of Russia won the Pairs' Short Program ahead of China's Qing Pang/Jian Tong and Annabelle Langlois/Patrice Archetto (CAN). Skating to "Morning Suite" by Edvard Grieg, Totmianina/Marinin completed an excellent triple throw loop, a double twist and flawless side by side triple toeloops. There was only one minor glitch when Marinin had a wobble in the lift. "It wasn't a major problem, we just didn't have enough speed", he said. The team received marks ranging from 5.6 to 5.8 for required elements and from 5.7 to 5.9 for presentation. "Overall we are pleased with this performance. It was the fist time we skated this program in competition. Of course, we skated it many times in practice, but competition is always different", Marinin added. Pang/Tong's program to "Illumination" by Secret Garden featured a high double twist, side by side triple toeloops and a huge throw triple Salchow. "This was quite ok", a happy Pang commented. The Four Continents Champions received marks up to 5.7 for both required elements and presentation. Langlois/Archetto started off well with a high throw triple Salchow at the beginning of their "Harlem Nocturne" program, but then Langlois stepped out of the landing of the side by side triple toeloop. "I think we did a good program. It wasn't perfect, it was a little shaky", Langlois said. "Overall we liked our performance. We can build on that." The World Junior Champions Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang (CHN) produced a clean program with strong elements and are sitting in fourth before the final Free Skating.
Ladies, Short Program
Four-time World Champion Michelle Kwan (USA) grabbed an early lead in the Short Program with a flawless performance to "The Feeling Begins" by Peter Gabriel. The exotic and elegant program contained a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, a triple flip and Kwan's trademark spiral sequence. The marks of the Olympic bronze medalist ranged between 5.6 and 5.8 for required elements and 5.8 and 5.9 for presentation. "I was really excited to be out there and to skate as well as I did. The Short Program is so new for me. I only have it for two weeks", Kwan explained. "Usually it's like clockwork, but I had to really think through the program. But I got into the program, got into the mood. It was fun."
Kwan's teammate Jennifer Kirk came in second, followed by Russia's Viktoria Volchkova. Kirk landed a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, a triple flip and a double Axel in her romantic program set to the "Princess' Diaries". "I was just happy that I was able to skate a clean Short Program for the first time", Kirk said. "I felt comfortable and confident going into my jumps. I have been skating well at practice at home, and I just wanted to skate well here. We've been working a lot on my speed and the height of my jumps", Kirk added, referring to working with coach Richard Callaghan since last March. Volchkova completed a high triple Lutz-double toeloop combination and a triple flip, but she had a little stumble in the spiral sequence in her program to music by Saint-Preux. The range of her marks was between 5.2 and 5.6 for required elements and between 5.3 and 5.6 for presentation.
Skate America continues on Friday with the Original Dance, the Men's Short Program and the Pairs Free Skating.
Skate America is the first of six international qualifying events of the Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. The skaters will be awarded prize money and points, and the top six skaters and couples with the most points overall will proceed to the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in St. Petersburg, (RUS).
Smart Ones Skate America 2002 Ice Dancing Compulsory Dance FPl. Name Nat. Points CD OD FD 1 Elena GRUSHINA / Ruslan GONCHAROV UKR 0.4 1 2 Tatiana NAVKA / Roman KOSTOMAROV RUS 0.8 2 3 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 1.2 3 4 Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI ISR 1.6 4 5 Melissa GREGORY / Denis PETUKHOV USA 2.0 5 6 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE 2.4 6 7 Emilie NUSSEAR / Mathew GATES USA 2.8 7 8 Nozomi WATANABE / Akiyuki KIDO JPN 3.2 8 9 Josee PICHE / Pascal DENIS CAN 3.6 9 Pairs Short Program FPl. Name Nat. Points SP FS 1 Tatiana TOTMIANINA / Maxim MARININ RUS 0.5 1 2 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN 1.0 2 3 Anabelle LANGLOIS / Patrice ARCHETTO CAN 1.5 3 4 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN 2.0 4 5 Yuko KAWAGUCHI / Alexander MARKUNTSOV JPN 2.5 5 6 Tiffany SCOTT / Philip DULEBOHN USA 3.0 6 7 Kathryn ORSCHER / Garrett LUCASH USA 3.5 7 8 Tatiana CHUVAEVA / Dmitri PALAMARCHUK UKR 4.0 8 9 Kristen ROTH / Michael McPHERSON USA 4.5 9 LadiesShort Program FPl. Name Nat. Points SP FS 1 Michelle KWAN USA 0.5 1 2 Jennifer KIRK USA 1.0 2 3 Viktoria VOLCHKOVA RUS 1.5 3 4 Elena LIASHENKO UKR 2.0 4 5 Ludmila NELIDINA RUS 2.5 5 6 Ann Patrice McDONOUGH USA 3.0 6 7 Julia SEBESTYEN HUN 3.5 7 8 Yukari NAKANO JPN 4.0 8 9 Annie BELLEMARE CAN 4.5 9 10 Miriam MANZANO AUS 5.0 10 11 Elina KETTUNEN FIN 5.5 11 12 Zuzana BABIAKOVA SVK 6.0 12 For further information please contact: Grand Prix of Figure Skating & Final Skate America Patricia Mayor, Bob Dunlop ISU Sports Coordinator USFSA Press Officer Figure Skating Tel: +41 21 612 66 66 Tel: +1 509 242 42 67 Fax: +41 21 612 66 77 Mobile: +1 719 351 96 09 E-mail: mayor@isu.org