The competition at the Cup of China opened on Thursday in Beijing with the Compulsory Dance, the Ladies and the Pairs Short Programs. The Cup of China is the fourth of six qualifying events of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series.

Ice Dancing, Compulsory Dance
The Compulsory Dance at the Cup of China was the Golden Waltz. Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto (USA) danced to the lead with Canadians Marie-France Dubreuil/Patrice Lauzon coming a close second. Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovski (ISR) finished third in the first portion of the dance event. Belbin/Agosto skated a smooth and lilting Waltz to earn 40.07 points (17.24/22.83). “We felt it was much improved over Skate America”, Belbin commented. “The aspects we wanted to focus on in the past two weeks we have really improved on. We felt good about it. There is still a lot of room to grow. But it’s a great start to the competition here.” Agosto was especially pleased with the audience. “The audience here was incredible. I don’t think we ever had that large of a crowd for compulsory dances, and they’re so enthusiastic.” Dubreuil/Lauzon’s performance was mature and confident. They were awarded 39.37 points (17.22/22.15). “It was a pretty good performance”, Dubreuil said. “It is the first time this season that we skated the Golden Waltz. We had a really early draw (they skated second), but the ice was very good for us, so we ready to do the OD now.” Her partner added: “There are a lot of steps (in the Waltz), and it’s very physical to do. It’s probably the only dance that you need to be in good shape to do a good job.”
Chait/Sakhnovski delivered also a solid Golden Waltz and scored 37.77 points (16.10/21.67). “We had to skate last, which was difficult as there were the tracings of the other couples”, Sakhnovski explained. “But I think we did the best we could do. It felt more free than at Skate America, because this was our first competition, and the size of the ice rink was different. We’ll continue to fight tomorrow”.
2003 World Junior Champions Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin (RUS) came in fourth.

Pairs, Short Program
To the delight of the home crowd, two Chinese couples came in first and second in the Pairs Short program. Two-time World Champions Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao captured the lead while their teammates Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang were second. Canada’s Valerie Marcoux/Craig Buntin currently stand in third place.
Skating to the romantic “Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy, Shen/Zhao landed a solid side by side triple toeloop and showed a Axel Lasso lift out of a spread eagle move. But then Shen had to put her hand down on to the ice to hold the landing of the throw triple loop. The pair recovered to produce a high double twist. Shen/Zhao were awarded 66.38 points (34.70/31.68). “It was quite ok, although we had a little mistake”, Zhao said. “We usually never miss this throw, so I was really surprised about the mistake”, Shen added. Their competitors are close behind them. Zhang/Zhang’s Blues “All Alone” featured a side by side triple toeloop, a huge double twist as well as a strong Axel Lasso lift, just the landing of the triple throw loop was shaky. The 2004 Four Continents silver medalists received 62.68 points (35.16/27.12). “We really wanted to skate our best and we were successful today”, Hao Zhang told the press. “The crowd supported us a lot, and we want to thank them. They really helped us tonight.” Marcoux/Buntin put out an entertaining program to “Fever” and “Jump, Jive and Wail”. They completed an excellent side by side triple toeloop, a difficult lift with a cartwheel exit and a throw triple loop with an unusual entry. The 2004 Four Continents bronze medalists scored 61.84 points (35.16/26.68). “We just really wanted to perform and have fun”, Buntin said. “We wanted to work with the crowd. And the Chinese crowd was amazing tonight. They really reacted to everything that we did. We heard quite a lot of noise from them, and we performed well.”  
Eva-Maria Fitze/Rico Rex (GER) skated a dynamic program that contained a side by side triple toeloop and a throw triple Salchow to finish fourth.

Ladies, Short Program
Five-time European Champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia celebrated a successful comeback on the Grand Prix Series after one year of absence by winning the Short Program, while teammate Viktoria Volchkova came in second. Skate America Champion Angela Nikodinov (USA) placed third.

Slutskaya, who skated last, opened her program to “The Lady and the Hooligan” by Dmitri Shostakovich with a triple Lutz-double loop combination followed by an excellent triple flip and a double Axel. The Olympic silver medalist produced fine spins with difficult variations to earn high levels, but her final combo spin was a bit slow and travelled. Slutskaya was awarded 62.96 points (34.84/28.12) for her routine. “The technical part today wasn’t bad, although I’m not so happy with two spins that weren’t the way I can do them. But I have still time to improve them and to work on them”, Slutskaya commented. “Overall it was good for the first time in competition, and I practically didn’t skate last season.” Slutskaya is still bothered by a knee injury. She fell in practice at home in Moscow and twisted her right knee. “It hurts”, the 2002 World Champion admitted. “I don’t do the double Axel at all, only in competition.”
Volchkova had to fight for the landing on the triple Lutz (in combination with a double toeloop), but she completed a solid triple flip, double Axel and improved spins in her routine to “Love Story”. The Muscovite scored 53.14 points (27.58/25.56). “In the past few days after the NHK Trophy we started to change some things in my program”, Volchkova revealed. “We lost points on the easier elements there. I want to start fighting for higher placements, and the good short program gives me confidence for the free skating.”
Nikodinov stepped out of her triple Lutz (in combination with double toeloop) and stumbled on the exit of her camel spin, but she landed a triple flip and a double Axel to earn 49.82 points (25.38/24.44) for her program to “Moonlight Sonata”. Overall she looked somewhat slow, a result of the jet lag according to her. “Obviously it wasn’t my best performance. I couldn’t wake myself up before I came here – I fell asleep before I came here and my body was still sleeping. Considering how I felt I did the best under the circumstances”, Nikodinov said. “I had to fight for every single element. I didn’t want to loose a level or anything. I stepped out of my flying camel (spin), because I wanted to hold three turns on the inside. Other than that I had to step out of my Lutz. But I’m happy with myself that I can come back and fight after I made the mistake. Usually in the past I got disappointed in myself and I think oh, it’s over, that kind of thing. I had to fight for the flip, for the footwork. Every element felt like it was a triple Axel, it felt so hard.” 

World Junior Champion Miki Ando (JPN) is sitting in fourth place. She underrotated the loop in her planned triple Lutz-triple loop combination.

The Cup of China continues Friday with the Original Dance, the Mens’ Short Program and the Pairs Free Skating.

Results

Grand Prix page