The Cup of China continued Friday with the Original Dance, the Mens’ Short Program and the Pairs Free Skating. The Cup of China is the fourth of six qualifying events of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series.
Ice Dancing, Original Dance
The ice dancers opened today’s competition with their Original Dance, the “Rhythm Combination”. For this season’s OD, the skaters can choose two or three of the following rhythms: Charleston, Quickstep and Slow Foxtrot. The competition was at a high level as many couples performed a new personal best.
Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto (USA) strengthened their overnight lead by winning the Original Dance. The 2004 Four Continents Champions sparkled in their perfomance to Charleston, Foxtrot, Quickstep, showing off intricate footwork and nice lifts. They scored 64.93 points (24.80 element score/40.13 program component score), which was a new personal best for them. Their overall score added up to 105.00 points. “We thought we had a better connection with the judges and the audience than we did at Skate America. Maybe we’re a little more confident now in this program. We improved on the level of our lifts, it’s a small step forward. We’re happy with our technical and the judges’ scores. It was a good showing today,” Belbin commented. Agosto really enjoyed today’s performance. “This is one of my favorite programs, and we always have a good time performing this one.”
Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovski (ISR) and Canada’s Marie-France Dubreuil/Patrice Lauzon switched places. Chait/Sakhnovsk danced a dynamic Quickstep to “Sing Sing Sing” and a Foxtrot to “Smile” to move up to second place. Their dance featured a curve-rotational lift and a fast paced midline step sequence and earned them 63.07 points (24.00/39.07). “We did everything we can do today, without mistakes. The problem just was that I didn’t know where I was! I couldn’t completely focus, it’s probably the jetlag”, Sakhnovski said. “It still felt better than yesterday, yesterday was the first day, which is always hard. We beat our personal best, we changed a lift to achieve a higher level. At the practice, I didn’t manage to do it in ten seconds, but in competition I managed. And we upgraded our spin. The new rules make us to think more. I think that ice dancing now is one of the most technical disciplines.”
Dubreuil/Lauzon delivered an entertaining routine to a Singing in the Rain medley. Their nicely choreographed, romantic program to Slow Foxtrot, Charleston and Quickstep featured a beautiful combination lift and a side by side footwork line right on the beat of the music. However, Dubreuil started to slip from the one-armed rotational lift and Lauzon had to use his second hand to hold her. The current Four Continents silver medalists earned 60.99 points (22.00/38.99) and beat their personal best as well. “We didn’t do our best performance of this program, so we are a bit disappointed”, Lauzon said. “It was better than at Skate Canada, but the thing that happened was – we did the one handed lift, and I had some treatment on my shoulder, and I forgot that there was still oil on the skin, so I slipped from his hand”, Dubreuil explained. “That was a costly mistake, it cost us two levels. It downgraded from a level four to a level two. It happens, and now I know that I have to clean my arm very well.”
The couples are seperated by less than one point. The Israelis have 100.84 points, while the Canadians scored 100.36 points so far.
2003 World Junior Champions Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin (RUS) produced a smooth OD to remain in fourth place.
Men, Short Program
Jeffrey Buttle of Canada skated to the lead in the Mens’ Short Program, with China’s Chengjiang Li finishing second and Stefan Lindeman (GER) third. Performing to Sergei Rakhmaninov’s “Prelude in C-Minor”, Buttle hit a triple flip-triple toeloop combination followed by a triple Axel and a triple Lutz. The two-time Four Continents Champion also produced difficult spins and footwork to earn 76.00 points (39.50/36.50). “Overall I’m really pleased. Technically it went well. And I think with the new system, you always have to maintain a good second mark, and I felt I did that today and really sold the program.” Asked if the thinks he’ll take home the title, he answered: “My last competition was Skate Canada. And if there is anything I’ve learned it’s that the short program is finished and now I have to concentrate on the long program, to make sure I put out a solid performance. Really, with the new system anyone could be the winner. It’s a whole new day, and I’ll do my best.”
Li vowed the crowd with his martial arts routine named “Shining Treasure” that featured an excellent quadruple toeloop-triple toeloop combination, a triple Axel, a triple loop and fast footwork. The audience cheered loudly for the typical martial arts moves that Li included in his routine. The Chinese scored 69.75 points (39.10/30.65). “It was a very good performance, mabye because it was here in Beijing”, Li commented. “It got a lot of support from the crowd. I used martial arts music before, and I knew that the judges accept this kind of traditional Chinese music. So I was sure that my program could be a success.”
Lindemann had to overcome a fall on his quadruple toeloop early into his jazzy program to “Earnest”. The reigning World bronze medalist recovered to nail a triple Axel, a triple Lutz and showed well centred spins. He was awarded 62.70 points (33.10/30.60). “It was a good program. It started with a fall, but I came back. It did the triple Axel and the Lutz. I almost fell on the Lutz, but I held the landing. I hope to keep this place or to gain one or two spots tomorrow in the long program”, the 24-year-old told the post-event news conference.
Sitting in fourth place is Min Zhang (CHN), who pulled off a quadruple-triple toeloop combination, but fell on his triple Lutz.
Pairs, Free Skating
China’s two-time World Champions Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao skated to victory in the Pairs event, while Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang completed a successful evening for the host country by taking the silver. The bronze medal went to Valerie Marcoux/Craig Buntin of Canada.
Shen/Zhao delivered a solid performance to “The Soong Sisters” soundtrack, reeling off a double Axel-triple toeloop sequence, a huge triple throw Salchow, a triple toeloop as well as a triple twist and an interesting Lasso lift. Shen only stepped out of the landing of the throw triple loop. The Olympic bronze medalists scored 127.16 points (6260/64.56) and took the gold with an overall event score of 193.54. “We want to thank the audience today”, Zhao said. “Their support for us was great. Overall we’re quite pleased, this was the second time that we skated this program in competition. Hopefully we’ll skate even better next time in Beijing (for the Grand Prix Final).” Shen agreed. “Most of the program was good today, but there are still some things that can be improved. We will skate again next week in France and hope to do well there.”
Skating last, Zhang/Zhang put out a powerful program to “In the Hall of the Mountain King” that included a side by side double Axel-triple toeloop sequence, a side by side triple Salchow, their trademark big triple twist as well as a throw triple loop. Dan Zhang just had to fight for the landing of the throw triple Salchow, and the couple lost unison on their side by side combination spin. The 2004 Four Continents silver medalists were awarded 112.74 points (59.70/53.04) which added up to to a total score of 175.02. “I think we had a few technical mistakes and could have done better”, Hao Zhang told the press. “When we came out and heard the high marks of Shen/Zhao, it didn’t put any additional pressure on us”, Dan Zhang said. “Their high marks encouraged us to give our best as well.”
Marcoux/Buntin produced a triple twist, and two strong triple throws (loop and Salchow) as well as difficult lifts, but Buntin struggled with the triple toeloop. He fell on the first one and stumbled on the second attempt. The Canadian Champions earned 103.02 points for this performance to a medley of Russian folk music and claimed their first Grand Prix medal with an overall score of 164.86 points. “I think the gravity in China is different than in Canada, because I just could not seem to land my jumps”, Buntin joked. “I think artistically the performance was very, very good tonight. We’re happy with the performance, but there were technical mistakes. It was a stupid mistake on the toeloop.”
The Cup of China was a scoring event for all three medalists. Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao earned 12 points and will score again next week at the Trophee Bompard in Paris. Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang got 9 points and took the lead in the Grand Prix standings with 21 points, which will be enough for them to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix Final. Marcoux/Buntin got 7 points in Beijing and have 11 overall from their two events.
The Cup of China continues tomorrow (Saturday) with the Free Dance, the Ladies and Mens’ Free Skating.
Results
Grand Prix page
