Canada's Joannie Rochette performs in the women's free skate competiton at HomeSense Skate Canada International in Victoria on November 4, 2006.

HomeSense Skate Canada International went on Saturday in Victoria, British Columbia, with the Ladies and Men’s Free Skating.

Ladies, Free Skating
In what was an exciting Ladies’ event, Joannie Rochette of Canada soared from fifth to first to take the title. Fumie Suguri (JPN) earned the silver medal, and Korea’s Yu-Na Kim captured the bronze in her very first senior Grand Prix competition.

Skating to the Spanish inspired piece “Don Juan” by Felix Gray, Rochette nailed a triple flip-double toe-double loop combination, a triple Lutz-double toe, triple flip, a double Axel-triple toeloop sequence, a triple Lutz and Salchow. Her only mistake came when she popped the loop into a single. The Canadian Champion showed also strong spins, earning a level four for all three of them. She scored 118.26 points (62.02 element score/56.24), slightly improving her previous personal best of 117.12 points. Rochette accumulated 173.86 points and won the second gold medal of her career on the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating.
Suguri opened her program to “Song of the Spirits” by Karl Jenkins with a solid triple Lutz-double toe, followed by a triple flip, triple toeloop and a level-four combination spin. The reigning World silver medalist also produced another triple Lutz, triple flip-double toe and a double Axel, but she singled her last double Axel in the final seconds of the program. The Japanese picked up 110.24 points (54.56/55.68) for this performance and remained in second place at a total of 168.78 points.
Overnight leader Kim started strongly into her lyrical program to “The Lark Ascending” with a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, a double Axel, and a beautiful layback spin. She also completed a triple Lutz and another double Axel, but the 16-year-old stepped out of her triple Salchow, a toeloop (in combination with double Axel) and fell on an attempted triple Lutz. Kim’s camel spin with changes of position and her combination spin were graded a level four by the Technical Panel. The current World Junior Champion received 105.80 points (51.60/55.20) and was ranked fourth in the Free Skating, but third overall at 168.48 points.

“All week my practices have been very good, and I came here to show what I can do. I really wanted to do that for myself. It’s very special for me to win Skate Canada, because this is my home country. It is always a little bit stressful to present a new program, but I was focused on one think at a time, and it worked”, Rochette commented.
“It was very difficult for me, because I wasn’t in a good condition”, Suguri explained. “My health wasn’t good after the busy season. I thought of withdrawing from this event, but then I decided I’ll try until the last moment”, she revealed.
“I had an injury last summer and I couldn’t practice so much in Korea. My free program is new and wasn’t perfect.  This was my first Grand Prix, and it was a goal for me to win a medal. There is a big gap between juniors and seniors, and I tried hard to overcome that. I wasn’t prepared to skate in front of a big audience, and so I was nervous”, Kim said.

Alissa Czisny (USA), who had won Skate Canada last season, finished fourth. She produced four triples and excellent spins (163.69 points). Susanna Pöykiö (FIN) singled her loop and her second Lutz to dropped from third to fifth at 161.58 points.

Rochette pocketed 15 points and will compete again in Paris at the Trophee Bompard in two weeks. Suguri has 13 points and her next event will be the NHK Trophy in Japan. Kim earned 11 points and goes to France next.


Stephane Lambiel (SUI) 

Men, Free Skating
The Men’s event concluded with the Free Skating, and the standings after the Short Program shuffled quite a bit. Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland moved up from seventh place after a faulty Short Program to capture the gold medal. Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi secured the silver and Johnny Weir (USA) settled for the bronze medal.

Lambiel didn’t hold back in his program to the “Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi. He landed five clean triples and went for two quadruple toeloops, however he stumbled on the first and missed the second. The two-time World Champion earned a level four for his combination spin and a level three for the other three spins and the step sequences to score 146.25 points (72.05 element score/75.20 program component score). The 21-year-old accumulated a total score of 210.70 points. “What happened today is unbelievable”, Lambiel commented. “Before coming here I was not in a very good shape. I think it’s hard for me to start the season, but I came here to test and to see what I can do for my first competition”, he continued.

Takahashi’s routine to “The Phantom of the Opera” contained a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, a triple Axel-double toeloop, a triple Lutz-double toe-double loop, a triple Salchow as well as fast paced footwork, but he singled his planned quadruple toeloop and fell on a doubled flip and on the entry of a loop. The Japanese Champion got 129.41 points (59.91/71.50) and slipped from first to second at 208.21 points. “I feel lucky to be in second place, because I made a lot of mistakes”, Takahashi said.

Weir, who stood in second place after the Short Program, debuted a new program to “Child of Nazareth” by Maxime Rodriguez. His performance featured a triple Lutz, triple toeloop, a triple Axel and a level-four flying sit spin. However, the U.S. Champion touched down with his hand on his first triple Axel and stepped out of a triple Salchow. Weir scored 122.42 points (50.32/72.10) and collected a total of 198.70 points. “I’m also very lucky to have a medal here. I haven’t done so many doubles since I was really low level. I’m happy to have the first competition out of the way, and now I can focus on the Cup of Russia and work hard for that and being as prepared as possible for every competition the rest of this season”, the American told the press.

Shawn Sawyer (CAN) was ranked third in the Free Skating and came in fourth overall at 195.17 points. He landed six triples and showed original spins. Tomas Verner (CZE), who stood in third place following the Short Program, finished fifth (192.15 points). He stepped out of his quadruple toeloop, but hit four clean triple jumps.

Lambiel scored 15 points for his win and will head to the NHK Trophy in Japan in December. There he’ll meet Takahashi again, who has 13 points. Weir received 11 points. His next Grand Prix event is the Cup of Russia in Moscow.

HomeSense Skate Canada International concludes Sunday with the Free Dance and the Exhibition Gala.

Results