The 2007 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships concluded Friday in Colorado Springs, USA, with the Ladies Free Skating and the Exhibition Gala.

Ladies, Free Skating
The Ladies were the last ones to find out who their Champions are. Kimmie Meissner (USA) vaulted from sixth to first to capture the title. Her teammate Emily Hughes earned the silver medal while Canada’s Joannie Rochette settled for the bronze. Both Americans competed for the first time at Four Continents. Rochette had competed in the event three times before but never medalled.

Overnight leader Rochette was the first of the top contenders to skate. She opened her program to the Spanish inspired soundtrack of “Don Juan” with a solid triple flip-double toe-double loop combination, but then she popped her Lutz. The Canadian Champion recovered to hit a triple loop, a triple flip, a double Axel-triple toe sequence and a triple Salchow-double toeloop combination, but her Lutz failed her again at the end, she singled the second attempt as well. The Technical Panel graded three of her spins a level four. Rochette received 109.30 points (55.03 element score/54.27 program component score). She collected 165.90 points overall, which was not enough to hold on to first place, and she slipped to third.
Next up was Hughes, who put out a powerful performance to “Sylvia” by Leo Delibes. The 18-year-old nailed a double Axel, a triple flip, triple Lutz, triple toe-double toe combination, another triple Lutz and Flip as well as a triple Salchow. However, the second Lutz and Flip were not in combination, and she also touched down on the entry of the first flying sit spin. Her other three spins were good and she earned a level four for the layback. The National silver medallist scored 111.26 points (54.73/56.53), improving her previous personal of 104.84 points. Overall Hughes accumulated 166.60 points and remained in second place.
Kimmie Meissner skated next to last. The reigning World Champion stood only in sixth place after falling on her triple Lutz in the Short Program, but she came back strong today. Performing to “Galicie Flamenco” the 17-year-old produced a triple Lutz-triple toe combination, a double Axel, triple Salchow, loop and another Lutz. Her only mistake came when she popped the flip into a single. Meissner earned a level four for her two combination spins and the spiral sequence. At the end of her program she happily waved to the crowd and knew that she would move up. The U.S. Champion got 120.26 points (61.10/59.16) which added up to a total of 172.75 and took the gold.
“This title means a lot to me. It’s my first Four Continents and I’m excited to have the title now”, Meissner said. “I felt really excited to go out there and do a good program.  It felt good to land those Lutzes. The last year has been like a whirlwind. Making the Olympics was a big goal of mine and to achieve that was great and then to win Worlds just added to the excitement. It was hard, because I didn’t get to train as much as I would have liked to, but I think I caught up now. I feel in great shape and hopefully keep the ball rolling into Worlds.” She added that she hopes to include a triple Axel into the program at the World Championships in March. ”They were really good this week, I landed a bunch of them in practice. If I can get it trained and ready and really have it then we’ll definitely see it at Worlds. They’ve taken a good turn”, the skater explained.

“Coming off Nationals my goal here was to achieve a new personal best and to skate a clean program. I’m really happy with myself that I did both of those things. I felt momentum from Nationals till now and hopefully it will carry into Worlds. In practice I felt a little more tired than I did out there, but every time I go out there I want to do a clean performance and this is a first for me for the season, so I’m really happy for that and hoping to build on it. As the program kept going I knew even though I didn’t do the first two combinations I really just wanted to land the last three jumps, because at Nationals I fell on one of them”, Hughes told the press.

“I feel ok about my program. Of course I was holding back a little bit too much. The Lutz was just a technical mistake today, but I’m glad that I did the loop. It was the first time this season that I did it. It’s been great in practice, but I think it was a mental block. My Lutz is fine. I’m building confidence for Worlds, and I’ll keep on training. I have more time to get ready before the next competition and this week I just gained more confidence”, Rochette commented. “Of course I’m working on triple-triple combinations, but I don’t think that’s the only thing that is important to get to the top. I will have to improve my spins, presentation, speed, there’re a lot of areas where you can get points now in the free skate. But in the short it’s really important to have that combination. We’re working on that“, she answered when asked whether she plans to include a triple-triple combination for her next competition.  

Aki Sawada (JPN) gave a strong performance as well. She landed five triple jumps, but overall slipped from third to fourth at 156.88 points. Alissa Czisny (USA) came in fifth. She missed one flip and another triple flip and the second Lutz were underrotated and downgraded (154.03 points).

For more information and full results please see: www.isu.org and www.4continents.com.