The 2008 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships continued Thursday in Goyang, the Republic of Korea, with the Original Dance, the Pairs Free Skating and the Ladies Short Program.
Ice Dancing, Original Dance
The Original Dance of the 2007/08 season is the Folk/Country Dance. The 13 couples at Four Continents chose Russian, Greek, Jewish, African Dances, Spanish Flamenco, Western Hoedown and even an Aboriginal Folk Dance.
Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir of Canada strengthened their overnight lead ahead of the two U.S. couples Meryl Davis/Charlie White and Kimberly Navarro/Brent Bommentre.
Virtue/Moir’s characteristic Russian dance to “Dark Eyes” was highlighted by a one-armed curve lift, a fluid circular step sequence and a rotational lift. The received a level four for all elements except for the combination spin that was a level three. However, Moir had three minor wobbles in the program. The 2006 World Junior Champions still earned a new seasonal best of 66.02 points (34.74 element score/30.28) which added up to 103.24 points overall. “Tessa and I are very pleased with the way we skated today. We wanted to go out there and attack it as much as possible. We felt like we did that and we’re hoping to build on our performance of today for tomorrow”, Moir commented. “I think it had more to do with trying to really go for everything”, he said, referring to his errors, “I went out there with a lot of energy and some places like my back cross cut or my twizzle, I didn’t really handle the energy as well as I had hoped, but I think that’s a major reason why we are here at this competition, that we are trying to use it as a building part for Worlds.”
Davis/White had opted for a Russian theme as well, for “Kalinka”. They executed intricate step sequences, a combination spin and a straight line lift with him sliding on one knee. Their lifts, the twizzles and their spin were graded a level four, but the two step sequences were called a level three by the Technical Panel. Davis/White picked up 61.93 points (33.01/28.92) and remained in second place at 99.29 total. “It wasn’t perfect technically. For the footwork sequences we got a level three, (these are) points that you don’t want to give away”, White explained.
Navarro/Bommentre interpreted an unusual African Dance from Soweto called “Ijuba” that contained a straight line lift with him skating backwards, a rotational lift and a solid side by side step sequence. All elements but the circular steps were awarded a level four. The Americans scored 56.67 points (31.14/25.53), which was also a seasons best for them. They defended their third place with 91.03 points overall. “I felt the expression was right where we wanted it to be. We changed a lot of stuff from nationals until now. We switched around the footwork sequence and we were going out there and trying to make sure that we really protected our levels. I thought we did a great job of that”, Bommentre told the press.
Jennifer Wester/Daniil Barantsev (USA) put out an entertaining Western Hoedown to finish in fourth place at 86.39 points. Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje came in fifth with a Russian Gypsy Dance (85.89 points).
Pairs, Free Skating
Qing Pang/Jian Tong of China overtook their teammates Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang to claim their third gold medal at the Four Continents Championships. Brooke Castile/Benjamin Okolski (USA) earned the bronze.
Zhang/Zhang had drawn to skate first in the final flight. They had a double Axel-triple toe combination planned as their first element, but Dan Zhang doubled the second jump. The team went on to complete a high triple twist, two Lasso lifts and a throw triple Salchow and loop, but she also doubled the side by side triple Salchow and stumbled on the death spiral. The 2006 World silver medalists seemed a bit slow overall in their routine to “The Myth”. Zhang/Zhang received 111.39 points (54.82 element score/56.57 program component score) and slipped to second place at 181.84 points. “Today’s performance wasn’t good. We had some problems, especially with the jumps and made several errors. For us it was pretty bad”, Dan Zhang said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to overcome our problems unit the next competition and that we’ll be able to skate much better at Worlds. We’ll work hard and train all our elements.”
Pang/Tong were up next and gave a strong performance to “Romeo and Juliet” by Nino Rota. The 2006 World Champions produced a double Axel-double Axel sequence, a triple twist, a throw triple Salchow and loop as well as difficult lifts that were graded a level four. Their only major error came when Pang underrotated and stepped out of the triple toeloop. The couple scored 119.63 points (59.62/60.01) which accumulated to a total of 187.33. Pang/Tong moved up from second to first and took their third Four Continents title after 2002 and 2004 “We skated quite well today and had only two smaller errors. We are getting better and better and hopefully we’ll be at our best at Worlds”, Tong told the post-event press conference. “These championships are an important test for our programs. We like to come to Korea and feel comfortable here. Now we have one month before the World Championships and we hope that we can prepare well without any health problems for Worlds. We wish the same also to the other competitors”, he continued.
Castile/Okolski’s program to “Sheherazade” featured a triple twist, a high throw triple Salchow, a double flip-double toeloop combination and a throw triple loop as well as two Lasso lift and one hand-to-hip lift. However, Castile singled the double Axel. The Americans earned 103.55 points (53.34/50.21) and moved up to third place to win their first medal at a major international event, the bronze, with 159.99 points. “We are very pleased with our placement, not extremely happy with our skate. We need to skate much better at Worlds and we’re going to take the next four weeks to work out some kinks. We’ll fight to do well at Worlds this year. That’s our goal. I pretty much lost my entire summer and early fall. Just one injury after the other since Worlds. Mainly my jumps have been affected, and that’s what I need to fight for. In the next few weeks I need really mentally get myself doing them better”, Castile said.
Rena Inoue/John Baldwin (USA) dropped from third to fourth at 156.00 points. They completed a double Axel-double toeloop combination, a double twist and a throw triple loop, but they popped their planned throw triple Axel. Jessica Miller/Ian Moram (CAN) were fifth (149.21 points). They went for the throw quadruple Salchow, but she stumbled out of the landing.
Ladies, Short Program
In what was an interesting Ladies Short Program, Mao Asada, Miki Ando, both of Japan, and Canadian Joannie Rochette finished first, second and third, but are separated by less than one point from each other.
Skating to “Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra” by Jean-Claude Petit, Asada went for a triple flip-triple loop combination, but she didn’t fully rotate the second jump, and it was downgraded. The reigning World silver medalist also stepped out of her triple Lutz, but she completed strong spins, two of which were graded a level four. The 17-year-old earned a new seasons best of 60.94 points (31.89 element score/29.05 program component score). “I landed the triple-triple combination, and I was so happy about it, because I made this year all the time mistakes on the combination in competition. I was very sad about that. I did it last year (in December) at Japanese Nationals finally, and now I’m even happier”, the Japanese said. She added that she didn’t expect a downgrade on the triple loop.
Ando finished just behind at 60.07 points (32.61/27.46) with a solid performance to “Bacchanale” from “Samson and Dalilah” by Camille Saint-Saens. She nailed a triple flip, a double Axel and had, like Asada, a level four for her flying sit and for the combination spin and a level three for the combination spin. The reigning World Champion risked a triple Lutz-triple loop combination, but again, the second jump was cheated and downgraded. “Today, before I came here, I had a headache and so I wasn’t at a 100 percent. My head felt somehow heavy and hot. But I did everything, so I’m pleased”, Ando explained. “I’ll try the quad (Salchow) in this competition (in the Free Skating). I have to skate clean and to enjoy to skate.”
Rochette produced a triple Lutz, a double Axel, two level-four spins and a level-three straight line step sequence, but the back end of her triple flip-triple toeloop combination was downgraded as well. The Canadian was still happy with a new personal best of 60.04 points (32.92/27.12). “I felt very good tonight. It was the first time for me to do the triple-triple, and even though it was downgraded, I’m still happy about it”, the Canadian Champion commented. “I also scored for the first time 60 points in the short program. It was a goal for me”, she added.
Anastasia Gimazetdinova (UZB) came in fourth with a strong performance that included a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, a triple Salchow and a double Axel (55.49 points). Beatrisa Liang (USA) is currently standing in fifth place. She hit a triple flip and adouble Axel, but she fell on the second jump in her triple Lutz-double toeloop combination (54.05 points). To the delight of the home crowd, Korea’s Na-Young Kim delivered an excellent short program that contained a triple Lutz-double toe, a double Axel and a triple flip as well as three level-four spins to finish sixth at 53.08 points.
For full results please see: www.isu.org. The 2008 ISU Four Continents Championships continue Friday with the Free Dance and the Men’s Free Skating.
