The competition at Mastercard Skate Canada International continued Friday with the Original Dance, the Ladies Short Program and the Pairs Free Skating.
Ice Dancing, Original Dance
The Ice Dancing competition went on with the Original Dance, the Swing Combo. The couples can choose any two of three from the following rhythms: Jive, Rock’n’Roll, Blues, Swing, Jitterbug and/or Boogie Woogie.
Russia’s Tatiana Navka/Roman Kostomarov strengthened their overnight lead ahead of Albena Denkova/Maxim Staviyski (BUL) and Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovski of Israel.
The Russian Champions excited the crowd with their sultry Blues and their fast-paced Rock’n’Roll that featured a strong side by side footwork line mostly on one foot and two rotational lifts. Their performance earned them 18.70 points for the element score and 42.40 points for program components. “We skated our OD for the first time in competition, and we’re happy with it”, Navka said. “We skated really well.”
Denkova/Staviyski were a close second. The reigning European silver medalists danced a very expressive Blues to “It’s a Man’s, Man’s World” that included a spin in a difficult low position and a lift with Staviyski in a spread eagle position. The Swing part of their dance was highlighted by the intricate side by side footwork line. The Bulgarians scored 18.40 points for their elements and 40.64 points for program components. “In our OD, we prefer the Blues, because it’s sensual”, Denkova explained. “The Swing is ok, but we don’t like Rock’n’Roll so much, therefore we chose the other rhythms.”
Chait/Sakhnovski wore very colorful costumes and put out a fast Rock’n’Roll and Blues routine. Sakhnovski whirled his partner around in the lifts, and the couple also completed the side by side footwork line and a dance spin with a change of position. This performance was awarded 16.10 points for the element score and 39.72 for program components. “We’re happy with how we’ve skated today”, Chait commented. “The Swing Combo is very exciting, and we like the Rock’n’Roll a lot.”
Canadians Marie-France Dubreuil/Patrice Lauzon are not far behind in fourth place. The home crowd enjoyed their Jive and Blues program. The leading couples are only separated by a few points heading into the final Free Dance on Sunday. Navka/Kostomarov are currently in the lead with 101.14 points, Denkova/Staviski have 97.32 points, and Chait/Sakhnovski picked up 93.52 points thus far.
Ladies, Short Program
Sasha Cohen of the USA won the Ladies’ Short Program ahead of Japan’s Yukina Ota and Shizuka Arakawa. Skating first to “Malaguena”, Cohen set the standard for the event. She landed a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, a triple flip, a double Axel and produced amazing spins to score 71.12 points for the first part of the Ladies’ competition. “I was happy with my performance tonight, and I was happy that I skated a clean program and improved on my points total (for the Short Program) since Skate America. I’m just looking forward to the long program tomorrow”, the 20-year-old American told a post-event news conference.
World Junior Champion Yukina Ota made a real statement in her first senior Grand Prix event. The 16-year-old from Kyoto sparkled in her program to “Picasso’s Dance”, reeling off a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, a triple flip, double Axel and good spins. The crowd gave the young skater a spontaneous standing ovation, and the judges awarded her program 63.90 points. “The crowd helped me a lot, and I felt just great”, a very happy Ota said. “I was a little bit nervous. The first day, I spent more of my practice watching the other competitors than practising myself. But then I focused on my own skating”, she answered when asked how it felt to compete against prominent skaters such as Elena Sokolova and Sasha Cohen for the first time.
Arakawa stepped out of her opening triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, but she recovered to land a triple flip and a double Axel in her routine to “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”. The current Four Continents silver medalist received 58.20 points for this performance.
European bronze medalist Julia Sebestyen of Hungary double-footed the double Axel to come in 4th. World silver medalist Elena Sokolova (RUS) two-footed and under-rotated her Lutz in her combination, and the jump counted only as a double. This mistake cost her dearly, and she sits currently in 5th place.
Pairs, Free Program
The day concluded with the Pairs final Free Skating. Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin of Russia upset reigning World Champions Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao (CHN) and skated to the gold medal with a very solid performance to last year’s program “Cotton Club”. The World silver medalists hit their opening side by side triple Salchow, followed by a triple twist and a throw triple loop. Their performance also featured a throw triple Salchow and two one-armed lifts as well as a triple toeloop-double toeloop combination, but Totmianina two-footed the second jump. The team scored 61.42 points for their elements and 65.36 points for their program components to claim the title with an overall event score of 194.02 points. “The first competition for us was hard, but we skated well for that. It wasn’t perfect yet”, Marinin said. “We are working on a new free program, but it’s still secret and we’ll skate it at Russian Nationals for the first time”, Totmianina revealed.
Overnight leaders Shen/Zhao debuted a new program to “Nutcracker” by Peter Tchaikovski and appeared nervous. The two-time World Champions completed their opening double Axel-triple toeloop sequence, a big throw triple Salchow and a triple twist, but Zhao stumbled on the second triple toeloop and later on Shen fell on crossovers. The couple got 56.40 points for their elements and 66.64 points for program components and slipped to second with an overall event score of 191.80. “It was not such a good performance tonight”, Zhao admitted. “We started only in August with our training due to SARS in China. So we weren’t ready yet. But we’ll work hard for the next competition”, he promised.
Skating to “Warsaw Concerto”, Poland’s Dorota Zagorska/Mariusz Siudek, who are training in Montreal since last spring captured the bronze medal. The husband-and-wife team doubled the side by side toeloops, but they impressed with their lifts and Zagorska landed the throw triple loop. With a score of 110.21 points for their Free Program, the two-time European silver medalists pulled up one spot. “We skated last in the group, which is 30 minutes after the warm up, and we felt it in our legs”, Siudek explained. “We had problems with our jumps. But we’re happy to be on the podium. It’s our fifth time at Skate Canada but the first time for us on the podium”. Canada’s Anabelle Langlois/Patrice Archetto, who stood in third place after the Short Program, finished fourth after some errors.
Skate Canada was a scoring event for Shen/Zhao (9 points) and for Zagorska/Siudek (7 points). Both couples will skate again next week at the Cup of China in Beijing. Totminina/Marinin did not skate for points in Mississauga, their first scoring event is the Trophee Lalique in Paris, France.
Skate Canada continues tomorrow (Saturday) with the Men’s and Ladies Free Programs.
Results
Event website
Grand Prix page
