oThe competition at the Trophee Bompard in Paris, France concluded today with the Men’s, Ladies and Pairs Free Skating and the Free Dance. Trophee Bompard was the fourth of six qualifying events of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series.

Men, Free Skating
The Men opened today’s competition. Jeffrey Buttle (CAN) captured the title while Brian Joubert of France took the silver medal. Gheorghe Chiper of Romania clinched the bronze, the first Grand Prix medal for his country.
Overnight leader Buttle struggled in his program to a selection of classical music by Richard Wagner, Johann Sebastian Bach and other composers. He fell on his opening quadruple toeloop attempt, fell out of his first triple Axel and singled the second. However, he landed a triple Lutz-double toeloop-double loop combination, a triple loop, another triple Lutz, triple Salchow-double toeloop and produced difficult spins and footwork. His combination spin, sit spin and flying sit spin all were graded a level four. The reigning World silver medalist earned 139.40 points (65.10/75.30), which added up to a total of 215.48.
Joubert opened his dynamic routine set to “Lord of the Dance” with a quadruple toeloop, but did a three turn out of it. He continued with a triple Axel, a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, a triple Lutz, triple Salchow and another triple flip. The 21-year-old received a level three for all his four spins, but he touched down with his hand on the triple loop and downgraded a combination to double Axel-single toe. The 2004 European champion scored 138.86 points (67.06/71.80), loosing narrowly the Free Skating to Buttle. He remained in second place with a total event score of 210.41 points. 
Chiper, who stood in third place following the Short Program, nailed a triple Axel-double toeloop combination, a triple Lutz-triple toe (the second jump wasn’t clean), and three other triples before going down on a triple Lutz towards the end. He also stepped out of his second triple Axel, but he showed dynamic footwork in his routine to Balkan Gypsy music to pick up 125.70 points (59.40/67.30) and 191.95 points overall.
Skating to “Night on Bald Mountain” by Modest Mussorgsky, Timothy Goebel (USA) popped his planned quadruple toeloop and first triple Axel but hit five clean triple jumps. He was awarded  117.36 (54.46/62.90) points and accumulated a total score of 182.41 points to finish fourth.

Samuel Contesti of France came in fifth with a solid program and 175.99 points.

“Today I had some trouble on the major jumps. The toe, I fell on, and the Axels. I also had trouble with (the Axels) in the warm up and I didn’t get them done the way I would have liked it today. Otherwise I felt it was a lot better than Skate Canada. The program itself, and all of the spins and steps were much improved”, Buttle told the press. “My goal this year is to keep improving with every skate, and I think I accomplished that today.”
“I’m not very disappointed, because there is progress. It’s just the beginning of the season, and there are new programs for me. I see myself on a good way. I’m happy with this competition. I made a mistake on the quad toe, but not a big one. I’ll continue to work a lot for the Olympic Games”, Joubert commented.
“It was an exciting competition. It’s my first Grand Prix medal, and four years ago, I never would have even imagined that I’ll be can compete with skaters like Timothy Goebel or Michael Weiss (both USA), or going for a medal, and I’m at a point where I for once where I’m ahead of them”, Chiper said.
Buttle got 12 points in Paris and a total of 21 points and has qualified for the ISU Grand Prix Final in Tokyo, Japan. Joubert pocketed 9 points here and has to wait and see if his 16 points from Skate America and the Trophee Bompard will take him to the Final. Chiper earned 7 points, but doesn’t compete in a second event.

Ice Dancing, Free Dance

Elena Grushina/Ruslan Goncharov of the Ukraine danced to victory while France’s Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder claimed the silver medal. The bronze went to Federica Faiella/ Massimo Scali (ITA).
Grushina/Goncharov delivered a technically strong program to “The Feeling Begins” from “Passion”. The reigining World bronze medalists produced interesting lifts including a straight line lift with him skating on one leg and a reverse rotational lift as well as level-four twizzles. On the other hand, they lost speed in the serpentine footwork, and it was graded only a level one. The Ukrainians collected 95.33 points (48.00 element score/47.33 program component score) and racked up a total score of 190.07 points. “We were a bit nervous today because we made a big mistake at Skate Canada (their previous event), we fell. Today everything was clean”, Grushina said. “Today, our serpentine footwork was only level one, and we’ll change something to achieve a higher level.”
Delobel/Schoenfelder’s innovative program named “The Flight of the Dove” featured difficult and beautiful lifts including a straight line-curve lift with changes of position, a serpentine and a curve lift as well as intricate footwork. But their straight line lift was considered an illegal element due to Delobel’s upside-down position, and the French Champions not only received a deduction of two points for an illegal element but also zero points for the lift. The current European bronze medalists maintained good speed throughout the performance and scored 87.74 points (43.50/46.24) wich added up to a total score of 178.72. “The lift was illegal, and we lost six points. It’s a pity, but we’ll know next time”, Delobel said. “We changed the lift after Skate America, because we were afraid that it could become to long. Obviously, it was not a good idea”, Schoenfelder explained.

Faiella/Scali delivered a lyrical performance to “The Mission” soundtrack, completing an unusual inverse lift with her lifting him, twizzles with their hands over their heads and a serpentine lift with changes of position. Their planned curve lift was recognized as a straight line lift, and didn’t count as they already had performed one straight line lift before. The Italian Champions looked a bit tentative in their serpentine footwork and their last curve-rotational lift was shaky. They were awarded 77.81 points (39.10/39.71) and accumulated a total score of 157.23 points. “We skated better than yesterday”, a happy Massimo Scali told the press. “We’re happy that we finished this competition. Everytime we went on the ice, we didn’t know if we can compete in the afternoon”, he went on, referring to Faiella’s ankle injury. “We feel really comfortable with our programs, but we have to work on the technical stuff, especially in the OD, where we got low points.”

World Junior Champions Morgan Matthews/Maxim Zavozin (USA) continued their successful senior debut by placing fourth. They danced to the “Tango de Roxane” from the “Moulin Rouge” soundtrack and were ranked third in the Free Dance with 78.72 points. They remained in fourth place with a total event score of 154.18 points.

Grushina/Goncharov now have 21 points from their two Grand Prix events and head the Grand Prix standings. Delobel/Schoenfelder got 18 points, and Faiella/Scali have 10 points.

Ladies, Free Skating
In what was a very competitive Ladies’ event at a high level, Japan’s World Junior Champion Mao Asada claimed the gold and the title, while reigning World silver medalist Sasha Cohen (USA) finished second and 2004 World Champion Shizuka Arakawa settled for the bronze.

Asada, who skated first in the final group, really sparkled in her balletic perfomance to “The Nutcracker”. The 15-year-old reeled off a triple Axel, a triple flip, triple Lutz, double Axel, triple loop-double loop-double loop combination, a triple flip-double loop (stepped out of the second jump) and a triple Lutz-double loop combination as well as lovely spins with rarely seen confidence. The only major glitch came at the very end, when Asada lost her balance in the combination spin and had to touch down with her hand before recovering and finishing the element. The World Junior Champion scored 118.46 points (61.50/56.96) and racked up a total competition score of 182.42 points, beating her personal best. “All my jumps were good, but I regret the mistake in the spin. I was tired”, Asada commented. “I hope to include two triple Axels in my program in my next competition, the Grand Prix Final in Tokyo.” Asked about her confidence on the ice, she smiled. “I’m not so confident in myself, but I have confidence in my jumps.”

Skating to Nino Rota’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Cohen landed a triple Lutz-double toeloop-double loop combination, followed by a triple flip-double toeloop and a triple loop. The reigning World silver medalist completed three more triples, but she fell on the last jump, a Salchow. Cohen impressed the crowd with her excellent spins and spirals. She was awarded 114.16 points (56.20/58.96) and ranked third in the Free but remained in second place with 175.12 points overall.

“I wasn’t proud of my performance today, there are quite a few things that I can do better, but it was a great learning experience for me. I was little bit late at the end, and I was trying to make up time, I rushed the jump a bit”, Cohen explained her mistake on the Salchow. “I have to say, it’s a little disappointing not to win. But this was kind of a try out for me, to come to the Grand Prix, to put my programs out there. Ultimately Nationals and the Olympics are my main goal.”

Arakawa’s powerful routine to “Fantasy” by Frederic Chopin included a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, triple Salchow-double toeloop, a triple flip, triple toeloop-double toe-double loop, a triple Salchow and strong spins. Her flying camel, layback and combination spin were graded a level four. But the 2004 World Champion underrotated and stepped out of her second triple Lutz attempt. She earned 115.32 points (56.60/58.72) and accumulated 173.30 points overall. Arakawa placed second in the long program. “I enjoyed skating tonight, and I wasn’t so nervous”, the Japanese said. “I had a mistake, but I’m happy with what I did today.”
Rochette put out a strong performance as well. The Canadian Champion completed six triple jumps to finish fourth with 167.22 points. Kimmie Meissner (USA) was ranked fourth in the Free Skating and fifth overall. The 2004 World Junior silver medalist nailed a triple Flip-triple toeloop and a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination. She added up a total score of 155.72 points.

Asada picked up 12 points and 21 overall from her to events to top the Grand Prix standings. Cohen has 9, but is not competing in another event as she withdrew from Skate America. Arakawa got 7 points and now has 14 overall.

Pairs, Free Skating
The final event was the Pairs’ Free Skating. Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin of Russia skated to the gold, while China’s Qing Pang/Jian Tong captured the silver medal. Valerie Marcoux/Craig Buntin (CAN) earned the bronze medal.
Performing to “Romeo and Juliet” by Edvin Marton, Totmianina/Marinin completed a side by side  triple Salchow, a triple toeloop-double toeloop combination, a throw triple loop, a triple twist and good lifts. Their only mistake came when Totmianina stumbled out of the throw triple Salchow. The two-time World Champions received 120.40 points (58.56/61.84) and collected an overall score of 186.90 points. “I was very tired, because it was so late. It was physically and emotionally hard to skate”, Totmianina commented on her error. “For the first time in competition it was good. It’s always hard to start into the season. You always have to start from zero when you step off the podium”, Marinin said.
Pang/Tong went for a double Axel-double Axel sequence, but since there were too many steps in between, the Axels counted as two solo jumps. Subsequently the solo side by side triple toeloop received no credit. The Chinese produced a throw triple Salchow and loop, a high triple twist and difficult lifts in their routine to “Phantom of the Opera” by Andrew Lloyd Webber and collected 120.38 points (61.74/58.64). They accumulated a total score of 182.64 points. “Unfortunately, there was a technical problem”, Tong said. “Our double Axels didn’t count as a sequence. If it wasn’t for that, we would have beaten our personal best. That’s too bad!”
Marcoux/Buntin opened the final flight with a solid skate to “Our Song” by Paul Kunigis, a music that has been especially composed for them. The Canadian Champions executed a triple twist, a triple toe-double toe combination, a throw triple loop and strong lifts. They finished on a high note with a throw triple Salchow as their last element. Buntin only put down his hands on the double Axel. The 2004 Four Continents bronze medalists scored 116.48 points (62.08/54.40), which was a new personal best for them.  “It felt good, because our last personal best was two years ago, and it felt good to finally achieve that”, Marcoux commented. “Tonight we just went out and took a step from where we were before tonight. So we’re really excited to be in this new phase of our season and we’re excited for the rest of the season”, Buntin added.
Rena Inoue/John Baldwin (USA) finished fourth with 163.66 points. They attempted a throw triple Axel that nobody had landed yet in competition, but Inoue touched down with both hands on the landing.

The Trophee Bompard concludes Sunday with the Exhibition Gala. The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating continues next week with the Cup of Russia in St. Petersburg.