The Cup of Russia Bosco Sport opened today in Moscow (RUS) with the Compulsory Dance, the Ladies, Pairs and Men’s Short Program. The Cup of Russia Bosco Sport is the fifth of six qualifying events of the 2006/2007 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating.
Ice Dancing, Compulsory Dance
The first to take on to the ice today were the ice dancers. The Compulsory Dance at the Cup of Russia Bosco Sport is the Golden Waltz. Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin of Russia danced to the lead with Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto (USA) and Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder (FRA) being a close second and third.
Domnina/Shabalin turned in a strong Golden Waltz, skating with flow and ease. The 2005 Russian Champions earned a new personal best score of 37.99 points (19.06 element score/18.93 program component score). “I think we showed a good Waltz today. It’s actually harder to skate at home (in Russia), because you feel more responsibility. Everybody is supporting us and wants us to skate well”, Domnina explained. “The Golden Waltz is a difficult dance technically and physically. You can compare it to the Original Dance, so it’s not easy to skate.”
Dressed all in white, Belbin/Agosto put out a solid Waltz and received 36.56 points (18.06/18.50). “I think that we did a good job for what we’re capable of with our training of this dance. We felt pretty calm which is good. I think that we’ve made an improvement over our compulsory dance performance in China. That’s all what we want to do here – to show improvement”, Belbin commented. “We tried to start training this dance before China along with the Rhumba but obviously it’s a very challenging compulsory in our opinion the most difficult. So it takes time, but we’ll have it again at Nationals, so we’ll keep on training it now, hopefully it will get better.”
Delobel/Schoenfelder skated first out of the ten couples. The 2005 European bronze medalists produced a confident performance of the Golden Waltz, scoring 36.50 points (17.20/18.60). “I’m disappointed”, Delobel admitted. “We skated well, we had to skate first, but this shouldn’t play a role. The component score was good, we lost more on the technical mark. I don’t have an explanation.”
Sinead Kerr/John Kerr (GBR) came in fourth at 32.25 points. Kristin Fraser/Igor Lukanin (AZE) were ranked fifth with 30.35 points. Ekaterina Rubleva/Ivan Shefer (RUS) withdrew before the Compulsory Dance due to Shefer’s groin injury.
Ladies, Short Program
The competition continued with the Ladies Short Program. Julia Sebestyen of Hungary took the lead ahead of Russia’s Elena Sokolova and Sarah Meier (SUI).
Sebestyen opened her program to a Serenade by Franz Schubert with a high triple flip, but she touched down with her hand on the triple Lutz. The 2004 European Champion went on to complete a double Axel and strong spins, earning a level four for her combination spin. The Hungarian collected 54.36 points (29.80 element score/24.56 program component score). “I’m quite happy with my performance. It’s getting better and better with each competition and the marks are getting higher”, Sebestyen told the press. “I had a small mistake, I put down my hand on the triple Lutz, but I still did a triple.”
Skating to “Turandot” by Giacomo Puccini, Sokolova landed a triple toeloop-double toeloop combination, a triple loop and double Axel. Both her spiral sequence and her combination spin were graded a level four by the Technical Panel. The European silver medalist received 52.08 points (26.44/25.64). “I wanted to do a triple-triple combination, but I was too close to the boards and decided to do a double, otherwise I would have left the ice through the hole for the camera”, Sokolova said. “It was better than in China (at the Cup of China). Not technically (jump-wise), but we’ve worked on the level of the elements. So basically, I’m pleased.”
Meier produced a nice triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, a double Axel as well as solid spins in her routine to “Concerto de Aranjuez”, but she underrotated and stepped out of the triple flip. The Swiss Champion was awarded 50.92 points (25.88/25.04). “I don’t really know what happened on the flip, maybe I thought too much about it. It has been a long time since I made a mistake in the short program, but now it happened. Tomorrow in the free skating I’ll attack and I’ll show everything. I won’t play it safe. My only chance to make it to the Grand Prix Final is to win here,” the athlete commented.
Arina Martynova (RUS) is standing in fourth place. She completed a triple Lutz-double toe combination but fell on her triple flip (49.46 points). Viktoria Volchkova (RUS) finished fifth at 47.50 points after missing her triple Lutz.
Pairs, Short Program
The competition continued with the Pairs Short Program. Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy (GER) captured the Short Program with Maria Petrova/Alexei Tikhonov (RUS) and Yuko Kawaguchi/Alexander Smirnov (RUS) finishing second and third.
Savchenko/Szolkowy had to overcome a shaky start in their program to “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” when Savchenko put down her hand on the throw triple flip, but the Germans recovered to hit an excellent side by side triple toeloop, a triple twist and a difficult lift. They earned a level four for their pair combination spin as well as for their spiral sequence and were awarded 63.96 points (35.24 element score/28.72 program component score). “We’re not too satisfied with the performance, because we had the mistake on the throw jump and a lot of other small mistakes. But it was better than (our Short Program) at the Cup of China”, Savchenko said. “I wasn’t really into it from the very beginning”, Szolkowy revealed. “It started with the throw, and there were also wobbles in the spins.”
Petrova/Tikhonov completed a triple twist, a nice throw triple loop and an impressive one-armed lift, but he stepped out of the landing of the side by side triple toeloop. The two-time European Champions scored 62.28 points (34.08/28.20). “Unfortunately, I made a mistake on the triple toe. We had to skate first, I came late out of the locker room and I rushed, I didn’t calm down”, Tikhonov explained. “I felt like the judges held back with the second mark, but we’ll prove tomorrow that we deserve better.”
Kawaguchi/Smirnov, who had drawn to skate last, excited the crowd in Luzhniki with a clean performance to “Rondo Capricioso” by Camille Saint-Saens that featured a side by side triple toeloop, a triple twist, throw triple loop and a one armed lift. The couple earned 59.46 points (34.44/25.24). “We skated well, but each element could have been better”, Kawaguchi said. “Being third today comes as a surprise to us. Now we just want to show in the free skating what we’ve learned in the short time with (coach) Tamara Moskvina.”
Dorota Siudek/Mariusz Siudek came in fourth at 57.98 points. Mariusz Siudek stepped out of the triple toeloop and it was downgraded to a double. Utako Wakamatsu/Jean-Sebastien Fecteau (CAN) came in fifth at 52.92 points after she fell on the toeloop.
Anabelle Langlois/Cody Hay (CAN) had to withdraw before the Short Program as her luggage with her skates was lost on the way to Moscow and didn’t arrive in time for the competition.
Men, Short Program
France’s Brian Joubert took the Men’s Short Program. Johnny Weir (USA) was second and Emanuel Sandhu (CAN) came in third.
Joubert’s dynamic routine to the James Bond soundtrack of “Die Another Day” included a quadruple-triple toeloop combination, a triple flip and fast footwork. He also was awarded a level four for all his three spins, but he stepped out of his triple Axel. The current World silver medalist received 77.70 points (41.50 element score/36.20 program component score). “At the 2005 World Championships (in Moscow) I finished sixth, and that’s not a good memory, but this is forgotten now. What I like here is the audience. They’re really super, and even at the World Championships it was a pleasure to skate in Moscow. So I like coming here”, the Frenchman told the post-event press conference. “I’m quite disappointed about my triple Axel, because this jump has becoming better and better for me. It was a little error, and that’s a shame, because it costs a lot of points in the short program, and I would have preferred to avoid this mistake. Well, I’ll have to do it (the Axel) tomorrow.”
Performing to “King of Chess” by Maxime Rodriguez, Weir nailed a triple Axel, triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination and a triple flip. He showed fast spins, earning a level four for the flying sit spin and a level three for the change foot sit spin and the combination spin to pick up 75.10 points (39.40/35.70). “My performance here was an improvement from Skate Canada and Campell’s Cup, the first event. I hope to continue to improve every competition and always to make it better. My score wasn’t better than at Skate Canada, but I felt a lot more comfortable skating here. I’ve trained harder for this event than I had for Skate Canada, and I felt more prepared”, Weir explained.
Sandhu produced a triple flip-triple toeloop combination and a triple Lutz but fell on his triple Axel. However, the Canadian showed good spins and footwork. His flying sit and change foot sit spin was rated a level four and both his step sequences got a level three. “It was just a silly little accident. I was gliding backwards for like four meters I don’t know why I had to fall. I just caught an edge and I think and I slipped”, Sandhu said, referring to the mistake. “We’ll ignore that for tomorrow. My goal for this season would be to win my National title back and get a medal at Worlds or win”, he added when asked about his goals.
Ilia Klimkin (RUS) is currently ranked fourth at 67.45 points. He executed a good triple Axel and nice spins, but he simplified his combination, doing a triple-double toeloop instead of a quadruple-triple toeloop. Kristoffer Berntsson (SWE) turned in an entertaining performance to “La Vida es un Carneval”, landing a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination, a triple Axel and triple flip to finish fifth at 67.25 points, surpassing his previous personal best of 64.54 points.
The Cup of Russia continues tomorrow (Saturday) with the Original Dance, the Ladies, Pairs and Men’s Free Skating.
