The competition at the Cup of China in Harbin concluded Saturday with the Free Dance, the Ladies and Men’s Free Skating. Harbin hosts the Cup of China for the first time. The Cup of China is the third of six events in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. The skaters compete for a a global prize money of US $ 180, 000 per individual event of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating and receive points according to their placements. The top six skaters/couples then qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Torino, Italy (December 13-16).
Ladies, Free Skating
The Ladies opened today’s competition in the Harbin Conference Exhibition and Sport Center with the Free Skating. Yu-Na Kim of Korea claimed the gold medal. Caroline Zhang (USA) took the silver and the bronze went to Italy’s Carolina Kostner.
Kim, who stood in third place following the Short Program, put out a strong performance to “Miss Saigon” that featured a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, a triple loop, triple Lutz-double toeloop-double loop, a double Axel-triple toe, a triple Salchow and a double Axel as well as nice spins. Three spins were graded a level three and the flying combination spin was graded a level four. The only glitch came when the World bronze medalist singled her second Lutz. Kim scored 122.36 points (65.56 element score/56.80 program component score) and pulled up to first at 180.68 points. “I was nervous after my mistake in the short program. I had one day to prepare and I mostly tried to focus on my program. I am glad that I was able to come back today and to win”, the 17-year-old Korean said. “This was my first competition of the season and I am not yet so pleased with my presentation. I will work a lot on my presentation for my next competition”, she added.
Performing to “Ave Maria”, Zhang landed a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, a triple Lutz-double toeloop as well as two double Axels and a triple loop-double toe-double loop combination. However, she fell on a triple flip and a triple Lutz. The 14-year-old impressed the audience with her excellent spins, especially her layback variation she calls “pearl spin”. Zhang collected a new seasonal best of 97.58 points (51.34/48.24) to move up to second place at 156.34 total points. “I was pleased with the first half of my performance, the second half was not as good”, the reigning World Junior Champion told the post event news conference. “I could have done better.”
Kostner, who led after the Short Program, stepped out of her opening triple flip and when she still added a toeloop, she fell on it. The rough start seemed to throw her off, and she doubled her Lutz. Kostner later completed a triple loop and Salchow, but she fell again on a triple toe (in combination with double Axel). The European Champion received 83.04 points (33.68/51.36) for her routine to “Dumsky Trio” by Antonin Dvorak and was ranked fourth in the Free Skating but finished third overall with 143.86 points. “I probably was too nervous because of the long wait after the warm up”, Kostner, who skated last, explained. “A lot of thoughts went through my head and I wasn’t as focused as I should have been. I put too much pressure on myself.”
Fumie Suguri (JPN) moved up from 11th in the Short Program to fourth at 137.13 points. She landed a clean triple Lutz, triple flip and triple toe and was ranked third in the Free Skating. Julia Sebestyen (HUN) finished fifth. She hit a huge triple Lutz-double toe-double loop combination and a triple flip, but struggled afterwards, falling twice and doubling a Salchow (136.50 points).
Kim pocketed 15 points and is scheduled to compete next at the Cup of Russia. Zhang got 13 points and has 24 right now from her two events. She has good chances to qualify for the Grand Prix Final. Kostner (11 points) will compete again at the NHK Trophy in Japan.
Ice Dancing, Free Dance
Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto (USA) overtook overnight leaders Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin of Russia to capture the Ice Dancing gold. Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali of Italy earned the bronze medal.
Dancing to a medley of music by Frederic Chopin, Belbin/Agosto completed difficult lifts including a serpentine lift with changes of positions for both partners, intricate steps and a dance spin. They maintained good flow throughout their performance and were awarded a level four for all eight elements. The 2006 Olympic silver medalists picked up 98.41 points (51.90 element score/46.51), setting a new seasonal best for themselves. Overall they racked up 195.11 points and moved up from second to first to claim their second Grand Prix gold medal this season. “Whatever result came through, most importantly we were very pleased with the progress that our free dance has made in just one week at home between our first Grand Prix, Skate America, and now this one. I think that this free dance has a lot of potential hopefully now we can raise the original dance and compulsory dances to match it. But hopefully we’ll have many more performances like this”, Belbin told the press.
Domnina/Shabalin started well into their dramatic “Waltz Masquerade” with well synchronized twizzles, the midline steps and two lifts, but then they made a costly error. Shabalin lifted his partner accidentally in the spin, and the end of the spin thus became a stationary lift (level one). As a result, their last reverse-rotational lift didn’t count as they already had completed four lifts, and the Russian got a deduction of one point for an extra element. The European silver medalists scored 87.69 points (41.40/47.29) and were ranked third in the Free Dance. Overall they slipped to second at 188.66 points. “Oksana wobbled in the spin and I held her tighter, and I didn’t even notice that her feet left the ice. We just had change the entry into the spin and it had been going very well now”, Shabalin said, still upset about the mistake. “I knew immediately that we made a big mistake and won’t get credit for the last lift”, Domnina sighed. “An error like this happened in practice before, but never in competition. We are quite upset about it. We were able to give the best on the first two days of the competition, but today we just couldn’t pull ourselves together.”
Faiella/Scali turned in a romantic Free Dance to the soundtrack of “Yentl” that included one-armed rotational lift, a straight line-rotational lift with changes of position, a dance spin and smooth steps. The Technical Panel graded their midline step sequence and five other elements a level four. The Italian couple got 90.62 points (47.80/42.82), which is a new seasonal best. They were second in the Free Dance and remained in third at 181.10 points. “We did a great job not just today but in all the Cup of China”, Scali commented. “We felt very confident. We had a little mistake at Skate America, but today everything was good, and we’re especially happy about our second place in the free dance.”
Alexandra Zaretski/Roman Zaretski (ISR) turned in a smooth performance to “Let my people go” and “Sing, Sing, Sing” to finish fourth at 161.86 points. Sinead Kerr/John Kerr (GBR) showed a science-fiction themed dance to “The Landing” by Enigma. They aborted a serpentine lift and remained in fifth place (152.99 points).
Belbin/Agosto now top the Grand Prix standings with the maximum of 30 points after winning their two events and are qualified for the Final. Domnina/Shabalin (13 points) will skate again in two weeks in her home event Cup of Russia in Moscow. Faiella/Scali picked up 11 points and have 22 from their two events. They will have to wait and see if this is enough to qualify them for the Final.
Men, Free Skating
The competition concluded with the Mens’ Free Skating. Johnny Weir (USA) skated to victory with teammate Evan Lysacek coming in second. Stéphane Lambiel of Switzerland clinched the bronze medal.
Weir, who stood in second place following the Short Program, reeled off a triple Axel-triple toe, another triple Axel, a triple Lutz, triple Salchow, triple loop, triple Lutz-double toe and a triple flip in his program to “Love is War” by Yoav Gordon. The three-time U.S. Champion also showed good spins, two of which were graded a level four and the other two were graded a level three. The 23-year-old scored 151.98 points (76.38 element score/75.60 program component score), improving his previous personal best of 146.20 points that he had set three years ago. Weir racked up a total score of 231.78 points. “I was very excited with my performance today. It is the first time in a long time that I felt really comfortable on the ice and I think it’s due to a new training regimen and just harder work in general and I am so happy it’s paying off with good performances. I am just so happy to be back on top”, the delighted skater commented.
Overnight leader Lysacek had to overcome a rough start into his powerful “Tosca” routine when he fell on his opening quadruple toeloop. The following triple Axel was shaky and underrotated. The U.S. Champion recovered to produce seven more triples including a triple Axel-triple toe and a triple flip-triple toe as well as fast, well centered spins. He earned a level four for all four spins and was awarded 147.81 points (74.71/74.10) for this performance. Lysacek dropped to second at 229.36 points. “Today obviously was not my best. It’s hard to start off with a fall right. But if there is one thing that I am proud of it’s the fact that I tried the quad”, the 22-year-old told the press.
Lambiel struggled with some jumps in his “Poeta” Flamenco routine, falling on both quadruple toeloops and a triple flip. He hit a triple loop-double toe, triple Lutz and Salchow, but his first triple loop was two-footed. The Swiss showed strong spins, getting a level four for both combination spins. The two-time World Champion collected 122.02 points (53.22/71.80), which added up to 192.22 points and remained in third place overall. “I am just very sad about my performance. I couldn’t feel my body today. It was not my day”, a disappointed Stéphane Lambiel said.
Sergei Davydov (BLR) landed five clean triples including an Axel, but he did a three-turn out of his first Axel, stepped out of a triple Lutz (in a sequence with a double toe) and underrotated a flip. He didn’t receive credit for his last triple-double toeloop combination, as he already had executed the maximum allowed of three combinations/sequences. He remained in fourth place (181.75 points). Alexander Uspenski (RUS) was fifth at 179.94 points. He hit a quadruple toeloop for the first time in competition, but landed on two feet.
Weir earned 15 points and will try to assure his spot in the Final at the Cup of Russia. Lysacek received 13 points in Harbin and has good chances to go to the Final with 26 points overall. Lambiel (11 points) will meet Weir again in Moscow in two weeks.
For full results, please refer to Results. The Cup of China concludes Sunday with the Exhibition Gala.
