2003 ISU Grand Prix Final

1 March

Ice Dancing, Free Dance B

Marie-F. Dubreuil/Patrice Lauzon (CAN), 2003 National silver medalists
Dubreuil: We skated really well and kept the speed all through the program. We were very happy with our performance. My injury was a bit better here than at Four Continents.

Lauzon: It was one of the best of the season. Four Continents was pretty good, too, but I think this was a bit better.

Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovski (ISR), 2002 World bronze medalists
Chait: We need changes all the time and I changed a few lifts so now the program is so much better than at the first competition. Every competition gets better and easier. Now its o.k. and we wont change it anymore for the Worlds. We feel good that we had a chance to come here although it was difficult that we found out so late and we had just three days remembering the old program.

Elena Grushina/Ruslan Goncharov (UKR), 2003 National Champions
Goncharov: We are disappointed with our placements at Europeans and the Grand Prix Final after we won three Grand Prix events. I think we skated well tonight. The audience is very fair and supports everyone.

Albena Denkova/Maxim Staviyski (BUL), 2003 European silver medalists
Staviyski: We have new costumes that have been designed in St. Petersburg. The first costumes somehow didn’t work out so well. They sent the sketches via internet and we sent them back with our comments. This time, we travelled to St. Petersburg one week before this event, and they took measure. I think we’ll keep these costumes for Worlds as well. In competition, we’re are competing against ourselves. Everything else is politics. I hurt my groin in practice the other day, and I felt some pain during the program.

Tatiana Navka/Roman Kostomarov (RUS), 2003 European bronze medallists
Navka: I think this is our best Free Program so far in this season. It was so easy to skate. The audience was amazing.

Kostomarov: We are very excited to have skated in this Final here in St.Petersburg. We had no changes since the Europeans, but this time I had no problem with my costume (he lost a piece during the Free Dance at Europeans). Now we’re going to work hard and focus on Worlds.

Irina Lobacheva/Ilia Averbukh (RUS), 2002 World Champions
Averbukh: It was harder to skate than at Europeans, so I think Europeans were better. The 6.0s we received there felt a bit better, because we knew that the Russian judge wasn’t on the panel and couldn’t have awarded one of them. Actually, since the judging is anonymous, there are more 6.0s. At Four Continents, a lot were awarded. The judges don’t have to take responsibility for awarding a 6.0. This was a tough competition, but a good practice for Worlds.