Anastasia Mishina/Alexandr Galliamov of Russia took gold in their first senior ISU Grand Prix event as the 2019 World Junior Champions continued their winning ways at the Internationaux de France in Grenoble on Saturday.
Mishina/Galliamov edged past their Russian teammates Pavliuchenko/Khodykin © International Skating Union
Teammates Daria Pavliuchenko/Denis Khodykin earned the silver medal while Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier (USA) earned the bronze as both teams had at Skate America two weeks ago.
Mishina/Galliamov put out a dramatic performance to ‘The Master and Margarita’ that featured a triple twist, throw triple flip and loop as well as a side by side triple toe and two level-four lifts. However, Mishina doubled the side by side Salchow.
The team from St Petersburg scored 133.81 points and totaled 207.58 to overtake Pavliuchenko/Khodykin.
“Today our program was not very clean. I made a big mistake on the jump (Salchow). But maybe it is good that it happened now. We will work on this and in our next competition we won’t make this mistake,” Mishina said.
“We didn’t think about medals, but we were nervous of course as this is our first Grand Prix and maybe that’s why we made some mistakes. Our next Grand Prix maybe will be a bit easier mentally.”
Russian duo Pavliuchenko/Khodykin came third in the Free Skating © International Skating Union
Overnight leaders Pavliuchenko/Khodykin completed a triple twist, throw triple flip, a triple toeloop-double toe-double toe as well as innovative lifts in their program to ‘Tron Legacy’ by Daft Punk.
The only errors came when Pavliuchenko fell on the triple flip and the throw triple loop. With 129.97 points, the 2018 World Junior Champions ranked third in the Free Skating and slipped from first to second place at 206.56 points. With two silver medals, the couple look set to have earned a trip to the Grand Prix Final in Torino.
“Our performance tonight was not the best one, unfortunately. I made two major mistakes. But we are still pleased with the result and will continue to work,” Pavliuchenko said.
Khodykin added: “When we went to our Grand Prix events it was our plan to qualify for the Final and it looks like we did it. We want to be in top shape for the Final.”
Americans Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier scored a total of 199.40 points © International Skating Union
Performing to ‘The Lion King Returns’, Denney/Frazier produced a triple twist, a side by side triple Salchow, throw triple loop and Salchow as well as exciting lifts. The only glitch was Denney’s stumble on an underrotated double Axel.
The Skate America bronze medalists scored a personal best of 130.75 points and were second in the Free Skating. They accumulated 199.40 points to take their second medal on the circuit.
“Haven and I are happy with the fight we brought today. We left some points on the table with the jump and a couple of other things. But all in all we’re happy to come here with the quick turnaround from Skate America and to be able to keep progressing the way we are this season. We keep growing from here,” Frazier said.
Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy LeDuc (USA) finished fourth on 195.78 points while Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer (AUT) moved up from eighth to fifth at 181.26 points.
Overall, 59 skaters/couples representing 13 ISU members competed at Internationaux de France November 1-3. The top six qualifiers of the Grand Prix series in each discipline will proceed to the Final in Torino (ITA), December 5 to 8, 2019. Full entry lists, results, the General Announcement of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series are available on isu.org.
Where to watch and follow the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2019?
Viewers will be able to watch the Series either via their national broadcaster / channel and for countries where there are no broadcasters, the ISU will offer a live stream on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel as of season 2019/20. You will find the full list in the Where to watch news here.
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ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2019/20
Skate America - Las Vegas (USA) – October 18 – 20
Skate Canada International – Kelowna (CAN) – October 25 – 27
Internationaux de France – Grenoble (FRA) – Novembre 1 – 3
SHISEIDO cup of China – Chongqing (CHN) – November 8 – 10
Rostelecom Cup – Moscow (RUS) – November 15 – 17
NHK Trophy – Sapporo (JPN) – November 22 – 24
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final (Senior & Junior) – Torino (ITA) – December 5 – 8
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series started in 1995 (previously known as the ISU Champions Series) and consists of six international senior invitational events and the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. The skaters are seeded and invited to the six Grand Prix of Figure Skating events based on the results of the previous ISU World Figure Skating Championships. Competitors collect points in their ISU Grand Prix events towards the qualification for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. Only the top six Skaters / Couples in each discipline can qualify for the Final.
