Gold medal winners Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin (GER) at the ISU Grand Prix in Espoo, Finland © ISU
Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin (GER) hit gold in their ISU Grand Prix debut as the Grand Prix Espoo continued Saturday in Espoo (FIN) with the Pairs Free Skating. The Grand Prix Espoo is the fifth of six events of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series where the best Figure Skaters of the World compete and collect points towards the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2023/24 in Beijing (CHN) on December 7-10.
Hase/Volodin (GER) hit gold
Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin struck gold in their debut on the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating as a team. It was a turbulent event with a lot of movement in the standings. ISU European Champions Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii of Italy claimed the silver medal while Maria Pavlova/Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary pulled up one spot to earn the bronze.
Hase/Volodin’s program to “The Path of Silence” and “Power of Mind” was highlighted by a high triple twist, a throw triple loop as well as by spectacular lifts. However, Volodin struggled with the solo jumps and Hase popped the throw Salchow into a double. The team from Berlin scored 129.13 and won the Free Skating. Overall they moved up from third to first at 192.72 points.
“This ending of the competition was very surprising for us,” Hase said. “It was not our best skate, there were some mistakes, but we tried to push until the end.
“This is now a nice position going into the Grand Prix next week and for the Grand Prix Final. We are really happy with first place. We try to use the day here and the flight to recover and be better next week in Japan after we see how we go further,” she continued.
“We can skate clean in training, also in competition, as we have showed. The Grand Prix is such an important competition and sometimes you want to push more.”
Skating to “Cinema Paradiso”, Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii produced a triple twist, throw triple loop and Salchow, a side by side triple Salchow and difficult lifts.
Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii (ITA) at the ISU Grand Prix in Espoo, Finland © ISU
The only error came when Macii fell on the triple toe, but it was a costly one, as they missed their entire planned jump combination. At 123.60 points, the ISU World bronze medalists ranked third in the Free Skating but overall remained in second place at 188.60 points.
“Definitely we are happy, because finally I do the best for my part. Niccolo is not so happy about the mistake, but we skated better than in France,” Conti noted.
“I didn’t expect to fall on the toe, she (Conti) did the rest of the program,” Macii commented. “I was happy she was that strong and pushed me to the end. Now we need to take two days off. We know we can push it harder and didn’t skate up to our potential.”
Pavlova/Sviatchenko put out a solid performance to “My Perception of Love” and “Iron 2021” that included a triple twist, throw triple flip and loop as well as level-four lifts, but the side by side jumps were not perfect.
Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko (HUN) at the ISU Grand Prix in Espoo, Finland © ISU
The Skate Canada silver medalists finished second in the Free Skating segment with 124.66 points and moved up from fourth to third at 186.19 points.
“We are very happy for the third place; we did almost a clean skate, some little mistakes but it was good,” Pavlova shared.
“Now we will rest for one or two days, then we go back to work and continue to work on our easier elements, like the death spiral so that they are at the level we want them to be.”
Overnight leaders Cheng Peng/Lei Wang (CHN) slipped to fourth at 186.16, edged out of the podium by just 0.03 points. Camille Kovalev/Pavel Kovalev (FRA) pulled up from seventh to fifth place at 152.54 points.
Hase/Volodin now are headed with 15 points to NHK Trophy, the last ISU Grand Prix event and hope to qualify there for the Final. Conti/Macii most likely have reached the Final with two second places (26 points) while Pavlova/Sviatchenko will have to wait and see if their second and third places (24 points) will be enough to take them to Beijing.
Full results of the ISU Grand Prix Espoo see here.
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series consists of six events: Skate America, Skate Canada International, Grand Prix de France, Cup of China, the Grand Prix Espoo (FIN) and NHK Trophy (JPN). Skaters collect points towards to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2023/24 in Beijing (CHN).
The General Announcement of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series is available here on the ISU website. The individual announcements are published on the ISU Event section under each dedicated Grand Prix event (filter with the relevant Event Series.
For full entry lists and further information regarding the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series please visit here.
All Media Accreditations details and deadlines for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series can be found here.
Where to Watch
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating events will be live streamed with English commentary on the official ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating YouTube Channel in most countries. Find out Where to watch the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating competitions.
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ISU Grand Prix Schedule
The schedules of each ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating events are available below:
20 - 22 Oct, 2023 Skate America, Allen (Texas, USA)
27 – 29 Oct, 2023 Skate Canada International, Vancouver (CAN)
03 - 05 Nov, 2023 Grand Prix de France, Angers (FRA)
10 - 12 Nov, 2023 Grand Prix Cup of China, Chongqing (CHN)
17 - 19 Nov, 2023 Grand Prix Espoo, Espoo (FIN)
24 - 26 Nov, 2023 NHK Trophy, Osaka (JPN)
07 - 10 Dec, 2023 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, Beijing (CHN)
About ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series started in 1995 (previously known as the ISU Champions Series) and consists of six invitational international senior events and the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. The top six of the past World Championships are seeded. Competitors collect points in their 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.
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