Boikova and Kozlovskii dazzled on their way to a debut Grand Prix title © International Skating Union
Youngsters Aleksandra Boikova/ Dmitri Kozlovskii of Russia shone in the Pairs event to win their first Grand Prix gold medal at Skate Canada in Kelowna on Saturday. Canadians Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro skated to the silver medal while top favorites Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov of Russia had to settle for the bronze.
Performing to a James Bond medley, Boikova/Kozlovskii delivered the goods, nailing a side by side triple Salchow, triple toe-double toe-double toe combination, throw triple flip and loop as well as a triple twist and difficult lifts.
The Russian youngsters pulled off a string of technically demanding moves to claim gold © International Skating Union
The 2019 European bronze medalists posted a season’s best of 140.26 points and accumulated 216.71 points to take home the gold. “We feel good, we did our job well and hope to do even better next time,” Boikova said. “It was a great performance, a great day for us. We left all our emotions out there in the arena,” Kozlovskii added.
Moore-Towers and Marinaro collected silver in front of their home fans in Kelowna © International Skating Union
Moore-Towers/Marinaro completed a triple twist, throw triple loop and Salchow, but Marinaro struggled with the solo jumps, singling a toeloop and touching down on the triple Salchow. The Canadian Champions scored 132.99 points and remained in second place at 208.49 points.
“It’s been a bummer day for us. We’re pleased with our score considering the mistakes we made, but we’ve been practicing a lot better. We don’t believe we need to go back to the drawing board, but just adjust our mindset a little bit,” Moore-Towers commented.
Favorites Tarasova and Morozov ended with the bronze medal © International Skating Union
Tarasova/Morozov impressed with their triple twist and triple throws in their routine to a new arrangement of the song “Ti Amo”. But Tarasova stumbled on a doubled Salchow and the couple aborted their Axel Lasso lift. The 2019 world silver medalists earned 128.72 points which added up to 202.29 points overall.
“Today was not the best performance of our team. It is a good lesson for us at the beginning of the season. We’ll just keep working and practicing,” Morozov said.
Alexa Scimeca Knierim/Chris Knierim (USA) came in fourth on 199.57 points and Liubov Ilyushechkina/Charlie Bilodeau (CAN) placed fifth in their Grand Prix debut as a team (192.47 points).
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Standings Pairs
Overall, 60 skaters/couples representing 14 ISU members are competing at Skate Canada International from October 25 - 27. The top 6 qualifiers of the Grand Prix series in each discipline will proceed to the Final in Torino (ITA), from December 5 - 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.
Subscribe to the ISU Newsletter to receive the latest information and the “Where to Watch” news and you can also subscribe to the Skating ISU YouTube Channel to receive notifications when live streams start or new videos are published.
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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
