Pair skating shooting stars Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii of Russia skated to their second Grand Prix gold medal with another brilliant performance in front of their home fans at Rostelecom Cup in Moscow on Saturday. Teammates Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov claimed the silver medal. Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nolan Seegert earned the bronze, their first Grand Prix medal.
Boikova/Kozlovskii, at age 17 and 19 the youngest pair in the competition, dazzled in their James Bond themed Free Skating, hitting a side by side triple Salchow, triple toeloop-double toeloop-double toeloop, a triple twist, difficult lifts and a throw triple Salchow and loop. The 2019 European bronze medalists posted a new personal best with 149.34 points and accumulated 229.48 points overall.
The Russian youngsters have now qualified for the Grand Prix Final © International Skating Union
“We are very glad to get to our first senior-level Grand Prix Final. We had tough competitors in our events, but we did not set the task to beat someone. In the training process, we’re just competing with ourselves and in competition, the judges give the scores and we cannot influence that. The only thing that depends on us it to skate clean programs,” Kozlovskii told the post-event press conference.
Performing to “Ti Amo”, Tarasova/Morozov produced a triple twist, triple toe-double toe-double toe combination, big throw triple loop and Salchow as well as a level-four pair combination spin and level-four lifts. The reigning World silver medalists picked up a season’s best with 139.96 points which added up to 216.77 points overall.
“Today was not bad. Obviously, there is room for improvement, but we have our goals and our plan that we follow. We are not upset and we see that there is progress,” Morozov said.
Tarasova and Morozov scored a season's best in Moscow © International Skating Union
Hase/Seegert’s performance to “House of the Rising Sun” included a triple twist, triple toe-double toe combination as well as a throw triple Salchow. However, Hase fell on the side by side triple Salchow and two-footed the throw triple loop. The German Champions were ranked fourth in the Free Skating with 118.42 points, but overall moved up to third place with 186.16 points.
“We’re very happy with this result obviously and we want to keep building on that. This is our biggest moment so far in our career. Coming here, we did not expect this result,” Seegert commented.
Hase and Seegert took the bronze for their first Grand Prox medal © International Skating Union
Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer (AUT) gave a solid performance and were ranked third in the Free Skating to move up from sixth to fourth on 182.02 points. Ksenia Stolbova/Andrei Novoselov (RUS) dropped from third to fifth after several errors (177.51 points).
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Standings Pairs.
Overall, 60 skaters/couples representing 19 ISU members compete at Rostelecom Cup November 15-17. The series continues next week with the sixth and final event NHK Trophy in Sapporo (JPN). The top 6 qualifiers of the Grand Prix series in each discipline will proceed to the Final in Turin (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
