2021 ISU World bronze medalists Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitri Kozlovskii of Russia secured their first Grand Prix victory this season Saturday at the Internationaux de France in Grenoble. Teammates Iuliia Artemeva/Mikhail Nazarychev took the silver, a step up from their bronze in Turin. Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier (USA) moved up from fourth to earn the bronze.
Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitri Kozlovskii of Russia © International Skating Union (ISU)
Boikova/Kozlovskii put out a characteristic and dynamic performance to “Malaguena” that was highlighted by a triple Salchow, triple twist, throw triple flip and loop as well as level-four lifts, pair combo spin and death spiral. The 2020 European Champions achieved a season’s best with 139.79 points and totaled 216.96 points to win the fourth ISU Grand Prix gold medal of their career.
“We fulfilled our minimum task which was to qualify for the Grand Prix Final,” Kozlovskii said. “It was much easier to skate today as this I our second competition. We skated much better than at Skate America, there is progress, which is the most important thing. There were some small errors, really stupid ones, but that’s what competitions are there for, to improve from one to the next,” added Boikova.
Silver medalists Iuliia Artemeva/Mikhail Nazarychev (RUS) © International Skating Union (ISU)
Skating to “Fire On Fire” and “Chronos”, Artemeva/Nazarychev produced a double Axel-Euler-triple Salchow combination, triple twist, throw triple flip and loop. However, Artemeva doubled the toeloop. The 2020 ISU Junior World bronze medalists netted 132.13 points which added up to 205.15 points overall.
“We are pleased for today. There was one mistake, a major one, but overall it was a good performance. We set goals for ourselves to do well on the Grand Prix and I think we fulfilled that,” Nazarychev noted.
The couple will have to wait and see if their silver and bronze medals from the Grand Prix series will get them into the Final.
Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier (USA) © International Skating Union (ISU)
Knierim/Frazier completed a triple twist, triple Salchow, throw triple loop and flip. Their only error came when Frazier missed the triple toeloop. The US Champions scored 131.54 points and accumulated 201.69 points overall.
“We are very happy to win our first Grand Prix medal. We left some points on the table today but we made a lot of great improvements from our last event. We have plans to keep improving and we are proud of today’s work,” Knierim shared.
Vanessa James/Eric Radford (CAN) slipped from third to fourth after they aborted a lift (196.34 points). Rebecca Ghilardi/Filippo Ambrosini (ITA) came fifth on 176.19 points.
For full results, click here.
