Morisi Kvitelashvili (GEO) skated off with the gold medal at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Rostelecom Cup in Sochi (RUS) on Saturday, winning Georgia’s first ever ISU Grand Prix title in the process. Russia’s Mikhail Kolyada pulled up from fourth to claim the silver while overnight leader Kazuki Tomono of Japan settled for the bronze.
Morisi Kvitelashvili (GEO) moved up from second to first to win Georgia's first ever ISU Grand Prix title © International Skating Union (ISU)
Kvitelashvili opened his program to “Fly Me to the Moon” and “My Way” with a quad Salchow-double toe, a triple Axel, quad toe-triple toe and followed up with three more triples. The only major error came when he fell on a quad toeloop.
The 2020 European bronze medalist ranked third in the Free Skating with 170.96 points, but moved up from second to first at 266.33 points overall to make figure skating history once again after becoming the first Georgian skater to win a ISU Grand Prix medal in 2018.
“Not everything worked in my program, but I tried hard, I fought and I am happy to be on the podium,” Kvitelashvili commented.
“We are making history and we have other great skaters in our team. We’re going to have a complete team at the Olympic Games in Beijing, that’s also a first.”
MIkhail Kolyada (RUS) overcame a shaky start to move up from fourth to the silver medal position © International Skating Union (ISU)
Kolyada had a shaky start into his program to “Schindler’s List” when he fell on the quad Salchow and stumbled on the first quad toe. The 2018 World bronze medalist recovered to complete a quad toe-triple toe, two triple Axels as well as three more triples and level-four spins and footwork.
Kolyada won the Free Skating segment with 180.16 points and moved up to second at 264.64 points overall, taking the second silver medal of the Grand Prix series this season and qualifying for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.
“I have mixed feelings. Some things worked out, some didn’t,” the Russian Champion noted.
“I guess it (the Final) will be very interesting because I love Japan and I love skating there, the fans are amazing. The coaches and I have some new ideas for the next competitions that we will realize,” he added.
Overnight leader Kazuki Tomono (JPN) was disappointed after slipping to third on the podium © International Skating Union (ISU)
Tomono nailed a quad toe-triple toe, another quad toe as well as a triple Axel-Euler-triple Salchow combination in his program to “La La Land.” However, the Japanese skater missed one triple Axel and his quad Salchow was slightly underrotated (q). The 2018 Rostelecom bronze medalist was fifth in the Free Skating with 168.38 points and slipped from first to third at 264.19 points.
“I am very happy about the medal, but being on the podium I am still disappointed. I am shocked being disappointed on the podium. I think it is because after the Short Program yesterday I had such a wonderful lead and I had a chance to be on the top of the podium,” Tomono said.
“I was able to perform today with a cool head but the nerves kicked in because of the small mistakes I was making,” he went on.
Roman Sadovsky (CAN) turned in a strong performance but slipped from third to fourth on 253.80 points. Matteo Rizzo (ITA) was ranked second in the Free Skating and moved up from ninth to fifth on 250.47 points. Evgeni Semenenko (RUS) finished sixth with 246.66 points.
View the detailed Free Skate classification and Men's final results
