ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: NHK Trophy Day Four
The NHK Trophy in Sendai, Japan concluded Sunday with the
Men’s Free Skating and the Exhibition Gala. The NHK
Trophy was the sixth and last event of the 2007/2008 ISU Grand
Prix of Figure Skating and was held for the first time in
Sendai. The skaters competed for a global prize money of US
$ 180, 000 per individual event of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure
Skating and received points according to their placements.
The top six skaters/couples then qualified for the ISU Grand
Prix of Figure Skating Final in Torino, Italy (December 13-16).
Skaters were vying for the last open spots for the Final at
NHK Trophy.
Men, Free Skating
Daisuke Takahashi of Japan skated to the gold medal in the
Free Skating, while Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic earned
the silver medal. Stephen Carriere (USA) captured the bronze.
For both Verner and Carriere it was their first medal on the
Grand Prix of Figure Skating
Takahashi, who stood in second place following the Short
Program, gave a powerful performance to “Romeo and Juliet”
by Peter Tchaikovski. The reigning World silver medalist had
to overcome a rough start when he fell on his opening quadruple
toeloop, but he recovered instantly to nail a triple flip,
a triple Axel, a triple Axel-double toe-double loop combination
as well as five more triple jumps. His combination spin was
graded a level four and his footwork as well as two other
spins got a level three. The crowd was with him all the way
through and Takahashi gave it all in his final step sequence.
The marks were greeted with huge applause: 156.33 points (81.33
element score/76.00 program component score), which was a
new seasonal best and added up to 234.22 points overall. He
moved up from second to first to claim his second consecutive
title at NHK Trophy.
Verner skated last and heard the crowd going wild for Takahashi
and knew that he had to risk everything. The European silver
medalist appeared calm and composed and opened his routine
to “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” with a beautiful
quadruple toeloop followed by a triple flip-triple toe and
a triple Lutz-double toe combination. His only mistake came
when he singled an Axel, but he rallied back to land a triple
Axel only seconds later. Four more triple jumps followed,
and the 21-year-old produced difficult spins, all four of
which were awarded a level four. The Czech skater scored 151.30
points (76.30/75.00) and tallied 229.45 points overall to
slip from first to second.
Carriere’s program to “Hollywood Nocturne”
featured a triple toe-double toe-double toe combination, a
triple Lutz, triple flip, triple Lutz-double toe, triple loop
and Salchow as well as two level-four spins, however, the
reigning World Junior Champion did a three-turn out of his
first triple Axel and stepped out of the second triple Axel.
The 18-year-old posted a new personal best of 137.13 points
(67.73/69.40) and defended his third place at 204.98 points
overall.
“My performance wasn’t perfect. I wanted to do
two quads (quadruple toeloops), but I did only one, but achieved
my goal to win NHK Trophy. I know what I have to work on for
the next event”, Takahashi said. “I’ll need
two quads and for that I need more accuracy on my jumps in
practice. One spin was only a level two. I need to keep my
stamina”, he added.
“Finally I did what I am supposed to do”, a relieved
Tomas Verner told the press. “There is still room for
improvement on the jumps. I left a lot of points on the ice
today, and I feel sorry about that. But this was the first
competition where I did a good job. This competition wasn’t
about beating Daisuke. After Paris (Trophee Bompard) I just
wanted to show that I’m back in the figure skating world”,
he explained, referring to his disappointing performances
in France.
“It was not perfect, and the whole week has been a kind
of adventure”, Carriere commented. “I am proud
to have won my first Grand Prix medal. All this is a preparation
for my Nationals and hopefully for Four Continents and Worlds.
I am ready to hit Nationals hard.”
Jeremy Abbott (USA) rallied back from 12th and last place
in the Short Program to finish fourth at 187.56 points. The
American missed his quadruple toeloop and a triple flip, but
pulled off six triples. Sergei Dobrin (RUS) placed fifth.
His quadruple toeloop attempt was underrotated and downgraded
(186.53 points).
Takahashi pocketed 15 points from his win in Japan and advanced
to the Grand Prix Final with the maximum of 30 points. Verner
got 18 points from his two events and is the third alternate.
Carriere has 20 points and is the first alternate for the
Final.
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