ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: Trophee Eric Bompard
Day Two
The competition at Trophee Eric Bompard concluded Saturday
with the Free Dance, the Men’s, Ladies and Pairs Free
Skating The Trophee Bompard is the fourth of six events in
the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. The skaters compete
for a a global prize money of US $ 180, 000 per individual
event of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating and receive
points according to their placements. The top six skaters/couples
then qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final
in Torino, Italy (December 13-16).
Ice Dancing, Free Dance
Today’s competition opened with the Free Dance. Isabelle
Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder of France danced away with the
gold medal, their first ever in the Grand Prix Series. Russia’s
Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski earned the silver medal, and
the bronze went to Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA).
It was an interesting competition with many different programs.
Skating to “The Piano” soundtrack by Michael Nyman,
Delobel/Schoenfelder told the love story between a mute aristocratic
woman and a common man. The European Champions incorporated
the use of sign language into their program and completed
a beautiful one-armed rotational lift, a curve-rotational
lift, and a straight line lift. They showed intricate footwork,
earning a level four for both the circular and non touching
midline step sequence. However, Schoenfelder stepped out of
a twizzle. The French were awarded 94.53 points (46.90 element
score/47.63 program component score) and were ranked second
in the Free Dance. Overall they held on to first place with
a total of 194.41 points. “This is our very first victory
in the Grand Prix, and we’ve waited a long time for
it”, Schoenfelder said. “We are disappointed with
our performance today. It wasn’t perfect technically.
I missed a twizzle, and the program lacked flow”, he
added.
Khokhlova/Novitski delivered an exciting and powerful dance
set to “Night on Bald Mountain” and “In
the Hall of the Mountain King”, in which she portrays
a witch and he is a demon. The program featured a dnace combination
spin, smooth steps, and difficult lifts that showed off Khokhlova’s
flexibility. The 2006 Grand Prix finalists received a level
four for all elements but for the non touching midline (level
three) and scored 97.97 points (52.80/46.17), improving their
previous personal best by six points. They won the Free Dance
portion and racked up a total score of 191.01 points.
Davis/White went for a romantic theme, dancing to “Eleanor
Rigby” and Eleanor’s Dream” by The Beatles.
The 2006 World Junior bronze medalists executed a straight
line-rotational lift with changes of positions, a level-four
circular step sequence, a serpentine lift and rotational lift
to earn 89.22 points (49.40/40.82), which was a new seasonal
best for them. Overall, the Americans got 176.21 points.
Men, Free Skating
The Men’s event concluded with an exciting Free Skating.
Patrick Chan of Canada took the title, while Russia’s
Sergei Voronov pulled up from fourth to claim the silver.
Alban Préaubert of France settled for the bronze.
Chan, who stood in second place following the Short Program,
opened his “Four Seasons” routine with a high
triple Axel followed by a triple flip-triple toe and a triple
Lutz. The 16-year-old hit three more triples, but he doubled
a Salchow and then fell on his final spin. Chan picked up
144.05 points (72.85/72.20) and moved up to first at 214.94
points total. “Coming to Trophee Bompard, I wasn’t
really expecting to make the Final or even win the competition.
I was really grateful to be second in the short. Coming into
the long, I was pushing the envelope and trying to win. I
just didn’t want go any lower than second”, Chan
told the press. “I really can’t explain what happened,
technically. I just know that going into it I was fighting
to stay upright, I was hoping not to fall, but unfortunately
it happened. I landed the last triple flip at the end of the
program, so that maybe overjoyed me a little, because it was
the closest thing to a clean program this season”, he
explained, referring the fall on the spin.
Voronov delivered a strong performance to a selection of
Tangos by Astor Piazzolla that included two triple Axels (one
in combination with double toe), two triple toes (one in combination),
a triple Salchow, loop as well as two level-four spins. Handicapped
by an ankle injury, the Russian currently is unable to practice
a triple Lutz and flip. The World Junior bronze medalist earned
140.21 points (71.71/68.50), smashing his previous personal
best of 120.91. He accumulated a total score of 208.91 points.
Overnight leader Preaubert nailed his opening quadruple toeloop
in his routine to “Dracula” and “Interview
with a Vampire”, but missed the next jump, a triple
flip. He recovered to produce six triples including two triple
Axels (one in combination), and the only major error came
when he popped his last jump, a loop. The Frenchman scored
134.40 points (67.90/67.50), which added up to a total of
207.10. He was ranked third in the Free Skating and slipped
to third overall.
Ladies, Free Skating
Mao Asada of Japan captured the title ahead of Kimmie Meissner
(USA). Ashley Wagner (USA) moved up from fifth place to claim
the bronze, her first medal on the senior Grand Prix.
Overnight leader Asada skated last. She went for a triple
Axel as the first element in her program set to “Fantaisie
Impromptu” by Frederic Chopin, but she fell, and the
jump was downgraded. The World silver medalist recovered instantly
to reel off a triple flip-triple loop combination, a triple
Lutz, loop and another flip. She produced three level-four
spins and posted a score of 122.90 (63.94 element score/60.96
program component score), which added up to 179.80 points.
Meissner opened her routine to “Nessun Dorma”
with a triple flip-triple toe combination, but the second
jump was cheated and downgraded by the Technical Panel. Meissner
then landed a triple Lutz, and two solid double Axels, but
made errors on her triple Salchow (downgraded), loop (fell)
and popped her second Lutz. The 2006 World Champion received
102.76 points (46.08/57.68) for this performance and was ranked
third in the Free Skating. She remained in second place with
a total of 158.74 points.
Wagner’s Tango program included a triple Lutz-double
loop, a triple Salchow, triple loop-double loop as well as
a triple flip-double loop, another triple loop and a triple
Lutz. The 16-year-old American’s spins were all graded
a level three. At the end of her performance, Wagner happily
hid her face in her hands, overwhelmed by what she just had
done. The reigning World Junior bronze medalist scored 108.15
points (57.35/50.80), setting a new personal best for herself.
Overall she accumulated 158.63 points.
Pairs, Free Skating
The last to compete were the Pairs. In what was a competition
at high level, Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang of China took the gold
medal ahead of their teammates Qing Pang/Jian Tong. Russia’s
Maria Mukhortova/Maxim Trankov earned the bronze, their first
medal on the Grand Prix series.
Zhang/Zhang gave a strong performance to the soundtrack of
“The Myth” that contained a double Axel-triple
toelop combination, a big triple twist, a throw triple loop
and Salchow as well as a side by side triple Salchow and difficult
lifts with one-armed entries (level four). The 2006 Olympic
silver medalists were awarded 125.36 points (68.00 element
score/57.36 program component score), slightly improving their
previous personal best. The couple accumulated a total of
196.96 points. “We are quite pleased with this performance,
but we didn’t have enough time for our spin and the
death spiral, so we didn’t achieve a high level on these
elements”, Hao Zhang said. “But it was better
than last year.”
Pang/Tong landed a side by side triple toeloop, a double
Axel-double Axel sequence, a triple twist, and a throw triple
Salchow and high triple loop in their program to “Romeo
and Juliet”. The 2007 World silver medalists earned
a level four for their three lifts, but their footwork and
death spiral were graded only a level one. Pang/Tong scored
122.61 points (63.17/59.44), which was a new seasonal best
for them. Overall they remained in second place at 186.93
points.
Performing to an Elegy by Sergei Rachmaninov, Mukhortova/Trankov
completed a triple toe-double toe combination, a triple twist,
a one-armed Axel Lasso lift (level four) and a strong triple
loop and Salchow. However, Mukhortova crashed on the side
by side triple Salchow. The Russian Champions received 108.06
points (56.58/52.48) and were ranked fourth in the Free Skating.
They held on to third place at 169.82 points overall.
Tiffany Vise/Derek Trent (USA) performed a rare quadruple
throw Salchow. They finished fourth (165.76 points). Sixth-ranked
Jessica Miller/Ian Moram (CAN) also went for a quadruple throw
Salchow, but she two-footed it (142.92 points). The first
couple to land a clean quadruple throw Salchow in competition
were Zhang/Zhang in 2005.
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