ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: Cup of Russia
Day Two
The Cup of Russia went on Saturday with the Ladies Free Skating,
the Original Dance, the Pairs and Men’s Free Skating.
The Cup of Russia is the fifth of six events in the 2007/2008
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. The skaters compete
for 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).
Ladies, Free Skating
Yu-Na Kim of Korea skated off with the gold medal in the Ladies
Final. Japan’s Yukari Nakano claimed the silver medal
and Joannie Rochette (CAN) captured the bronze.
Overnight leader Kim skated last and vowed the crowd with
an excellent and musical performance to “Miss Saigon”.
The World bronze medalist reeled off a triple flip-triple
toe combination, a triple loop, triple Lutz-double toe, a
double Axel-triple toeloop combination, a triple Lutz, a triple
Salchow and a double Axel out of a spiral move. She showed
excellent spins three of which were graded a level four. Kim
posted a new personal best score of 133.70 points (72.90 element
score/60.80 program component score) and accumulated a total
of 197.20 points, beating again her previous personal best.
Her score of 133.70 is also the highest Free Skating score
any Lady has achieved so far. “Some jumps felt shaky
and I worried about it, but I got a new personal best and
I qualified for the Grand Prix Final”, the always self-critical
17-year-old told the post-event press conference. “I
got my highest score, but there are still points that I can
improve and I will work harder”, she promised. Nakano
opened her routine to “Capriccio Espagnol” with
a triple Axel and landed four clean other triples, but her
first flip and Lutz both were underroated and downgraded.
The Japanese produced fine spins, earning a level four for
the two combination spins and the flying camel spin to score
112.27 points (57.15/55.12), which added up to 172.77 points,
a new personal best total score.
Rochette, who stood in fifth place after missing a triple
flip in the Short Program, rallied back in her “Don
Juan” program that contained a triple Lutz-double toe-double
loop combination, a triple flip as well as four more triple
jumps. The Canadian Champion only put her hand down on a triple
Salchow (in sequence with a triple toe) and on the second
jump in her sequence of two double Axels. Rochette earned
119.35 points (64.71/54.64), setting a new seasonal best and
pulled up to third at 169.91 total points. She was ranked
third in the Free Skating.
Ice Dancing, Original Dance
The Original Dance of the 2007/2008 season is the Country/Folk
Dance. Couples can select from a wide variety of dances. To
the delight of the crowd in the Megasport Sport Palace “Na
Khodynke”, the most popular choice among the participants
of the Cup of Russia were Russian and Ukrainian dances.
Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin of Russia built on their lead
from the Compulsory Dance while Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat
(FRA) remained in second ahead of Russia’s Ekaterina
Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev.
Domnina/Shabalin put out an exciting performance of their
dynamic Cossack Dance and produced difficult lifts and intricate
footwork, earning a level four for the circular steps and
the twizzles. However, Domnina put down her second foot on
a step during the midline which was graded a level three subsequently.
The European silver medalists picked up 63.20 points (37.70
element score/30.50 program component score), slightly surpassing
their previous personal best of 62.20 points. Overall they
collected 103.25 points so far. “We have worked a lot
on our technique since the Cup of China, and maybe the technical
side was five percent better than in China. The artistic side
was already good in China. I made an error in the step sequence,
putting down my foot, and the level went down”, Domnina
told the presss.
Pechalat/Bourzat danced a stylish Spanish Flamenco, and she
effectively used a fan during the performance that featured
a rarely seen stationary lift with him turning on the spot
on one foot, a straight line lift and a level-three circular
step sequence. The French received 58.03 points (30.20/27.83),
improving their previous personal best from Skate America
by 1.08 points and accumulated 92.90 points so far.
Bobrova/Soloviev gave a charming performance to the traditional
Russian folk song “Kalinka” and executed two level-four
lifts and a serpentine step sequence as well as a dance combination
spin that were graded a level three by the Technical Panel.
The reigning World Junior Champions scored 52.44 points (28.30/24.14)
and now have 82.66 overall.
Pairs, Free Skating
China’s Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang skated to victory in the
Pairs event with Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy of Germany
following in second place. Russia’s Yuko Kawaguchi/Alexander
Smirnov earned the bronze medal.
Skating to “The Myth”, Zhang/Zhang hit a double
Axel-double toeloop combination, a triple twist, a throw triple
loop and throw triple Salchow as well as a side by side triple
Salchow, but his landing was wobbly. The team produced also
difficult lifts that all were graded a level four. The 2006
World and Olympic silver medalists were awarded 122.72 points
(64.00 element score/58.72 program component score) and took
the gold with 192.68 points overall. “We are not so
happy with this performance. I still have a bad tooth ache
and to compete in two events back to back was hard for us”,
Hao Zhang explained.
Savchenko/Szolkowy’s routine to “L’Oiseau”
from Cirque du Soleil featured a throw triple flip, a triple
twist, a throw triple Salchow, three level-four lifts and
a level-four pair combination spin. However, Szolkowy struggled
with the solo jumps, singling the Axel (in a sequence with
a triple toe) and falling on the side by side triple Salchow.
The European Champions picked up 119.17 points (60.09/60.08)
and remained in second place at 185.95 points overall.
Kawaguchi/Smirnov, who stood in fourth place after the Short
Program, pulled up to third with a solid program to “Love
Story”. The team from St. Petersburg risked the quadruple
throw Salchow, but she stumbled out of the landing. They landed
a triple toe-triple toe sequence, a triple twist, and a side
by side double Axel, but Kawaguchi two-footed the throw triple
Salchow. The Skate Canada bronze medalists earned a level
four for their three lifts, for the forward inside death spiral,
the side by side spin and the spiral sequence. They scored
118.77 points (64.69/54.08), significantly improving their
previous personal best of 109.04 that they had achieved exactly
one year ago at the Cup of Russia. Overall the students of
Tamara Moskvina got 181.71 points.
Men, Free Skating
Johnny Weir (USA) overtook overnight leader Stéphane
Lambiel of Switzerland to capture his second gold medal on
the Grand Prix this season. Russia’s Andrei Griazev
claimed the bronze medal.
Weir reeled off a triple Axel-triple toeloop, a triple Lutz,
a triple Salchow, loop and flip as well as a triple Lutz-double
toe-double loop combination in his program to “Love
is War” by Yoav Gordon. His was awarded a level four
for the two combination spins and the flying sit spin. However,
Weir’s second triple Axel was underrotated and downgraded.
The three-time U.S. Campion earned 149.81 points (74.51 element
score/75.30 program component score) and racked up a total
of 229.96 points. “I was of course happy with the result
of this competition, but the performance for me was so difficult.
I was so nervous and I felt so much pressure to put on a good
show for this audience. Galina Yakovlevna (Zmievskaya, his
coach) had very good words for me (she told me) “just
relax and do what you do every day, you have nothing to prove”,
and that was comforting, because I knew she wasn’t expecting
me to be 100 percent perfect”, the athlete told the
press.
Lambiel opened his intense Flamenco program “Poeta”
with a double Axel followed by a quad-double toeloop combination,
but he put his hand down on the first jump. He nailed three
more triples, but crashed on his second quad toeloop attempt,
which was downgraded. He also doubled his last jump, a flip,
but three of his four spins were graded a level four by the
Technical Panel. The two-time World Champion collected 138.35
points (61.85/77.50), which was a seasonal best and slipped
to second at 218.84 points overall.
Griazev gave a solid performance to “The Godfather”
and other movie soundtracks by Nino Rota that included a triple
Lutz, a big triple Axel, a triple Axel-double toeloop combination
and three more triples as well as a level four change foot
sit spin and three level-three spins. The reigning Russian
Champion scored 135.18 points (69.68/65.50) and was ranked
fifth in the Free Skating. He held on to third place with
206.13 points overall.
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