ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: Skate America Day Three
Skate America in Reading, Pennsylvania, concluded Sunday
with the Free Dance and the Ladies Free Skating. Skate America
was the first of six events in the 2007/2008 ISU Grand Prix
of Figure Skating Series.
Ice Dancing, Free Dance
Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto (USA) danced to victory with
Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat of France and Federica Faiella/Massimo
Scali finishing second and third.
Performing to a medley of music by Frederic Chopin, Belbin/Agosto
produced a serpentine lift with him skating on one foot, well
sychnronized twizzles, a curve-rotational lift and intricate
footwork. Their circular step sequence was graded a level
four and their non-touching midline step sequence was graded
a level three. For the first time this season, skaters can
include a non-touching step sequence in the Free Dance. The
reigning World bronze medalists earned 97.68 (50.40 element
score/47.28 program component score) points for the Free Dance
and collected a total of 192.95 points. “We had originally
gone into this year knowing that we wanted to do a classical
program, it’s something that we hadn’t really
tackled before aside from our very first free dance that we
ever did to Four Seasons in 1999”, Belbin said. “What
we are trying to portray is kind of the ideal dream of what
love should be in everybody’s mind before they live
their life and realize that life isn’t always so ideal”,
Agosto explained the theme of their program.
Pechalat/Bourzat skated a program they called “Craziness”
to a selection of modern music. They opened with fast twizzles,
a level-three circular step sequence and a spectacular curve-rotational
lift. The French also completed a serpentine lift (level four),
but the diagonal footwork received only a level two. Pechalat/Bourzat
picked up 90.33 points (46.50/43.83) for the Free Dance, improving
their previous personal best by six points and accumulated
a total score of 181.84 points to claim their first silver
medal at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating. They had taken
the bronze at Skate America last year.
Faiella/Scali portrayed the life of a butterfly in their lyrical
routine set to the soundtrack of “Yentl” by Barbara
Streisand. The Italians received a level four for their non
touching midline step sequence, their dance spin as well as
for their rotational and straight line lifts. Scali fell on
a transition move early into the program but recovered instantly.
The Italian Champions posted a score of 86.29 points (47.20/40.09)
and had 172.28 overall.
Ladies, Free Skating
The Ladies concluded the competition at Skate America with
their Free Skating. 2006 World Champion Kimmie Meissner (USA)
beat reigning World Champion Miki Ando of Japan to win her
first Grand Prix gold medal. World Junior Champion Caroline
Zhang (USA) captured the bronze medal in what was her first
competition at the senior level.
Meissner went for a triple flip-triple toeloop combination
as her first element in her program to “Nessun Dorma”,
but the second jump was underrotated and downgraded. She went
on to complete a triple Lutz, a double Axel-double toeloop-double
loop combination. The 18-year-old received a level four for
three of her four spins, but she stepped out of her triple
Salchow and a triple loop was cheated. Meissner earned 103.99
points (46.71 element score/57.28 program component score)
and was ranked second in the Free Skating. Overall she remained
in first place at 163.23 points. “I was excited with
what I did, I improved so much”, the athlete commented
on her feelings at the end of her performance. “This
is the first time I’ve won a Grand Prix. It’s
good to know what I can work on and what I have to improve
on. I can’t wait for Paris (her second Grand Prix assignment)
now and put together two solid programs.”
Skating to “Carmen”, Ando hit a triple Salchow,
a triple loop, Lutz, a triple toe-double loop-double loop
combination as well as a double Axel, but her first Lutz (in
combination with double loop) was downgraded and she popped
her planned triple flip into a single. Ando’s spiral
step sequence and combination spin were graded a level four
and two other spins got a level three. The World Champion
was awarded 105.31 points (49.47/55.84) and won the Free Skating.
She remained in second overall with 161.89 points.
Zhang’s lyrical routine to “Ave Maria” included
a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, a double Axel, a
triple flip and beautiful spins. She earned a level four for
her layback spin and combination spin. However, five triple
jumps were underrotated and downgraded by the Technical Panel,
and her spiral sequence was graded only a level one. The 14-year-old
scored 96.87 (45.11/51.76) points for her Free Skating and
secured the bronze with a total of 153.35 points.
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