ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2008 Day
Two
The 2008 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships
continued Thursday in Goyang, the Republic of Korea, with
the Original Dance, the Pairs Free Skating and the Ladies
Short Program.
Ice Dancing, Original Dance
The Original Dance of the 2007/08 season is the Folk/Country
Dance. The 13 couples at Four Continents chose Russian, Greek,
Jewish, African Dances, Spanish Flamenco, Western Hoedown
and even an Aboriginal Folk Dance.
Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir of Canada strengthened their overnight
lead ahead of the two U.S. couples Meryl Davis/Charlie White
and Kimberly Navarro/Brent Bommentre.
Virtue/Moir’s characteristic Russian dance to “Dark
Eyes” was highlighted by a one-armed curve lift, a fluid
circular step sequence and a rotational lift. The received
a level four for all elements except for the combination spin
that was a level three. However, Moir had three minor wobbles
in the program. The 2006 World Junior Champions still earned
a new seasonal best of 66.02 points (34.74 element score/30.28)
which added up to 103.24 points overall. “Tessa and
I are very pleases with the way we skated today. We wanted
to go out there and attack it as much as possible. We felt
like we did that we’re hoping to build on our performance
of today for tomorrow”, Moir commented. “I think
it had more to do with trying to really go for everything”,
he said, referring to his errors, “I went out there
with a lot of energy and some places like my back cross cut
or my twizzle, I didn’t really handle the energy as
well as I had hoped, but I think that’s a major reason
why we are here at this competition, that we are trying to
use it as a building part for Worlds”
Davis/White had opted for a Russian theme as well, for “Kalinka”.
They executed intricate step sequences, a combination spin
and a straight line lift with him sliding on one knee. Their
lifts, the twizzles and their spin were graded a level four,
but the two step sequences were called a level three by the
Technical Panel. Davis/White picked up 61.93 points (33.01/28.92)
and remained in second place at 99.29 total.
Navarro/Bommentre interpreted an unusual African Dance from
Soweto called “Ijuba” that contained a straight
line lift with him skating backwards, a rotational lift and
a solid side by side step sequence. All elements but the circular
steps were awarded a level four. The Americans scored 56.67
points (31.14/25.53), which was also a seasons best for them.
They defended their third place with 91.03 points overall.
Pairs, Free Skating
Qing Pang/Jian Tong of China overtook their teammates Dan
Zhang/Hao Zhang to claim their third gold medal at the Four
Continents Championships. Brooke Castile/Benjamin Okolski
(USA) earned the bronze.
Zhang/Zhang had drawn to skate first in the final flight.
They had a double Axel-triple toe combination planned as their
first element, but Dan Zhang doubled the second jump. The
team went on to complete a high triple twist, two Lasso lifts
and a throw triple Salchow and loop, but she also doubled
the side by side triple Salchow and stumbled on the death
spiral. The 2006 World silver medalists seemed a bit slow
overall in their routine to “The Myth”. Zhang/Zhang
received 111.39 points (54.82 element score/56.57 program
component score) and slipped to second place at 181.84 points.
Pang/Tong were up next and gave a strong performance to “Romeo
and Juliet” by Nino Rota. The 2006 World Champions produced
a double Axel-double Axel sequence, a triple twist, a throw
triple Salchow and loop as well as difficult lifts that were
graded a level four. Their only major error came when Pang
underrotated and stepped out of the triple toeloop. The couple
scored 119.63 points (59.62/60.01) which accumulated to a
total of 187.33. Pang/Tong moved up from second to first and
took their third Four Continents title after 2002 and 2004
“We skated quite well today and had only two smaller
errors. We are getting better and better and hopefully we’ll
be at our best at Worlds”, Tong told the post-event
press conference. “These championships are an important
test for our programs. We like to come to Korea and feel comfortable
here. Now we have one month before the World Championships
and we hope that we can prepare well without any health problems
for Worlds. We wish the same also to the other competitors”,
he continued.
Castile/Okolski’s program to “Sheherazade”
featured a triple twist, a high throw triple Salchow, a double
flip-double toeloop combination and a throw triple loop as
well as two Lasso lift and one hand-to-hip lift. However,
Castile singled the double Axel. The Americans earned 103.55
points (53.34/50.21) and moved up to third place to win their
first medal at a major international event, the bronze, with
159.99 points.
Ladies, Short Program
In what was an interesting Ladies Short Program, Mao Asada,
Miki Ando, both of Japan, and Canadian Joannie Rochette finished
first, second and third, but are separated by less than one
point from each other.
Skating to “Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra”
by Jean-Claude Petit, Asada went for a triple flip-triple
loop combination, but she didn’t fully rotate the second
jump, and it was downgraded. The reigning World silver medalist
also stepped out of her triple Lutz, but she completed strong
spins, two of which were graded a level four. The 17-year-old
earned a new seasons best of 60.94 points (31.89 element score/29.05
program component score). “I landed the triple-triple
combination, and I was so happy about it, because I made this
year all the time mistakes on the combination in competition.
I was very sad about that. I did it last year (in December)
at Japanese Nationals finally, and now I’m even happier”,
the Japanese said. She added that she didn’t expect
a downgrade on the triple loop.
Ando finished just behind at 60.07 points (32.61/27.46) with
a solid performance to “Bacchanale” from “Samson
and Dalilah” by Camille Saint-Saens. She nailed a triple
flip, a double Axel and had, like Asada, a level four for
her flying sit and for the combination spin and a level three
for the combination spin. The reigning World Champion risked
a triple Lutz-triple loop combination, but again, the second
jump was cheated and downgraded.
Rochette produced a triple Lutz, a double Axel, two level-four
spins and a level-three straight line step sequence, but the
back end of her triple flip-triple toeloop combination was
downgraded as well. The Canadian was still happy with a new
personal best of 60.04 points (32.92/27.12).
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