ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2008
Day Three
The 2008 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships
continued Friday in Goyang, the Republic of Korea, with the
Free Dance and the Men’s Free Skating.
Ice Dancing, Free Dance
The Ice Dancing event concluded with the Free Dance. Tessa
Virtue/Scott Moir of Canada danced to victory, Meryl Davis/Charlie
White (USA) took the silver and the bronze went to Kimberly
Navarro/Brent Bommentre (USA). All medalists and most of the
other teams earned a new seasonal or personal best today.
Virtue/Moir delivered a strong performance of their dance
to “Umbrellas of Cherbourg”, executing a level
circular and serpentine step sequence, a beautiful curve-rotational
lift right on the music, a dance combination spin and a straight
line lift with changes of position for her. The transitions
between the difficult elements were seamless. The Canadians
achieved a new personal best score of 104.08 points (54.91
element score/49.17 program component score) and racked up
a total of 207.32 on their way to their first title at Four
Continents. Virtue/Moir had won the bronze medal in 2006 and
2007. “Today’s performance was very exciting for
us. The Korean fans were amazing, really into the performance,
which was rewarding for us. For us, it was our seasons best
(in the) three skates that we’ve had. We really wanted
to come and show the emotional connection and I hope that
made it to the judges and that’s where the points are
coming from, but other than I don’t think it really
means that much”, Moir commented, referring to their
score.
Skating to “Eleanor’s Dream” and “Eleanor
Rigby” by the Beatles, Davis/White produced a straight
line-curve lift, excellent synchronized twizzles, a circular
and a side by side step sequence as well as a straight line
lift with him in a low shoot-the-duck position. The Americans
were awarded a level four for all eight elements and scored
100.16 points (53.99/46.17) which added up to 199.45 points
overall.
Navarro/Bommentre danced to a bluesy song called “Since
I’ve been loving you”. Their routine included
a rotational lift in which he didn’t support his partner
with his hands, a serpentine lift and a reverse rotational
lift. Both the serpentine and the side by side step sequence
were graded a level three by the Technical Panel. The Americans
picked up 89.62 points (48.47/41.15) and claimed their first
medal at a major international event with 180.65 points.
Men, Free Skating
Daisuke Takahashi of Japan won the Men’s gold with a
new record score. Canada’s Jeffrey Buttle took the silver
and Evan Lysacek (USA) settled for the bronze.
Takahashi, who had drawn to skate last out of the 21 competitors,
delivered a magical performance to Peter Tchaikovski’s
powerful “Romeo and Juliet”. He opened the program
with a quad toeloop, followed by a quad toe-double toe seconds
afterwards and a beautiful triple Axel. Never pausing for
a moment, he reeled off a triple Axel-double toe-double loop,
a triple flip-triple toe, triple Salchow and triple Lutz as
well as fast spins and the crowd cheered for his intense footwork.
The only glitch was a stumble on the triple loop. Takahashi’s
spins and footwork were all graded a level three and four.
The Japanese earned 175.84 points (93.98 element score/81.86
component score), improving his previous personal best of
163.49 points and racking up a total score of 264.41 points.
Both the Free Skating and the total score are new record scores.
On his way to his first Four Continents title Takahashi bested
Evgeni Plushenko’s (RUS) Free Skating score of 167.67
and total score of 264.41, both of which were achieved at
the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. “I’m so happy to
have achieved my best result. During my performance, I was
calm, everything was smooth – the jumps, the spins,
the steps, and I was careful, focused on each detail”,
the 21-year-old explained. “I landed two quads for the
first time in an ISU competition, and this is a big improvement
for me. I got a great score, and it gives me confidence for
Worlds”, he continued.
Skating to “Ararat”, Buttle landed a triple Axel-double
toe, a triple flip-triple toe, a triple Lutz-double toe-double
loop and a triple Salchow. The Canadian showed exquisite spins,
three of which were graded a level four, but he fell on a
triple Lutz late into the program, stepped out of a triple
loop and doubled a planned triple Axel. The two-time Four
Continents Champion scored 150.17 points (73.59/77.58), which
was a new seasonal best for him. He pulled up to second at
234.02 points.
Lysacek fell on his opening quad toe but recovered to nail
six triples. The 2007 Four Continents Champion received 149.05
points (74.27/75.78) and slipped from second to third with
a total score of 233.11.
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