ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2008
The 2008 ISU World Figure Skating Championships opened Tuesday
in the Scandinavium Arena in Gothenburg, Sweden with the Compulsory
Dance and the Pairs Short Program. 8569 spectators attended
the event today. A record number of 203 skaters/couples from
48 ISU members have been entered for the World Championships.
Puerto Rico is represented for the first time at ISU World
Championships with one entry in the Ladies division. The World
Championships return to Sweden for the first time in 32 years.
Gothenburg hast hosted World Championships once before in
1976. Overall, Sweden has hosted World Championships seven
times before in Stockholm in 1947, 1934, 1922, 1909, 1905,
1901 and 1897.
Ice Dancing, Compulsory Dance
The ice dancers opened the competition with the Compulsory
Dance. The Compulsory Dance drawn for the World Championships
was the Argentine Tango.
Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder of France danced to
the lead followed by Canada’s Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir
and Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski (RUS). Delobel/Schoenfelder
gave a strong performance of the Tango, showing off deep edges
and excellent unison. They earned 40.73 points (20.79 element
score/19.94 program component score). “We wanted to
have fun here and enjoy (the competition)”, Delobel
said. “It was a good compulsory dance, we wanted to
show a special interpretation to make the dance more interesting.
We are happy with the marks”, her partner added.
Virtue/Moir had drawn to skate next to last out of the 31
couples and turned in a characteristic Argentine Tango to
score 38.71 points (20.00/18.71). Khokhlova/Novitski came
in third with a new season’s best of 37.98 points (19.52/18.46)
Reigning World bronze medalists Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto
(USA) are standing in fifth place after she fell in the second
segment of the second sequence on a turn (35.02 points).
Pairs, Short Program
The competition continued with the Pairs Short Program. In
what was a competition at high level, Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang
of China captured the lead ahead of Germany’s Aliona
Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy and Yuko Kawaguchi/Alexander Smirnov
(RUS).
Zhang/Zhang turned in an excellent performance of their dynamic
“Piano Fantasy” by Maksim Mrvica. The reigning
Grand Prix Final silver medalists produced a huge triple twist,
a side by side triple Salchow, a throw triple loop and a level-four
pair combination spin. The Chinese posted a new personal best
of 74.36 points (43.50 element score/30.86 program component
score). They also set a new record for the Short Program score
by surpassing Savchenko/Szolkowy’s 72.14 points from
the Grand Prix Final in December. “We beat out personal
best. The most important thing is still to come, the free
skating. The crowd here was just great. We are always hoping
to give a good performance for the crowd”, Hao Zhang
said. He had surgery just shortly before Worlds to remove
a furuncle from his left leg. “The surgery was very
unpleasant”, he revealed. “Overall it (the injury,
surgery, recovery) took two weeks and then we came here directly.”
Savchenko/Szolkowy, who had drawn to skate first out of the
21 couples, started well into their exotic “Asoka”
routine with a high throw triple flip and a triple twist.
But Savchenko stumbled on the side by side triple toe. The
European Champions recovered to complete a difficult Axel
Lasso lift and received a level four for their spins and a
level three for the step sequence. They scored 72.00 points
(40.75/31.25).
Kawaguchi/Smirnov turned in a solid performance to “Rondo
Carpiccioso” by Camille Saint-Saens that featured a
strong side by side triple toeloop, a triple twist and a throw
triple loop. The European bronze medalists got a level four
for their side by side spin and the pair spin. Kawaguchi/Smirnov
picked up a new personal best of 71.42 points (42.28/29.14)
to finish third.
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