POSTED: Saturday December 5th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ISU Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, Day 2
A total of 84 skaters (56 entries) from 11 ISU members are competing in the two Finals.
The ISU Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final continued Friday in Tokyo, Japan, with the Junior Pairs and Junior Men’s Free Skating, the Men’s and Ladies Short Program and the Free Dance. For the second consecutive season, both Finals are held together. A total of 84 skaters (56 entries) from 11 ISU members are competing in the two Finals.
Davis/White dance to the gold
Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA) continued their ascent this season and won their first title at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final ahead of Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN). Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat (FRA) claimed the bronze medal. Davis/White put out a powerful performance to “Phantom of the Opera” that was highlighted by their whirling lifts. The reigning Four Continents Champions earned a new personal best of 103.64 points. Virtue/Moir edged them out with their elegant dance to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 by less than one point with 104.21 points, but overall the Americans who led after the Original Dance came out on top with a total of 169.44 points. Virtue/Moir had 168.22 points. Davis felt that this title was probably the most significant win of their career so far. “It’s been a really great season so far and we’ve been feeling great in all competitions. The performance went pretty good today. I think that we can definitely skate a lot better and going home we’re going to look through that”, she added. “There is room for improvement and I can’t wait to get back home and start training for Nationals”, Virtue said.
Pechalat/Bourzat had chosen the theme of time for their dance and totaled 147.62 points to win their first medal in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.”It wasn’t our best today. We were very tired and we didn’t have enough training for a great performance”, Bourzat explained, referring to an ankle injury that has handicapped him during the past weeks.
Sinead Kerr/John Kerr (GBR) came in fourth with a dance to “Krwlng” by Linkin Park. Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ITA) were fifth and Vanessa Crone/Paul Poirier (CAN) finished sixth.
Ando (JPN) takes lead in Ladies Short as Kim (KOR) falters
Miki Ando (JPN) took the Ladies Short Program while the top favorite, World Champion Yu-Na Kim (KOR) faltered and settled for second place. Ando, cheered on by the capacity crowd in the Yoyogi National Stadium, turned in a solid performance to a modern arrangement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Requiem” that featured a triple Lutz-double loop, a triple flip and a double Axel, but she lost points on a rather poor layback spin. The 2007 World Champion achieved a seasons best at 66.20 points and edged out Kim. “The triple-triple (Lutz-loop) felt good this morning, and my coach and I decided to put it in. It felt slightly off when I went into the air, so I did a double loop. I really wanted to do that triple-triple! But I went on with my program, and only thought about nailing my triple flip. I also missed my (layback) spin: my left edge slipped”, Ando told the press. “(Going into the Free) I don’t want to make the same kind of mistakes I made today. I’m not going to think about getting on the podium: I just want to concentrate on what I have to do.” Skating to “James Bond”, Kim singled the flip and the second jump of her triple Lutz-triple toe combination was downgraded. She produced strong spins and a double Axel to earn 65.64 points. “I had a huge fall on the Lutz prior to the performance. I got a little nervous. But I thought my triple-triple was okay, even if I missed my flip the rest of the program was good”, Kim stated. Alena Leonova (RUS) came as a little surprise in third place. The World Junior Champion outskated World silver medalist Joannie Rochette (CAN), who stumbled on the back end of the triple Lutz-double toe combination and had some lower levels on spins and spirals. I’m awarding myself a score of ten plus for this program! This is a nice present for my coach, who celebrates her birthday today”, a happy Leonova said.
Takahashi (JPN) edges World Champion Lysacek (USA) in the Men’s Short
Daisuke Takahashi proved in the Men’s Short Program that he is back after missing the whole past season due to injury. The 23-year-old was on fire in his program to a modern Tango named “Eye” and edged out reigning World Champion Evan Lysacek (USA) by just 0.10 points to capture the lead. Takahashi nailed a triple flip-triple toe, a triple Axel and Lutz and his footwork was crisp. He posted a new personal best of 89.95 points, getting close to Evgeni Plushenko’s (RUS) record score of 90.66 points from the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. But Lysacek stayed in the hunt for the title with a superb interpretation of “Firebird” that included a triple Axel, triple Flip, triple Lutz-triple toe and his trademark fast and well centered spins. “I was very nervous during the warm up since I hadn’t competed with the top skaters last season. But in today’s performance, I didn’t think about what my rivals were doing. The performance today wasn’t ideal but I’m in good condition in the Final and I feel I’m achieving my ideal performance step by step”, Takahashi commented. “Technically I’m the best I’ve ever been. I haven’t pulled out all my tricks yet”, Lysacek revealed. “For the last two sesaons, I’ve been trying to break 85 (points). I think the closest I’ve come was 83 and 84. So to not just break it, but to go up to almost 90 points, is really a great improvement for me, and I think it’s reflected a lot in the components score. I’ve been working so hard technically making these elements so strong, not just execute them”, he continued. Nobunari Oda (JPN) made it a successful day for team Japan with his third-place finish and another flawless program with excellent jumps. He, too, earned a new personal best at 87.65 points. “I’m happy with my performance today. I was very nervous because I was the last skater. I knew Daisuke and Evan had gotten high marks, but I just tried to focus on what I had to do. I was confident“, Oda said. Johnny Weir (USA) placed fourth with a clean program. Defending Grand Prix Champion Jeremy Abbott (USA) came in fifth after missing the triple Lutz.
Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) takes Junior Men’s title
Earlier today, Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) took the Junior Men’s title. Hanyu hit a triple Axel and six more triples including a triple Salchow-triple toeloop combination in the last minute of his routine to “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”. The 14-year-old posted a new seasons best of 136.92 points and accumulated 206.77 points overall to move up from third to first place. “I didn’t expect that I could win”, Hanyu said. “My jumps were not good coming into the competition, but what’s important is doing them in competition. I only thought about completing each element as I went along. Overnight leader Nan Song (CHN) skated to the silver medal with a solid performance that included two triple Axels. He scored 133.29 points for the Free Skating, which was a seasons best, and overall had 204.99 points. Ross Miner (USA) clinched the bronze medal with six clean triples (196.09 points). All three medalists competed in their first Junior Final.
Sui/Han (CHN) skate off with gold in Junior Pairs
Newcomers Wenjing Sui/Cong Han (CHN) skated off with the gold medal in their first Junior Grand Prix season, overtaking more experienced competitors. The 14 and 17-year-old skaters turned in a cute Charlie Chaplin program that was highlighted by a big triple twist, a throw triple Salchow and a double Axel-double Axel sequence. The team picked up 103.65 points for this routine and totaled 160.45 points. “We are deeply moved. It is our first time in the Final, and we wouldn’t have dreamed about achieving such a good result and promise to give our best in the future as well”, Han said. “From our point of view the, performance today was okay, but we could have performed better.” To the delight of the home crowd, the silver medal went to Narumi Takahashi/Mervin Tran (JPN), who are only the second pair from Japan to have medaled in the Junior Grand Prix. They produced a throw triple toe and difficult lifts to score 91.36 points and overall had 145.80. Yue Zhang/Lei Wang (CHN) rounded up an all-Asian podium with their bronze medal. They landed three triple throws and moved up from fifth to third at 137.19 points overall.
For full results, please refer to www.isu.org. The ISU Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final continues Friday with the Junior Men, Junior Pairs Free Skating, Men and Ladies Short Programs and the Free Dance.
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Keywords · ISU · ISU Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final · Tokyo · Japan
Name: Devra Pitt-getaz
Organization: ISU
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URL: http://www.isu.org/
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