POSTED: Sunday December 6th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ISU Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final

Day 4

The ISU Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final concluded Saturday in Tokyo, Japan, with the Junior Free Dance and Junior Ladies Free Skating. For the second consecutive season, both Finals were held together. A total of 84 skaters (56 entries) from 11 ISU members competed in the two Finals.

Monko/Khaliavin (RUS) skate to gold in Junior Dance

Ksenia Monko/Kirill Khaliavin (RUS) danced to the gold in what was their first Junior Grand Prix Final. Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov (RUS), newcomers as well, overtook Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani (USA) to earn the silver medal. Monko/Khaliavin turned in a powerful dance to “This is a  Man’s World” by James Brown, showing difficult lifts and intricate footwork. The couple from Moscow picked up all level fours and threes for their elements to score a seasons best of 85.51 points and defended their overnight lead with a total of 141.21 points. “We are very excited to have won, we never expected to win this Final, since we compete her for the first time. Right now in Russia we have a tough competition in ice dance, there are many good junior and senior couples”, Khaliavin told the press. Ilinykh/Katsalapov produced a dramatic performance to “Schindler’s List” that was highlighted by their speed and effortless looking elements. The Muscovites posted a seasons best as well with 85.01 points and pulled up from third to second at 139.36 points overall. Shibutani/Shibutani produced a smooth “Tango Rhapsody” and scored 83.54 points. The reigning World Junior silver medalists slipped to third place with 138.75 points.

Kanako Murakami (JPN) takes Junior Ladies title

Kanako Murakami (JPN) caped off a successful event for the host country by taking the Junior Ladies title. Overnight leader Polina Shelepen (RUS) was edged out by just 1.24 points and settled for the silver medal. The bronze went to Christina Gao (USA). It was a high-level competition. Murakami landed five strong triple jumps and only wobbled on a spin and got a deduction for the wrong edge take-off on her triple Lutz. The 15-year-old scored 101.01 points and racked up a total of 160.53 points to move up from second to first place. “I didn’t skate my best in the Free, but I am happy to win in the Final here in Japan. I wanted to do all the jumps, spins, footwork clean, but I made a few mistakes. I was really nervous before I went out onto the ice, and I thought my heart would pop out of my mouth! But the audience called out my name and cheered me on, so I was able to relax a little bit and skate well”, a happy Murakami said. Skating to “Polovetsian Dances”, Shelepen hit six triples including a double Axel-triple toeloop combination, but although she beat Murakami on the technical score, she scored lower in the components and got 99.75 points for her Free Skating. She set a new seasons best for herself. Overall the 14-year-old accumulated 159.29 points. Gao, who stood in fifth place following the short program, gave a strong performance to “La Fille Mal Gardée” that featured six triple jumps. With a seasons best of 98.65 for the Free Skating her total score added up to 151.47 points.  Both Shelepen and Gao competed for the first time in the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final, while Murakami was ranked fourth last year.

24 medals were awarded in the ISU Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. Skaters/couples from eight ISU members stood on the podium. The most successful nations were Japan and the USA with six medals each. Japan got two gold, one silver in juniors and two silver, one bronze in seniors) while the USA had two gold and one silver in seniors, three bronze in juniors. China won five medals (one gold, one silver, one bronze in juniors, one gold and one silver in seniors). Russia claimed one gold and two silvers in the Junior Final. The following members took one medal at the senior level each: Canada (one silver), France (one bronze), Germany (one bronze) and Korea (one gold).

For full results, please refer to www.isu.org.

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Keywords · ISU · ISU Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final

Name: Devra Pitt-getaz
Organization: ISU
Email:
Phone: +41 21 612 66 66
URL: http://www.isu.org/

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