Ladies

Men

Pairs

Dance

(10 November 2012) Moscow, Russia

Ladies Free Skate

Kiira Korpi moved up from second in the Short Program to take the gold medal and qualify for the Grand Prix Final.  Performing to “Once Upon a Time in America”, Korpi landed four clean triple jumps, including a triple toe loop - triple toe loop combination, but laso had an edge call on triple flip and fell on an under-rotated triple loop.  A second potential triple loop in combination was also doubled.  Her leveled elements were all called level 4 except for a layback spin at level 3.  Her point total of 115.64 was her season best, and her component scores averaged 7.5.  Her victory here is her second career win at a Grand Prix event.

“I am really happy about my skating today. I made some mistakes on my easiest jump, the loop,” Korpi said. “These were a hard two weeks, first in China and now here and in practice I felt tired. The six minutes warm up were not so great, but I had Sochi [Grand Prix Final] on my mind and I decided that I want to go there,” she continued.

Though she "only" has 26 in the Grand Prix standings, there is no combination of future results that can put six competitors ahead of her in the final standings, and so Korpi is guaranteed to make the final.

Skating to “Life Is Beautiful,” Gracie Gold dropped to second in the Free Skate after winning the Short Program.  She ended up second overall to earn 13 points towards qualifying for the Grand Prix Final.  Gold landed four triple jumps and two double Axels, including a well executed triple Lutz - triple toe loop jump combination, but her two triple flips had edge calls.  All three spins were called level 4 and her step sequence level 3.  In addition to giving up a few poitns in the lements, Gold averaged near 7.25 in  components, allowing Korpi to slip ahead of her in the final results.  Nevertheless, her 112.87 points in the Free Skate were a season best for her.

“I was okay with my performance today. There were a lot of flaws and there is room to improve. So I'm looking forward to skating the program even better. Getting a medal [here] is such a confidence boost,” she said.

Agnes Zawadzki, skating to "Rhapsody in Blue," had only two clean triple jump, her opening triple Lutz and the first triple toe loop in a triple toe loop - triple toe loop jump combination.  The second triple toe loop was under rotated as was a subsequent  triple Salchow.   A second planned triple Lutz was double in combination.  Like Gold, Zawadzki also completed two double Axles and three level 4 spins, plus a level 3 step sequence.  Her components averaged 6.9.  Her 106.43 points put her in fourth place for the Free Skate, but she had enough of a pad in the Short Program to hold onto third place overall.

“There were a couple of flaws, but overall I think it was a pretty good first performance in my first Grand Prix. I've got a history of not doing great longs so of the season and I think it's a step in the right direction. I think it's a good step for Japan [NHK Trophy] that I have in a couple of weeks,” Zawadzki remarked.  With 11 points in this event, she retains an outside chance to make the final, but will probably have to place first or second at NHK to achieve that.

Kanako Murakami earned 109.56 points in the Free Skating for a third place result in that segment, but placed fourth overall after starting out in sixth place in the Short Program.  In an inexplicable brain seizure, Murakami did not attempt an Axel type jump resulting in her seventh jump element, a triple toe loop, to be discarded.  Trailing Zawadzki overall by 0.27 points, this error cost her the bronze medal.  Two of Murakami's spins were called leevl 4 and the other level 3 as was her step sequence.  Her components averaged just over 7 points.

Alena Leonova who seemed to be getting back on track this season in the Short Program fell apart in the Free Skate to finish eight in the long and sixth overall.

The second American here, Caroline Zhang, had a mediocre skate, landing four triple jumps, though some of these with minor errors.  She also landed two double Axels, and popped a triple Lutz to a single.  Her components averaged 5.44.  She scored nearly five points lower here than at Skate Canada.

Men's Free Skate

Patrick Chan was chantastic in the Free Skate to sweep the Men's event and qualify for the Grand Prix Final.  He opened his “La Boheme” routine with a quad toe loop - triple toe loop combination followed by a quad toe loop and then a triple Lutz. He went on to land two more triples.  Two of his spins were called level 4 as was the leveled step sequence, while his change camel spin was called level 3.  The only "errors" in the program were the doubling a loop jump and the Axel.  There were no negative GoEs among his 13 elements.  His score of 176.91 points was his season's best for the Free Skate

 “After Skate Canada, I really wanted to go back home and work on the quad. That was my priority. I am very happy with the program today. I was very happy with the quad-triple, it felt really smooth. The second quad wasn't perfect, but I used a little more strength to do it,” Chan said.  Chan's program component scores averaged 9.27 with two judges giving 10s for Skating Skills.

Takahiko Kozuka placed third in the Free Skate as he did in the Short Program, but it was solid enough to move up to second overall, thanks to second place being split among two other skaters who could not put two good programs together back to back in this event.

Kozuka struggled with the elements, and his total GoE score was slightly negative meaning his TES was slightly lower than the total base value of his elements.  He under-rotated his opening quad toe loop and then fell on the subsequent attempt.  His triple Axel combination was also scored slightly negative as was his triple Lutz - triple toe loop jump combination, with an under-rotation on the toe loop.  In all he attempted nine triple and quads with varying degrees of success.  He achieved two level 4 spins and one level 3 with a level 3 on his step sequence as well.  His components averaged a very respectable 7.99, lower than the 8.43 at Skate America which was a much more cleanly executed program.

Remarking on his program to “Capriccio et Rondo Capricioso,” Kozuka said,  “I had a lower score than at Skate America, because I under-rotated the two quads and I fell. I want to fix these things for the Grand Prix Final.”

Michal Brezina benefited from the same second place split as Kozuka, moving up to third overall with a sixth place finish in the Short Program and a fourth place finish in the Free Skate.  Brezina fell on his opening quadruple Salchow, which he had doubled in the Short Program, but then went on to skate a clean program, with only one negative GoE mark among the reaming elements.  On features he came up a little short compared to the other men, achieving level 4 on one spin but levels 3 and 2 and the others.  His step sequence was also called level 3.  His components averaged 7.49

 “The long program was a little disappointing in the beginning but then it was better than I expected.  I am pretty happy with the result, because it wasn't my best skate, and I'm still ended up on the podium,” he said.

Konstantin Menshov dropped from second in the Short Program to fifth in the Free Skate to finish fourth overall, despite landing a clean quad toe loop and two clean triple Axels.  Errors on two triples and doubling a toe loop, as well as only achieving level 2 on his flying change foot combination spin cost him the 6.27 points he trailed the silver medalist. 

After a disastrous skate in the Short Program, Nobunari Oda had a strong free skate with only a fall on a solo quad toe loop and under-rotating a triple Salchow.  In addition to those jumps he landed seven other triples including two strong triple Axels.  His step sequence was called level 3 as were two spins, but his closing combination spin was only level 1.  His components averaged 7.4, but with all of that he was still over 20 points behind Chan in the Free Skate alone.

Richard Dornbush had an inconsistent Free Skate but still moved up one place in the Free Skate and finished sixth overall.  He fell on his opening quad toe loop.  Following a clean triple Lutz he popped an Axel to a single.  Later in the program he had an edge call on triple flip and a poor landing on triple Salchow.  On the plus side, he cleanly landed four other triples including a triple Axel in combination.  Two spins were called level 4 and one level 3 along with the step sequence.  His components averaged 7.06.

Citing a hip injury, Johnny Weir withdrew before the Free Skate.  [Afterwards other reports note a knee injury.]

Pairs Free Skate

Despite three significant errors, Tatiana Volosozhar & Maxim Trankov increased their point total over their Skate America performance, and surpassed the score of Aliona Savchecnko & Robin Szolowy at Skate Canada.   In winning the Gold medal here they made it clear they have winning the world championships within sight, and the Germans have their work cut out for them to retain their title.

Their opening triple twist was superb with 7 judges going to +3 and two at +2.  Following the twist they singled the toe loop in their side-by-side jump combination.  At the start of the second half there was a fall on throw triple loop followed by a fall on side-by-side toe loops.  Beyond that their elements were well executed, with six of the eight elements eligible for the second half time bonus palced in the second half.  This is the same strategy being used by the Germans in their choreography.  Except for a level 3 twist lift, their leveled elements were otherwise all level 4.

 Skating to “Violin Muse” their program components averaged 9.0, an improvement over their last outing.  Describing their performance Trankov said, “Maybe we were too well prepared. We did not expect the fall on the throw, but overall it felt good to skate. Now we'll get ready for the Final. There we can't win so easily.”

With 30 points from their two first place results the Russian team has qualified for the final, as have the Chinese team Pang & Tong who qualified at Cup of China last week.

Performing to “Spartacus”, Vera Bazarova & Yuri Larionov held their position from the Short Program to finish second overal.  Of the seven teams, the first five all held the same placements in the short and the long.  This is the first of the two Grand Prix assignments for the Russian couple.

The team had a number of small errors which resulted in a few negative GoEs throughout the program, and lower GoEs, in general.  Their more significant problems came on a double Axel - double Axel sequence and their group three lift, which also only achieved level 2.  The program components for the European silver medalists averaged 8.0.

“We made some mistakes, not just on the jumps, but more unexpectedly on a lift. But we fulfilled our goal to show our new program and to show more emotions. At the next competition we'll have to focus more on the elements,” Bazarova said.

Although they scored a few points higher than at Skate America, Caydee Denney & John Coughlin where unable to make up any ground on Bazarova & Larinov.

They opened with a nice triple twist at level 2.  Except for an under-rotation call on the first double Axel in their double -double Axel sequence, the program was cleanly skated.  After the level 2 twist, their leveled elements were all called level 3 except for a level 3 on their death spiral.  This too was an improvement over their Skate America performance.  Their program components averaged 7.36.

 “We were excited with our free skate. We made some improvements, both technically and in our components. We achieved some levels that we knew we were capable of and it felt like we had good energy throughout the performance,” Coughlin described.

With 22 points in the series, the team retains a small chance of making the final, b they will have to twist in the wind until it is over to see how the standings play out.

Paige Lawrence & Rudi Swiegers remained in fourth place and have earned 18 points in the series.  Baring accident or injury this will not be enough to make the final.

The second American team here, Tiffany Vise & Donnie Baldwin moved up one place in the Free Skate and finished sixth overall.  The team was scored negative on four elements and had a fall on throw triple loop.  Their components averaged 6.0.

Dance Free Dance

Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir put on the ice a performance so nearly identical to their performance to be uncany.  Were it not for an extended lift deduction here, their point totals at the two competitions would differ by only 0.02 points.  Their levels were identical, and their GoE and component scores tracked to within fractions of a point.

“It was a very strong skate for us. We are happy with how we have started the season so far. At the first two competitions, we learned a lot and we're looking forward to improve on that moving forward to the Grand Prix Final,” Moir said.

The Canadian champions have won both their Grand Prix assignments, and with 30 points have qualified for the final, where the are likely to meet their arch rivals, Meryl Davis & Charlie White, for the first time this season.

Elena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov held second in the Free Dance to finish second overall.  The couple achieved moslylevel 3 and 4 elements, with only a curved lift called at level 2.  The team had one deduction when Ilinykh fell early in the program in a connecting movement. Their component scores averaged a string 8.22

“We were a little nervous today, more to than yesterday,” admitted Katsalapov.  “In spite of the fall, it felt comfortable to skate today. Our elements were decent, but we still have to work. Now we have one week to fix some things before [the Grand Prix in] Japan”, he added.  The couple goes up against Davis & White and NHK, but even with a second place finish there they have an excellent likelihood of making the final.

Victoria Sinitsina & Ruslan Zhiganshin skated a solid Tango routine and achieved level 4 for five out of eight elements.  The 2012 World Junior Champions earned their season's best for the Free Skate with 84.23 points.  There performance was clean up until their closing choreographic lift which was mosly scored with GoEs of -1 and -2.  Their components averaged a repectable 7.36.

“We skated at home and the support helped us a lot. China was our first Grand Prix and we were a little tense, but now we had nothing to lose and just enjoyed skating”, Sinitsina shared.

The only U.S. team heres, Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani, dropped one place in the Free Dance, but held fourth place overall.  Their performance was clean with no negative GoEs, but at one point they had to stop their performance when Alex had what is described as a spasm in his leg.  Their program components averaged 7.48 making their PCS third best, as was the case in the Short Dance.  The couple competes again at NHK, but their placement here leaves them little chance of making the final.

Nelli Zhiganshina & Alexander Gazsi moved up to third in the Free Dance with their quirky happy zombies routine.  Having scored poorly in the Short Dance with a sixth place result, their effort in the Free Dance only brought them up one place to fifth overall.