Dance

Final Results

Compulsory Dance

The Ice Dance competition opened with the Rhumba for the Compulsory Dance.  World Champions Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat (FRA), who had drawn first to skate, delivered a good Rhumba and took the lead.  "Actually I liked to skate first", said Anissina.  "We have never skated first before in competition, so it was a bit unusual.  But you're done quickly, and I liked it for the Compulsory Dance."  World bronze medalists Margarita Drobiazko & Povilas Vanagas of Lithuania finished second. They looked confident and had good flow in their Rhumba.   "We skated well, but we could have done better", commented Drobiazko.   "The ice for the second group was really difficult.  There were a lot of traces, and we had to be very careful. The Rhumba has some tricky parts anyway, so it wasn't easy.  The ice conditions for the first and for the last couple were unequal."  The Lithuanians were the seventh couple to skate.  Kati Winkler & Rene Lohse of Germany, who placed third,  agreed with Drobiazko.  "We were lucky to skate in the first group, but it was very difficult for the second group," said Winkler. "It was a good routine, as we did it in practice."

Original Dance

The top three contenders skated in reverse order from the Compulsory Dance results.   Kati Winkler & Rene Lohse put in another convincing performance to music from "Cabaret".  Their Charleston and Quickstep were both very entertaining and contained good footwork.  "I felt so tired", said Winkler.  "The jet lag hit me today!  It wasn't great today, but we went through the program quite well."

Next in the start order were Margarita Drobiazko & Povilas Vanagas.  The World Bronze Medalists skated a funny and fast Charleston and Quickstep that featured good footwork at high speed and a nice lift.  Their marks ranged from 5.3 to 5.7 for composition and from 5.3 to 5.8 for presentation.  "It was a good performance. It was easy to skate today, because it is quite cold in the rink", Vanagas explained.   "You always can improve on something, and we'll fine-tune the program now that we have time after the Grand Prix series."

Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat from France skated last in the OD.  The World Champions started well with an elegant and smooth slow Foxtrot to "More" by Nat King Cole.  However, their straight line footwork in the Quickstep "Dancing Fool" was out of sync at the beginning.  "We still have a lot of work to do", commented Anissina.  "The performance today wasn't perfect, but it was better than at the previous two competitions.  It is physically difficult to do the footwork towards the end, but we'll stick to it."  Anissina & Peizerat received marks up to 5.8 for both composition and presentation.  All nine judges placed them first, but were divided for the other couples.  Drobiazko & Vanagas finished ahead of Winkler & Lohse, although the German couple took three second-place ordinals.

Tatiana Navka & Roman Kostomarov (RUS) pulled up one spot to sixth.  They overtook Sylwia Novak & Sebastian Kolasinski of Poland who had fallen during their program.

Free Dance

World Champions Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat (FRA) won their third Grand Prix event this season with a convincing performance.  Their dynamic program,   "Beethoven's Last Night", contained good footwork at high speed and innovative lifts. The French showed interesting moves, for example Peizerat lifting himself up on his partner's knees.  However, some of the twizzles seemed a bit out of sync.  The couple scored marks ranging from 5.6 to 5.8 for technical merit and from 5.8 to 5.9 for presentation.  That meant straight first place ordinals from all nine judges.  "We are very glad to have won the NHK Trophy for the fourth time", commented Peizerat.  "We improved since the first competition this season, and this is the best we've skated so far this season."

Margarita Drobiazko & Povilas Vanagas of Lithuania took the silver medal - as they did at their previous two Grand Prix events - and thus have qualified for the Grand Prix Final.  The World bronze medalists skated an emotional, fast paced Tango that featured spectacular lifts and intricate footwork.  The husband-and wife team expressed the character of the music perfectly.  The judges awarded them marks from 5.5 to 5.7 for technique and from 5.6 to 5.9 for presentation.  "We are happy to have qualified for the Final once again", said Vanagas.  "It was our third competition and the best we've performed this program.  We have a lot of technical content and difficulty in this program and we were afraid that we could not do it. This competition proved that we can."

The bronze went to Kati Winkler & Rene Lohse (GER). It was their second bronze medal in this season' s Grand Prix series, and the German couple have qualified for the Final for the first time in their career.  The team from Oberstdorf put in a strong performance to Gospel songs.  They produced good steps, and interesting lifts.   "Our goal was to make the Final", said a delighted Rene Lohse.   "Now we'll improve our endurance, we want to add some elements and to make the program more
difficult."

The Ukrainian husband-and-wife team Elena Grushina & Ruslan Goncherov remained in fourth with a dramatic and powerful routine set to music from the "Gladiator" soundtrack.  The reigning World Junior Champions Natalia Romaniuta & Daniil Barantsev (RUS) fell twice and dropped two spots to ninth. Barantsev had been sick with flu all week and said he felt very weak.

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