|
(11 October 2012) Chemnitz, Germany The
seventh and last Junior Grand Prix of this season takes place in
Chemnitz, Germany. The official name of this competition is “Pokal
der Blauen Schwerter” (Blue Swords Cup), named after the logo of a
famous porcelain company in the nearby town of Meissen for hundreds
of years. This competition in the former East Germany has a tradition of
more than 50 years. Among others, Tara Lipinski, Matthew Savoie,
Daniele and Steve Hartsell as well as Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto
have
won this competition in the 90's.
The two rinks are known as the former training
headquarters of the four world
champions Katarina Witt, Anett Poetzsch, Jan Hoffmann, Sabine Baesz
&Tassilo
Thierbach and other East German stars. Nowadays it is the home rink
of reigning pair world champions Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy.
Originally this competition was planned
for Dresden, which is about 50
miles from Chemnitz. But the Dresden ice rink was closed last winter
after rain and snow water poured through the roof and the necessary renovation
was not ready in time.
Ladies Short Program
The competition started with the Ladies Short Program. The new rules give
them a bonus of ten percent for each jump in the second half of the
short program, like it has always been in the long program. But only
a few skaters performed one jump in the second half, while most of
them did the three jump elements in the first half, like always. One
reason is that the choreography of the new short programs was
already done when the new rule came out. Another reason is perhaps
that many skaters fear they do not to have enough power for a jump near the
end of the short program.
Maria Stavitskaia (right) and Anna Pogorilaya (left)
Maria Stavitskaia from St. Petersburg in Russia, pupil of Alexei Mishin’s
wife Tatiana Mishina, is in the lead with
57.07 points. Her first element was a very clean combination of
triple Lutz and triple toe loop. Eight judges gave her a +1 and one
+2. The required triple flip and the double axel also got many plus
points. The three spins had level 3, 4 and 4, the step sequence
level 3. The average of her components was around 5.6.
Leah Keiser of Alisa Viejo in Southern California is second with 55.14
points. Skating to the "Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso" by Camille
Saint-Saens, the 15-year old skater began with a combination of a
good triple Lutz and a triple toe loop which was a bit under-rotated.
Her triple flip got an edge call, but for the five remaining
elements she got many plus points. The three spins had the levels 4, 4 and 3 and the step
sequence level 3. The highlight at the end of her program was her layback spin which
got eight +2s, and even one +3 from the Swedish judge. Her
components were around 5.8
Leah Keiser with coach John Nicks
Keiser commented: “I am really happy with my short program today and I am
glad I did it. Now I can focus on the long program tomorrow and I am
excited for that.”
John Nicks who coaches her together with Christa Fassi, said: “She had a
bad warm up, therefore I am more than pleased with her performance
because it showed great courage. After winning her first Junior
Grand Prix in Istanbul and the second place today I hope she will
make it to the final in Sochi.”
Anna Pogorilaya from Russia is currently in third position, having earned
53.81points. She opened her short program with a combination of two
triple toe loops, followed by a triple flip, but took off from the
wrong edge. To middle-eastern music she continued with a good double
Axel, three level 4 spins with mainly +1 from the judges. The
components reached an average level of 5.4.
Both Keiser and Pogorilaya have a chance of
making the final, depending on their results here.
Gabrielle Daleman from Richmond Hill near Toronto in Canada, who was
sixth in her first Junior Grand Prix in Linz,Austria four weeks ago,
is fourth in Chemnitz in the short program with 52.00 points. She
skated to the soundtrack of "Avatar." The Canadian Junior Champion of
2012, and pupil of Amdrei Berezintsev, fell on solo triple flip after performing an almost clean
combination of two triple toe loops. Her flying camel spin was excellent and got even two +3s.
Miyabi Oba from Toyota City in Japan sits in fifth place with 51.49
points. In her combination the triple loop was good, but the triple
toe-loop under-rotated.
Lénaelle Gilleron-Gorry from Annecy in France is sixth with 44.63 points.
She recently won the Master’s senior national competition in France,
the
week before this competition, in excellent shape, besting all other French ladies.
In her short program here, she made a step
between her two triple toe loops (the second was under-rotated) and
her two other jumps were a bit shaky.
U.S. skater Samantha Cesario is in tenth position with 42.36 points. She
singled her loop to toeloop combination which was planned as a triple-triple,
and fell on the triple flip. Her double Axel and other elements were
clean, however, and her components reached 5.5.
She said: “I had a rough short program, because this morning in practice
I pulled a hamstring during a spin. During the loop, my leg
therefore felt really very weak. If my leg feels ok tomorrow in the
morning I will try a good free program.” Her coach Mary Lynn Gelderman added: “It happened at the end of practice this
morning and she did one spin. After the pain we went to the doctor
and he said, I cannot do therapy now because you skate in an hour.
So they taped it and we tried. She will do therapy after the short
program and we will see how her leg is tomorrow morning.”
Pairs Short Program
There are not many countries which have any pairs at all. Therefore there
is a pair skating competition only at four of the seven Junior Grand
Prix, among them in Chemnitz where two ice rinks are used.
Lina Federova & Maxim Miroshkin with coach Vladimir Zhirnovsky
The technical jury with the controller Rita Zonnekeyn, the technical
specialist Simon Briggs and the assistant technical specialist
Larisa Feoseeva was very strict about the death spirals. Nobody got
level 3 or 4, only the winners had level 2, six of the 16 pairs had
level 1, seven had the new basic level which has been introduced
into the rulebook only this summer and two pairs got no points and
level at all (the Australians fell).
The Russian pair Lina Fedorova & Maxim Miroshkin, second in their first
Junior Grand Prix in Linz,Austria, took the lead with 53.26 points.
Their fabulous required double twist came out of a hydroblade
position, their throw
triple Salchow was excellent as well. Miroshkin lifted his partner
with only one arm and they did a side-by-side spin with both skaters
in a clean Biellmann position, even after a change of foot. The rest
was good as well.
The German pair Annabelle Proelss & Ruben Blommaert, sixth in Lake Placid
some weeks ago, sits in second position after an nearly clean and
fresh program to Italian folk music including a famous tarantella.
Ruben skated for Belgium as a single skater until 2010 and both are
doing pair skating only for a year.
Blommaert later said: “We did what we wanted to do. We worked on the
levels and we got most levels. We did many run-throughs. And our
hard work paid off. We did not have easy last weeks because of the
illness of our coach. We are very happy because we have seven more
points than at our first Junior Grand Prix in Lake Placid and the
second place at the moment. Our main goal for this season? I hope we
can go to Junior Worlds and get a good result there.<
The Canadian pair Brittany Jones & Ian Beharry from Waterloo/Ontario,
winners in Austria four weeks ago, are third with 46.90 points.
Jones missed the double axel, but the rest of the program was good,
including the triple throw Salchow.
Maria Vigalova & Egor Zakroev from Russia earnt 45.77 points and are
fourth. They got a rare level 4 for their double twist, but Vigalova
landed her double axel a bit shaky. The other elements were at least
good.
The U.S. pair Britney Simpson & Matthew Blackmer of Colorado Springs
ended up fifth with 45.64 points. Skating to “Zorro”, they made no
serious mistakes and their triple throw Salchow was excellent.
Blackmer commented: “I thought we skated really really well. We did the
best that we could. We put out everything today and can be proud of
our programs. We obviously know what we can work on to do a little
bit better. We will go home and do that after the competition is
done. Overall it was good skating and good programs.
The Canadian pair Natasha Purich & Sebastien Arcieri of Montreal is in
sixth position. They skated to the music “They Can’t Take That Away
from me” by Percy Faith." Purich’s double axel was not clean,
but the throw triple Salchow, the double twist and the lift were at
least safe.
Jessica Pfund (14 years old) & AJ Reiss (20) who train at the East-West
palace in Artesia with Peter Oppegard, are seventh. They skated to a
Bolero played by Vanessa Mae (not the famous Bolero by Ravel) with
starting number one. Pfund missed the triple throw Salchow and
stepped out of the double axel. The other elements were ok, while
the double twist and the lift were very good.
AJ Reiss said: “We had some difficulties in the short. We had a problem
in the double axel and the throw, but overall it was a good
improvement from Lake Placid component-wise. And the skating was
much faster are more dramatic. So there was some improvement and
some not so much.”
Pfunda added: “We had some difficulties, but we can make it up in the
long, skate strongly and make a good comeback.”
Men's Short Program
17-year-old Maxim Kovtun from Russia’s capital of Moscow won the Men’s
Short Program at the seventh and last Junior Grand Prix of this
season in Chemnitz, Germany with 68.13 points. He had been first at
the Junior Grand Prix in Zagreb one week ago and came to Chemnitz
with famous coach and choreographer Tatiana Tarasova who had
competed there 49 years ago herself as a pair skater (she had been
second). Skating to the soundtrack of “Lawrence of Arabia”, Kovtun
began with a high combination of triple Lutz and triple toeloop.
Then he touched down his hand with the triple Axel and got an edge
call on the triple flip. His three spins and his very dynamic step
sequence were first class and his components reached an average of
6.3. Although his nose started bleeding during his last spin, he
competed safely to the end.
Shoma Uno from Nagoya, Japan placed second with 63.48 points. He looks
like a 10 year old boy, but he is 14 and has already achieved tenth
place at Junior Worlds in Minsk last season. He interpreted the
Tanguera music as well as a 18 or 20 year old skater and got
components around 6.0. Especially his step sequence was so good that
four judges gave him a +2 for it and U.S. judge Steve Winkler even a
+3. His combination of two triple toe loops was safe, his triple
flip as well, and his camel combination spin was excellent as was his
double Axel.
Jay Yostanto from Artesia, California, 18 years old, ended up third in
the short with 61.04 points. He was the only skater in the short
program to perform a clean triple Axel, even if three judges saw a
minor mistake and decided for a -1, but the six others gave him a 0.
After his triple Lutz in the combination he added only a double toe
loop. His triple flip was good, as well as the four other elements.
He skated to the music “Hollywood Nocturne” by Brian Setzer.
He commented: “I didn’t have one of my best warm-ups in the short
program. I really took my time between getting off from warm-up and
before I actually competed my short program. I put aside all the
negatives that happened and trusted myself. And then I really
performed what I want to. So I am very happy with how I skated. It
is very exciting to me that I could do a clean triple axel because I
do it so many times in practice. My body knows what to do and I just
did what I was supposed to do.”
Alexander Samarin from Russia sits on fourth place with 59.09 points. He
began his short program with a good combination of triple Lutz and
triple toe loop, followed by a triple flip. After a level 4 flying
camel spin he singled the Axel which was planned to be a triple, and
which cost him around 7 or 8 points. Spins and steps were good or
very good. His components reached 5.6 on the average.
U.S. skater Shotaro Omori (16 years old) of Riverside, California placed
fifth, earning 58.70 points. At the beginning of his tango program,
the pupil of Tammy Gambill fell on a downgraded double Axel which
was planned to be a triple. This cost him around eight or nine
points. His combination of triple Lutz and triple toe loop looked
clean, but he got an edge call. The triple flip was good, the three
spins with the levels 4, 3 and 4 as well and his components were
around 5.8.
He said: “I am a bit disappointed with my fall which I had on my first
jump, but I am happy that I was able to pull it together and come
back with a personal best of this season.”
Victor Bustamante from Spain is in sixth position with 54.22 points.
Skating to the “Danse Macabre” by Camille Saint-Saens, he performed
a clean program with a combination of triple loop and double toe
loop, a triple flip, a double Axel and three level 3 spins. His
components reached an average of 5.3, but he got a deduction of one
point because his program was a bit longer than 2:50 minutes which
is the maximum allowed.
|
