CHAN TAKES SIGNIFICANT LEAD DESPITE SPRAWLING ON CONTROVERSIAL “NEAR” FALL

Rules call for the top twelve ranking skaters, as decreed by ISU competition over the last two years, to draw for places for the last two warm-up groups. But the lack of top level depth in the mens event meant a ridiculous situation arose. Top draw, Patrick Chan, the current world champion, ended up skating relatively early, 20^th in the field of 28 competitors from 13 countries, in the penultimate warm-up group while unknown Abzal Rakimgaliev skated last, leaving the ice to luke-warm applause.

Abzal who? The 19-year-old from Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan, has been three times 13^th and once 14^th in this event. Now trained by the famous Nikolai Morozov, Abzal portrayed the ultimate in British “he” men, Tarzan. It is a program with great potential, but his feet completely missed the ice on his quad and he fell again on his triple flip. He lies 17^th.

Chan’s performance was NOT up there with his best! But he is in the lead by a comfortable 4.51 ahead of a trio of Japanese men, who are not in the order predicted by their home country rankings. Ross Minor has the top US placing, fifth, while Adam Rippon was a shaky sixth and Richard Dornbush 13^th. 

1.SP 87.95 (45.73+42.22) Patrick Chan was a little puzzled at his less than perfect showing. “I train in this facility and a couple of days a week I’m on this ice, so I should have been right at home here. This is my training base! I’m used to the ice. I’m used to the size (Olympic – larger than hockey). That size encourages you to go really fast but you learn to control that. But my six minute warm-up was kind of shaky. I actually felt more foreign. I couldn’t find my feet on the ice and I was more nervous that I thought I would be.

“I’m happy that I was able to gather myself. All things considered it was a real test.” His routine, to Take Five by Paul Desmond should surely have been polished by its many outings. But when he went up into his quad he came down with one toe and two hands. He then turned over and both feet were on the ice but NOT supporting him. Somehow, very controversially, the Technical Panel did not deem this as a fall so there was no point deduction. All nine judges punched in their maximum low mark of minus 3 GoEs but he still ended up banking 7.30 points. “It was a rough landing but I was able to regain my focus. Everything else was fine.”  

Chan’s following triple Axel earned a significant 1.43 over its base value. His change foot combination spin was a slight disappointment since he received only Level 3 but it got an extra +0.93. He attached the missing triple toe loop, which should have been executed as a second jump on the quad, to the triple Lutz. That got +1.10 over its base value of 10.10. He performed all the requirements to get the maximum Level 4 for his two other spins and his straight line steps, and all received excellent GoEs including four of the maximum +3s for his steps.

He won this title in 2009, and with a lead of 4.51, looks likely to earn another gold.

2.SP 83.44 (47.22+36.22) Takahiko Mura, who turns 21 on February 11, the day of his FS, has been fifth in the past two Japanese championships, lies a surprise second. Skating in black to music from the movie Red Violin played by Ikuko Kawai, he soared through his opening move, a quad toe to triple toe which earned 15.97 points. He also completed an excellent triple Axel and triple Lutz. Only two of his spins were Level 4. The other was Level 3 and his steps only Level 2. He lies only 0.85 ahead of his far more experienced team mate, Daisuke Takahashi.

Mura explained, “This season I haven't done a very good short program until today. I am so happy to achieve this great skating in this big competition. I was so sad because I couldn't get into the Grand Prix series. This sadness gave me extra motivation. I understood that if I skate clean like I did today I can get a good score. So this is a very good learning experience for me.

“First of all I must say that I’m very surprised that I’m placed above Daisuke. But as far as the content of the program, I thought it was the best of the season and I hope to place well tomorrow. I do feel sorry that I won’t be able to go to the Worlds this year but hopefully I can do better next year and I have this mindset coming into the competition that I can do better.

Mura has been to Worlds once before. He finished 15^th in 2009. Both his parents were figure skaters with his father winning silver in the 1976 World Junior Championships.  

3.SP 82.59 (41.64+41.95 -1) Daisuke Takahashi, 25, is the defending champion who also won this event in 2008. He was the first Japanese man to win the world title, which he did immediately after taken the Olympic bronze medal in 2010. He is the current and 2010 Japanese champion. Performing to In the Garden of Souls by Vas, he fell on his quad toe, which received an arrow for slight under-rotation, and had got to Plan B and attach his triple toe loop to the triple Lutz. His change foot camel was only Level 2.  

Takahashi said, “I was worried about the altitude (6,035 feet). It is my first time to skate so high. But I didn’t lose the stamina so much on this short program, so I was relieved about that. I was feeling good about the quad toe since I came in and I have been planning to include that, so I went for it today. I was a little bit shaky today, but I feel not too bad about today’s performance. I missed a quad, but I’m still here so I’m happy. Actually I wasn’t watching Patrick, so I didn’t know he missed the quad. It is important to perform the quad at Worlds, so it was not because of what Patrick did. I had already decided to perform the quad here.

4.SP 82.37 (43.88+38.40) Tatsuki Machida, 21, who was the silver medalist in this event in 2010 behind Rippon, gave an excellent showing, skating to Dark Eyes in a red and black outfit with a floral pattern on his left should and upper right trouser. He was the fourth in the last Japanese championship. Although he did not try a quad, his triple Axel got a +3 as did his triple Lutz.                    

5.77.73 (43.44+35.29 -1) Denis Ten, 18, has been trained by Frank Carroll since 2010.Since Carroll now coaches in Cathedral City, near Palm Springs, Ten spends his time between this rink and Lake Arrowhead where he is taught by Rafael Arutunian. Representing Kazakhstan, he performed to Elegie Opus 3 by Rachmaninov. Although the descendent of a famous Korean, General  Min Keung Ho fell on his quad toe attempt, the rest of the program was superior with all his Level moves getting the maximum 4. He was 14^th in the last world championships.

Denis said, “The lack of experience showed. I was doing the quad out of steps for the first time and fell. I had tried the quad without the steps in my previous internationals in Zagreb and Turkey. I still have a lot of work to do. But I was pleased with having all Level 4s.    

6.SP 76.89 (41.68+35.21) Ross Miner, 21, from Boston, who is competing in his first Four Continents event, has won bronze in the last two US championships. He performed in black and silver to Para Ti by Jorge Gomez earning positive GoEs for all seven elements, including a +1.29 triple Axel, +0.70 triple Lutz to triple toe and +1.0 triple flip. His spins were all Level 4 and the steps Level 3.

He said, “I’m really happy with it (my performance). It’s my new season’s best and I’m excited for tomorrow. It is obviously a challenge to do two competitions almost back to back, but I hadn’t really stopped training. It’s when you stop and then get going again that it’s a little harder. I’m excited that we got a good short out there. Now it’s time to look forward to tomorrow. ”

7.SP 74.92 (39.79+ 36.13 -1) Adam Rippon, 22, who won this event in 2010, is currently the second ranked American. Performing to Korobushko by Bond, in a red, Soviet-type military-looking blouse, he appeared a little nervous, landing jumps more on the toe than the blade. His triple flip to triple toe was worth an extra 0.70 but his triple Axel, with its obviously strained landing, received merely the base value. Then he fell on his triple Lutz. However, his Level moves were all the maximum 4.

Rippon is now training with Jason Dungjen and Yuka Sato at the Detroit FSC. He said he found it difficult coming here so soon after nationals. “Coming in here my goal was to maintain my focus on my training. I feel comfortable in all my elements and with what I did. The Lutz is such a silly mistake that I never make. I still think I showed strong skating. I’d rather make the mistake here than at the World Championships. I really wanted to prove that my skating is strong to the rest of the world. I know that this is just a good practice for Worlds and I’m going to take each element at a time and I’m excited to show my best at the World Championships.”

8.SP 69.34 (38.23+32.11 -1) Nan Song, 21, from China was 6^th in the 2010 Four Continents’ Championship, and 9^th last year. He skated to Requiem for a Dream falling on his opening move, the quad toe.

9.SP 68.22 (34.36+34.86 -1) Kevin Reynolds, 21, won bronze in this event in 2010. He is the second ranked Canadian, recognized as the first person to land two different quads in an international competition, a toe loop and a Salchow, which he did in the 2010 Skate Canada International.  Skating to Parov Stelar’s Chambermaid Swing, he began with a quad Salchow to triple toe but received an arrow for the first jump, and also for the following triple Salchow. His spins were all Level 4 and the steps Level 3.   

“It wasn’t my best,” Reynolds admitted. “It was a very shaky warm-up. I had a right ankle injury this week in practice so my jumps weren’t as good as they were at Canadians. It hurts to land them. The Axel was very disappointing.

13.SP 61.34 (29.60+32.74 -1) This was Richard Dornbush’s debut in this event, but it was not a start to remember. The 20-year-old from Corona, Calif., was second in the US last season and finished a promising 9^th in the World Championships in Moscow. But this year in nationals he finished way down in 13^th place, after being 17^th in the Short Program.

Nevertheless, he was named as the replacement for the 2009, 2010 & 2012 US champion Jeremy Abbott for this event. His showing on Thursday night was not as bad as at nationals, but he had errors on all three jumping passes. His planned start, a triple Lutz to triple toe, became a triple to a measly double. He had a nasty fall on the triple Axel, and he doubled his intended triple flip.

Dornbush seemed at a loss to explain what happened. “It didn’t go like I wanted it to but I only had a week (to get over nationals). I got the call to come here on Friday. I wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t have a lot of nerves. But ten points (improvement over his national SP score) isn’t bad. It was pretty tough. I felt a little tired going into the flip but, at the end of the program, I felt a little better.” 

He did keep his concentration  and all three spins and the footwork were the maximum Level 4. “I know you have to stay with the program. I tried not to let my mind slip. I stayed in the game.” Dornbush  performed to The Fifth by David Garrett.