1999 Four Continents Championships

Senior Dance

Final Standings

        J1:  Mrs. Elizabeth Clark,  CAN
        J2:  Mr.  Akos Pethes,  HUN
        J3:  Mrs.  Halina Gordon Polorak,   POL
        J4:  Mr. Robert Horen,  USA
        J5:  Mrs.  Mieko Fujimori,  JPN
        J6:  Mrs. Evgenia Karnolska,  BUL
        J7:  Mrs.  Jramila Protova,  CZE

Notes after the free dance.

In what may be a recent ISU record, only two of the thirteen couples in this event received the same placement in all three dances.  One of those two couples was the clear winner, Shae-Lynn Bourne & Victor Kraatz.  Their "Heart Attack" number was skated in new costumes and has been refined over the season so it is less confusing, though why it is called "Heart Attack" still is not clear from watching the dance alone other than the fact that by the end of the routine Victor looks like he is going to have one.  It it an extremely strenuous dance of whirling motions that puts a great deal of stress on Bourne's knee.  Said Shae-Lynn after their performance, "(This program) is very taxing on the knee.  There were a few moves we had to leave out in training and I did for the first time today.  It was a little more painful but I'm glad we went through it all.  We will probably take a little rest, maybe a couple of days and try to get the knee a little better, and then train as hard as we can for the Worlds because that's our main goal."  Afterwards they indicated a final decision about competing next week at the Grand Prix Final will not be made until Monday, but with Stojko not going it is speculated that Bourne & Kraatz will be staying home also to prepare for Worlds and that there will be no Canadians skating in the Final.

Lefebvre & Brunet who moved into second place in the original dance held second place in the free dance in a close decision four-to-three decision.  After the event Brunet said, "We were not surprised with our result, we did skate well.   Sometimes you feel that things were bad on the ice, but then you skate to the boards and people tell you it was great.  We've got to credit to our coaches, Eric (Loucks) and Marina (Zoueva).  It's because of them that our skating is so much better... choosing the tango was the right thing and we have to thank them from the bottom of our hearts."  Their tango routine was developed with the help of ballroom dancers who assisted in capturing the emotions of the tango.

Lang & Tchernyshev placed a close third.  It was the best they have skated their free dance this year, and their last chance to bee seen by the international judges before Worlds next month.  "It was really good for us, to get that under our belts for Worlds," said Lang.  "I think we had our feet more underneath us today which was really good because yesterday it was a little shaky, so we decided to come out tonight and really give it everything we had, she explained."  "I would say that of all the competitions this was the best free dance we skate," added Tchernyshev.  "It was very good for us."

Notes after the original dance.

Bourne & Kraatz's very untraditional Irish waltz was without question the best of the group.  "Original Dance felt great today," said Shae-Lynn. "In general this week has been wonderful.   This is probably the best, to this point, that we have done the Original Dance.   It had flow, it had edges, and it felt like we had the package today.  Now we're just looking forward to showing it again at the next event and taking it to its highest level."  The couple's performances this week have given no indication that Bourne is recovering from a recent knee injury that has been kept hushed-up until now.  As Bourne describes it, "We have been keeping my knee injury quiet up until this point and just trying to deal with it.  It's a meniscus tear.  I did it about two to three weeks before (Canadian) Nationals so it was kind of a set back for that event because it was hard to train.  When I go low, that's when it really hurts.  I injured it by overextending it when I fell because my knee was not aligned, and all my body weight went on my knee.  I've been having lots of physiotherapy, and eventually it will probably have to be scoped, but I need time for that.  I don't want to decide about St. Petersburg until after I've skated.  Right now I can't make that decision.  I want to be one hundred percent for Worlds."

Lefebvre & Brunet moved up to second place with their program to "It's a Most Unusual Day".  Their dance was a whirling blur of speed.  "We have really improved our speed in the waltz since Skate America and we added more foot work and expression to make it more interesting," said Chantal.  Of the three Canadian couples, theirs was the most traditional waltz style.  The third Canadian couple, Wing & Lowe, continued to move up in the standings with their novel "Coppelia" routine.

Lang & Tchernyshev dropped one spot to third place in a performance that had better timing than at U.S. Nationals but was sloppy and awkward in places.  Unlike Lefebvre & Brunet who had great expression and sold their dance as a team, Lang & Tchernyshev gave the impression of merely trying to hold on for the two minutes the music was playing.  The second U.S. team, Koegel & Fediukov, also dropped in the OD with Fediukov making a significant error, and nearly falling, in one of the required elements of the dance.  He became separated him from his partner and required several seconds to catch up.  The error took place about 2/3 through the program, right in front of the judges.

Compulosry Dance 1 (Tango Romantica)

Compulsory Dance 2 (Blues)

Original Dance

Free Dance

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