2005

Skate Canada

Ladies Event

By Alexandra Stevenson

All photos copyright 2005 by George S. Rossano

There were smiles all round as Alissa Czisny left the ice having given the most enjoyable short of the event, full of flexibility and finesse, of change edge spins and exuberant step work along with that jumps that worked, although she did get a minus 0.70 for her double Axel which had a strained landing. Czigny, who wore a mauve and pink sleeveless outfit, was certainly happy with her performance which very nearly didn’t happen because of a travel odyssey. It took several days to travel from her home town to St. John’s, which has never previously hosted an international figure skating event.

The 18 year old Czisny explained, "From Skate America, I went home and was supposed to take a flight on Tuesday. But the flight was cancelled. We thought we’d take it the same flight the next day, and I went to Detroit to practice, but the airline had put us on an earlier flight and we nearly missed it. That flight was then delayed and we missed the connection in Newark so we stayed overnight there. I got in some practice in Woodridge, New Jersey."

She eventually arrived in this, Canada’s most eastern city, which is one and a half hour’s time change from Eastern time. Her flight got in near to midnight on Thursday and she had to be up at 5:30 am to practice. The event started later that same day at 5pm. "I was able to take a nap, a long nap, about three hours after practice, but I’m used to doing things at the last minute. (She has been a last minute substitute in several events.) I was tired but I skated better than in Atlantic City. The triple flip was better here and I got a much higher personal best."

One of her coaches, Julianne Berlin, added, "The triple Lutz to double toe was better, too. In Atlantic City she had a little lean forward on the landing of the Lutz." She received a Level 4 for her spiral sequence. Her other levels were all 3 except for a 2 on the change foot combination spin.

Lying second is former twice world bronze medal winner, Fumie Suguri, who trained in Chicago last season and prior to that in Canada, is now back in her home country, Japan, being coached by Nobuo Sato. In a red Spanish dress with black top, Suguri gave a mature presentation, emoting the sadness of her Spanish guitar music, Cancion Triste and Tosca Orilla by J. Cook.

Suguri received a -1.0 GOE for two footing her triple Lutz in the combination with the double toe and a -2.0 for doing so even more obviously in the triple flip. Although her element score was only fifth best, 6.10 points behind Czisny, her component score was a mere 0.32 behind the American. All her Levels were 3.

19 year old Canadian champion, Joannie Rochette, was one of only three competitors to receive a Level 4 which she was given for her spiral sequence. (The other skaters were Czisny and Rochette’s teammate, Mira Leung, who all rewarded with this accolade for their superior spiral sequences. To get this, the top Level, along with other requirements, skaters must hold each spiral for a full three seconds.) It was a terrific performance despite the flaw on her triple flip. That jump was under-rotated and two footed, and was downgraded to a double. She lies third.

Attired in sleeveless virginal white, she performed to a non-vocal arrangement of Like A Prayer by Madonna and P. Leonard which started with her hands in a prayer position. The standing ovation included teammate, Jeff Buttle.

In fourth place is Yukari Nakano, of Japan, who was credited with doing a triple Axel several seasons ago. She wore a sexy multi colored sequined black pant suit with cut outs of black fishnet down the outside of her left leg, her back, her right arm and the bottom half of the left arm. She was given -1.40 GOE for her triple Lutz to double toe and -1.20 for the triple flip, but her other six elements received at least the base value.

Carolina Kostner, the bronze medal winner in the last world championship, drew to skate last. She stepped out of the first jump in her combination meant to be two triple toe loops, and although they rest of the routine was up to par, she left the ice with disappointment written all over her face, which wasn’t eased by her coach, Michael Huth’s hug. She is fifth.

The 18 year old from Ortisei, a small community in the very north of Italy, is experiencing much pressure from her association who expect her to medal in the Olympic Games in February which are not far from her home. Although her cousin and godmother, Isolde Kostner, is a famous Italian skier and has given her advice on how to keep the pressure down, Kostner’s lack of experience is telling.

Lying sixth is Sarah Meier from Switzerland who fell on her triple flip incurring not only -3 GOE’s but also a deduction of 1.0. She had approached the jump looking a bit uncomfortable and put in some extra steps to give her more time. But the delaying tactic didn’t work. She shook her head as her marks came up. Dressed in a yellow sleeveless outfit with white and silver straps, she performed to the soundtrack from Finding Neverland.

Yan Liu from China, who drew to skate first, lies seventh. Dressed in a yellow, red and black sleeveless outfit, she performed creditably to music from the movie, Red River Valley. Although her spiral sequence was a Level 3, her other level moves were 2 and she was give a -1.0 for her triple loop.

Lying ninth is Canada’s number three lady, Mira Leung, who had the most difficult combination, triple Lutz to double loop. She performed in a one sleeved yellow dress with embroidery and a white skirt to music called Freedom. Her double Axel attempt was greatly under-rotated and she landed on two feet.

Joanne Carter from Australia fell on her triple Lutz which was downgraded to a double.

The blonde Lesley Hawker, in a backless, high necked, long sleeved silver blue outfit, got off to a disappointing start doubling her planned triple Lutz in the combination with double toe loop and then singling the triple flip. Although the routine to Charlie Chaplin’s timeless Smile When Your Heart is Breaking has potential, this was not a performance to remember.

Joannie Rochette

On the other side of the coin, world bronze medal winner Carolina Kostner, 18, and former twice world bronze medalist Fumie Suguri, who will be 25 on New Year’s Eve, faced disaster, falling and aborting moves to finish seventh and eighth in the field of ten.

Czisny, an 18 year old student on a full academic scholarship to Bowling Green State University, is on a steep climb to the top. She initially was given only one Grand Prix, this event, but stepped in for the injured, Sasha Cohen, at last week’s Skate America just as she had the previous year. With a first place here and a second in Atlantic City, she is almost assured of a trip to Tokyo in December for the Grand Prix Final.

"Both my programs were better here than in Atlantic City," Czisny said. "I was very happy with my performance. The only thing was I did triple Lutz to double toe instead of triple-triple because I was falling on it in practice today."

Prior to 2005 Czisny was practically unknown. But a seventh place in nationals in Portland earned her a trip to the world juniors. That international event provided her with an insight which was a watershed moment. "She learned that her strengths - flexibility, good spins and spirals - were rewarded much more under the new system," said one of her coaches, the dark haired Julianne Berlin. "That, and substituting for Sasha Cohen in Skate America (for two years running), gave her lots of confidence. I think she sensed her time has come."

Last week she set personal bests. Yesterday and today she bettered those numbers. Today she rewarded the 3,376 strong audience, and television viewers in the US, Canada, China and Japan, with a thrilling four minutes without any obvious flaws, to add 2.16 marks to her already 7.86 point lead over Rochette. Skaters often have one piece of music that is identified with them. I think Minkus’ La Bayadere will become that for Czisny.

She wore a purple two piece, somewhat similar to the one Michelle Kwan appeared in when she had her break-through season winning her world title with the Salome routine. Czisny did receive slight minus 0.20 GOE’s for two of her 13 elements, her triple loop and the second triple Lutz, and the second triple flip was downgraded to a double. Three of the six moves which receive levels were given the maximum of 4 – the first and last spins, a flying sit and a layback, and her spiral sequence. However her straight line step sequence was only Level 1. Berlin admitted that is an area they have to work on "though it is hard to get speed on difficult steps that late in the program."

Rochette, who skated to the beautifully sad The Falling Leaves, gaining 3 for five of her six level moves but only 1 for the final spin, a change foot combination, said, "I was disappointed yesterday my triple flip was downgraded. My flip is generally not under-rotated so not to get it ratified what upsetting. And then today to just do a single, that’s very unusual."

The 19 year old from Montreal has returned to her original coach, Manon Perron. At the end of the ’04 season Perron explained to her protégé that she had outgrown her and it was time for the pupil to move on. However, after spending the last season away and not doing as well as hoped for at Worlds, Rochette decided to go back to her original mentor and their bond appears stronger than ever.

It was at the 2002 Skate America contest in Spokane that Nakano became only the third woman to be credited by the ISU with doing a triple Axel. Shortly afterwards in that same event a Russian was also credited with a triple Axel and, at the 2005 world junior championship, ISU officials verified that Kimmie Meissner and Mao Asada did triple Axels. However, Midori Ito of Japan and Tonya Harding of the US remain the only women to do the three and a half turn jump in a world senior championship.

Tonight, the now 20 year old Nakano was credited with repeating her triple Axel but it was landed with a very steep edge. She was formerly trained by Ito’s coach, Machiko Yamada, but is now taught by Nobuo Sato who guided his daughter, Yuka, to the 1994 world title. She skated to music from Minkus’ Don Quixote.

Yan Liu, a 21 year old from Qiqihar who trains with Sun Yu in Beijing, advanced from seventh to fourth. A few weeks ago, Liu, who was 21^st in the world championships, won a place for China in the upcoming Winter Games by winning the Karl Schaefer Memorial event which was the secondary Olympic qualification. She performed to the soundtrack of the Chinese movie, My Parents. Her Levels were low with only one 3 which was for an upright spin, three 2’s and a 1 for her flying camel.

Liu beat Sarah Meier of Switzerland by only 0.80 points. Meier, a 21 year old from Bulach, who is trained by Eva Fehr and Mark Pepperday in Zurich, was 12^th in the 2001 worlds but hasn’t reached that level since then. She began well with a triple Lutz to double toe to double loop, but the following triple flip had a -2.0 GOE and she made several other errors skating to her Vanessa Mae violin music.

Mira Leung, a 16 year old from Vancouver, who was sixth in Skate America, skated to a combination of Vangelis’ soundtrack from Alexander and Richard Strauss’ Dance of the Seven Veils from "Salome". She finished sixth overall though she had been eighth in the short and was only seventh in the long.

Kostner, skating to Winter, from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, music which really suits her, dropped from fifth to seventh with an eighth ranked free. Her performance began badly with her falling on her first jump, a triple flip, meant as a three jump combination. The second was classed as a double Lutz. She recovered to do a triple loop but she doubled a planned triple Salchow and aborted the second attempt. She did manage a double Axel and a triple toe to double toe but it was a very long way from her performance in Moscow.

Suguri had a bad injury in September and explained that her poor performance was due to the resulting lack of practice. "My muscles were trained." She dropped from second to eighth with a ninth place in the long. She began her performance to Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2 in C with a triple Lutz to double toe but then fell on her next jump, the triple flip, and singled the following triple Salchow. Her second triple Lutz was counted as a messed up double. A planned triple toe became a bad single. Later she did a double flip to single toe and a double Axel to double toe. Altogether it was a performance to forget. Embarrassed, coach, pupil and team manager smiled broadly while sitting in the kiss and cry area.

Lesley Hawker, a 24 year old from Ontario, who is taught by Richard Callaghan, was last of the ten competitors in the short but presented a four minute routine to music from The Mission which gave her sixth place in the short. However, that enabled her only to climb over the 25 year old Joanne Carter from Australia who is trained by Galina Pachin in Sydney.

2005 Skate Canada Ladies Medalists