Dance

Final Results

Place Couple Country C1 OD FD
1 Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat FRA 1 2 1
2 Irina Lobacheva & Ilia Averbukh RUS 2 1 2
3 Kati Winkler & Rene Lohse GER 3 3 3
4 Naomi Lang & Peter Tchernyshev USA 4 4 4
5 Isabelle Delobel & Olivier Schoenfelder FRA 5 5 5
6 Eliane Hugentobler & Daniel Hugentobler SUI 6 6 6
7 Megan Wing & Aaron Lowe CAN 7 7 7
8 Marika Humphreys & Vitaly Baranov GBR 8 8 8
9 Nelly Gourvest & Cedric Pernet FRA 9 9 9
10 Gloria Agogliati & Luciano Milo ITA 11 10 10
11 Weina Zhang & Xianming Cao CHN 10 11 11
12 Rie Arikawa & Kenji Miyamoto JPN 12 12 12

 

Compulsory Dance

The Tango Romantica was skated as the compulsory dance for the first time this season in the Grand Prix series.  Reigning World Champions Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat (FRA) took the lead with a strong and confident performance. The couple skated close together and showed good unity.  Although they made a minor mistake, it did not seem to have any consequence on their overall performance.  "We skated well", said Anissina.  "There was a very small mistake, but it wasn't bad.   I don't want to blame it on the ice, it's still just the beginning of the season for us."

Russia's Irina Lobacheva & Ilia Averbukh came in second with a sharp Tango.   "We like the more difficult dances like the Tango and the Golden Waltz, because it is more interesting to work on them", Averbukh explained.  As most of the other competitors he was not pleased with the ice conditions.  "The ice was terrible tonight, it was very hard.  We had to be very careful and concentrated not to catch an edge."

Kati Winkler & Rene Lohse of Germany agreed.  "All couples had some problems because of the traces in the ice," said Winkler.  "We could have skated more aggressively, but we are happy with how we did."  The Germans placed third in the first portion of the event.

U.S. Champions Naomi Lang & Peter Tchernyshev also skated well and placed fourth place.

Original Dance

World Champions Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat (FRA) looked much more confident in their original dance than at Skate Canada three weeks ago.  The couple presented a smooth Foxtrot to "More" by Nat King Cole and a fast paced Quickstep section to "Dancing Fool".  Their dance featured original spins and lifts.  On a turn, Peizerat slipped, but recovered immediately.  The French couple earned marks up to 5.7 for composition and up to 5.9 for presentation.  But it was not enough to win this section of the dance competition.  Russia's Irina Lobacheva & Ilia Averbukh skated last and performed a flowing Foxtrot and a strong Quickstep, also set to "Dancing Fool". They made no mistake and placed ahead of the French couple in a split decision.  "The most important thing to us wasn't winning tonight.   The most important thing is that we were able to come back on the top", said Averbukh.  "It is much more difficult to come back in Ice Dancing than in the other categories.  The last season was very difficult for us since two couples passed us. It was hard to regroup after that."   Anissina & Peizerat were disappointed about their mistake.  "The beginning was good, but there was a little mistake at the end that spoiled the rest a bit.  We are somewhat disappointed about that.  We have to do many more runs and need more time." Asked how the slip happened, he explained, "It just happened so fast.  I arched my back too much and lost balance."

German Champions Kati Winkler & Rene Lohse delighted the audience with a funny Charleston and Quickstep to music from "Cabaret".  They showed off good footwork and remained in third place.  "We like to skate our original dance.   I believe Cabaret is a good choice for us, we get really into it.  The audience liked it as well", commented Lohse.  "Hopefully we'll do well tomorrow again."

Naomi Lang & Peter Tchernyshev (USA) presented an elegant original dance and stayed in fourth place.


Free Dance

The ice dance event was focused on the battle between World Champions Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat (FRA) and Russia's Irina Lobacheva & Ilia Averbukh.  The Russian team had overtaken the French couple in the original dance, and of the two top contenders, Lobacheva & Averbukh skated first. The husband-and-wife team presented a dynamic program to "Toccata and Fugue" by Johann Sebastian Bach.  The dance featured interesting lifts and good footwork.  During some parts of their performance, the Russians skated just a bit too far away from each other.  Their marks ranged from 5.5 to 5.8 for technical merit and from 5.7 to 5.9 for presentation.

Anissina & Peizerat took the ice right after the Russian couple, and saw the marks of their competitors.  They knew that any mistake would cost them dearly.   Peizerat looked nervous at the beginning, but as soon as the music from "Beethoven's Last Night" started, the couple was right on.  Their routine contained intricate footwork at high speed, with many turns and innovative lifts, including a new variation of an inverse lift.  When the program ended, Peizerat hugged his partner tightly.  The couple scored marks from 5.6 to 5.8 for technique and from 5.8 to one perfect 6.0 for presentation, and took the gold.  "We skated better than at Skate Canada", said Peizerat.  "We are glad that we got a good response from the audience, but also from the judges and from the French Federation.   Our program still has room left for improvement, and it will be perfect at the World Championships."  Lobacheva & Averbukh were equally pleased with their performance.  "We did better than in St. Petersburg (at the Cup of Russia last week), and we are happy to be second.  In our dance, I'm meeting fate - Irina is the fate. I want to cheat fate, to overcome it, but it prevails in the end."

The bronze medal went to Germany's Kati Winkler & René Lohse.  Although Lohse was suffering from a cold and didn't feel well, they put in a convincing performance to Gospel songs.  The dance featured nice moves and strong footwork.  "I felt like my legs would explode at the end of the program", commented Lohse.   "It was hard."  They were happy to have won the bronze, but are looking forward to progress further.  "We still need to work a lot on that program", explained Winkler.  "We'll think of what we can do better."

U.S. Champions Naomi Lang & Peter Tchernyshev stayed fourth. They presented a flowing and soft free dance that contained a great variety of lifts.

Anissina & Peizerat took another 12 points and have qualified for the Grand Prix Final.  Lobacheva &  Averbukh scored 9 points here securing their place in Tokyo.  Trophée Lalique was the first scoring event for Winkler & Lohse, who will be competing again next week at the NHK Trophy at which they hope to score enough points to make the Final.  The NHK Trophy in Asahikawa, Japan, is the last qualifying competition for the Final, and quite a few skaters will be battling for the last open spots. 


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