2010 Skate America

Daisuke TAKAHASHI, lying second after the SP, won, not so much because he skated well, although his Tango routine to Invierno Porteno by Tango Siempre, composed by Astor Piazzolla and choreographed brilliantly by Pasquale Camerlengo, was entertaining, but because his main rivals failed to step up to the plate. Nobunari Oda, who led after the Short Program, fell foul of a technicality, which has happened to him before. He changed his routine around and the computer discarded his last jump combination. With this win, and his previous gold in the NHK Grand Prix, Takahashi has earned a place in the GP Final, which is in Beijing next month and is limited to only the top six scorers in the Series of six events. Adam Rippon, who was third initially, gave his poorest showing in years and handed over what had looked like a sure medal to his teammate, newcomer, Amin Mahbanoozadeh.

1.Total Score 227.07; 1.Free Skate 148.95 (Elements 64.95 + Components 85.00 -1.0) Takahashi, the current world champion and Olympic bronze medalist, who also won Skate America in 2005 and 2007, opened with two flawed jumps. He tripled and stepped out of his opening move, a planned quad toe loop, and had a wonky landing with his weight pitching forward on the following triple Axel. He did complete a triple loop but his first spin, the flying change foot combination, was only Level 2. Then he pulled himself together for his highly energetic circular steps, which were very well received by the audience. He received Level 4 for this. No other competitor got the maximum level for their step sequence.

He had a combination planned for the point where the bonus points click in but after the triple flip, he doubled instead of tripled the second jump, a toe loop, and the move received a negative GoE (-0.30). He fell on his second triple Axel, which received two "arrows" meaning it was downgraded to a double, and he was unable to attempt the other two jumps with which it was meant to be combined.

Once again, Takahashi tried his unique "flying layback" spin. This was classified as a Flying Upright spin and given Level 2 by the Technical Specialist Ravi Walia and his assistant Shin Amano, who were supervised by Sissy Krick, the Technical Controller. This was a slight improvement from the Short, in which the move was given only Level 1. Takahashi then did a triple Lutz. That and his second triple Lutz, which was combined with a double toe, were both given a wrong takeoff edge call. Between the two Lutzes, he presented a triple Salchow. He finished with a change foot combination spin."

The 24-year-old, who has won the Japanese title four times in the past five years, earned only the fifth best technical score but won the components division by 5.36 points. He said, "Tonight I couldn’t skate well and popped out of my quad, but I thought my presentation was better than at NHK (the first Grand Prix which he also won.) I need to get in better physical condition (for the GP Final in Beijing in December). I need to improve my spins. But I’m very happy I got the Level 4 for the footwork."

2.TS 226.09; 2.FS 146.81 (68.17+79.64 -1.0) Nobunari ODA, lying first after the SP, lost the gold by only 0.98. Because he changed around his routine, the 23-year-old had one element disqualified. It received no points. This situation has happened to him before so he should have learned from it. Had he not thrown away these points, he would have stood on top of the podium.

Skating last of the 12 competitors, to music from Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto No.1, Oda began with a quad toe but fell on the landing. He recovered well and the following triple Axel earned 0.43 over its base value. He had meant to make the Axel a combination and this is where his problem started. He began looking for an opportunity to add an extra jump to make up for this lost opportunity, and did so by adding a triple toe loop to the following triple flip. That was successful and this combination gained a small positive (+0.20) over its base value (9.40).

His circular steps were only Level 2 although they earned an extra 0.57 GoE and his change foot combination spin was only Level 1. At this point, the bonus marks came into effect, and he executed his second triple Axel, which was good enough for +0.86 to be added to the base value. However, skaters are not allowed to repeat a triple jump unless it is in combination.

So, since this was his second triple Axel, it was classed as a combination. His next move, combining a triple Lutz with a triple toe, instead of adding the planned double toe to double loop to triple,.was his third combination. He not only was saddled with a wrong takeoff edge of the Lutz, the triple toe was deemed slightly underrotated (one arrow).

Then he did a triple loop which earned +0.90 over its base. However, then came what was classified as his fourth, and illegal, combination a triple Salchow to double toe to double loop. If only he had left the two doubles off, he would have received points for the Salchow and become this year’s Skate American champion, a title he had held in 2006.

Oda admitted his mistake. "I am very disappointed with my performance tonight, because I did a silly mistakes on spins and steps. But speed-wise, it was much better than in Skate Canada (where he also finished second). I was just thinking of doing another combination. I repeated this mistake in the past (including at the 2009 world championships where he finished seventh) so many times that I can't say anything about a solution." He did add, with a smile, "But it won’t happen again!" His routine finished with a double Axel and two Level 3 spins.

3. TS 211.17; 3.FS 143.56 (73.62+69.94) Armin MAHBANOOZADEH, lying 4^th after the SP, was the only skater in the top four who did not fall in the Free. He was also the only contestant in the 12-strong field to receive either the base value or better for all 13 elements in his routine which was set to the soundtrack of the Sci-Fi hit Avatar. However, he did have a reduction in difficulty in his last jumping pass, in which his planned second triple Lutz was singled, although he still managed to combine it with double toe to double loop.

He completed seven triples, including two triple Axels, the second in combination with a double toe. One spin received level 4 and the other two Level 3. His circular steps earned Level 3. The other 11 contestants all made more significant errors. Mahbanoozadeh, whose long name means Born to a Woman as Beautiful as the Moon in Farsi, earned the competition’s top elements’ score for the Free. His total for this section is more than twenty points better than his previous personal best.

The audience gave him a standing ovation. His delighted facial expression was priceless. "I’ve never gotten a reaction like that before, so it was my first time experiencing something like that. I was really happy that I was able to let the audience feel a little bit of what I was feeling at that point. I felt really confident today. The long program has been going really well in practice and I let myself do what I do in practice. It went better than I could have hoped for. I'm just ecstatic right now." The 19-year-old, who is trained by Priscilla Hill, has earned medals in junior Grand Prix events but this is only his second season as a Senior. He does not yet have a second GP assignment but is more-than-ready to be a last minute replacement should one be needed. He said, "I can pack my bags for Russia right now!"

4. TS 203.12; 7.FS 129.18 (57.94+72.24 -1.0) Adam RIPPON dropped to fourth overall, with a Free, set to Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2, that was marred with errors right from the Get Go, when his first element turned into a single Axel to single toe. With only four clean triples (Lutz, Axel, Flip and a second Lutz, he was lucky to get seventh place in the Free. He fell on a double loop. He did two Level 4 spins but his change foot combination and the circular steps were only Level 2. As he stepped into the kiss ’n cry area, he was shaking his head. It was difficult to believe that this was the same skater who won bronze in Skate Canada a couple of weeks prior.

Rippon, who turned 21 two days prior to performing this program, freely admitted, "It’s a big disappointment to skate like that. It happens, and I am just lucky that it happened here and not at a more important competition later in the season. If I could say anything about the performance, I would say that it was like a complete out of body experience, -. something I’ve never done in practice, never done in competition. It’s just something that I'm going to take a look back on, review it, and move forward."

5. TS 203.00; 4.FS 135.99 (68.83+68.16 -1.0) Daisuke MURAKAMI , who has lived in California since he was seven, but represents the country of his birth, Japan, gave a very promising showing to music from the soundtrack of Lawrence of Arabia by Maurice Jarre to take fourth place in the Free. With only another 0.13 of a point, which he could easily have received if he had not fallen on his triple loop, he would have displaced Rippon from overall fourth.

The 19-year old, who is trained by Frank Carroll, said, "I was really pleased with the score. It was much better than my first international this season, (when he finished fifth in the Finlandia Trophy)." Although he received a wrong take-off edge call on his opening triple Lutz to triple toe loop, that, his fall, and a very slight negative (-0.07) on his last jump, a double Axel, were his only mistakes in a program which included two triple Axels, one with a double toe, and Level 3 for all three spins and his straight line steps.

6. TS 194.63; 5.FS 132.41 (69.87+62.54) Kevin VAN DER PERREN, from Belgium, skating to music from The Mummy soundtrack, moved up two spots to sixth. He opened his routine with a +0.14 quad toe loop, immediately followed by a +1.0 triple Axel, a +0.10 triple flip to triple toe loop, and a Level 4 +0.29 flying sit spin. He also accomplished a triple Salchow (+0.70), a slightly flawed triple loop (-0.50), a triple flip to double toe loop (+0.10) and a double Axel to triple toe (+0.10). However, his Lutz was doubled and his two other spins and the footwork were only Level 2.

7. TS 188.20; 9.FS 124.49 (60.21+64.28) Adrian SCHULTHEISS from Sweden was only ninth in the Free but managed to hold onto his seventh place from the Short Program. Skating to two versions of Romeo and Juliet by Raul di Blasio and the classic version by Sergei Prokofiev, he began well with a very solid quad toe loop which earned a full point over its base value, a triple Axel to double toe which got a slight positive GoE of +0.14 and a +0.30 triple Lutz to double toe loop. But then things deteriorated. His flying camel spin was only Level 1, he doubled his planned triple loop and later singled a double Axel attempt. .

"It’s a magical story," Sawyer said, "and Marie-France Dubreuil did a great job on the choreography. It challenges me to emote and act more on the ice. The character is already taking over." His triple Axel and two other jumps received one arrow meaning a slight under-rotation but not enough to lose credit for the rotation. His flying sit and change foot camel spins earned Level 4, while his change foot combination spin and the circular steps were Level 3. He had some negatives, but that was quite fitting for the character.

9. TS 184.20; 8.FS 125.06 (62.28+63.78 -1.0) Stephen CARRIERE, the 2007 World Junior champion, performed to West Side Story. His eighth place in this portion advanced him one slot overall to ninth. He fell on his quad toe loop attempt which was downgraded to a triple. He was not so upset at that as not having a triple Axel. "Not doing a triple Axel knocked me down about ten pegs," the disappointed 21-year-old said. However, he had the last laugh. His costume was so realistic it fooled the Associated Press reporter. Her story said he’d ripped his trousers at the knee when he fell and came off the ice with a bloodied hand. Carrier had explained the character he was playing was in a fight and if he’d had that amount of blood he would not be in the mixed zone available to talk to reporters.

10. TS 180.10; 10.FS 117.89 (60.55+58.34 -1.0) Nan SONG from China who is competing in his first senior season, performed to The Yellow River Concerto by Xinghai Shen. The 20-year-old doubled his first move, which was to be a quad toe loop, but managed a triple Axel to triple toe loop which earned its base value before falling on a triple Loop. There were other faults and he dropped a place to tenth.

11. TS 176.11; 11.FS 111.61 (54.69+61.92 -5.0) Denis TEN skated to Franz Liszt’s Totentanz. This is definitely a day the 17-year-old from Kazahkstan, who now trains with Frank Carroll, would rather forget. He fell five times, four more than any of his competitors and dropped from sixth after the Short Program to 11^th overall.