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Four Continents Figure Skating Championships
By Lindsay DeWall // February 9, 2007
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Feb. 8, 2007) – The 2007 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships continued Thursday at the Colorado Springs World Arena as the first medals were handed out in the pairs competition. Americans Rena Inoue & John Baldwin won the bronze behind China’s two powerhouse teams. In ladies, Emily Hughes skated to second in the short program behind Canada’s Joannie Rochette. In ice dancing, Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto moved up one spot after the original dance and are in first headed into Friday’s free dance.
PAIRS
Inoue & Baldwin, who won the silver medal two weekends ago at the State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships, struggled with their second double Axels and their signature throw triple Axel. Baldwin, however, did execute his opening triple toe loop, which has been a struggle throughout the season. The team finished with a final score of 175.48 points.
“It felt really good because I’d missed it (the triple toe loop) five times in a row this season and at four Grand Prix competitions,” Baldwin said. “I did the triple toe and then I let down on the second double Axel, something I never miss, so I was really surprised to have flipped out of the second double Axel.”
Two-time Olympic bronze medalists Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao of China won their third Four Continents Championships title. The two-time World champions racked up 203.05 points, a little more than three points off their personal best mark. Country mates Qing Pang & Jian Tong captured the silver with a score of 185.33.
U.S. champions Brooke Castile & Ben Okolski placed fifth, while U.S. bronze medalists Naomi Nari Nam & Themi Leftheris finished sixth. Both teams looked at their performances as building blocks for future competitions.
“It was strong, [but] it wasn’t our best,” Castile said. “Some stuff was a little bit sloppier than we would have liked, but given the circumstances and being here and using this competition as a warm-up for Worlds, it was exactly what we wanted to do.”
Her & Okolski’s score of 160.04 shattered their previous best international mark of 132.86. Nam & Leftheris finished with a score of 153.39.
Overshadowing much of the pairs competition was an accident that occurred during the first pair’s skate, Jessica Dube & Bryce Davison of Canada. During their side-by-side flying camel spins, Dube traveled slightly toward Davison and his blade struck her face. She sustained a laceration on her left cheek and the left portion of her nose. Dube was taken to Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs. She met with a facial trauma surgeon who operated on her face Thursday night. She will be kept at the hospital overnight for observation.
LADIES
Emily Hughes is the top American lady following Thursday’s short program with a score of 55.34. Currently in second, she sits just more than a point out of first place, which is occupied by Canada’s Joannie Rochette with 56.60. American Alissa Czisny is in fourth with 54.64 points, and U.S. and World champion Kimmie Meissner is in sixth with 52.49 points.
With only four points separating first through six, none of the top skaters are out of the game, especially Meissner, whose arsenal of triple-triples could easily leapfrog her to the top.
“My favorite is the long; there’s much more that I can do with that,” said Meissner, who added that she and coach Pam Gregory were still not sure if they would include the triple Axel. “It was good today in practice, on my little warm-up. But Pam is the ultimate [decision-maker]. I would like to try it. I’ve got nothing to lose, but we’ll find out.”
Meissner skated first in the penultimate group and opened with a fall on her triple Lutz-triple toe combination. She survived the landing of the triple flip and hit the double Axel, but she also had trouble on her layback spin and received a level one.
Rochette wasn’t perfect either, as she stumbled out of the front end of her triple flip combination, tacking on the double toe.
Hughes went down on her triple flip but continued to sell the program for all it was worth.
“My goal tonight was to compete for my personal best,” Hughes said. “It didn't happen, but I am already ready to move on. I am looking forward to Saturday to compete and recover from the fall. The fall surprised me, but it was [early] in the program so I took control.”
Czisny fell on her triple flip, but in many ways she’s just happy to be here. Scheduled to leave Tuesday, she had two flights cancelled out of Detroit before finally arriving on Wednesday afternoon.
“I just tried to stay in the present and not worry about it,” she said. “I think it was a pretty good performance. The flip wasn't that good, but I fought back and worked it out.
The surprising star of the night was Japan’s Aki Sawada, who skated a clean program to finish third with 55.13 points.
The ladies competition concludes Saturday with the free skate.
ICE DANCING
Despite a costume malfunction during which Tanith Belbin’s skate blade got stuck in her dress, she and partner Ben Agosto moved up to first place following the original dance. The problem happened during the one-foot section of their midline step sequence, but Belbin barely missed a beat as she ripped her foot free mid-maneuver.
She and Agosto soldiered on through the otherwise passion-filled performance and wound up leapfrogging over Canadians Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon, who had a tougher go of it than their American rivals, to assume first place by the slimmest of margins, 98.17-97.86.
“Luckily, she has extremely good balance, and it was on a one-foot section, so she didn't have to have that foot down,” Agosto quipped. “She didn’t need that foot immediately.”
“You should get more points if you can do a midline, one-foot section with your foot in your skirt,” Belbin cleverly retorted.
Dubreuil & Lauzon had problems of their own in their “Paya d Ora” program, during which she put her foot down on a twizzle and had a bobble during a transition.
Americans Meryl Davis & Charlie White received no negative GOEs for any of their elements and are in fourth. Their score of 54.66 gives them a total of 88.34, about 2.5 points out of third place.
“Our level of intensity was raised a little bit,” Davis said. “Technically, we’ve gotten better scores, but we’ve really been shooting for commitment and intensity, and I think we improved upon that.”
The third American team at Four Continents, Kim Navarro & Brent Bommentre, achieved a personal best with a score of 48.44, receiving all level fours except for their diagonal step sequence. They are in fifth place.
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