Campbell's Classic Kicks Off the Season in St. Paul

by Laura Fawcett

Campbell's Classic winners Photo by Paul Harvath

Campbell's Classic News, Photos and Videos

(10/8/05) - Despite savoring victories and reveling in the addition of $50,000 to their bank accounts, new Campbell's Classic champions Sasha Cohen and Takeshi Honda still were not far removed from the “real” world.

They've won their first gold medals of the season along with the requisite check. What are they going to do? Go to Disneyland?

Nope. Buy gasoline.

Honda contemplated using the money to buy a hybrid vehicle – “gas is expensive,” he laughed - while Cohen lamented the fact that with the high prices she “couldn't go anywhere anymore.”

Cohen, however, probably will never really have the problem of going nowhere. Expressing a lyrical vibrancy in her performance, Cohen ran away with the title Saturday night at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. Coach John Nicks couldn't have been more pleased, calling her performance “one of the best she's ever skated.”

It wasn't that she was perfect - she had a funky turnout of the third jump in a triple Lutz-double toe-double loop combination – but her expression and joy in her skate to Nino Rota's “Romeo and Juliet” smoothed over any rough edges. Cohen said it wasn't a shock for her to skate so well early in the season.

“I've been nailing 99 percent of what I've been doing in practice,” she said. “I've had a whole summer of hard work and have been skating this well or better.”

Even though she knew she skated well, when the scores flashed up, she still asked Nicks, “Is that good?”

Nicks said, “I told her, ‘Sasha, whenever you skate like that you are very difficult to beat.”

Cohen finished 13 points ahead of second-place finisher Kimmie Meissner, who chose not to attempt the triple Axel in her free skate. After falling on one in the warm-up, Meissner said she and coach Pam Gregory decided to just get the program “out there.”

She hit two triple-triple combinations -a triple flip-triple toe and triple Lutz-triple toe - but she was hurt by a level 1 flying spin and a level 1 spiral sequence. Cohen, on the other hand, garnered level fours on her combination spin and spiral step sequence.

Another new element for Meissner was makeup. For the first time, she had her makeup “done” for a competition, and she said it was a bit of shock when she first saw herself.

Japan's Shizuka Arakawa landed four triples, including a triple Salchow-triple toe combination, to finish third. She two-footed and stepped out of a triple flip, doubled a loop and singled an Axel.

Sasha Cohen Photo by Paul Harvath

Skating in her first invitational-type competition, Canada's Joannie Rochette said she had a lot of fun with the whole experience. It didn't hurt that she landed her first four triples before falling on a triple Salchow.

Alissa Czisny and Emily Hughes rounded out the ladies field in fifth and sixth place as both struggled with their jumps.

Men
Standing in front a dozen reporters, Japan's Takeshi Honda, the new Campbell's Classic champion, freely admitted he didn't expect to be in this position.

“[I'll] take it,” he said.

On a night where the last man standing took home the gold, Honda edged out Michael Weiss to win his first major international competition since the 2003 Four Continents Championships. It was a long way from his performance last week at the Japan Challenge where he finished last in an international field.

Honda said he got “really bad marks” in Japan, but he also said he ate something that caused him to lose six pounds in two days. In St. Paul his victory was another step on a long road back. Honda has been fighting injury for two years, including a severe left ankle injury last season.

“It's not the best skate I've ever had, but it's better than last week and better than two days ago,” he said.

Like the other competitors, Honda was far from being in top form. He opened with a triple Lutz but fell on a triple Axel which was planned as the first part of a triple Axel-triple toe-double toe combination. He later landed a triple flip-double toe combination, double Salchow-double toe, triple loop and triple flip. He put his hand down on a second triple Axel.

Weiss, a late addition to the field, opened the event with his Beethoven-themed program. Sporting a longer haircut and ruffled cuffs, Weiss' look was reminiscent of Gary Oldman's Beethoven portrayal in the movie “Immortal Beloved.” The two-time World bronze medalist was also off his game, but he set an early standard and finished in second.

“This early in the season, you get the sense that people are still hit and miss,” Weiss said. “You never know. When I stepped off the ice I could have won or I could have been in sixth.”

Weiss fell on his opening quad toe attempt but came back to hit a triple Axel-triple toe combination. Other triples included a loop, a spiral into a triple Salchow and a triple Lutz.

At 29 years old, Weiss is injury free and says he's at a stage where he's content with how his skating career has progressed. Anything more, he says, is icing on the cake. Weiss compared his current attitude to six-time U.S champion Todd Eldredge, with whom Weiss has been working in the last few months.

“We have similar outlooks and philosophies on skating,” Weiss said. “He was 30 at his last Olympics in 2002 and I'll be 29. It's a different mindset.”

All in all, Weiss is happy with how the new season has started out.

Takeshi Honda Photo by Paul Harvath

“It's almost like a preview of U.S. nationals for the men,” he said. “There are four guys here who all deserve to be on the Olympic Team, but only three will go. It's a shame that one has to stay home and watch it on TV. I hope it's not me.”

Third place went to Timothy Goebel, who broke one of his skate laces shortly before he was scheduled to skate. Because he was skating last, Goebel took off his skates to cool down during the long wait. After a bit of panic, Goebel and coach Audrey Weisiger were able to lace the skate back up in time to compete.

“I seem to attract so much chaos lately,” Goebel summed it up after the event.

Skating to “Night on Bald Mountain," Goebel looked like he was on fire … literally. His black jumpsuit was crisscrossed with orange and yellow strips.

“I'm not a devil, I'm a little demon,” Goebel said of his program.

Goebel, who had planned not to include any quads, was credited with six clean triples. He caught an edge on his spread-eagle entry into a triple Axel and fell on the jump.

U.S. champion Johnny Weir popped both his attempts at a triple Axel and finished fourth overall. Although he landed only five clean triples, he received the highest program component scores of the night.

Canada's Emanuel Sandhu was fifth, followed by World bronze medalist Evan Lysacek in sixth.