Bronze for Orscher and Lucash at Four Continents
Courtesy of the International Skating Union and Tatiana Flade |
| Katie Orscher and Garrett Lucash at the U.S. Championships Photo by Michelle Harvath |
Four Continents Results and Photos
(2/17/05) — The 2005 Four Continents Championships continued Thursday in Gangneung, Republic of Korea, with the pairs free skate, original dance, and the ladies short program.
Pairs Free Skate
The first champions of the event were crowned Thursday night after the pairs free skate. Dan Zhang & Hao Zhang of China defended their overnight lead to win their first Four Continents title. Defending champions Qing Pang & Jian Tong of China settled for the silver this time while Katie Orscher & Garrett
Lucash claimed the bronze – their first ISU championship medal.
Zhang & Zhang had drawn to skate first in the final group. The two-time World Junior champions opened their program to “In the Hall of the Mountain King” with a spectacular triple twist followed by a double Axel-triple toe combination. Dan Zhang put down her hand on the throw triple Salchow, but the team recovered to land side-by-side triple Salchows and a throw triple loop. Zhang & Zhang scored 117.94 points (62.34 element score/55.60 program component score) and added up a total event score of 181.61 points. It was their first title at a senior ISU championships, and they beat their teammates Pang & Tong for the first time in an international competition.
“First of all I want to thank the Korean audience for their warm welcome and their support,” Hao Zhang said. “We were a little nervous. We tried our new combination double Axel-triple toeloop for the first time in competition, and haven't been doing it for a long time. We landed it, and we're very pleased about that. There were some minor mistakes, but I guess they don't matter now.”
Orscher & Lucash skated next. Performing to “Samson and Delilah” by Camille Saint-Saens, the U.S. champions landed a triple twist and a strong throw triple flip as well as a throw triple Salchow and good lifts, but they struggled with the side-by-side jumps. Lucash doubled the first toe and Orscher fell on the second toe. The team was awarded 96.90 points (49.31/48.59) and remained in third place with 153.05 points.
“This wasn't as good of a performance for us as our U.S. national championships, but we're going to use this as a building block for Worlds, and we're really hoping to bring our level of skating up to and beyond to the way it was at nationals,” Lucash said. “I think it is an honor for us to be on the podium with the other skaters tonight.“
Pang & Tong skated next. The two-time Four Continents champions produced a high triple twist as well as a throw triple Salchow, throw triple loop and difficult lifts, but they, too, had problems with the side-by-side jumps. Tong touched down with his hand on the side-by-side triple toe and Pang singled both Axels. Pang said that she changed her skating boots after the Grand Prix Final and that she still wasn't very comfortable with the jumps. The reigning World bronze medalists earned 115.73 points (57.90/57.83) which added up to a total score of 177.80.
“Too bad for the mistakes in our program today,” Tong said. “This whole season, things haven't been going so well. Both my partner and I have been through some injury problems. Now we'll have one last chance at the World Championships to prove that our program is a really strong one.”
Elizabeth Putnam & Sean Wirtz of Canada remained in fourth place. They attempted a side-by-side triple Lutz, but Wirtz doubled the jump, and Putnam later doubled the side-by-side Salchow (145.08 points).
Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig moved up to fifth overall with an overall nice performance. They landed a triple twist, throw triple loop and throw triple Salchow. They also had an Axel lasso lift with a difficult entry. However, she landed forward on the side-by-side triple toes (into a double toe combination) and it was downgraded to a double.
Brooke Castile & Ben Okolski also moved up one place to finish seventh. They had a few problems in their free skate, including a stumble on the exit of the lasso lift and out-of-sync side-by-side spins. They did hit a throw triple loop and triple twist, but the throw triple Salchow was two-footed.
Original DanceThursday's competition started with the original dance. The original dance for the 2004-2005 season is the “Rhythm Combination.” The couples can choose two or three from the following rhythms: quickstep, fox trot and/or Charleston.
Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto strengthened their overnight lead ahead of teammates Melissa Gregory & Denis Petukhov, but the standings below the top two teams shuffled quite a bit.
Belbin & Agosto produced an excellent performance of their original dance set to Charleston, fox trot and quickstep. The defending Four Continents champions showed a difficult side-by-side footwork line with twizzles in both directions as well as a curve-rotational lift and a dance combination spin with changes of position. The U.S. champions scored 65.20 points (25.25 element score/39.95 program component score), setting a new personal best for themselves. They now have a total event score of 109.20 points and a solid lead.
Gregory & Petukhov opened their routine to a Charleston and fox trot from the “Chicago” soundtrack with the side-by-side midline, skated mostly on one foot. They also completed two nice lifts, but their combination spin looked somewhat slow, and Petukhov stumbled at the end of the diagonal step sequence. Nevertheless, the couple held on to second place with a score of 55.10 points (21.36/33.74), which added up to a total score of 93.12 points.
“We had a little trip in the diagonal step sequence which happened at the end our program,” Gregory said. “But we've been working a lot on our performance and the way we're skating our programs, and I think the rest of the program is the best yet we've done – minus the trip.”
The third U.S. team, Lydia Manon & Ryan O'Meara, delivered a strong performance to the rhythms of fox trot and Charleston as well. Their dance included a serpentine lift and a demanding side-by-side footwork line. The U.S. bronze medalists earned 53.75 points (22.11/31.64) to move up from fourth to third place with a total score of 86.25 points.
“I think we had a good performance today, because, compared to yesterday, we stepped it up a notch from expression and everything, and we're very happy," Manon said.
Nozomi Watanabe & Akiyuki Kido of Japan delivered a solid original dance as well, but their rotational lift was laboured and the team dropped to fourth (84.15 points). Canada's Mylene Girard & Bradley Yaeger put out a strong original dance to move up from a ninth place after the compulsory dance to fifth (77.90 points).
The top three American couples all had to fight through some problems: Belbin & Agosto's and Manon & O'Meara's luggage was lost on the way to Korea and just arrived yesterday, on the day of the first competition. Manon also injured her left leg in practice (she fell on one of the twizzles and has a muscle bruise) and Gregory is recovering from food poisoning.
“We were actually talking to each other and were saying that this is a great test of a competition, because everything that could go wrong, is going wrong,” Belbin said. “But nonetheless, I think everybody skated very well today. I think it's a good thing to push through.”
Gregory also talked about her bout with illness.
“When you have food poisoning and can't do anything about it, it's quite challenging, but I just had to try to let my body take over what it has been trained to do (and) to rely on my husband Denis to help me through it and keep feeding myself rice, water and crackers all day long, but it's much better today,” Gregory said.
Ladies Short Program
The ladies started their competition with the short program. Japan's Fumie Suguri and Yoshie Onda came in first and second while Jennifer Kirk is the top U.S. skater in third place.
Kirk had drawn to skate second, but she apparently wasn't bothered by the early starting number and put out a solid program to the “Chicago” soundtrack. The 2002 Four Continents champion landed a triple Lutz-double toe combination, a triple flip and a double Axel but lost speed during her spiral sequence to earn 51.24 points (26.73 element score/24.51 program component score).
Onda's dynamic performance to music entitled “Freedom” featured a high triple Lutz-double toe combination, a triple flip, a double Axel as well as nice spins for which she received a level 2. The two-time Four Continents bronze medalist was awarded 58.02 points (31.82/26.20).
“Today I'm so happy because I did a very good performance,” Onda said. “But I still have to do the long program.”
The outcome of this event will decide whether Onda or Suguri will be selected for the Japanese team for next month's World Championships. But Onda said that's not part of her thought process at this event.
“I don't think about Worlds,” she said. “Skating is about performing and not about fighting against each other. So I just want to have a good performance. If I can't go to Worlds, it will be OK.”
Skating to the “Pink Panther” soundtrack, Suguri delivered as well. The two-time Four Continents champion (2001 and 2003) hit an excellent triple Lutz-double toe combination, a triple flip, double Axel and solid spins in her playful and charming routine. The 24-year-old scored 61.44 points (33.06/28.38).
“Looking from the total, it was pretty good (today),” she said. “I gave about 80 or 90 percent. I'm satisfied with what I've done, but I still have many things to improve. I wish I can go to Worlds. We have to do our best and then the judges decide.”
Suguri explained that she has been working with former coach Nobuo Sato since the Japanese national championships as coach Oleg Vasiliev stayed in Russia with his other students.
Australia's Joanne Carter came in fourth with a solid program that included a triple flip, double Axel and a level three spiral sequence, but she did a three turn out of her triple Lutz in combination with double toe (49.63 points).
Beatrisa Liang is standing in fifth place after doubling the Lutz in her combination (47.30 points). Vicky Boissonneault of Canada is ranked sixth. She fell out of her double Axel but completed the Lutz combination. Amber Corwin is in 11th after problems in her short program. She landed a triple toe-double toe combination, but her triple Lutz was downgraded to a double and she only did a single Axel.
