The first stop of the Grand Prix of Figure Skating was this weekend, Skate America in Las Vegas.
We'll start with
Ice Dance. The contestants were:
Laurence FOURNIER BEAUDRY / Nikolaj SORENSEN of CAN
Hong CHEN / Zhuoming SUN of CHN
Marie-Jade LAURIAULT / Romain LE GAC of FRA
Sofia SHEVCHENKO / Igor EREMENKO of RUS
Alexandra STEPANOVA / Ivan BUKIN of RUS
Tiffani ZAGORSKI / Jonathan GUERREIRO of RUS
Olivia SMART / Adrian DIAZ of ESP
Christina CARREIRA / Anthony PONOMARENKO of USA
Caroline GREEN / Michael PARSONS of USA
Madison HUBBELL / Zachary DONOHUE of USA
There were no real surprises with Ice Dance, those who were expected to place on the podium, did. However, there were a handful of errors by teams on their "twizzle" elements. It is the beginning of the season, so some teams haven't perfected this ice dance moves.
Gold - USA Hubbell & Donohue, Silver - Russia Stepanova & Bukin, Bronze - Canada Fournier Beaudry & Sorensen
Next we'll move on to
pairs teams. Contestants were:
Ekaterina ALEXANDROVSKAYA / Harley WINDSOR of AUS
Camille RUEST / Andrew WOLFE of CAN
Cheng PENG / Yang JIN of CHN
Zoe JONES / Christopher BOYADJI of GBR
Daria PAVLIUCHENKO / Denis KHODYKIN of RUS
Ashley CAIN-GRIBBLE / Timothy LEDUC of USA
Jessica CALALANG / Brian JOHNSON of USA
Haven DENNEY / Brandon FRAZIER of USA
The big story of this competition was the Great Britain team of Jones & Boyadji. Zoe Jones was a singles skater years ago, and retired to get married and start a family. At the age of 39, she decided to come back, and compete in pairs. They were a sentimental favorite.
For the US, the top team was Ashley Cain-Gribble & Tim Leduc. They were the top US pair last year, and their top 10 placement at World's Championship earned the US two spots for competition at this coming World's. They had set a high goal for themselves this season: win two Grand Prix medals and make the final, win National Championships, and improve their placements at World's.
In the end, both teams struggled. Jones & Boyadji had no major errors, but skated slowly and too carefully. They ended in last place. Ashley Cain-Gribble & Tim Leduc were in third after their short program, and on target for their first medal in the Grand Prix, but Ashley fell on her throw jump, on a side-by-side jump, and together they aborted one of their lifts. The end result was they were dropped down from 3rd to 5th.
The favorites of the competition, Peng & Jin of China, won the gold. Daria Pavliuchenko & Denis Khodykin of Russia, a new team this season, won the silver. Haven Denney & Brandon Frazier of the US skated a great program to The Lion King, and jumped over Cain-Gribble & Leduc, and won the bronze.
Next we'll move on to
men. Contestants were:
Keegan MESSING of CAN
Boyang JIN of CHN
Michal BREZINA of CZE
Alexei BYCHENKO of ISR
Koshiro SHIMADA of JPN
Kazuki TOMONO of JPN
Junhwan CHA of KOR
Dmitri ALIEV of RUS
Roman SAVOSIN of RUS
Jason BROWN of USA
Nathan CHEN of USA
Alexei KRASNOZHON of USA
There were a few stories of note with this competition. Michal Brezina and Aleksei Bychenko were both contemplating retirement, however, opted to come back for another season. Skating fans refer to these to as the "uncles" as they've been around for a while, and are older than the other skaters. They were sentimental faves. Nathan Chen was the expected favorite. Jason Brown is a fan favorite due to his great artistry, but has no quads. Canadian Keegan Messing was the skater everyone was hoping for, as he's had highs and lows in his personal life this year. This past summer, he got married, and then just last month, his younger brother was killed in a motorcycle accident.
Michal Brezina and Aleksei Bychenko both started strong, but Aleksei got noticeably winded as his skate went on, and he got slower. Michal started popping his jumps, turning the last 4 jumps from triples to doubles. This took them both out of the race. Keegan Messing was in bronze medal position after the short program, but he couldn't hold it together in the long, and got low scores that dropped him down to 4th. In the 'kiss and cry' area after his skate, the microphones picked up his conversation with his coach, and he was saying "I just couldn't focus."
Gold went to (as expected) Nathan Chen of the US. He landed 3 clean quads, and had planned a 4th, but popped it into a double. Silver went to Jason Brown of the US. He had no quad planned, but landed all his triples cleanly, and dazzled the judges with his artistry. Bronze went to new skater Dmitri Aliev of Russia.
We'll finish with the
women. Contestants were:
Veronik MALLET of CAN
Yi Christy LEUNG of HKG
Wakaba HIGUCHI of JPN
Kaori SAKAMOTO of JPN
Mako YAMASHITA of JPN
Eunsoo LIM of KOR
Stanislava KONSTANTINOVA of RUS
Anna SHCHERBAKOVA of RUS
Elizaveta TUKTAMYSHEVA of RUS
Karen CHEN of USA
Amber GLENN of USA
Bradie TENNELL of USA
It was thought this event would be dominated by the Russians. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva can land a triple Axel jump. The big news was Anna Shcherbakova. She is just 16, and was making her Grand Prix senior level debut. However, she is able to land a QUAD lutz jump, something that most men can't land. She had two planned for her long program.
After the short program, everyone was surprised. Elizaveta landed her jumps, but the judges were not impressed with her artistry, and she was placed 5th. Anna had troubles with nerves and fell during one of her step sequences, and was placed 4th. The biggest surprise was US skater Bradie Tennell. She skating an amazing short program and was in first place after the short program, with two of the Japanese skaters in 2nd and 3rd.
In the long program, Elizaveta landed her triple Axel again, and had a bit more artistic quality to her program, but under normal circumstances, wouldn't have moved up. However, both the Japanese skaters had difficulties with their programs, and then ended up dropping in the standings, pushing Elizaveta up. The big story of the night was Anna, who went on to the ice feeling very confident. She skated an error free program that contained two QUAD lutz jumps, one in combination with a triple toe jump after it. It was the first time a woman landed two quad lutz jumps at an international competition. Her score skyrocketed, and she was placed in first. Bradie Tennell had a great skate as well, and had only one small error in her program, and this helped her to stay on the podium.
Gold went to Anna Shcherbakova of Russia. Silver went to Bradie Tennell of US. Bronze went to Elizaveta Tuktamysheva of Russia