ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2009: Day Four

The 2009 ISU World Figure Skating Championships went on in Staples Center in Los Angeles, USA, on Friday with the Ladies Short Program and the Free Dance.

The day started with the Ladies Short Program. Yu-Na Kim of Korea won the Ladies Short with an excellent performance and a new record score. Canada's Joannie Rochette finished second and Mao Asada of Japan is currently ranked third.

Kim, who had starting number 52 out of 54, gave a stunning performance of her powerful routine to "Danse Macabre". She opened with a rock-solid triple flip-triple toeloop combination followed by a triple Lutz out of footwork, a double Axel and exquisite spins and spirals. Her three spins and the spiral sequence were graded a level four while the footwork was awarded a level three. The crowd gave the reigning Four Continents Champion a standing ovation. Kim posted a new Short Program record score of 76.12 points (43.40 element score/program component score) and hugged her coach in delight when the high score came up. "When I finished, I couldn't have guessed what kind of points I would have been getting, but I know that I did well at Four Continents, so it would be somewhere around that. When I saw my score, it was a lot higher, and it surprised me", Kim said.

"The short program is just the short program. I will just focus on the long program tomorrow. Two years ago at my first World Championships, I did my personal best in the short program but not so well in the long program. Now I just want to do well in the long program tomorrow", she went on. Performing to "Summertime", Rochette nailed a double Axel, a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, a triple flip and produced a two level-four spins as well as a level-three straight line step sequence. The reigning Four Continents silver medallist scored 67.90 points (37.50/30.40), improving her previous personal best slightly. "I was satisfied with what I did. My elements were not perfect, but my goal was to reach out to the public more. That's what I was missing at Four Continents. I feel confident for the long program and I'm anxious to come back tomorrow. The Free Program is my strength", Rochette commented.

Asada landed a triple flip-triple loop combination right at the beginning of her lyrical program to "Clair de Lune" by Claude Debussy but then she doubled the Lutz. The reigning World Champion recovered to complete a double Axel and beautiful spins. The combination spin was a level four while the flying sit and layback spin were graded a level three. The 18-year-old earned 66.06 points (35.90/30.16). "One of my goals in the first half was to complete the triple-triple. And I was satisfied about that, but for the second half I was not able to do my best, so I'm not satisfied", Asada told the post-event press conference. "I've worked on doing the triple Lutz from the outside edge during the summer and I learned it. I really want to do a good triple Lutz in competition, but it didn't work, and I'm very upset about that. I feel that the biggest problem with it was it was not powerful enough. I will not do the Lutz tomorrow, but I will do two (triple) Axels", she announced.

2007 World Champion Miki Ando finished fourth with a solid performance that included a triple flip, a double Axel and a level-four combination spin, but the back end of her triple Lutz-triple loop combination was downgraded (64.12 points). 2008 World silver medallist Carolina Kostner (ITA) is sitting in fifth place at 63.18 points. She two-footed her triple Lutz and put her hand down on her triple flip-double toeloop combination. Reigning European Champion Laura Lepistö came in sixth with a program that included a triple toe-double toe combination, a triple loop and two level-four spins (59.66 points).

The ice dance event concluded with the Free Dance. Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin of Russia danced off with the gold medal, edging out Tanith Belbin/ Benjamin Agosto (USA) by 1.22 points. Canada's Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir clinched the bronze medal.

Domnina/Shabalin gave an emotional and powerful performance to "Spartacus" by Aram Khatchaturian that was highlighted by spectacular lifts such as a straight line-curve lift and a straight line lift with him holding her statuesque. The 2008 European Champions also showed smooth footwork, earning a level four for the circular and a level three for the midline footwork.

They also had a level four for the dance spin and all their lifts. When they had finished the performance they hugged each other tightly and there was a big relief on their faces. Domnina/ Shabalin picked up 100.85 points (50.70/50.15), which was a new seasons best and racked up a total of 206.30 points to take the title and their first World medal. It was a great comeback for the couple after they had to withdraw from the World Championships last year and from the European Championships this January due to his knee injury. "We gave so much power today, so I'm feeling just empty now. At the end of the program I said something like "thank God". We skated and my strength was fading, we get close to the end of the program, and you from somewhere pull out the last strength you have", Shabalin revealed. "This (success) probably means very, very much, but right now I'm not feeling anything. We reached a goal we have been living for and we've strived to achieve for many years. If I wouldn't believe in it (the chance to win) I wouldn't win. I believe in it every day", he told the press.

Belbin/Agosto skated a dramatic "Tosca" program and produced intricate steps, and beautiful lifts including a rotational lift in which he swept his partner around effortlessly and a serpentine lift with changes of position. The Americans earned a level four for all elements except for the twizzles that were a level three. The crowd of 9, 561 rose as one to award them a standing ovation. Belbin/Agosto scored 100.27 points (50.50/49.77), which was a new seasons best, and took their fourth world medal. They had won silver in 2005 and bronze in 2006 and 2007. "First of all it feels amazing to be here. The fact that we pushed through all is really a great experience for us we really learned a lot about ourselves and this is going to make us stronger skaters and stronger people. I felt like we skated really well tonight. The whole competition I've been happy with the way we performed", Agosto said. "We put a lot of pressure to make it here and to be here felt so good and I'm really happy with the result. We're movin' up again. The things that we can control are that we can skate. This was one of the first times we felt good about all three parts of the competition. We felt great about our Compulsory (dance). We felt great about the Original Dance. Tonight it felt like we were going to culminate this very difficult season with another good performance; we can't be disappointed with that", he added.

Virtue/Moir set quite a contrast with their modern-themed routine to "Great Gig in the Sky" and "Money" by Pink Floyd. Dressed in simple, all black costumes, they delivered a technically strong program that contained footwork with excellent flow and unique lifts. All eight elements were awarded a level four by the Technical Panel. Virtue/Moir earned 99.98 points (50.70/49.28) and were ranked fourth in the Free Dance but managed to clinch the bronze medal by the thinnest of margins, edging out Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA) by just 0.04 points at 200.40 points. "Tonight was all about us. We just wanted to go out and skate not for what the judges thought, but what we thought. We skated the best we could and we're so happy about that", Moir explained. "It's just a reminder of why we do it. It's been a tough year, and this reminds me of why I love the sport so much and why we suffer through stuff. I couldn't be more honest in saying that I really don't care what the judges say today. I'm really self-satisfied and have a really good sense of accomplishment", he continued. "We wanted the program speak for itself, and let the skating come out before the outfits. With simple black you're able to see our lines and with a contemporary program it's all about movement, so I think you can see it clearer", Virtue answered when asked about their choice of costumes.

Davis/White came fourth with a strong performance of their "Samson and Dalilah" program that contained difficult elements performed at high speed (200.36 points). Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat (FRA) put out an entertaining yet technically strong Circus program to move up from sixth to fifth (194.36 points). 2008 World bronze medalists Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski (RUS) performed a dynamic dance to "Caprice 24" by Niccolo Paganini and finished sixth (193.41 points).