Abbott reaches no.3 in Icenetwork.com world figure skating rankings

Colorado Springs, Colo. (November 23, 2009) - American Jeremy Abbott's win at last week's Skate Canada in Kitchener, Ontario - his second gold medal at an ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating event in as many seasons - lifted him four spots to No. 3 in the icenetwork.com World Figure Skating Rankings. The United States now has two of the top three men in the rankings, with Evan Lysacek checking in at No. 2.

Ladies

Skate Canada champion Joannie Rochette of Canada leapt over Japan's Mao Asada to claim the No. 2 spot in the rankings. Silver medalist Alissa Czisny of the United States and bronze medalist Laura Lepistö of Finland each climbed three spots, Czisny to No. 11 and Lepisto to No. 6. American Mirai Nagasu entered the rankings at No. 19 courtesy of her fourth-place finish in Kitchener, while Japan's Akiko Suzuki ascended two positions to No. 8 after coming in fifth.

Men's

With his gold medal at Skate Canada, Abbott clinched a spot in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final for the second year in a row. He'll be joined there by Japan's Daisuke Takahashi, who won the silver at Skate Canada, a finish that bumped him up one spot to No. 9. The bronze medalist at the event, France's Alban Préaubert, climbed four notches to No. 11. Samuel Contesti of Italy improved from No. 13 to No. 10 after placing fifth in Ontario.

Pairs

The top seven teams went unchanged from a week ago, as Skate Canada champions Aliona Savcheno and Robin Szolkowy of Germany, silver medalists Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov of Russia, and bronze medalists Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison of Canada remained at Nos. 1, 5 and 6, respectively. Of note is the ascension of Americans Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett, whose fifth-place finish at Skate Canada vaulted them into the rankings for the first time; they sit at No. 19.

Ice Dancing

Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the gold by nearly 20 points last week, posting the highest score (204.38) of any ice dancing team this season. They rose three spots to No. 3 on the strength on their victory, meaning - with Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White, and Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively - the top three ice dancing teams all hail from North America. France's Nathalie Péchalat and Fabian Bourzat inched up two places to No. 7 after claiming the silver at Skate Canada, while Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje jumped into the rankings at No. 19 following their bronze-medal-winning performance in Kitchener.

For more information about the rankings, visit icenetwork.com and click on "Rankings."

Rankings as of Nov. 23, 2009:

Ladies                                                                                   

Rank 11/23	Rank 11/16	Name	Country	Points
1	1	Yu-Na Kim	Korea	5214.50
2	3	Joannie Rochette	Canada	3667.50
3	2	Mao Asada	Japan	3473.80
4	4	Miki Ando	Japan	2730.00
5	5	Carolina Kostner	Italy	2389.70
6	9	Laura Lepistö	Finland	1974.80
7	6	Rachael Flatt	USA	1784.50
8	10	Akiko Suzuki	Japan	1763.90
9	7	Alena Leonova	Russia	1735.22
10	8	Yukari Nakano	Japan	1707.50
11	14	Alissa Czisny	USA	1632.00
12	11	Kiira Korpi	Finland	1371.50
13	12	Fumie Suguri	Japan	1359.00
14	13	Ashley Wagner	USA	1301.90
15	15	Caroline Zhang	USA	1242.80
16	16	Julia Sebestyen	Hungary	1008.90
17	19	Cynthia Phaneuf	Canada	953.62
18	17	Yan Liu	China	899.04
19	NR	Mirai Nagasu	USA	860.70
20	18	Kanako Murakami	Japan	860.10

 

MEN'S

Rank 11/23	Rank 11/16	Name	Country	Points
1	1	Brian Joubert	France	3195.42
2	2	Evan Lysacek	USA	2995.70
3	7	Jeremy Abbott	USA	2912.94
4	3	Patrick Chan	Canada	2906.30
5	4	Nobunari Oda	Japan	2726.66
6	5	Takahiko Kozuka	Japan	2427.10
7	6	Tomás Verner	Czech Republic	2347.70
8	8	Johnny Weir	USA	1647.50
9	10	Daisuke Takahashi	Japan	1576.10
10	13	Samuel Contesti	Italy	1404.40
11	15	Alban Préaubert	France	1317.90
12	9	Adam Rippon	USA	1316.64
13	14	Michal Březina	Czech Republic	1280.86
14	11	Sergei Voronov	Russia	1240.14
15	12	Yannick Ponsero	France	1238.92
16	16	Kevin van der Perren	Belgium	1128.04
17	17	Brandon Mroz	USA	929.94
18	18	Stéphane Lambiel	Switzerland	905.30
19	NR	Stephen Carriere	USA	877.04
20	19	Artem Borodulin	Russia	876.96

 

PAIRS

Rank 11/23	Rank 11/16	Name	Country	Points
1	1	Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy	Germany	4939.00
2	2	Qing Pang/Jian Tong	China	4305.00
3	3	Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang	China	3304.10
4	4	Yuko Kavaguti/Alexander Smirnov	Russia	2734.90
5	5	Maria Mukhortova/Maxim Trankov	Russia	2566.10
6	6	Jessica Dubé/Bryce Davison	Canada	2149.20
7	7	Tatiana Volosozhar/Stanislav Morozov	Ukraine	1882.30
8	9	Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao	China	1400.00
9	8	Keauna McLaughlin/Rockne Brubaker	USA	1365.22
10	10	Lubov Iliushechkina/Nodari Maisuradze	Russia	1360.62
11	11	Rena Inoue/John Baldwin	USA	1171.28
12	12	Huibo Dong/Yiming Wu	China	1042.86
13	13	Meagan Duhamel/Craig Buntin	Canada	1032.26
14	14	Mylène Brodeur/John Mattatall	Canada	925.36
15	15	Yue Zhang/Lei Wang	China	785.00
16	16	Adeline Canac/Maximin Coia	France	774.36
17	17	Stacey Kemp/David King	Great Britain	771.36
18	18	Wenjing Sui/Cong Han	China	739.20
19	NR	Caydee Denney/Jeremy Barrett	USA	717.42
20	19	Ksenia Krasilnikova/Konstantin Bezmaternikh	Russia	709.50

 

ICE DANCING

Rank 11/23	Rank 11/16	Name	Country	Points
1	1	Meryl Davis/Charlie White	USA	3766.70
2	2	Tanith Belbin/Ben Agosto	USA	3026.00
3	6	Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir	Canada	2951.00
4	3	Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski	Russia	2745.70
5	4	Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin	Russia	2729.00
6	5	Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder	France	2497.80
7	9	Nathalie Péchalat/Fabian Bourzat	France	2114.04
8	7	Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali	Italy	2083.34
9	8	Sinead Kerr/John Kerr	Great Britain	1881.92
10	10	Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte	Italy	1585.28
11	11	Emily Samuelson/Evan Bates	USA	1440.60
12	12	Vanessa Crone/Paul Poirier	Canada	1287.80
13	13	Alexandra Zaretski/Roman Zaretski	Israel	1279.20
14	14	Madison Chock/Greg Zuerlein	USA	1273.70
15	16	Ekaterina Rubleva/Ivan Shefer	Russia	954.36
16	15	Kim Navarro/Brent Bommentre	USA	948.20
17	17	Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani	USA	925.30
18	18	Anna Zadorozhniuk/Sergei Verbillo	Ukraine	910.60
19	NR	Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje	Canada	875.28
20	NR	Madison Hubbell/Keiffer Hubbell	USA	871.50

 

- U.S. Figure Skating -

U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the International Skating Union. U.S. Figure Skating is comprised of more than 700 member clubs, collegiate clubs, and school-affiliated clubs and over 900 registered Basic Skills skating schools representing approximately 170,000 members. U.S. Figure Skating is charged with the development of the sport on all levels within the United States  including athletes, officials, sanctioning of events and exhibitions, and establishing the rules and guidelines by which the sport is governed.