Abbott Electrifies in Short Program at Cup of China
Jamie M. Blanchard November 12, 2008
Americans were shut out of medal contention in the pairs competition but are still aiming for medals in the other three disciplines. Members of Team USA are first and third in men's, fourth and fifth in ladies and second in ice dancing, which all conclude Saturday.
Ice Dance, Original Dance
Five-time U.S. Champions Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto gained on Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia by winning the original dance. Domnina and Shabalin have 95.58 points while the Americans narrowly trail with 95.23.
Both have a substantial lead on Russians Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski, who finished third in the compulsory dance and fourth in the original dance but held onto third place with 90.80. Their country mates won the compulsory dance Thursday.
Olympic silver medalists Belbin and Agosto earned 58.08 for their first place original dance. Domnina and Shabalin were second with 57.24. Italy's Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte edged out Khokhlova and Novitski, 55.22 to 55.12.
The free dance is Saturday.
Men, Short Program
Abbott carries more than a four point lead into Saturday's free skate after a solid performance that blended difficult elements with sparkling artistry. He scored a new personal best of 77.05 for his program to "Adagio".
After his opening triple flip, Abbott landed a clean triple axel and performed a Level 3 change foot combination spin. His strong start was only enhanced by a triple lutz-triple toe combination, which received a positive grade of execution. He performed two more Level 4 spins and two footwork sequences valued at a Level 3.
Vaughn Chipeur is second with 72.70. Narrowly trailing the Canadian is Stephen Carriere, the former World Junior Champion from the United States, who has 72.00.
In his performance to "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica, Carriere started with a solid triple axel. His triple flip-triple toe combination was called for having the wrong take off edge. He also performed three Level 4 spins and two Level 3 step sequences.
Pairs, Free Skate
American pairs Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig, who were fourth entering the free skate, finished fourth overall at Cup of China with 143.88. Chelsi Guillen and Danny Curzon were seventh with 100.74.
Evora and Ladwig were fifth in the free skate, with a score of 92.40 that included a mandatory one point deduction for Evora's fall on the first jump in the planned triple toe-double toe combination. The highlights of their program included a throw triple lutz and a spread eagle into a throw triple loop.
Guillen and Curzon were seventh in the free skate with 65.18, including a deduction for a fall on the throw double Salchow. Their program started strong with a triple twist and throw triple toe but the pair had problems on their planned double axel-double toe combination. They only completed singles.
The top three pairs did not change from the short program to the free skate. The medalists are China's Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang (182.22), Ukraine's Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov (175.05) and China's Qing Pang and Jian Tong (171.86).
They went one-two-third in both the short program and free skate.
Cup of China is the third event in the six-event Grand Prix series that concludes with the Grand Prix Final in Goyang City, Korea, Dec. 10-14. The other events are Skate America in Everett, Wash., Oct. 24-26; Skate Canada, Oct. 31-Nov. 2 in Ottawa, Canada; Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris, France, Nov. 15-18; Cup of Russia in Moscow, Russia, Nov. 20-23; and NHK Trophy in Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 27-30.
The Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series, now in its 14th season, consists of six international events in a cumulative, point-scoring format. The top six scoring athletes in each discipline move onto the Grand Prix Final, which will be combined with the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.
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