by Sal Zanca, Special to U.S. Figure Skating Online
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| Johnny Weir Photo by Getty Images |
2006 Cup of Russia Results and Photos
(11/24/06) - Johnny Weir and ice dancers Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto were both in second place after Friday's first day at the Cup of Russia in Moscow. All three skaters are trying to stay in contention for berths in the Grand Prix Final.
A finalist in last year's Grand Prix Final, Alissa Czisny, saw her chance for a return trip fizzle with a disappointing performance in the ladies short program. Kendra Moyle & Andy Seitz were sixth in a busy season for the young pair.
Men
France's Brian Joubert stepped out of a triple Axel but held off an improving Weir for first place in the men's short program.
Joubert scored 77.10 points, including a huge 12.60 points on his opening quadruple toe-triple toe loop combination, and he looked to be on his way to another top performance. Then he got careless on his triple Axel and couldn't hold the landing in his routine to James Bond music.
However, he admitted the mistake on the Axel was “silly stuff.”
“I was a bit disappointed,” Joubert said. “It is too bad because especially in the short program you lose points. I was crisp but lucid, but after the first spin I went out on the wrong side but I did the flip on the other side.”
Weir said it wasn't his best but still an improvement over his Skate Canada short program to “King of Chess.”
“My performance was about 80 percent, 75 percent. It wasn't the best I can do, the most I can give,” Weir said. “It is still the beginning of the season. I didn't start training until August. I have been sick off and on since I have been home. I have been very busy.”
His jumps were good, but he wasn't the stellar Weir who won the last three U.S. titles.
“I haven't had time to get into the groove really,” he said.
He opened with a triple Axel and had a triple Lutz-triple toe combination worth 11.00 points. He lost points on his spins and steps to Joubert, who had three level fours among them while Weir managed one level four.
Joubert had a level one at Trophee Bompard last week in the straight-line steps and worked hard to up the difficulty.
After the event, Weir spent about 10 minutes trying to get through the group of adoring fans waiting backstage looking for an autograph, picture or a chance to speak a little Russian with him. Weir obliged with some Russian small talk.
He enjoys being in Moscow.
“I just love walking around seeing Moscow,” Weir said. “I am so excited every time I am in Moscow and St. Petersburg and look forward to seeing more of it. I am seeing as much as I can in the few hours I have away from skating.”
Canada's Emanuel Sandhu opted out of a quad toe and played it safe with a triple flip-triple toe combination in his Mambo routine with a bumper-sticker bright green shirt.
Then he fell on a triple Axel but recovered with a triple Lutz.
He and Weir are in a battle for a spot in the Grand Prix Final. Both have third-place finishes entering this competition, and one has to finish second to have a chance to make it to St. Petersburg.
Ladies
The lack of quality in this year's ladies competition showed as a flawed program from a woman who was 22nd at last March's World Championships was enough to take first over a clean but simple program.
Irina Slutskaya, Sasha Cohen, Michelle Kwan … where are you?
Hungary's Julia Sebestyen, 22nd at Calgary, had a better start than she did at the Cup of China, where she won after just a third-place finish after the short program.
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| Julia Sebestyen Photo by Getty Images |
Still it was good enough for 54.36 points.
“I am quite happy with my performance today,” Sebestyen said. “Competition by competition I am doing better and getting higher marks than I did in Cup of China. I had a small mistake. I put down my hand on the Lutz but it wasn't bad.”
Russia's Elena Sokolova, 14th at the Olympics but fourth at Worlds, had a clean program to “Turandot;” however, low scoring elements, such as a triple toe-double toe combination hurt her, and she was just second with 52.08 points.
She wanted to make her program more difficult.
“On the first jump I wanted to do a triple-triple, but I was too close to the boards. If I would have done a triple (second part of the combination), I would have put a hole in the boards,” Sokolova said. “But I did get better marks than in China.”
Third went to Sarah Meier of Switzerland.
Alissa Czisny, as she did in last month's Skate Canada, had another difficult short program. She barely left the ice on her triple Lutz and received just 0.30 for it. Then she fell on the first part of her combination, the triple flip, and lost more points. Overall she had 44.08 points for eighth place, far from her personal best of 58.54 points on her way to winning Skate Canada last year.
The ladies free skate is Saturday.
Ice Dancing
Not unexpectedly, Belbin and Agosto found themselves trailing Russians after the first section of the ice dancing competition in Moscow.
In white outfits skating to the Golden Waltz, Belbin and Agosto were second behind Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, who beat them at the Cup of China.
Domnina and Shabalin scored a solid 37.99 points in the first section.
Belbin and Agosto had 36.56, just ahead of French duo Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder (36.50).
Still, Belbin and Agosto felt that they started well.
“It felt very good,” Agosto said. “We have been feeling very solid since we got here. It was a good start to the competition. It is nice to go out and give a solid performance. It is good dance for us.”
Although there are always misgivings about competing in Russia, they didn't find difficulties. Belbin praised the knowledgeable Russian audience which has been used to great skating – especially ice dancing - over the years.
“They have always been really great to us here,” Belbin said. “As a matter of fact, the audience response is fantastic here, often times better than other places. They are very, very respectful. It is not hard to compete here. We have never skated poorly in Russia.”
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| Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto Photo by Getty Images |
The last time they competed at the Luzhniki ice rink was the 2005 World Championships, where they won silver. Before competing at Cup of China two weeks ago, the 2006 World Championships in Calgary marked the last time they had competed against a full international field.
Morgan Matthews & Maxim Zavozin had a rough time in their second outing on the senior Grand Prix circuit this year. They are in eighth place with 27.84 points. The 2005 World Junior champions said it was their first time doing the Golden Waltz in competition.
Although Zavozin is Russian-born, trains in Moscow in the summer occasionally, and has a mother and father who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1970s, it was the first time they are competing here.
His mother is making her first return trip to Russia since leaving the Soviet Union.
“Everything is sort of new for her,” Zavozin said of his mother, Elena Garanina, who trains them in the United States. “She was actually very excited to come here.”
The original dance to the tango rhythm is set for Saturday, and the free dance concludes the competition on Sunday.
Pairs
It was a mixture of many nationalities and bits and pieces of former teams at the top of the pairs after the short program.
The German team of Aliona Savchenko, a former Ukraine skater, and Robin Szolkowy managed to hold off Russian veterans Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov and newcomers Yuko Kawaguchi ad Alexander Smirnov of Russia.
Savchenko and Szolkowy had 63.96 points.
“We are not quite happy with our performance because we made a mistake on a throw,” Savchenko said. “But today's performance was better than the one in China.”
Petrova and Tikhonov were second with 62.28 points.
“I made a small mistake on the triple toe loop, but we will keep skating better,” said Tikhonov, who also missed the jump in last week's Trophee Bompard in Paris.
Kawaguchi skated for Japan with a Russian partner; now she skates for Russia with a new Russian partner. She even previously competed with Devin Patrick at the U.S. Championships.
Kawaguchi and Smirnov had 59.46 for third.
Kendra Moyle, 16, and Andy Seitz, 20, had a clean program but were up against some tough competition in the senior ranks doing side-by-side double Axels and a nice throw triple loop. But they have only a double twist while others have a triple twist and triple toe loops. They were sixth with 49.08 points.
It has been a busy fall for the World Junior silver medalists and U.S. junior champions, competing in two junior and two senior events so far.
“It has been pretty tiring,” Seitz said. “But senior competitions have really prepared us for the juniors this year. The program is 30 seconds longer and we have another lift. That makes our endurance that much better.”
They learned something in the seniors that they can bring to the junior ranks.
“The biggest thing is experience,” Moyle said. “Our first senior competition ever was Skate Canada and now the Cup of Russia. We are digging our feet into the senior circuit and getting ourselves out there.”
“You have to wait it out and wait your turn,” Seitz said. “In juniors it's easier to have success all at once, and that is not going to be the case in seniors.”
They were first and second in their two junior events this fall. With the two seniors and the Junior Grand Prix Final that is five international events in less than four months.
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