Four Continents Cup Skating Day 1
The ISU Figure Skating Competition Begins in Goyang, Korea
Nearly 100 Skaters Performed at the 2008 Four Continents Cup Figure Skating Championships, Starting with Ice Dancing, Mens and Pairs Skating
February 12, 2008
Ice Dancing
The ice dancers opened the show with their renditions of the Yankee Polka (first performed in 1969) in the Compulsory Dance. This set dance is skated the same by every competitor. No only must they complete the correct steps at the exact position on the ice, but they must also work within those confines to show musical interpretation. They're also trying to make an impact on the judges and the crowd, proving their consistent skating abilities before their next skate.
Top teams skated personal bests here in The Republic of Korea. Canadian couple, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, bounced into first after this dance, but only left a gap of less than one point between them and the US team of Meryl Davis and Charlie White. Kimberly Navarro with Brent Bommentre actually studied the Yankee Polka with one of its original creators, so the skaters admitted to having unique insight on the flavor of the dance.
Pairs Short Program
The Zhangs (unrelated to one another) dominated this event, alongside countrymen Pang and Tong (China). Rena Inoue and Jason Baldwin took that all-too-familiar third spot in the standings after the short program.
Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang skated a perfect program to "Piano Fantasy." This team is known for their power, not their presentation , so their choice of music helped their overall performance seem nearly effortless and, at times, even gentle. Their technique is not just great. Their tricks are high-flying, and many of their required elements are level three and four. Spectators can't sit through one of their programs with uttering "Wow!" a couple of times. After their program, the pair admitted to being tired and worried that fatigue and new boots might compromise their long program.
Qing Pang and Jian Tong also earned level fours on several required elements. They posted a new personal best but complained that back pain had interrupted their training schedule.
Inoue and Baldwin doubled some of their elements. Maybe she's still out of breath from his marriage proposal at Nationals. Their Axel lasso lift added to their technical program, earning them a level four, but they were dumped for their pairs spin and only received a level one rating on the element. Such a rating is surprising for seasoned couples like this American team. They will evaluate their performance and try to figure out why their scores were so low on some moves.
Men's Short Program
The top three men all bested themselves, making the long program competition a very close one. Here in the short, Japan's Daisuke Takahashi pleased the crowd with his hip hop "Swan Lake." His footwork sequences stole the show.
Evan Lysacek (USA) skated his Nationals program, landing his quad toe, triple toe loop jump combination. He showed that he's ready to compete for the gold medal at Worlds - which is just around the corner. Levels three and four for spins and footwork won't hurt his scores any at Worlds either. Hopefully he can retain this season's consistency into next month.
Jeffrey Buttle, representing Canada, skated last year's program. He displayed strong triples and spins, but was shaky on his Lutz landing. It's too bad for him the crowd wasn't judging the event. They made it obvious that Jeffrey is one of the favorites in Korea.
