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Grand Prix Final filled with mixed results

December 17, 2009 04:19 PM | Posted by   Pj Kwong  

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final wrapped up last weekend in Tokyo, completing a six-event series of competitions known as the Grand Prix.

The object of the exercise was for the skaters to rack up points based on their final placing in each of their maximum two events and for the top six in each discipline to move on to the Final.

This particular Grand Prix Final was a lot more interesting than most, with favourites falling short of expectations at almost every turn. The exception was in the pairs’ event where ‘comeback kids’ from China, the two-time Olympic bronze medalists and three time world champions, Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, easily took the title.

Shen and Zhao last competed in the 2006-07 year and decided to come back for this Olympic season with the gold medal as their goal. This is their sixth Grand Prix Final gold and it was achieved on the back of a highest posted overall total score for not only this season, but all-time, and personal bests in both the short and free programs.

Teammates and the 2006 world champions, Qing Pang and Jian Tong, took the silver ahead of defending two-time world champions from Germany, Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy.

It has to be said that if the German team wants to be taken seriously as an Olympic gold-medal threat, they will have to skate two clean programs at the record-setting level they achieved at Skate Canada, or be left behind as they were in Toyko. They were second after the short, fourth in the free and settled for bronze overall.

Defending world champion from Korea, Yu-Na Kim took the women’s title in Tokyo but not without a fight from the Japanese women. Miki Ando, Japan’s 2007 world champion and 2009 world bronze medallist, won the short program but was edged out in the free and had to settle for the silver.

Japan’s Akiko Suzuki had performed basically “under the radar” until her breakout performance at the Cup of China in Beijing earlier this season, which she won. In Tokyo, she was strong enough in the free program to take the bronze ahead of world silver medallist from Canada, Joannie Rochette, who performed well below par and finished in fifth place.

The men’s event was the same mish mash as the others. The most consistent performer in the group was the eventual title winner, defending world champion, Evan Lysacek, from the United States who was second after the short but won the free.

Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi won the short but “blew a tire” in the free program and dropped to fifth place overall. Japan’s Nobunari Oda won the silver on the strength of two third place programs and, in another mathematical quirk, two fourth-place programs gave Johnny Weir of the United States enough points to take the bronze.

The ice dance was pretty much as predicted with a two-way battle for the title between Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White, and Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.

What was not predicted was the fact that the Americans would take the title albeit with a narrow margin of 1.22 points. I don’t remember a time when there have been two teams as well-matched in ability and with no compulsory dance as part of the competition at the Final; it means that both the Original dance and the Free Dance are more important with little room for error.

Virtue and Moir were edged out in the original dance and were not able to catch the Americans, despite winning the free dance. The bronze medal went to French national champions Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat.

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