Figure skatingCanadians take Paris by storm

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Canadian champions Patrick Chan and Joannie Rochette took home their second gold medals of the season, earning the maximum total of 30 points over their two events and qualifying for the Grand Prix Final in Seoul, South Korea next month.

Mao Asada, the defending world champion from Japan, was the favourite coming into the ladies event in France but she proved to be no match for Rochette, who was the leader after the short program.

Even with a couple of mistakes, Rochette’s skate was so strong in the free as to build a 13.14 total point margin over Asada, who had to settle for the silver. Asada’s recent coaching change to legendary Russian Tatiana Tarasova might explain her bumpy skates in Paris. It can take a while to settle into a new coaching relationship. American Caroline Zhang was a distant third because of the ongoing problem of downgraded jumps as a result of under rotation, as well as being assessed for the incorrect take-off edge on her Lutz.

In the men's competition, Patrick Chan held off Takahiko Kozuka from Japan, who captured the silver medal, as well as 2007 world champion Brian Joubert, who slipped from third to fourth after the free. France’s Alban Preaubert took the bronze with an impressive free performance.

The most exciting news was that even with huge gains in new personal best scores in both the free program of +10.84 points to 156.70, and total score of +22.64 points to 238.09, Chan still has room to improve.

The most dramatic moment in the competition came during the pairs event, about 1:30 into the free program when Canada’s Meagan Duhamel and Craig Buntin stopped. In a freak accident, Meagan’s blade cut the back of Craig’s hand, and it required medical attention. The new rule is that if the skaters stop as a result of an event of their own doing, they have a maximum of three minutes to get going again and they will take an automatic two-point deduction off the total.

Despite the interruption, the continued bleeding and the subsequent stitches, Duhamel and Buntin skated a terrific free program, where they placed second and took home a bronze, their first Grand Prix medal together. Defending world pair champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany have now qualified for the Grand Prix final with their win.

For the second time at a Grand Prix event this season, the eventual silver medallists, Russians Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, placed third in the free. Their view on the free program is that it is complex and difficult. It might be a better idea to view it as an idea that isn’t working and head back to the drawing board especially when contrasted with their beautiful short program.

Canada’s Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier ended up in fourth, just shy of the podium but skated well enough to post the highest technical score of 45.20 in the free dance segment. With a silver and a fourth place finish giving them 22 points, Crone and Poirier will have to wait to see if they qualify for the Grand Prix Final.

As expected, defending world dance champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder from France won their second Grand Prix title and have qualified for the Grand Prix Final. The fact that the French didn’t win all three segments of the dance event again means that their programs are weak enough that their domination this season is by no means a sure bet.

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