Figure skatingPlenty of surprises at Cup of China

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South Korea’s Yu-Na Kim secured her place in the Grand Prix Final with a perfect total of 30 points with her second gold medal. The combination of her innate musicality and technical prowess elevates Kim from athlete to artist.

Surprising to me was the performance of 2007 world champion Miki Ando of Japan in the free program. If there was ever a time to go for broke, this was it. With no margin for error if she wanted to catch Kim, Ando made some jump mistakes to leave her with the silver medal.

With only 24 points over the course of the first two events of the season, the result of a bronze and silver medal, Ando will need some help in the form of other skaters not performing their best at the remaining events if she hopes to qualify for the Grand Prix Final.

Pairs

The 2008 world and 2006 Olympic silver medalists from China, Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang, were unstoppable at the Cup of China. In recent years this team had been plagued by inconsistent performances but not so in Beijing. Their focus, connection to each other and maturity made them a pleasure to watch and the confidence with which they completed their elements was undeniable.

The Ukrainian team of Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov skated with authority to edge out 2006 world champions Qing Pang and Jian Tong of China for the silver. The improvement in the Ukrainians’ performance is so strong that it must be attributed to their coaching change. German Ingo Steuer also coaches Morozov’s former partner, Aliona Savchenko who, along with partner Robin Szolkowy, are the reigning world pairs champions from Germany.

Men's

American Jeremy Abbott took the men’s title and 15 points giving him an edge going into his second Grand Prix event at the Cup of Russia. His was the kind of performance that snuck up on you and as the fourth place American man, he didn’t factor in as the person to beat in the pre-event preview.

In skating though, when it is all said and done, it is about the performance a skater has on that day regardless of where they might rank in the world. He took the lead in the short program and continued to dominate in the free, posting new personal best scores in both segments as well as in his overall total score.

Cup of China favourite, Tomas Verner, the 2008 European champion of the Czech Republic, was lacklustre in both the short and free programs, and ultimately had to settle for the bronze behind American Stephen Carriere.

Ice dance

The Ice Dance competition was a photo finish with the Russian team of Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin edging out American training mates Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto for the gold by the very slim margin of .36.

Again here, as was the case at Skate America with the French team of Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder, neither gold medal winning team was able to win all three segments of the ice dance competition. What this means is that neither of these teams can take anything for granted in competition and that winning any one segment will not guarantee them the top spot.

What it also says is that the quality of this season’s programs leaves room for other teams to make their presence felt. Belbin and Agosto have a total of 26 points and will have to wait for the conclusion of the last three events on the circuit to see if they have qualified for the Final.

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