Figure skatingWhat to make of Skate America

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Portland, Ore., played host over the weekend to Skate America, the fourth of six stops on the ISU Grand Prix Series. At stake, placement points with the top six finishers in each discipline earning the opportunity to compete at the Grand Prix final in Beijing, China, in December.

Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, the Olympic bronze and European and world silver medallists from Germany, are looking to re-establish themselves as the front runners in the pairs world. The two-time and three-time European champions started their Grand Prix season off on the right foot by taking the title in Portland.

In a surprise twist of fate, Canadians Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch took their second GP silver medal and will very likely qualify for the GP final. This was a season where they were only scheduled for one event, but they got the chance to substitute at Skate Canada for injured Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison and capitalized on the opportunity.

The Chinese team of Wenjing Sui and Cong Han has already qualified for the junior GP final and were able to follow up their silver medal from last week's event with a bronze at Skate America.

Carolina Kostner of Italy could have been defined as one the favourites in this event and started out by leading after the short program, but faltered with a sixth-place free, leaving her with the bronze. What bolsters Kostner's results, time after time, is her amazing speed and glorious ability to present her program - regardless of how her nerves affect her jumps.

American champion Rachael Flatt's weak fourth-place finish in the short meant that she had lots of ground to make up in the free. Even with winning the free program, Flatt was only able to capture the silver and will have to wait to see if she qualifies for the GP final.

Junior world champion Kanako Murakami of Japan captured the title in overall points, but with two second-place programs. Marakami, along with Kostner, has now qualified for the GP final in her first senior season.

The men's event started out with Nobunari Oda of Japan in the lead after the short program. He was poised to take the title until making a significant error in the free, where he miscalculated the number of combinations that would be counted. As a result, he lost about nine points for a jump element (combination) that was invalid - and therefore worth zero  - near the end of his program.

The title went to Japanese teammate and defending World champion Daisuke Takahashi, who earned his second GP title and his spot for the GP final.

American Armin Mahbanoozadeh, who is in his second season as a senior, moved up from fourth after the short program to take the bronze, his first at a GP event.

The ice dance event was dramatic with the American team of Meryl Davis and Charlie White, the defending Olympic and world silver medallists, taking their second GP title and claiming their berth for the GP final.

Going into the free dance, Canadians Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier had a very slim 0.93 advantage over teammates and defending Four Continents champions Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje. When it was all said and done, Crone and Poirier were able to hold on for the silver while Weaver and Poje struggled with the position in one of their lifts, which cost them some points and contributed to their drop to fourth place.

The American brother and sister team of Maia and Alexander Shibutani seized the moment and, on the strength of a very well-skated free dance, moved up to take their second GP bronze medal of the season.

(Photo of Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy by Gabriel Bouys/Getty Images)

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