Skate America Day Three

The final day of competition. I've gotten used to this weather here in Southern California....it'll be hard to go back to Illinois where the weather is...not as nice.

The Pairs in general I thought skated very well. Savchenko and Szolkowy made a great recovery to jump from 5th to the win. Their free skate is awesome and very different. Zhang and Zhang were not able to bring the expressiveness they had in the short and dropped to second after a lifeless program. Moore-Towers and Moscovitch had an amazing performance to take the bronze. Loved the Henry V music choice. Finishing 4th was Denney and Coughlin who had a gorgeous skate and I thought...wait for it...should have won! There was some Twitter back and forth about how their skating comes across on T.V. versus in person. In the arena they brought the house down...but somehow that didn't translate to broadcast. In any case, they were fantastic and I'm scratching my head about their placement. The rest of the pairs field was somewhat lack luster. Poor Mary Beth Marley learned a lesson in tough competitions today...she had real trouble keeping on her feet on the jump elements.

The ladies began with the battle of the pinks which Ksenia Makarova won despite the fact her program (and music choices) were a hot mess. In the final group Caroline Zhang and Haruka Imai had poor performances, Haruka managed to stay in fourth despite finishing 9th in the free...Caroline dropped to 6th. Viktoria Helgesson turned in a lovely skate set to Sunset Boulevard. The choreography was impressive and I think she outdid herself by snatching the bronze medal! The battle for the gold was desperately close between Kostner and Czisny. Carolina skated first and turned in a wonderful program. Again, she picked a piece of music that works with her style and she didn't seem like she was trying too hard. Czisny skated last and had several technical mistakes but also managed some good content as well (again she seems to be fighting better than she has in past seasons which is good). When the scores went up she had lost the free to Carolina but had enough left in the gas tank from the short to take the title.

Results here.

The exhibition performances were quite good. Highlights included a positively beaming Kevin Van Der Perren, a simplistically beautiful Savchenko and Szolkowy, an awkward mambo from Denney and Coughlin, and stunning beauty from Alissa Czisny.

The first Grand Prix event is out of the way...five more to go. The next time I blog from an event will be the Grand Prix Final in Quebec City, Canada.