Kailani Craine of Australia took first place in the Ladies Short Program as Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany continued Friday. Sweden’s Matilda Algotsson is standing in second place followed by Nathalie Weinzierl of Germany.
Craine landed a triple loop-double toe, triple flip and double Axel in her routine to ”Dream A Little Dream Of Me” to set a new personal best score of 58.02 points. ”Of course, I was nervous, because it’s an Olympic spot, my dream on the line, but I definitely prepared, I couldn’t have done anything else in training to prepare for this moment. I’ve been really present in my training and I tried to mimick competition in my training”, the Australian Champion said about competing in the Olympic qualifying event.
Algotsson’s program to ”Turn To Stone” by Ingrid Michaelson featured a triple Lutz-double toe combination, a triple flip and double Axel. The 19-year-old achieved a new personal best with 56.91 points as well. ”I tried not to make too big deal out of it. I just tried to do what I can do and tried my best. That worked out today, but it’s exciting to compete for an Olympic spot”, the Swedish skater shared.
Skating to ”Caruso”, Weinzierl completed a triple Lutz-double toe combination and a double Axel, but she missed the triple loop. The German Champion earned 55.48 points. ”For me this is also an important event, because we (German ladies) compete in three Challenger events and at Natioanls for the one Olympic spot. I was in Sochi in 2014 and I decided right away I want to go again, because it is really something special to compete
Anna Khychenkova (UKR) in fourth place (55.05 points), Viveca Lindfors (FIN) in fifth (53.75 points), Alexia Paganini (SUI) in sixth (53.59 points) and Isadora Williams (BRA) in seventh (53.44 points) remain close to the podium.
The ISU Challenger Series Nebelhorn Trophy 2017 is the designated Olympic Qualifying Event this season. 25 Men, 34 Ladies, 11 Pairs and 16 Ice Dance couples compete for six available spots in Men’s, Ladies and Ice Dance and five spots in Pair Skating. More spots might become available if countries return Olympic quota places. 24 Olympic spots for Men and Ladies were allocated at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2017 and six more spots are available at Nebelhorn Trophy. 16 Olympic spots for Pairs were allocated at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2017 and five more spots are available at Nebelhorn Trophy. Originally four spots were available, but since France returned their second Pairs quota place, a fifth spot has opened up for the competitors at Nebelhorn Trophy. 19 Olympic spots for Ice Dance were allocated at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2017 and six more spots are available at Nebelhorn Trophy. Originally five spots were available, but since Denmark returned their Ice Dance quota place, a sixth spot has opened up for the competitors at Nebelhorn Trophy.
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