The second edition of the ISU Shanghai Trophy, a combined Short Track Speed Skating, Synchronized Skating and Figure Skating event, was held at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center over the weekend.
Synchronized Skating
5 teams competed at the ISU Shanghai Trophy 2017 in the Short Program and Free Skating. Reigning world Champions, Team Paradise from Russia skated two strong programs and finished first with 202.06 points bagging the gold medal. Marigold Ice Unity (FIN) came second in the Short Program and Free Skating totalling 191.00 points while Team Surprise from Sweden got off to a shaky start ranking fourth after the Short Program, but they made their way to the podium by skating a solid Free Skating program accumulating 182.97 points.
Although Les Supremes Seniors from Canada finished third in the Short Program, they struggled in the Free Skating and finished fifth, just missing the podium. Team Haydenettes from the USA finished fifth.
Figure Skating
In the Figure Skating competition, the skaters only performed their Free Skating Program. Skating to “House of the Rising Sun”, Alexander Samarin (RUS) grabbed the gold medal with 175.65 points. The competition was very close between Moris Kvitelashvili (GEO) and Denis Ten (KAZ) with only 0.77 between them. But Kvitelashvili (157.78) managed to edge out Ten (157.01). Australian Brendan Kerry finished fourth (149.15) and He Zhang from China delighted the local crowd despite his fifth place.
Elena Radionova from Russia headlined the Ladies competition and she did not disappoint. With 131.06 points she took the title. Elizabet Tursynbaeva (KAZ) skated to “The Prayer” by Celine Dion and Andrea Boccelli and produced a strong performance (128.45) finishing ahead of Radionova’s compatriot Maria Sotskova (128.18). Hanul Kim (KOR), Kailani Craine (AUS) and Mocol Cristini (ITA) followed.
In the Pair Skating competition, Wenjing Sui / Cong Han (140.37) and Cheng Peng / Yang Jin (129.40) pleased the crowed on home ice with their performances. Finally Kristina Astakhova / Alexei Rogonov (RUS) finished fourth.
The Russians Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev blue the competition away with their Free Dance performance (113.10) but Charlene Guignard / Marco Fabbri showed what they could do with their Free Dance Program (102.96). The French couple Marie-Jade Laurault / Romain Le Gac finished third at the Shanghai Trophy, but almost got cought up by Alla Loboda / Pavel Drozd from Russia with only 0.46 points between them. Hong Chen / Yan Zhao gained valuable experience on the international stage despite their fifth place finish.
Short Track Speed Skating
China fielded a strong Ladies Team winning 5 out of a possible 6 individual medals, the Men and International Gender Mixed Team Event m added another three medals to their overall tally.
The Chinese Ladies swept the 1500m, podium headed by Yutong Han, followed by Jinyu Li and Yihan Guo. In the 1000m Guo took the gold while Li clenched her second silver medal. Ji Yoo Kim (KOR) completed the podium with her bronze medal. While in the Men's 1000m Jiwon Park from Korea took the gold closely followed by his compatriot Yong Jin Lim and Vladislav Bykanov (ISR). Park impressed also in the 1500m by winning another tight race. Bykanov won his second medal of the event, but this time it was silver. Ziwei Ren from China took the bronze medal, giving the home crowd a great reason to cheer.
International Gender Mixed Team Event
Each Team was composed of two Men and two Ladies Skaters, preferably from the same country, but if not possible of different countries. The International Gender Team Event was made up of three different races, 444m, 777m and the 2000m Mixed Gender Relay. Each Skater or Team, gained points with the winner gaining 12 points, for second place 11 points, third 10 points etc. The Team with the most points at the end was declared the winner.
Team China 1 won the International Mixed Gender Team Event. Hongzhi Xu, Yutong Han, Ziwei Ren and Yihan Guo gained a total of 43 points with one first place, two second place and a fourth-place finish. Team China 3 composed of Chunyu Qu, Aili Xu, Kai An and Haidong Jia finished second with 37 points while Canada 1 (Camille de Serres-Rainville, Audrey Phaneuf, Steven Dubois and Cedrik Blais) took the bronze in this unique team event.
The ISU Shanghai Trophy 2017 will be available on demand on the ISU YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SkatingISU
Results for Figure Skating and Synchronized Skating are available here and Short Track Speed Skating will be available here.