The ISU World Team Trophy in Figure Skating 2013 continued Friday in Tokyo, Japan with the Pairs Short Program, the Free Dance and Men's Free Skating.
Team USA skates to lead
Team USA skated to the lead as the ISU World Team Trophy in Figure Skating 2013 continued. They now have 55 points. Team Canada moved up from fourth to second at 50 points while Team Japan slipped from first to third with 48 points.
Today was a long day at the rink for me. It was lots of sitting and watching skating. I'm so proud of my team because they made all of that entertaining. Our dance team was incredible, our pair team was great and I'm proud of our men. It was a great day for Team USA, U.S. team captain Ashley Wagner said. The team event is something new to skating especially for us singles skaters. We are not used to working together as a team. Competitions like this are a great place for us to get our feet wet and see how the team event might be at the Olympics, she continued.
I think today was great. The Pairs team did very well, we have a strong pair that is really consistent and we rely on them. The Men's event was a team work, Kevin (Reynolds) did all the work really; he did the biggest part of today. I said yesterday today is going to be moving day and we saw a lot of changes in the rankings. I'm really happy with how we worked as a team to be where we are, Canada's captain Patrick Chan told the press.
Although the Japanese team does not have a pair, I am very relieved that I have the opportunity to speak to you (at the press conference) at the end of the day. Tomorrow with Pairs and Ladies I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm sure that our team members are going to do their best and I'm looking forward to seeing it, the Japanese captain Daisuke Takahashi noted.
Ice Dancers Madison Chock/Evan Bates contributed 12 points to Team USA's score and were the top ranked U.S. skaters on day two. They delivered a smooth dance to Doctor Zhivago, earning a level four for the lifts, spin and twizzles (total score 164.91 points). We're very happy with that. We've been working on this program since July and we've seen it progress through the year, Chock commented. We've been working on this program for what feels like forever. This was our last performance. We told each other we wanted to enjoy it and that's what we did, added Bates. In the Men's event, Max Aaron landed two quad Salchows and moved up from sixth to fourth (236.62 points), while Jeremy Abbott slipped from fourth to sixth after some errors (231.84 points). Pair skaters Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir came fifth in the Short Program.
Team Canada moved up when their skaters collected three second places. First Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford picked up 11 points for their team by coming second in the Pairs Short Program. Their routine set to La Boheme was highlighted by a triple twist, side by side triple Lutz and throw triple Lutz (69.94 points). We weren't sure what to expect coming here, because we were coming off such a big high at the World Championships. To get back to training was a little bit difficult. It was hard for us to focus. I think we did a really good job today. We really loved the short program we had that year and it gave us a lot of success, Duhamel said.
Ice Dancers Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje finished second as well in their event with 160.08 points total score. Their dance to Humanity in Motion was highlighted by difficult lifts and intricate step sequences, but she fell on a transition move (160.08 points). We feel good. We put it all out there today. It was a little bit more difficult today than in London, but I think that we did a great job and really capped the season off well. It wasn't perfect of course, but just to be able to be here and skate the rest of the season again is a gift for us and so we're happy no matter what the outcome, Weaver said. Patrick Chan and Kevin Reynolds placed second and third in the Men's event. Overnight leader Chan dropped one spot as he fell on a triple Axel, triple Lutz and the entry of his final spin (240.21 points). I've been feeling off since I got here. It's been really a lot of hard work trying to get myself motivated to do the program. It's hard to go back to training after Worlds, Chan noted. Reynolds went for three quads and hit a quad Salchow and toe while another quad toe (in combination with triple toe and double loop) was underrotated. He pulled up from 9th to third (237.65 points).
Daisuke Takahashi earned 12 points for Team Japan when he won the Men's event. He produced eight triple jumps but stumbled on his quad toeloop (249.52 points). I am not satisfied with my performance. I wanted to end the season with a good program. I finished first because of other peoples' mistakes. So it feels not perfect to be in first, but it feels nice, the multiple World medalist shared. Takahito Mura remained in fifth place (233.68 points) while Cathy Reed/Chris Reed finished fourth in the Ice Dance event (141.75 points). Japan didn't enter a Pairs team and didn't receive points in this event.
Team Russia slipped from third to fourth at now 42 points. The day started well for the Russians when Tatiana Voloshozhar/Maxim Trankov secured 12 points with their win in the Pairs Short Program. They reigning World Champions produced a triple twist, side by side triple Salchow, throw triple loop in their routine set to The Godfather (74.41 points). We skated like in a show, it is like competition and show together. It is a special experience for us to skate for the team. We finished our season very well with a good short. It was the last time for us to skate our Godfather program and we'll miss it, because we love to skate it, Trankov commented. Ksenia Monko/Kirill Khaliavin did not let their team down and defended the third place in the Ice Dance competition with 149.27 points. However, Konstantin Menshov, who was ranked third in the short program, dislocated his shoulder when falling on the triple Axel in his Free Skating and had to withdraw. Subsequently Team Russia only got points from Maxim Kovtun's 8th place finish in the Men's event.
Team France is ranked fifth with 35 points. Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres were the highest scoring team members as they placed third in the Pairs Short Program with a clean performance (58.78 points). Ice Dancers Pernelle Carron/Lloyd Jones remained in fifth place while Brian Joubert and Romain Ponsart finished 7th and 12th in the Men's.
Team China is still in sixth at 32 points. Pair skaters Cheng Peng/Hao Zhang came fourth in the Pairs Short Program and Ice Dancers Xiaoyu Yu/Chen Wang were sixth. Men's competitors Han Yan and Yi Wang finished 9th and 10th.
The ISU World Team Trophy in Figure Skating 2013 continues Saturday with the Pairs and Ladies Free Skating.
For full results, please refer to Results