The 2015 World Champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva of Russia skated to a confident lead in the Ladies Short Program at the Skate Canada International in Laval, QC, on Friday. Japan’s Wakaba Higuchi was second and Mako Yamashita third.
Performing to “Assassin’s Tango”, Tuktamysheva killed it in her program, hitting a triple Axel, triple toeloop-triple toeloop and a triple Lutz. The 2015 World Champion collected 74.22 points, a season’s best.
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS) 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)
“I feel great. I skated a clean short program with the triple Axel for the first time (this season). I am so happy that I did everything what I want,” the 2015 European Champion said. “Not a long time ago, I remembered how I came to Skate Canada for my first Grand Prix and everything seemed so easy. I didn’t think it was such a serious event, I just enjoyed competing at the senior level. I had a lot of ups and downs since, and now I want to put all that experience I have into my programs. I hope I will be able to skate well tomorrow.”
Wakaba Higuchi (JPN) 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)
Higuchi completed a double Axel, triple Lutz-triEliple toe and level four spins in her upbeat routine to “Energia” by Sofi Tukker, but she underrotated the triple flip. The 2018 World silver medalist scored 66.51 points. “I am happy to perform better than in practice and that I didn’t pop any jumps. That was good for me,” the 17-year-old said. “Compared to my last competition,
in my practice I tried to improve each element, to do better jumps and to spin faster.”
Mako Yamashita (JPN) 2018©International Skating Union
Yamashita’s performance to “Una voce poco fa” from “The Barber of Seville” included a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination, a triple flip and double Axel. 2018 World Junior bronze medalist earned 66.30 points, which was as for the top two skaters a new season’s best. “I was able to have fun when skating today and I did not make any big mistakes,” the 15-year-old commented.
Starr Andrews (USA) improved on her performance from Skate America from last week to come fourth on 64.77 points. Mariah Bell (USA) ranked fifth (63.35 points) and Elizabet Tursynbaeva (KAZ) placed sixth (61.19 points). Two-time World Champion Evgenia Medvedeva (RUS) stands in seventh place as she missed her triple flip and had no combination (60.83 points).
