Belbin and Agosto win Skate America title

With nary a challenge from their nearest competitors, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto ran away with the gold medal with a performance that earned the four-time U.S. champions a partial standing ovation from the crowd in Reading, Penn. France’s Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat held on to claim the silver, while Italians Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali earned bronze.

Skating to a compilation of music composed by Frederick Chopin, Belbin and Agosto earned 97.68 points for the program that represented a feeling of being in a dream.

“What we are trying to portray is the ideal dream of what love should be in everybody’s mind before they live their lives and become jaded,” explained Agosto.

The music arranged by Emmy Award winning composer Joseph LoDuca represents the first…

Meissner takes gold at Skate America

For the second day in a row, the winner of the freeskate at 2007 Skate America had to settle for the silver medal overall. Japan’s Miki Ando, who is currently nursing a shoulder injury, bested overnight leader Kimmie Meissner of the U.S. in tonight’s competition. However, she was unable to overcome the deficit that she accumulated in the short program and settled for the silver medal.

None of the ladies were able to skate a clean program, and many were penalized by a strict Technical Specialist who downgraded 22 triple jumps in just this portion of the competition among the 11 competitors.

Meissner, who skated a newly choreographed program to Puccini’s Nessun Dorma from Turandot, made mistakes on four jumps. In addition to stepping out of a triple salchow and popping her…

Belbin and Agosto maintain lead in Reading

Competition continued today at Skate America with the Original Dance (OD), which was a hit with the skaters and the audience alike. The OD for the 2007-08 season is the Folk-Country dance. For the first time, the competitors had the opportunity to choose from a multitude of folk dances that not only allowed the skaters to express themselves as they wish, but also allowed the audience a glimpse into different cultures through the music, movements, and costumes of the colorful and sometimes brave competitors.

Leading the pack were overnight leaders Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, who dressed in hillbilly garb, skated to a blend of bluegrass and country waltz music that was an immediate hit with the audience.

The U.S. champions…

Dube and Davison win gold in Reading

With no expectations of placement, Canadians Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison came into the 2007 Skate America competition with simple goals; to earn 60 points in the short program and 110 points in the freeskate. Not only did they exceed their own goals in terms of score, but in the process they won the competition over the more experienced Chinese team of Qing Pang and Jian Tong.

“We knew that we could strive to be close (to the Chinese),” Davison said excitedly. “We didn’t know that we would be this close!”

Dube and Davison skated a spiritual and haunting program to The Blower’s Daughter by Damien Rice that began like a dream. Opening with a clean double twist that moved into…

Meissner leads ladies at Skate America

The ladies event was a highly anticipated competition that included the debut of current Junior World Champion Caroline Zhang of the United States on the senior circuit, as well as an exciting meeting of current World Champion Miki Ando from Japan and former World Champion Kimmie Meissner of the USA.

When the skating was complete, it was Meissner who sat atop the leader board with a total of 59.24 points, far off of her personal best of 64.67, but enough to fend off a strong challenge by Ando and Zhang.

Meissner was able to capitalize on small mistakes from her fellow competitors even as she skated a program with similar technical content. In fact, only three-tenths of a point separated the top free in the technical elements, but it was…

Takahashi takes gold at Skate America

In the men’s competition, it was a case of one skater winning the battle with another winning the war. In what turned out to be a closer competition than expected, USA’s Evan Lysacek won the free skate with an inspired performance to Puccini’s Tosca, but was unable to overcome the deficit that he had incurred in the previous night’s short program.

Overnight leader Daisuke Takahashi of Japan skated a flawed program with two major mistakes; nevertheless, he was able to win the gold medal for the second time in three years with help from commanding lead of his flawless short program.

“I am happy with the result,” Takahashi cautiously stated. “But I am not happy with the skating.”

The two-time and current Japanese champion opened his Romeo and Juliet program with a gigantic quadruple toeloop…

Belbin and Agosto waltz to the lead in Reading

Skate America is the first of six events of the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix (GP) series and is being held at the Sovereign Center, Oct. 26-28, in Reading, Penn.

Approximately 57 skaters from 13 different countries are competing for points and global prize monies totaling $180,000 in U.S. dollars. The points will go toward qualification for the Grand Prix Final of Figure Skating in which the top six competitors from each discipline will be invited to compete for a total purse of $272,000 U.S. dollars.

The skaters were seeded and invited for the six GP events according to the results of the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships. Competitors who finished first through sixth place in each discipline are considered seeded and are assigned to…

Dube and Davison lead pairs at Skate America

In a small field of competitors, Canadians Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison took the lead after the short despite skating an error-laden program. The tandem barely edged out top-seeded Qing Pang and Jian Tong of China, who also had a disappointing skate.

Performing to Galicia Flamenco by Gino D’Auri, Dube stepped out of the opening side-by-side triple Salchows and later put a hand down on a throw triple loop. However, the team earn positive grades of execution for their split double twist with a lutz entry, a lift, and two spins.

Despite the mistakes, the Canadian champions earned superior levels on many of their other elements which allowed them to slip past the Chinese by .48 of a point with a new personal best of 60.80 points.

“Our goal coming out was…