Kim decimates ladies’ field at Skate America

The ladies took to the stage for the final competition of Skate America yesterday afternoon. It turned out to be a contest for the silver medal, as South Korea’s Yu-Na Kim ran away with the title – outscoring her nearest competition by 20 points.

“I’m satisfied with both of my programs,” said a humble Kim. “I am happy to win the gold medal, but there is still so much to work on.”

Kim opened her Scheherazade program with a huge triple flip-triple toe loop combination that earned the Worlds bronze medalist a whopping total of 10.50 points. Immediately after that, however, Kim popped a planned triple loop into a single, but landed four more triple jumps to score a total of 193.45 points…

Delobel and Schoenfelder win gold at Skate America

The third and final day of Skate America proved to be a crazy one in the world of ice dance, with more movement among the top ranks in the free dance competition. However, the top six teams after the original dance maintained their positions at the end of the competition.

Leading the way and winning their first Skate America title, was France’s Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder. Skating a modern dance to music by Pink Floyd, the World Champions struggled to achieve top levels on several of their elements, and had to settle for second place in the free dance. However, the couple’s overnight total carried them to the win over Americans Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto.

“Tonight we skated the best program that we have so far this season,” Schoenfelder said. “So we think that we did very good, but we know that we have a lot of work to do on the technique. We knew before coming here that…

Delobel and Schoenfelder maintain lead at Skate America

The second day of Skate America began with an era of flappers, war brides, and swing clubs, and today it was all brought to the ice in the form of an Original Dance competition. Competitors were required to choose from rhythms developed in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, and it was an entertaining day of skating for all who were lucky enough to witness it.

Overnight leaders, Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France maintained their lead, and skated a zippy program to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boys by The Andrews Sisters. Portraying an American nurse and a French grandfather at the end of World War II, the World Champions told a story of celebration and newfound youth.

“Isabelle is an…

Savchenko and Szolkowy catapult to gold in Everett

For everything that Russia’s Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov did well yesterday in the short program, they were punished for in today’s free skate. After skating a magical short program to take the overnight lead, the Russians completely fell apart in the free skate, falling a total of three times and finishing in third place on the strength of their scores from the previous night.

Instead, World Champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy walked away with the 2008 Skate America title leaving their closest competition in the dust.

The Germans skated a haunting program to music from the Schindler’s List soundtrack and Adagio by Albinoni, using difficult connections and technical elements to score a total of 180.77…

Kim leads at Skate America

The ladies took to the ice for their short programs tonight, with perhaps the most competitive field in the entire series. Because of the absence of some of the competitors from the World Championships last season, Skate America boasts five of the top 15 ladies in the world standings in this competition. Leading the way is the leader after the short program and reigning Worlds Bronze Medalist, South Korean Yu-Na Kim.

Not only did Kim bring a huge fan base with her to Everett, she also brought a technical arsenal that could not be touched by the rest of the field. Kim’s score of 69.50 points was almost 12 points higher than second place finisher Miki Ando…

Kozuka upsets at 2008 Skate America; takes gold

Japan’s Takahiko Kozuka pulled off the upset of the competition thus far in winning the gold medal over USA’s Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek. Kozuka has established himself as a contender to make a splash at the Grand Prix Final.

“The main thing is that I skated well, and was able to keep my head in my skating,” said the Japanese silver medalist. “That makes me happier than winning, but don’t get me wrong, I am very happy to win.”

Kozuka opened his Romeo and Juliet program with an attempt on a quadruple toe loop, but underrotated the jump and then fell. Immediately afterwards, however, he landed a beauty of a triple Axel-triple toe loop…

Delobel and Schoenfelder grab lead in Everett

Skate America is the first of six events of the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix (GP) series and is being held at the Comcast Arena, Oct. 23-26, in Everett, Wash.

Approximately 55 skaters from 14 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 2008 World Figure Skating Championships. Competitors who finished first through sixth place in each discipline are considered…

Mukhortova and Trankov captivate at Skate America

This was the night in pairs skating that is known as a ‘coming out’ party for Russians Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov. Skating to music by Pink Floyd, the European silver medalists performed with the charisma and technical prowess reminiscent of many Russian champions who have come before them. Opening with a powerful, yet somehow delicate split triple twist, Mukhortova and Trankov captivated the audience from the first note of their music.

“We are Russian, so we have skating in our blood,” said an obviously happy Trankov. “We have a great coach (Oleg Vasiliev) who is an Olympic Champion, and he has many secrets on how to train to win.”

The Russian silver medalists executed the only clean program of the night,…