Kozuka breaks through on the Grand Prix

Takahiko Kozuka finally made a breakthrough in the Grand Prix series this season. The 2006 World Junior Champion, who is now competing in his third senior Grand Prix season, is much more consistent than he was in the past.

The 19-year-old won the gold at Skate America in Oct., and then followed up with a silver medal at Trophée Eric Bompard two weeks ago. As a result, he has qualified for his first Grand Prix Final and is currently second in the GP standings for the Men’s division.

The breakthrough comes at the right time as Japan’s leading male skater, Daisuke Takahashi, is undergoing knee surgery and will be out for the whole season.

Kozuka, a shy young man with a sweet…

Khokhlova and Novitski prevail at Cup of Russia

In the dramatic showdown, Russia’s Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski prevailed over their more decorated compatriots Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin to win their first Grand Prix gold medal of their career.

USA’s Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who stood in fourth after a disastrous Original Dance, placed second in the Free Dance and moved up to third place overall capture the bronze.

Khokhlova and Novitski opened their free dance to Paganini’s Caprise 24 and Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini with a level four twizzle sequence executed in perfect unison, and the good start allowed the 2008 European bronze medalists to leave the anxiety behind and deliver the rest of the program with power and confidence required by the music.

The…

Kostner snags gold in Moscow

Carolina Kostner of Italy rose from second after the Short Program to capture the gold, while USA’s Rachael Flatt claimed the silver.

Overnight leader Fumie Suguri of Japan slipped from first to third overall to settle for bronze.

Kostner won the long program and the gold despite a flawed performance of last year’s free program to the music of Dumsky Trio. The skater, who cited the need ‘to feel more like herself on the ice’ for returning to the old program, opened her routine with an excellent triple flip-triple toe loop combination, a slightly flawed triple Lutz-double toe loop-double loop, and a strong triple flip. However, the current World silver medalist later fell out of a triple loop entry, underrotated and fell on a triple toe loop (in combination with a double Axel), and stepped out of her final double Axel.

The comfort of the old program allowed the two-time European Champion to relax and enjoy her performance, which was especially evident…

Domnina and Shabalin maintain lead at Cup of Russia

Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski of Russia won the Original Dance with an entertaining performance, but remain in second place going into the Free Dance.

The students of Irina Zhuk and Alexander Svinin were the most energetic couple on the ice, and their routine to Sam’s Blues and Puttin’ on the Ritz allowed them to post the best technical score of the night.

“Our dance did not have grand idea,” explained Khokhlova. “it’s just the style of the period. Let’s say a bar, people meeting each other, men and women flirting with each other…The second part is more entertaining.”

The 2008 World bronze medalists began their performance with their trademark dance spin, which received level four, and went on to execute a level four twizzle sequence. They followed up with a daring straightline level four lift in which Novitski holds his partner upside down while balancing on one foot, and both their step sequences received a level three.

The Russian Champions held nothing…

Zhang and Zhang take pairs title at Cup of Russia

China’s Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang won the Pairs Long Program despite placing second in the long program. Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov of Russia captured the silver, while Ukrainians Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov claimed the bronze.

Kawaguchi and Smirnov ran into problems with side-by-side jumps, with Kawaguchi doubling the second jump in an intended triple toe loop-triple toe loop sequence and later falling on the double Axel. However, the team executed a nearly clean throw quad salchow, as well as a second throw triple loop in the second part of the program.

The students of Tamara Moskvina attempted some new elements, but not all of them worked as planned, and their final lift received only a level one. The choreography of their program to Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci told the story of a mime pinning after a beautiful girl who refuses him, and the 2008 Russian Champions carried the theme throughout. They scored 110.51 for first place in the long,…

Joubert wins gold in Moscow

France’s Brian Joubert won the Men’s event despite placing fourth in the long program, while Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic took silver. Alban Preaubert of France rose from fourth to third overall to claim the bronze.

Verner won the long program with an inspired Tango routine which featured an excellent quad toe loop, a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination and a triple Axel. The 2008 European Champion, however, stumbled out of a triple Salchow landing, two-footed the second triple Axel and popped a second combination into a double Lutz- double toe-single loop. In the end, he received 149.74 points for the long program and 222.94 points overall.

“I’m happy to be second here,” said the 22-year-old. “It was a better performance than at Cup of China. It’s good that I keep improving from one competition to the next, but I’m not entirely satisfied with my result and with the points I got.”

Despite the mistakes, Verner’s overall performance was one of…

Domnina and Shabalin lead at Cup of Russia

The fifth event of the 2008-09 ISU Grand Prix Series continues with the Cup of Russia which is being held in Moscow, Russia at the Ice Palace Megasport.

Approximately 58 skaters from 16 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 Grand Prix Final (GPF) will be held Dec. 10-14, 2008, in Goyang City, South Korea.

Cup of Russia kicked off on Nov 21 with the Compulsory Dance.

The Compulsory Dance (CD) of the event was the…

Suguri leads ladies at Cup of Russia

Fumie Suguri of Japan won the Ladies Short Program event by virtue of being one the few skaters to avoid major mistakes. The 2008 Skate Canada silver medalists opened her program to Fanfan by Nicolas Jorelle with a nice triple Lutz-double toe loop combination, a triple flip out of steps, and a double Axel out of a spread eagle. Except for her layback, which was graded a level 2, all other non-jumping elements received levels three and four which allowed her to score 58.30 points for her romantic routine.

Suguri, however, was disappointed by the result, saying that she had worked hard on improving her program components score.

“After my previous event (Skate Canada), I worked a lot on transitions to maximize my score under…