Team USA Wins Three Medals, Including Pairs Gold on Day Two at Nebelhorn
by Tatiana Flade, Special to U.S. Figure Skating Online |
| Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski |
2006 Nebelhorn Trophy Results and Photos
2006 JGP Norway Results and Photos
(9/29/06) - The U.S. pairs went one-two Friday at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany. Coming back from a fourth-place finish after the short program, Brooke Castile & Ben Okolski delivered a strong performance and captured their first gold medal at an international competition. Julia Vlassov & Drew Meekins also performed well to claim the silver medal in what was their first international senior event.
Skating to �Requiem for a Dream,� Castile and Okolski reeled off a high double twist, a throw triple loop (she slightly touched down), a double Axel-double toe sequence, strong lifts, a throw triple Salchow and a side-by-side double toe to score 100.09 points. The team pulled up to first with a total of 144.98 points.
�This is just my favorite program I ever had,� Castile said. �I don't have to think what I do, I just go. I just love that program. We fed off the energy of the audience, and it just felt great.�
�We forgot completely about yesterday,� said Okolski, referring to their short program performance. �We went out like it was a new competition. We didn't have great practices - they were about the same as our short program - and we just thought, �We'll forget all about it and go out with the mindset, if we skate well, we're going to do well.' And we did that,�
Vlassov and Meekins had to overcome a shaky start into their �Warsaw Concerto� routine when they aborted their first lift. But the reigning World Junior champions went on like nothing had happened and landed the double Axel-double flip sequence, a throw triple loop and Salchow as well as a double twist and a side-by-side double Lutz. They finished with their excellent backwards outside death spiral and were awarded 94.15 points. Overall, they accumulated 141.12 points.
�We were not together, I kind of slipped at the take off,� Vlassov said about the mistake on the lift. �We're happy that we were able to skate a clean program afterwards. It was definitely a good achievement for us.�
�We just looked at each other and we both said, �Just forget it,'� Meekins added. �It's a new element for us. It wasn't so surprising like it never happened before.�
Vlassov agreed that the pair is used to moving on.
�We practice like that � if we miss something we just keep going, so I think that definitely helped in this performance,� Vlassov said.
Overnight leaders Angelika Pylkina and Niklas Hogner of Sweden struggled with some elements and slipped to third with 139.68 points. Pylkina fell on the throw triple Salchow and two-footed the side-by-side triple Salchow.
Men's Free Skate
Parker Pennington won the silver medal in the men's event. He hit a triple Lutz, triple Axel, a triple Axel-double toe combination, triple loop-double toe combination, triple Lutz-double toe-double loop combination and a triple Salchow in his program to �Chess� and �Art on Ice.� His only mistake was a doubled flip.
The 22-year-old also produced two level four spins and two level three spins to score 127.78 points which added up to a total of 187.82 points.
�I was pleased with it. I thought I did a good job today and yesterday,� Pennington said. �I felt more connected with the audience, more into the program and that was my goal. I wasn't really coming here necessarily to skate a clean long. It would have been nice, and I just had the one mistake on the flip, doubling it, but overall I thought it was a big improvement. It's a pretty good way to start up the season. It gives me a lot of confidence. I'll be going back to training and hopefully get the quad for the season. I was very close to landing a quad Lutz.�
Short program leader Tomas Verner from the Czech Republic delivered a strong free skate as well to win the gold for the first time after placing third here last year. The 20-year-old Czech champion opened his performance to �Lessiem Spirit Voices� with a quad toe followed by a triple flip and four more triples including a triple Axel.
He also was awarded a level four for all of his four spins. Verner earned 133.00 points and racked up a total of 194.46 points.
�This season started better than the last one,� Verner said. �I was third here and first at Karl Sch�fer. I hope it will continue the same way it started. It was difficult because it was the first competition. I felt very solid in practice, but now my legs were shaky. Nevertheless, I landed the quad and the triple Axel, and that was the most important points for today.�
Vaughn Chipeur of Canada landed six triple jumps to move up from a 10th-place finish in the short to capture the bronze medal at 167.04 points.
Derrick Delmore unfortunately struggled with some jumps and slipped from third to seventh with 154.16 points. The 27-year-old fell on his opening triple Lutz, and his triple Axel was underroated and downgraded, as was a triple toe later into his routine to �Harlem to Madagascar.�
�I'm truly disappointed,� he said. �I was kind of taken by surprise when I fell on my opening jump. The Lutz is something that's really solid for me in practice, and I think I lost my focus a little bit and put more pressure on myself instead of just staying relaxed and doing what I usually do in practice.�
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| Bebe Liang (with coach Ken Congemi) is in first after the ladies short program. |
Bebe Liang skated first in the ladies short program and remained in first place until the end of the event.
Liang opened her program with an excellent flying sit spin, followed by a triple Lutz-double toe combination, a triple flip and a double Axel. Her spins were fast and well centered, earning her a level four for two of them. Liang scored 53.89 points and has a comfortable lead heading into tomorrow's free skate. Her routine was the only clean ladies program of the day.
�It was nice skating early,� she said. �It was right after the warm-up, so I felt really good. I'm used to skating later at night, but whatever time I perform, I do the best that I can. I was just taking my time and really enjoying it. So I had a lot of fun. I did a local competition at home, but this is my first international competition of the season.�
Amanda Billings of Canada finished second with 46.77 points. She stepped out of her triple Lutz in combination with a double toe and missed her solo jump, a Salchow. But the Canadian got all level threes and fours for her spins and footwork.
Arina Martynova of Russia is currently ranked third with 46.03 points. The Muscovite fell on her opening triple Lutz attempt but recovered to land a triple flip and a double Axel.
Katy Taylor is within striking distance of the podium with 45.61 points. Performing to �Happy Feet,� the Texan hit a triple flip, but her Lutz in combination with a double toe was downgraded and she stumbled out of her double Axel.
�I was really pleased with it,� Taylor said. �It was the debut of my short program. The first competition is always hard. I was more nervous than usual because I hadn't competed for a while. So I was really happy with the outcome. I think I rushed the double Axel and I stepped out of it, but other than that I felt good.�
Original Dance
Morgan Matthews & Max Zavozin finished first in the original dance with 51.89 points but remained in second place overall with 82.67 points.
The 2005 World Junior champions put out a smooth and confident tango to �Autumn in Buenos Aires� that contained a level four rotational lift and level four straight line lift.
�We felt very comfortable today,� Matthews said. �We're just excited for tomorrow.�
�We had a pretty good skate and our coach was happy with us,� Zavozin added.
The couple said the process for picking out its tango music was a long one.
�We tried to do something very different.� Zavozin said �We actually were skating to two different programs before this one.�
Sinead Kerr and John Kerr (Great Britain) retained their lead with a passionate interpretation of �Libertango,� scoring 51.65 points, which added up to 83.54 overall. They showed many changes of holds in their diagonal step sequence and interesting lifts, but their spin appeared slow, and Sinead stumbled at the end of the program just before the finishing pose.
The brother-and-sister team was still pleased with how they did because the original dance is fairly new for them.
�We came here to get some feedback,� Sinead said.
Another brother-and-sister team, Alexandra Zaretski and Roman Zaretski of Israel, are currently in third place at 79.62 points.
Kate Slattery & C.G. Lee finished ninth and currently have 62.65 points. They seemed nervous and their program looked a bit rough around the edges.
�I just don't know,� Lee said. �I'm not happy about myself at this competition. I don't care about the place, but I care about my performance. It was not me today. I couldn't control myself and there were balance problems in the program today. But tomorrow is one more day, one more chance. I want to be at a 100 percent.�
