The Junior Grand Prix Final 2003
Reported
by Magdalena Osborne
Part
3: "The Conclusion: Finals and the Exhibition"
There
was quite a crowd there already on Saturday morning for the practices. Half
of the fun in attending competitions is watching the practice sessions. We
rarely get to see whole programs, but many skaters will land jumps and execute
moves frazzled nerves won’t let them do in competition. This holds true
for junior as well as senior skaters.
By the time the free skates started the lower side of the arena open to the
audience was pretty much full. Due to a very small budget the Organizing Committee
had chosen to make the other side accessible only to people with accreditations
and thus needing less security people. It was disappointing in many ways as
it limited the possibilities for interacting with the skaters and coaches
as well as made it look like there was virtually no audience on that side.
Still, credits to the same organizers for letting us watch all the practice
sessions, and for free…
The
ladies started off the free skates and many had
come to see Lina Johansson. It was good to see families with children coming
to watch figure skating and I hope the two recent events hosted by Malmö
have opened people’s eyes for this great sport.
Photo © Cristian Hillbom
www.dansportalen.se |
The
ladies continued to be a bit of a splat fest and 3,5 minutes is a long
time to keep a program interesting while skating clean. There was something
good in each girl’s program but not much of it left a lasting
impression. Two of the Japanese girls attempted triple axels but one
fell and the other two footed the landing. Miki Ando tried a quad salchow
but fell. We did get to see some nice laybacks and spirals and triple
jumps and most of the girls had double axels.
Viktoria Pavuk of Hungary skated to “Rhapsody in rock”
by Swedish pianist Robert Wells and the audience enthusiastically clapped
along. This is a wonderful piece and would do well challenging some
of the numerous tangos, flamencos and Matrixes out there this year.
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The screaming and cheering was deafening as Lina Johansson took the ice. She
was the last skater and knew what she had to do to win. Skating to classical
music she took us for a ride full of triple and double jumps and spins, beautiful
spins! Unfortunately she took a fall on the flip which cost her the gold medal
but she had by far the biggest support from the crowd and flowers and gifts
rained down on the ice after her performance. Competing in your home rink
must be a good feeling!
Photo © Cristian Hillbom
www.dansportalen.se
| Ladies
final results:
1
Miki ANDO, JPN
2 Lina JOHANSSON, SWE
3 Viktoria PAVUK, HUN
4 Mai ASADA, JPN
5 Kimmie MEISSNER, USA
6 Danielle KAHLE, USA
7 Olga NAIDENOVA, RUS
8 Akiko KITAMURA, JPN |
| The
ice was resurfaced and the pairs got ready. Most of the music was enjoyable;
mainly soundtracks from movies. Kokareva/Golovkin however skated to
a lively Rossini medley which started with the overture from “The
Barber in Seville”. And of course there was a Matrix too; we can’t
seem to get away from it this season. Dube/Davison skated to Romeo and
Juliet and did it well but I still remembered Volosozhar/Kharchenko
doing it at Euros, it was to die for! This season they had taken on
“Notre Dame de Paris” and their performance took them to
fourth place. |
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Final results
for the pairs:
1
Jessica DUBE / Bryce DAVISON, CAN
2 Natalia SHESTAKOVA / Pavel LEBEDEV, RUS
3 Maria MUKHORTOVA / Maxim TRANKOV, RUS
4 Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR / Petro KHARCHENKO, UKR
5 Tatiana KOKAREVA / Egor GOLOVKIN, RUS
6 Brittany VISE / Nicolas KOLE, USA
7 Andrea VARRAUX / David PELLETIER, USA
8 Anastasia KUZMINA / Stanislav EVDOKIMOV, RUS
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Blue
carpets were rolled out for the medal ceremony and the ladies
were called out first. Miki Ando was cheered on but the big favorite was not
surprisingly Lina Johansson and she received the well deserved silver medal.
The pairs were also given their medals and the Zamboni came out once again.
Photo © Cristian Hillbom
www.dansportalen.se
A
lot of people left at this point and didn’t return and my guess was
that their definition of the competition started and ended with Lina.
After
the break we were served 8 x 3 minutes of free dance with
outrageous fluorescent costumes (and matching hair and make up) and a variety
of music and rhythms from Carmen to another Matrix. But some of the dancing
was good, very good even with unusual lifts and steps! There were no surprises
in the top final results and I was happy my favorite team got the gold!
Photo © Cristian Hillbom
www.dansportalen.se
Final
results icedance are:
1. Nora HOFFMANN / Attila ELEK, HUN
2. Elena ROMANOVSKAYA / Alexander GRACHEV, RUS
3. Morgan MATTHEWS / Maxim ZAVOZIN, USA
4. Natalia MIKHAILOVA / Arkadi SERGEEV, RUS
5. Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILO, UKR
6. Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI, ISR
7. Ekaterina RUBLEVA / Ivan SHEFER, RUS
8. Olga ORLOVA / Maxim BOLOTIN, RUS |
The
first group of men warmed up and I found myself quite nervous! The
men had been so good in their short programs, but could they keep
it up now? Tomas Verner had landed a quad toe loop during practice and I suspected
he’d try it in his long program.
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It
worked during the warm up! Christopher Mabee was first out skating to
the dramatic “Slaughter on 10th Avenue” and he was much better
here than in the short program! Great triple axels, both in combination
and by itself and funny spins, including a “butt” spin. Well
done and his coach Doug Leigh looked very proud. Tomas Verner did try
a quad but fell and then stepped out of the double axel, too bad! The
next few programs were less than perfect and it was sad to see. But the
temperature rose even before Andrei Griazev started and the cheering was
the loudest since Lina! The clapping and screaming made him smile and
for a good reason. We witnessed what was probably his best skate ever;
he was perfect with two huge triple axels, some flirting with the audience
a la Yagudin and wonderful foot work! His coach was closely following
his every move and even jumped with him behind the boards, what a great
team! I hadn’t seen Andrei smile much while skating during the week,
but he was enjoying this! If the Russian federation know what’s
good they’ll give this guy a spot on the team for Europeans! Andrei
got a partial standing ovation which he well deserved and with marks ranging
from 5.2 to 5.6 he took the lead. But there were two skaters to go.
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I felt sorry for Alexander Uspenski. Skating to “the Phantom of the
opera on ice” he started off by stepping out of the triple axel and
things only got worse from there. But this kid has potential and reminded
me of a young Alexander Abt and I trust he’ll be back.
Evan Lysacek skated last knowing he had to be perfect to hold on to his first
place. He started well with a triple axel/double toeloop combination. The
piano music by Rachmaninov was a little on the overbearing side and I honestly
had a hard time getting excited about Evan’s program. He landed all
his jumps and showed us some interesting moves starting with a spread eagle
and it was all nice and well done, but had it been up to me the gold medal
would have been given to Andrei. In my opinion he is the more artistic of
the two but I’m very much looking forward to seeing both in competition
again.
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Another I will keep my eyes and ears open for is Nobunari Oda. He is another
16 year old with a bright future. So far he is more impressive in practice
than in competition, but given a couple of years… I think that actually
goes for the lot of them. In the future they will be our new elite and
some of them may even be found on the rosters for Turin. |
Photo © Cristian Hillbom
www.dansportalen.se
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Final results
for the men:
1.
Evan LYSACEK, USA
2. Andrei GRIAZEV, RUS
3. Christopher MABEE, CAN
4. Jordan BRAUNINGER, USA
5. Sergei DOBRIN, RUS
6. Tomas VERNER, CZE
7. Alexander USPENSKI, RUS
8. Nobunari ODA, JPN
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Evan’s win
concluded the Junior Grand Prix final but I stayed and watched the medal ceremonies
for the dance and the men. Andrei stole our hearts when he was the only one
of the podium men who gave cheek kisses to the women who presented the medals
and the flowers. He enjoyed the clapping it brought and something told me
he’s not quite as shy as he first appeared…
Photo
© Cristian Hillbom
www.dansportalen.se
The Gala
on Sunday had drawn a bigger crowd than the actual competition and posters
advertising the event mentioned “top skating by the elite”. Well,
the junior elite were there, but as far as top skating goes… I could
try to be nice by just saying it wasn’t quite up to par, but the truth
is that most of it was down right bad! Many in the audience were talking about
"hangovers" and "not taking this seriously" and I’m
afraid remarks about both were justified. These kids, like any others, should
of course be able to have fun while traveling and competing, but fun doesn’t
have to mean getting drunk and they would do well to remember that they represent
their countries, federations and clubs. As winners of medals they are also,
according to ISU regulations, required to skate in the gala. The people in
the audience had paid more for gala tickets than for watching the competition
and many were disappointed. Sloppy spins, wobbly jumps and altogether unfocused
skaters were not what they came to see. Being young is no excuse for being
this irresponsible, so kids, get your acts together and shape up!
There were of course highlights in the gala. Lina skated while Viktoria Krantz
sang newly written music to a Swedish TV series based on books by author Jan
Guillou and it was very nice to watch and hear. It was also fun to see the
only pair and dance team Sweden has. They are a long way from Junior Grand
Prix, but still, their mere existence is a step in the right direction! The
gala ended with the skaters dancing around a Christmas tree.
Photo © Lena Halonen
But the gala
isn’t what I’ll remember the most from this competition, something
some of the skaters should be thankful for. No, I choose to remember the feeling
of awe in watching what practice and determination can produce. It didn’t
come out right for some or worked better during practice sessions, but the
talents and hopes for the future are there and I’m glad I was there
to see it.
Photograph Figure Skating in Malmo:
Mail: cristian@hillbom.nu
*** Previously published by Europe on Ice
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