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Post by Admin on Nov 19, 2014 20:49:29 GMT
Alaine Chartrand looked as energetic as anyone possibly could even after more than 16 hours travelling from Moscow to Frankfurt to Montreal to Ottawa. Part of the reason, in all likelihood, was being just 18. However, there was also little doubt that the Nepean Skating Club member from Prescott was filled with satisfaction and pride from earning a bronze in the women’s competition of the Rostelecom Cup in Russia on Saturday. “This competition, definitely, and this result were the highlight of my career so far,” Chartrand said Monday after receiving a big hug from her father, John, in the luggage-claim area of Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport. “That’s my first international medal ever, and it’s at a senior-level competition. It’s my first year doing senior Grand Prixs ever, to begin with. “I did my first one ever at Skate Canada (in Kelowna, B.C.), and I was seventh there, so to improve to a third place just two weeks later was pretty great.” Chartrand produced a personal-best 172.00 points to place third behind Rika Hongo (178.00) of Japan and Skate Canada winner Anna Pogorilaya (173.43) of Russia. She led after Friday’s short program with 61.18 points, but her free skate (110.82) was judged third-best behind those of Hongo and Pogorilaya. Chartrand said she had “exactly the right feeling in all my jumps,” in the short program, but tightened up a bit in the free skate. The jumps weren’t as big, she under-rotated on occasion and there were some two-foot landings in the routine performed to theme music from Dr. Zhivago. “After the short, I was in first place, and I had a medal on the line, and I really, really wanted to skate well, so I wasn’t quite as free in how I performed (in the long program), but it’s still a step in the right direction,” said Chartrand, who travelled to Moscow with her mother, Heather, and Russian-born coach Leonid Birinberg. “I think I just need to think more that there’s nothing to lose when you’re in first than, ‘I can lose.’ If you’re in a low position after the short, you basically have nothing to lose. You can only really go up with a good performance.” She placed third in her first senior nationals at Mississauga in 2013, but was a disappointing fifth at Canadian Tire Centre last year, when Winter Olympic Games were at stake. “There’s still a big, huge competition. It’s not the Olympics, but a senior world championship is something I have never gone to,” said Chartrand, who placed eighth and fifth in the past two junior worlds. “That would be a first. It’s really comparable to an Olympics. A big world championship event is a very big deal.”
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Post by Admin on Nov 20, 2014 21:09:28 GMT
Russian figure-skaters won six medals at the Rostelecom Cup 2014 ISU Grand Prix figure-skating tournament that ended in Moscow on Saturday. In pairs, Russian duets took the first three places. Ksenia Stolbova and Fyodor Klimov won the gold medal (211.97 points); Yevgeniya Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov were the silver medal winners (173.78 points); Kristina Astakhova and Alexei Rogonov (164.86 points). In men’s skating, Russian figure-skater Sergei Voronov (combined score after short and free programmes -252 points) won the silver medal losing to Xavier Fernandez of Spain (265.01 points); Czech Mihal Brezina (241.23 points) was third. Russians Artur Gachinsky (201.26) and Moris Kvitelashvili (174.25) are the 8th and 12th, respectively. Rika Hongo of Japan skated to the ladies gold medal /178.00 points/. Russian Anna Pogorilaya was second /173.43/ and Canadian Alaine Chartrand (172.00) was third. Russians Maria Stavitskaya /153.49/ and Maria Artemyeva (144.72) are 7th and 10th respectively. Russia's Elena Ilinykh and Ruslan Zhiganshin perform during the exhibition gala at the Rostelecom Cup ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Moscow on Nov. 16, 2014. In ice dance, Russian duet Elena Ilyinykh and Ruslan Zhiganshin /160.43 points/ won the silver medal. The winners are Americans Madison Chok and Evan Bates (174.28). The British duet Penny Coomes and Nicholas Buckland were third (158.02). Viktoria Sinitsyna/ Nikita Katsalapov of Russia were fourth (147.55); Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin finished fifth (143.51). Russia's Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov perform during the exhibition gala at the Rostelecom Cup ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Moscow on Nov. 16, 2014.
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Post by Admin on Nov 21, 2014 20:56:55 GMT
Two-time junior world champion Elena Radionova took the lead in the women’s short program at Trophee Bompard on Friday while Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia topped the pairs competition. Skate America winner Radionova nailed all her jumps while skating to salsa music to score a season best 67.28 points, closely followed by her compatriot, world runner-up Julia Lipnitskaia (66.79). Defending champion Ashley Wagner was third with 61.35. She looks to become the first American since Michelle Kwan in 2001 to qualify for three straight GP Finals. Meanwhile, Olympic silver medallists Stolbova and Klimov scored 71.20 points with a short program to the sounds of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." The Rostelecom Cup winners were 3.93 points clear of China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, the runners-up at Skate Canada.
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Post by Admin on Nov 22, 2014 21:15:21 GMT
American Ashley Wagner will bid for a third straight women's title at the Trophee Eric Bompard and Japan's Tatsuki Machida his first men's as the race for the final spots in next month's ISU Grand Prix final heats up on the ice in Bordeaux starting Friday. Wagner, 23, won the French title in 2012 and 2013 on the ice of Paris-Bercy, with the event taking place this year in the western city of Bordeaux because of renovations at the Paris venue. The American would not only become the first woman to achieve the feat in 13 years, but it would also give her a spot in the Grand Prix final after her runners-up medal in Skate Canada. For Machida, 24, it will his first time skating on the ice in France, and like Wagner he has the chance to book his spot in the Barcelona Grand Prix final after his gold at Skate America. Olympic team bronze medallist Wagner's leading challengers in the fifth of the six-leg series should be Russian teenagers Elena Radionova, 15, and 16-year-old Julia Lipnitskaya.
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Post by Admin on Nov 23, 2014 21:08:07 GMT
Two-time junior world champion Elena Radionova and Russian champion Maxim Kovtun landed all their jumps in the free skate to win the Trophee Bompard on Saturday and qualify for the Grand Prix Final. Radionova, the Skate America winner, performed to Sergei Rachmaninov's music and perfectly executed a long program that included seven triple jumps and three combinations. The Russian scored 136.64 points in the free for a 203.92 total. Her compatriot Julia Lipnitskaia was second with 185.18 points to also secure a spot at the GP Final, which will feature the top six skaters, pairs or dance couples in each category. The world championships silver medalist trailed Radionova by only 0.49 points after Friday's short program, but Lipnitskaia hurt her chances of winning by falling on a triple flip and under-rotating her final combo. Defending champion Ashley Wagner took third with a 177.74 total. The American skater will have to wait until next week's NHK Trophy in Osaka to see whether she qualifies for the GP Final.Russia's Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Anna Pogorilaya have already booked their spots for the GP Final with top-two finishes at other events. Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova skipped the GP Series because of an ankle injury.
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