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Post by Admin on Nov 30, 2013 22:09:10 GMT
British ice dancers Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland have set their sights on a top-eight finish at Sochi 2014 after this week's British Championships. Coomes and Buckland, who grew up in Berkshire and Nottingham respectively but now live and train in the US state of New Jersey, are shaping up as Britain's strongest prospects for Sochi. The duo finished 20th at Vancouver 2010 but have since posted two top-six finishes at the European Championships, alongside 13th at this year's World Championships, and believe they have matured as skaters.
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2013 13:31:00 GMT
Japan's Mao Asada, 23, topped the short programme with 72.36 points on Thursday, but faced heavy pressure from Russian rival Adelina Sotnikova, 17, who scored 68.38 for second place. Russian skater Adelina Sotnikova perfroms during the women's short program of the ISU figure skating Grand Prix Final in Fukuoka, western Japan, on December 5, 2013 There are four Russians, all aged 17 and under, battling for glory at the Grand Prix final in Fukuoka, southern Japan, with Sotnikova insisting they could all "be in the top three". Sotnikova, the oldest among the Russians at 17, said: "Four of us are very strong and we all can do a triple-triple (combination) well." "We all potentially could be in the top three," she said. "At the moment I am higher than they are and I try not to relax."
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2013 21:12:22 GMT
"You can feel them breathing down your neck," US national champion Ashley Wagner said after placing third with 68.14 points. "You have to really push yourself as an older skater. You know, I feel like a grandma," the 22-year-old joked.
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Post by Admin on Dec 7, 2013 12:24:50 GMT
Japanese skater Mao Asada won the Grand Prix Final on Saturday despite failing to land two triple axels early in her free program. Asada was first after the short program and overcame a fall on her opening triple axel and an under-rotation of the same jump on her second combination to finish with 204.02 points. Asada, currently the only female skater to attempt the triple Axel, fell on her opening jump then two-footed the landing of another. But the silver medalist from the Vancouver Games was solid through the rest of her program, skated to “Piano Concerto No. 2. Julia Lipnitskaia of Russia was second with 192.07 points followed by Ashley Wagner of the United States with 187.61.
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Post by Admin on Dec 7, 2013 21:28:26 GMT
Wagner looked down and out after her free skate in which she fell on a triple Lutz and was called for under-rotating her triple-triple combination, an element she’s made a campaign to add throughout the season. Despite taking a medal, Wagner wasn't thrilled with her effort. In a post-competition tweet to fans, she promised to step up her game before the 2014 U.S. national championships in January, writing "Left some out on the table tonight....it was a good wake up call..ready to head home and start training!" The imperfect program aside, Wagner's bronze medal makes her the first American woman since Sasha Cohen to win back-to-back Grand Prix Final medals.
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