2019 Finlandia Trophy

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2019 Finlandia Trophy Oct 11, 2019 22:07:06 GMT

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Post by Admin on Oct 11, 2019 22:07:06 GMT

The Areena Metro of Espoo , a Finnish city east of Helsinki, is hosting this week the Finlandia Trophy 2019 , a classic international figure skating competition included in the ISU Challenger Series 2019-2020 circuit .

The great expectation of the day was undoubtedly Alena Kostornaia, who is finally in the top category after having literally caught the attention of the whole world in the Junior field. The champion coached by the team led by Eteri Tutberidze enchanted the ice stadium by interpreting the same short program last year on the music of "Departure" and "November" by Max Richter, performing as a first element a double manual axel, followed by triple lutz and the triple flip / triple toe loop combination, the latter made with the arms above the head during rotation.

With a performance full of sophisticated and difficult transitional passages with the tops and the series of steps called level 4, the young class 2003 received the high rating of 77.25 (43.11, 34.14), winning the first provisional position with merit . With this in mind it will be really interesting to follow the free (scheduled for Sunday starting at 14:00 Italian time) where Kostornaia could enter the triple axel for the first time in her career , an element that would allow her to take flight definitively already this season.

The compatriot Elizaveta Tuktamysheva also managed to go beyond 70 points, currently in second place with 72.66 (39.72, 32.94) thanks to a good triple axel, the triple lutz and the triple flip / triple toe loop combination, however scolded with the call of wrong entry wire from the technical panel.

Ladies short (FINAL)
1. Alena Kostornaia RUS - 77.25 (43.11, 34.14)
2. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva RUS - 72.66 (39.72, 32.94)
3. Yuhana Yokoi JPN - 65.09 (36.57, 28.52)
4. Jenni Saarinen FIN - 60.06 (32.12, 27.94)
5. Eva Lotta Kiibus EST - 59.84 (32.91, 26.93)
6. Starr Andrews USA - 57.25 (28.87, 28.38)
7. Linnea Ceder FIN - 53.25 (28.10, 25.15)
8. Josefin Taljegard SWE - 51.28 (27.18, 24.10)
9. Megan Wessenberg USA - 51.07 (25.10, 25.97)
10. Vera Stolt FIN - 50.31 (27.44, 22.87)
11. Tanja Odermatt SUI - 48.74
12. Niki Wories NNED - 48.40
13. Sofia Sula FIN - 47.09
14. Nina Povey GBR - 46.33
15. Gabrielle Daleman CAN - 45.82 (17.46, 28.36)
16. Nikola Rychtariova CZE - 43.20
17. Alizee Crozet FRA - 40.91
18. Alisson Krystle Perticheto PHI - 39.77
19. Sara Hong KOR - 38.59
20. Kristina Isaev GER - 34.55
21. Maral-Erden Gansukh MGL - 23.57

Last Edit: Oct 12, 2019 1:36:17 GMT by Admin

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2019 Finlandia Trophy Oct 11, 2019 23:56:43 GMT

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Post by Admin on Oct 11, 2019 23:56:43 GMT

Japan's Yuhana Yokoi is further away, the third with 65.09 (36.57, 28.52).

In the men's single, to take the lead of the race was Sota Yamamoto. The skater, the third at the 2015 World Junior Championships, confirmed the good shape already shown at the International Figure Skating Classic in Salt Lake City, correctly executing a layout consisting of the quadruple salchow / double toe loop combination, the quadruple toe loop and the triple axel, jumps that together with the tops (two out of three level 4 calls) boosted his score to 92.81 (51.89, 40.92).

This is already an exceptional result as the skater in 2016 who suffered a very serious injury followed by dto an ordeal that lasted almost two years, in which a sad retirement has been suggested several times. Seeing Sota again on the ice at high levels is therefore a beautiful spot not only for the discipline but for sport in general.

Despite a clear superiority in the components, the Vice Olympic Champion Shoma Uno, an orphan of coach after the farewell to Machiko Yamada, came in second place with program different from the usual one, he still however decidedly incomplete from a choreographic point of view.

The Japanese athlete, however, amused the audience on the crazy notes of "Great Spirit" by Armin van Buuren, inaugurating his performance with a quadruple flip (coming forward) and with the quadruple combination toe loop / triple toe loop; with a problematic arrival in the triple axel (free leg crawled on the ice), the native of Nagoya lost something in terms of points in the combined top, weakened by a call from the panel, and by the sequence of steps, still to be refined and for this evaluated only as level 2.

By virtue of what has been said, the talent of the Rising Sun has therefore collected 92.28 points in the segment, divided into 44.68 (technical) and 44.68 (program components) keeping the Russian Roman Sadovsky at a safe distance, in third position with 86.34 (47.13, 39.21) after a positive skate characterized by the difficult combination quadruple salchow / triple toe loop and a nice triple axel but he was vitiated by an error in the triple lutz, landed with one hand on the ice.

Last Edit: Oct 12, 2019 1:37:31 GMT by Admin

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2019 Finlandia Trophy Oct 12, 2019 21:12:10 GMT

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Post by Admin on Oct 12, 2019 21:12:10 GMT

New pairs partners Lubov Ilyushechkina of Toronto and Charlie Bilodeau of Trois-Pistoles, Que., won the bronze medal in their competitive debut on Saturday at the Finlandia Open figure skating competition.

The competition is the sixth stop of the 2019 ISU Challenger Series, a tune-up for the Grand Prix season which starts next week in Las Vegas with Skate America.

It was a 1-2 Russian finish in pairs as Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov took the gold with 194.28 points. Alisa Efimova and Alexander Korovin were second at 194.28 and Ilyushechkina and Bilodeau followed at 193.58.

'Nervous but exciting'
"For a first ever international competition together with only seven months training we couldn't have hoped for better," said Bilodeau, who was ninth at the 2018 Olympic Games with his former partner Julianne Seguin. "It really sets us up well to improve even more in training and do better at our next event."

"We were nervous but it was exciting," added Ilyushechkina, who earned two top-10 world championship performances with former partner Dylan Moscovitch. "It was very satisfying to put out two well skated programs."

Evelyn Walsh of London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Trenton, Ont., moved from eighth to sixth with 151.72 out of 11 entries.

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2019 Finlandia Trophy Oct 13, 2019 0:50:10 GMT

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Post by Admin on Oct 13, 2019 0:50:10 GMT

Shoma Uno grabs gold
In men's competition, Olympic silver medallist Shoma Uno of Japan won the gold with 255.23. His compatriot Sota Yamamoto was second at 223.24 just ahead of Sadovsky at 222.23.

"The short program was the best I've ever done but the long could have been better," said Sadovsky.

In ice dancing, world junior champions Marjorie Lajoie Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., were in fourth place after the rhythm dance at 70.75. That is 0.61 points better than their score at the world juniors last winter.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. led at 78.80, Betina Popova and Sergey Mozgov of Russia were second at 72.11 and Shiyue Wang and Xinyu Liu of China third at 71.68.

Gabrielle Daleman of Newmarket, Ont., was 15th after the women's short program.

Competition ends Sunday with the free dance and women's free skate.

#ShomaUno (JPN) - FS: 162.95, Total: 255.23
#SotaYamamoto (JPN) - FS: 130.43, Total: 223.24
#RomanSadovsky (CAN) - FS: 135.89, Total: 222.23

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2019 Finlandia Trophy Oct 13, 2019 22:26:49 GMT

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Post by Admin on Oct 13, 2019 22:26:49 GMT

Saarinen was the best of the Finns after the short program and also the free program was almost a hit. The Saarinen only failed one landing and was listed for the total score of 181.20.

Her previous record in an international competition: 161.64. Only Viveca Lindfors and Laura Lepistö have been noted for better total points in Finnish figure skating history.

- It feels crazy. I have not really understood what has happened, says Saarinen to Yle afterwards .

The victory in the competition went to Russian Alena Kostornaja. Countryman Elizaveta Tuktamysheva finished second and Japanese Yuhana Yokota finished third.

Neither Lindfors nor Emmi Peltonen participated in this year's competition.

Last Edit: Oct 14, 2019 7:24:43 GMT by Admin