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Grand Prix Final: What was learned
The fall figure skating season concluded over the weekend with the Grand Prix Final in Tokyo. Below is a look at some key takeaways from the last global event before the Vancouver Games.
The American men's team is impressive... and it's probably set
The U.S. was represented at the Final by three men who between them have won the last six national titles. Reigning world champion Evan Lysacek had one uncharacteristic mistake in the free skate, popping his second triple Axel, but still won the event with the season's highest overall score. Three-time U.S. champion Johnny Weir claimed the bronze medal for the second straight season by demonstrating control and consistency - he was the only man who did not make a major error in Tokyo. Reigning U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott, also the defending champion at the Final, had a rough short program and a rough start to his free skate, where he fell on his opening quad. But he got up to land eight triples and post the highest technical score of the free skate. Of the three men, only Abbott has completed a quad this season (at Skate Canada) and now he knows the risk is worth it. He proved he can have a strong skate regardless of how he fares on the four-revolution jump and still collected four points for the missed attempt. At this point it's difficult to imagine another skater having such a great showing at Nationals in January that displaces one of these three men from the U.S. Olympic team. Qualifying to the Final and posting strong results only added to the established international reputations of Lysacek, Abbott and Weir. It should be noted that the men's scores awarded at the Final were huge. Though none of the top men landed a quad in either program (Tomas Verner landed quads in both, but little else, to finish last) and none had extraordinary free skates, the event produced four of the top five totals this season. (Yevgeny Plushenko's total from Cup of Russia still ranks third on the season's best list.)
Kim Yu-Na remains the favorite, but the gap is closing
Kim Yu-Na's triple-triple combinations have been her trademark - reliably huge point-getters that allow her to open up a commanding lead in the short program and extend it in the free skate. But Kim, who has been almost immune to downgrades, finally received one on her triple-triple in the short program (where she also fell on the triple flip, her nemesis this season). And in the free skate, lacking her usual flow out of the first jump, she went for only a double as the second. Still, Kim fought through the program, landing a triple flip in her free skate for the first time this season, to deliver a much better performance than her last outing at Skate America. She won the event, but by less than three points over short program leader Miki Ando, who like Kim won two regular season events this fall. In her previous two events, Kim won by 36 (Paris) and 13 points (Skate America). Losing ground as a top challenger to Kim was Canada's Joannie Rochette, who struggled with her jumps and even more with her confidence. She also made mistakes at Skate Canada , but remained relaxed and still won the title. In Tokyo, Rochette was visibly shaken by her mistakes. With her "worst performance in a long time," the world silver medalist escaped finishing last by just 16 hundredths of a point. Akiko Suzuki's joyful seven-triple performance to West Side Story, for which she received a standing ovation and the bronze medal, was the highlight of the ladies' free skate event. The 24-year-old, who has never won a medal at Japanese Nationals, this year received two Grand Prix assignments for the first time and made the absolute most of the opportunity, stating her case for one of Japan's three Olympic spots. Ashley Wagner continued to build her candidacy for one of two U.S. spots: the lone American competitor finished fourth with two solid skates.
Shen and Zhao's Olympic dream is within reach
Like Kim, China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo have the ability to dictate their own Olympic fate. With a score of 214.25 points - the highest total awarded since the advent of the current system - the two-time Olympic bronze medalists decisively won the pairs title in Tokyo. Their free skate in particular was vintage Shen and Zhao: dynamic, passionate, and nearly flawless. They did make one mistake - Zhao singled a planned double Axel - but he kept moving so smoothly that an untrained eye would never have noticed the disruption. Afterwards, for the first time this season, the pair was genuinely thrilled with their performance and Zhao spoke of how they felt that they had fully recaptured their power. As for the question of how Shen and Zhao would stack up against Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, who have won the last two world titles in their absence? When the two teams skated back-to-back in the free skate, there really was no comparison. The Germans do have certain intricacies in their programs that the Chinese lack, but they continue to struggle with their consistency and even at their best can't match the explosiveness and emotional pull of the Chinese. With multiple mistakes, Savchenko and Szolkowy ended up third behind perennial contenders Pang Qing and Tong Jian. The 2006 world champions are the only one of China's three top teams that is still seeking an Olympic medal.
Ice dance rankings are no clearer than before
Meryl Davis and Charlie White won gold at the Grand Prix Final, a feat no American dance team has ever accomplished, and they have consistently posted the highest scores of this Olympic season. So are they the gold medal favorites for Vancouver? No. And they're not necessarily medal favorites either. Reigning world champions Oksana Domnina and Maksim Shabalin, as well as 2008 world champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder, were absent from the Final after both teams missed the fall season. When Torino silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto withdrew, that left Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir as Davis and White's only real competition in Tokyo. Virtue and Moir defeated their American training teammates in the free dance with a whimsical, sentimental program that includes some remarkable lifts and has the potential to sweep away an already partisan home crowd at the Vancouver Games. The U.S. Championships will determine whether Davis and White or Belbin and Agosto head to Vancouver as the top American team, but in the meantime it's hard to know what to make of a Grand Prix Final title. Sometimes it's a predictor of Olympic success: Russia's Tatyana Navka and Roman Kostomarov won in the season they claimed Torino Olympic gold. Other times, it's a consolation prize. Canada's Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz won prior to the 2002 Games, only to be shut out of the medals in Salt Lake City.