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Chinese skaters showed their quality instead of quantity at the
World Junior Figure Skating Grand Prix finals by opening the lead
in the men's and pairs short program through Ma Xiaodong and Zhang
Dan/Zhang Hao in Ary, Scotland on Friday.
The junior skaters are usually an indication of what we can expect
to see on the senior level in a few years' time. Although many of
the teams here excelled in the technical department, most of the
couples lacked artistry, but they will no doubt build on that as
they gain more and more international experience.
The Chinese team of Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao won the short program
with ease, and in doing so, showed why they have dominated the junior's
this year. This team not only displays high twists and throws, but
also an artistry that has been lacking with their senior countrymen.
One of their lifts showed his strength as he threw his partner up,
while she was already in a lift, and she continued to change position.
In the long program they will be attempting a quadruple twist which
they have been landing in practice with incredible ease, and already
completed successfully at last year's Junior World Championships.
Zhang Hao later said that he and his partner Dan were happy with
their program, "I am very satisfied and very happy with the
result and score, finally."
On a side note, Zhang and Zhang are not brother and sister and
are not even related, Dan changed her name to his because she thought
it sounded better.
Finishing a surprising second in the short program were Kristen
Roth and Michael McPherson of the United States. Roth said, "I
thought we skated well and skated with confidence. We still have
a lot of work to do, but we went for everything."
McPherson was ecstatic, "I was shocked by it. Well, surprised
more or less. I knew we could do it, I just didn't know where we
would end up." This is the team's first year of juniors.
Rounding out the top three is Svetlana Nikolaeva and Pavel Lebedev
of Russia. With a bad fall on the double axel, by Nikolaeva, their
program had most of the elements but their moves were choppy and
didn't have much flow. Nikolaeva said, "We are happy with third
place, but we want to skate better tomorrow."
The men's short program at the Junior Grand Prix Final was completely
up for grabs as there wasn't a clear front-runner in the event.
Even though American Ryan Bradley is the most experienced of the
group, he hasn't really been having good practices.
Getting the ball rolling was Xiaodong Ma of China, who has been
landing triple axel-triple toe combinations in practice, only managed
to pull off a shaky triple axel-double toe combination when it counted.
It was the trouble with the landing of the axel that only allowed
him to do a double. Other than the one error, Ma had a solid skate
and finds he leading after the short with technical marks ranging
from 4.9 to 5.4 and 4.9 to 5.2 for his second mark.
Other then Ma, none of the other men skated cleanly. The only other
skater to land a triple axel was Stanislav Temchenko of Russia,
in combination with a double toe. However, he later put his hand
down on the triple flip and two footed the landing of the double
axel. Regardless of his faults, Temchenko finished in second place.
Teammate Sergey Dobrin was by far the smallest skater in the event
and got the loudest ovation of all the competitors. The 14 - year
old attempted a triple lutz-triple toe combination, falling out
of landing of the triple toe, he just managed to save it. It's the
closed I've ever seen anyone to the ice without falling. Dobin also
landed a triple flip and a double axel, which was enough to put
him into third place.
Eight ladies from seven different countries are competing in Ary
at the Junior Grand Prix Final. Experience won the day in the ladies
short program as Sarah Meier of Switzerland, the current World Junior
bronze medallist, came out on top. Landing a triple lutz-double
toe combination, a triple flip and a double axel, she was one of
a couple of clean programs skated here.
Pleased with her program, Meier said, "I was injured three
weeks ago and I am not in good shape." Meier had hurt her knee
when she fell on a loop jump.
Many of the ladies had problems with one thing or another today.
Three of the ladies fell on the landing of their double axel and
there were also a couple of flutz's. At this level, the ladies seem
to have problems with some of the edges going into and coming out
of the jumps.
Currently in second place is Kristina Oblasova, of Russia, who
despite a fall on her attempted triple lutz-double toe combination,
did land a beautiful triple flip and had no trouble with the double
axel. Oblasova's second set of marks held her up just behind Meier,
and she later said of her program, "It wasn't super. "
Japan's Yukari Nakano, the youngest competitor in the ladies field,
sits in third place. Although she skated a clean program, it wasn't
a performance of quality. She landed a triple flutz, double toe
combination, and also had high leg extension coming out of the triple
flip.
(People's Daily 12/16/2000)
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