by Jyrki Pirkkalainen, Special to U.S. Figure Skating Online
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| Marcy Hinzmann and Aaron Parchem at the Nebelhorn Trophy |
2005 Nebelhorn Trophy Results and Photos
(10/1/05) - The home crowd in Oberstdorf, Germany, got what they came for Saturday at the 2005 Nebelhorn Trophy - at the end of the day, the German national anthem was heard twice with victories in the pairs and men's events.
The day wasn't bad for the U.S, team either. In the pairs competition, defending Nebelhorn Trophy champions Marcy Hinzmann & Aaron Parchem fought their way up on to the podium. They were only eighth in the short program, but a good free skate helped them climb up.
“Tonight we wanted to attack the program, and I think we did that," Hinzmann said. "We can be happy with the performance at this stage of the season."
After a great start with a triple twist and a throw triple loop, she fell on the triple toe and stepped out of the throw triple Salchow.
“The ending has to be cleaner in the future, today we got a little bit sloppy towards the end,” she added.
There was no stopping Germans Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy from winning in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Their free skate wasn't flawless - he had problems with the solo elements - but they collected 161.98 points in total and won by a wide margin.
Canadians Meagan Duhamel and Ryan Arnold won the free skate thanks to their strong jumps and throws but had to settle for second overall. Arnold fell on the side-by-side triple Lutz, and they had a bad dismount on a lift.
“We beat our previous personal best by 13 points so we're pleased," Duhamel said. "This was our only international, so our next competition will be Canadian nationals. Another personal best there and we'll be happy."
Tiffany Scott & Rusty Fein had a couple of mistakes, including her fall on the side-by-side toe, and the new U.S. team finished fifth. Scott said she had planned to visit a castle on Sunday, but it they had to change their plans as the top five were invited to skate in the exhibition.
When asked if they have an exhibition program yet, Scott said: "We will have one by tomorrow. We always come well prepared."
Chloe Katz & Joseph Lynch hit two triple throws but made mistakes on their side-by-side jumps. Their coach said he was proud of them considering Lynch lost 20 pounds of muscle mass while recovering from an injury this year.
Men's Free Skate
Stefan Lindemann of
Japan's Noriyuki Kazai almost caught Lindemann overall, and did win the free skate by five points. Kazai nailed one triple after another to hold off Czech Tomas Verner, who hit one less triple (six) than Kazai (seven).
Shaun Rogers wasn't able to repeat the success of his short program as his only clean jumps were a triple Axel combination and a triple loop. He dropped from second after the short to sixth overall.
“It wasn't my best skate," he said. "Sixth place is OK but I would have wanted to do better."
Jeremy Abbott climbed from 21st after the short to 18th overall with 123.92 points. The
“It wasn't exactly how I would have liked to skate, but I pushed very hard and didn't give up," Abbott said. "This motivates me to work hard for the upcoming season back at home."
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| Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto Photo by Jyrki Pirkkalainen |
Original Dance
For Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto, the Latin original dance was all about looking hot – and that's what they did. They scored 59.04 points and increased their lead to 5.52 points after two stages of the ice dancing competition. The Detroit-based couple melted the ice with a sultry, ballroom-inflected dance.
“We were aiming at this image from the very beginning," Belbin said. "We wanted to be very hot and have authentic movements from ballroom dancing. With this dance, we want to show sexuality because that is something we haven't done before. In fact, we had to change the rhumba part a couple of times because it didn't really convey the sexual feeling at first.”
Agosto's Latin dance movements originate from the dance floor rather than ice. He competed in ballroom dancing as a kid and recently also used part of his vacation in
“During the Tom Collins tour, Gwendal Peizerat (the 2002 Olympic ice dancing champion) was my roommate, and he introduced us to some great ballroom dancers and took us salsa dancing," Agosto.
Belbin added: “Except that I wasn't 21 yet so I couldn't go!”
Lithuanians Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas are firmly in second place after a slow-looking original dance.
“It wasn't a 100 percent performance, but we are satisfied," Vanagas said.
German siblings Christina and William Beier kept their third place standing after the OD.
The other
“This was our best performance so far this season," Mitchell said. "We already did this program twice in public, but now it was the first time that we felt like we skated it like we should in competition."
Tiffany Stiegler & Sergey Magerovskiy are in fifth, only 2.13 points behind. Stiegler said she likes doing the Latin stuff more than last year's rhythm combination.
“I think all the girls enjoy this OD more because they get to wear sparkly dresses and get really shimmy!” she said.
She hasn't completely forgotten pairs skating either: “I did a throw double loop with Sergey the other day in practice. It would be fun to compete in both dance and pairs!”
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| Russia's Elena Sokolova Photo by Jyrki Pirkkalainen |
Ladies Short Program
The triple flip was a stumbling stone for the U.S ladies in the short program Saturday morning. Bebe Liang is in fourth (49.33 points) and Jane Bugaeva in 10th place ( 41.66) going into the free skate.
Both Liang and Bugaeva have an athletic style, differing from the baby ballerina image that the European fans have learned to expect from U.S. skaters. Both ladies delivered good triple Lutz-double toe combinations and double Axels. Liang fell on her triple flip, while Bugaeva doubled hers.
“The triple flip in the short is always hard for me, and I knew there could be trouble," Bugaeva said. ”I also tripped on footwork, which was silly. I was late and rushing to get back to the music.”
Liang has been receiving treatment for an aching back in Oberstdorf.
“It's not a big deal," she said. "My back gets a little tight sometimes, but it didn't affect my skating today."
Liang had the highest-scoring combination spin of the competition and was the only lady to collect +2s from the judges.
The top places in the short went to two very experienced European skaters. Russia's Elena Sokolova skated a flawless program including a triple Lutz–double toe combination and a triple loop, and the judges rewarded her with 58.70 points. All her non-jump elements were level 3 or 4.
“This is my first competition of the year, so I'm glad I did all my jumps," Sokolova said. "I know I can do much better than this though."
Finland's Alisa Drei started with an excellent triple toe–triple toe combination, but she put her hands down on the triple flip. She choreographed her program herself, following nicely the nuances of the well-known "Malaguena." The Finn is five and half points behind Sokolova going into the free skate.
In third place, Jenna McCorkell from Great Britain really made a splash – not only for skating a clean program and her personal best (51.25 points), but also because of a completely new look: the British champion wore pants and skated to techno music by Safri Duo.
“After the end of last season, I wanted to do something completely different than what people are expecting from me," she said. "I wanted to change the costumes, the style, the music, everything. Just wait until you see my new long program!”
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