GRAND PRIX SERIES Rough patch U.S. comes up empty in Canada and China T
he United States failed to medal at Skate Canada and the Cup of China, the second and third stops, respec- tively, in the six-city ISU Grand Prix
of Figure Skating Series. In Windsor, Ontario, Oct. 26‒28, Ross
Miner and the ice dance team of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue fared best with fifth-place efforts. Miner, the U.S. bronze medalist, turned
in the fourth-best free skate, performing to the 1935 Errol Flynn film Captain Blood, music used by Dorothy Hamill to win the 1976 Olympics. Free skate highlights included two triple Axels and a triple Lutz-triple Salchow sequence. He finished with a total of 213.60 points.
Spain’s Javier Fernández won the event with 253.94 points. Hubbell and Donohue generated a total of 135.16 points. Tey earned Level 4 for three of their lifts in the free skate. World and Olympic champions Tessa Vir- tue and Scott Moir captured their fourth Skate Canada title, scoring 169.14 points. Gracie Gold made her Grand Prix Series
debut, finishing seventh with 151.57 points. Caroline Zhang ended up ninth with 149.87 points.
“I just really need more experience com-
peting this program at the senior level,” Gold, the U.S. junior champion, told icenetwork. com. “I was kind of taken with the crowd and the lights and the signs, and after I’d land one
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue perform their free dance at Skate Canada.
jump, I would get ahead of myself again and kind of mess it up. I have to work on keeping that in check.” Zhang suffered a wardrobe malfunction-
that prevented her from fully demonstrating some of her moves. Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond won her
first-ever event with 176.45 points. Te U.S. pairs teams of Tiffany Vise and
Don Baldwin, and Lindsay Davis and Mark Ladwig finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Four-time World champions Aliona Savchen- ko and Robin Szolkowy won the event with 201.36 points. At Cup of China, Nov. 2‒4 in Shanghai,
the U.S. recorded three fourth-place finishes. Mirai Nagasu, the 2008 U.S. champion, earned 169.86 points. She produced the third- best short program. Two-time World champi- on Mao Asada of Japan won the event with 181.76 points. Adam Rippon, the U.S. silver medal-
ist, came through with 205.48 points. Japan’s Tatsuki Machida claimed the gold medal with 236.92 points. Madison Chock and Evan Bates chalked up 149.54 points. France’s Nathalie Péchalat and Fabian Bourzat earned the gold medal with 169.73 points.
Te U.S. didn’t field any pairs teams. Chi-
na’s Qing Pang and Jian Tong, two-time World champions and Olympic silver medalists, won the title with 188.82 points.
Adam Rippon gets good lift in his free skate at Cup of China.