Meryl Davis and Charlie White perform their Giselle short dance at 2012 NHK Trophy.
Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir perform during the pairs short program at 2012 NHK Trophy.
Ashley Wagner, on her way to
victory in the ladies free skate at 2012 Trophée Eric Bompard.
Ross Miner competes in the men’s free skating event at 2012 NHK Trophy.
Team USA was represented by three teams
in the pairs event, where Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir earned their fi rst Grand Prix Series medal, the bronze, with 174.51 points. Entering NHK Trophy, Castelli and Shnapir had competed in fi ve Grand Prix events and recorded their best fi nish, fourth, at 2010 Skate Canada. Topping the podium were Russia’s Vera Ba-
zarova and Yuri Larionov with 192.02 points. Newly teamed Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim
fi nished their Grand Prix Series debut in fourth place with 163.10 points, while the new U.S. team of Lindsay Davis and Mark Ladwig fi nished their second Grand Prix event in sixth place with a career-best 143.70 points. In the ice dancing event, U.S. champions
Meryl Davis and Charlie White earned their 11th straight Grand Prix Series title, dating back to 2009. T ey fi nished the week with 178.48 points, nearly 22 points ahead of their compet-
itors. Training mates Maia and Alex Shibutani earned their fi rst medal of the season, the bronze, with a total of 154.56 points. With two gold-medal fi nishes at the conclu- sion of the series, both Wagner and Davis and White were the top seeds heading into the Grand Prix Final in Sochi, Russia. Gao, the ladies fi rst alternate, was invited to the Grand Prix Final after Russia’s Julia Lipnitskaia withdrew due to injury.