Lysacek, Cohen, and Belbin and Agosto Among 2010 SOI Cast

The Smucker’s Stars on Ice tour has it promotion engine in full gear. The tour has announced it will have three of "America’s leading Olympic medal contenders" -- 2009 World champion Evan Lysacek, 2006 Olympic silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto; and 2006 Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen -- on its 2010 tour.

They will be joined by 1996 World champion Todd Eldredge; and Michael Weiss, a two-time World medalist, as well as "several medalists" from the 2010 U.S. Championships, the 2010 World Championships and the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

The Stars on Ice tour was founded by 1984 Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton who still produces the show. In 2010, this award-winning production will be moving its dates to the spring in order to showcase the world’s best figure skaters at the top of their form.

The 2010 tour will kick off April 1 in Fort Myers, Fla., and will visit 40 cities across the United States, coming to a conclusion with a grand finale May 30 in Portland, Ore. Visit www.starsonice.com for more info.

The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) and Fantasy Sports Ventures (FSV), the fastest growing top 10 sports property, today announced that they are working together to deliver TeamUSA.org content via a customized widget throughout the expansive Fantasy Sports Ventures network of websites. The initiative will extend through Team USA's competition in Vancouver in February 2010.

The customized widget will deliver video, athlete profile and social networking content across TeamUSA.org and FSV's sites, which reach more than 14 million unique users per month.

Between now and Feb. 1, Team USA will nominate more than 200 athletes to represent the United States at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. FSV has developed the "Making Team USA presented by Hilton Worldwide" widget that will provide fans with access to daily video updates and athlete profiles available from TeamUSA.org.

FSV will also facilitate fan interaction with Team USA athletes through a custom social media module included in the widget.

The widget can be viewed or downloaded from teamusa.org and throughout the FSV network of websites, which include KFFL, The Huddle and Hoopshype.

Brian Joubert, the 2007 World champion, was back on the ice yesterday for two sessions. Each workout was 90 minutes.

Joubert, a three-time European champion and five-time world medalist, injured his right foot while attempting a triple Lutz in late November. It initially appeared Joubert may have broken his big toe, but the damage was confined to a ligament and it was surgically repaired. Due to the injury, Joubert pulled out of the 2009-10 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Tokyo earlier this month.

Yesterday Joubert performed some double jumps. The 25-year-old is known for his technical prowess; he has landed three quads in a competition program.

While skating Joubert felt "OK" and did not complain about pain, according to his coach Laurent Depouilly. However, Joubert was sore when he removed his skates. The six-time French champion (2003-08) may miss this season's national championships.

It seems unlikely he will be competition-ready in time for nationals, and his name no longer appears on the starting lists. Even if he was not able to compete, Joubert will travel to Marseilles and attend the competition, which takes place Dec. 18-19.

Last season, Joubert withdrew from the Grand Prix Final due to a back injury and missed French nationals.

For more on this story see our initial report and follow-up.

Universal Sports and UniversalSports.com will be the home of the International Skating Union's (ISU) key events through 2013, highlighted by the ISU World Figure Skating Championships, ISU Speed Skating Championships and ISU Short Track Speed Skating Championships. The announcement was made by Universal Sports Chairman and CEO Claude Ruibal and ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta.

"The ISU is thrilled to have a permanent home for our major competitions showcased by Universal Sports in the United States," Cinquanta said. "Our major figure and speed skating events and championships will be well-served by this partnership with Universal Sports, which will offer our viewers a vibrant, multi-platform opportunity to interact with our stars."

Details of the events and rights to be showcased annually by Universal Sports include the following:


“We’re very excited to have reached this wide-ranging deal with the ISU making Universal Sports the long-term home for key ISU events,” Ruibal said. “These prestigious events will provide our consumers with what has traditionally been some of the most compelling and entertaining Olympic sports content. As a new sports network, we are proud and encouraged that ISU has selected Universal Sports as their USA distributor to highlight their amazing athletes as they compete in their respective competitions.”

The ISU is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating.

Universal Sports, a partnership between NBC Sports and InterMedia Partners, serves as a multiplatform destination for Olympic-related and lifestyle sports programming available on television and online. Universal Sports, available in 56 million homes, is in nine of the top 10 DMAs including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Houston, Seattle and Denver.

Major world championship and Olympic qualifying events found on Universal Sports range from track and field, skiing, swimming, gymnastics, marathons and cycling, to volleyball, rowing, triathlon, fencing, speed skating and martial arts. UniversalSports.com delivers an immersive experience via live and on-demand competition coverage, as well as interaction with top athletes through blogs and in-depth access to Olympic sports news and information year round.

For more information on the availability of the Universal Sports 24-hour television channel, visit UniversalSports.tv.

Brian Joubert was back on the ice on his home rink in Poitiers, France on Dec. 3. He glided across the surface for approximately 20 minutes and did the same light workout one day later.

Raymonde Joubert told IFS the swelling in her son’s right foot had gone down. He is back to normal, she added, thanks to daily physiotherapy and mesotherapy.

The French star, last year's World broze medalist, is expected to resume training with Laurent Depouilly today.

On Nov. 25 during a practice session at his home rink in Poitiers, Joubert injured his right foot while attempting a triple Lutz. The injury was serious enough to require surgery. Joubert pulled out of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Tokyo and underwent surgery Nov. 26, One day later, Joubert was back home.

When Joubert initially injured his foot, there was concern he might have fractured bones around his right big toe. However, the surgeon who successfully repaired the ligament found no breaks.

Joubert's participation at the French Nationals in Marseilles is still up in the air. The injury is expected to take six weeks to fully heal.

A similar injury occurred in February 2007, a few weeks before the Worlds in Tokyo, and stitches were required to repair one of his tendons. He went on to the win the global crown that year.

Kanako Murakami capped off a successful event for the host country by taking the junior ladies title at the 2009-10 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final in Tokyo. Ksenia Monko and Kirill Khaliavin of Russia nabbed the top spot on the poidum in the junior ice dance discipline.

The Junior Ladies

Murakami slipped past overnight leader Polina Shelepen of Russia to pull out a 1.24 margin of victory. American Christina Gao claimed the bronze.

It was a high-level competition. Murakami landed five strong triple jumps. She only had few errors—a wobble on one spin and a deduction for the wrong edge take-off on her triple Lutz. The 15-year-old scored 101.01 points for her long program. She compiled 160.53 overall to move up from second place after the short prgram to first place for the competition.

“I didn’t skate my best in the free, but I am happy to win in the final here in Japan. I wanted to do all the jumps, spins, footwork clean, but I made a few mistakes,” she said. “I was really nervous before I went out onto the ice, and I thought my heart would pop out of my mouth. But the audience called out my name and cheered me on, so I was able to relax a little bit and skate well.”

Skating to “Polovetsian Dances,” Shelepen hit six triples including a double Axel-triple toe loop combination. She had higher technical marks than Murakam, but the Japanese teen-ager had higher component scores.

Shelepen earned 99.75 points for her free skate. It was her season best mark. Overall the 14-year-old accumulated 159.29 points.

Gao, who stood in fifth place following the short program, gave a strong performance to “La Fille Mal Gardée” that featured six triple jumps. With a season best 98.65 for the free skate, she scored 151.47 points overall.

For Shelepen and Gao, it was their first appearanaces in the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final, while Murakami ranked fourth last year.

Murakami pocketed $6,000 (U.S.) for her big win. Shelepen earned $5,000; and Gao $4,000. The fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place finishers took home $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively

The Junior Dance

It was Monko and Khaliavin first appearance in a Junior Grand Prix Final but the handled the pressure well. Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov (RUS), newcomers as well, overtook Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani (USA) to earn the silver medal. The Americans settled for the bronze.

Monko and Khaliavin turned in a powerful dance to “This is a Man’s World” by James Brown, showing difficult lifts and intricate footwork. The couple from Moscow picked up all level fours and threes for their elements to score a season best 85.51 points. They defended their overnight lead with a total of 141.21 points.

“We are very excited to have won. We never expected to win this final, since we compete here for the first time. Right now in Russia we have a tough competition in ice dance, there are many good junior and senior couples,” Khaliavin said.

Ilinykh and Katsalapov produced a dramatic performance to “Schindler’s List” that was highlighted by their speed and effortless looking elements. The Muscovites posted a season best 85.01and pulled up from third after the short program to second overall with a score of 139.36.

Shibutani and Shibutani produced a smooth “Tango Rhapsody” and scored 83.54 points. The reigning World junior silver medalists slipped to third place with 138.75 overall points.

Monko and Khaliavin earned a total of $9,000 for the win. The second place team of Ilinykh and Katsalapov netted $7,500 while Shibutani and Shibutani earned $6,000. The fourth place team earned $4,500, fifth place $3,000 and sixth place $1,500.

Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao (CHN) continued their successful comeback with their third gold medal in as many competitions. Meanwhile in the junior ice dance competition there were some surprises.

The Pairs

For Shen and Zhao, it was the sixth Grand Prix Final gold medal of their career. Their teammates Qing Pang and Jian Tong made it 1-2 for China by claiming the silver medal. Reigning World champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany took the bronze.

The Chinese husband-and-wife team posted a World record overall score of 214.25. “Our program was really good today; it felt awesome," Zhao said.

Shen and Zhao nailed a triple toe, excellent throw jumps and showed a rare forward outside death spiral to earn a personal best 138.89 points for their lyrical program to “Adagio.” "Each lift, the twist, the throws felt perfect and we felt more power,” Zhao said. “Coming back [after a break of two years] wasn’t easy; it was very hard. When we returned to practice, it was hard on our bodies, it hurt, but we are skating with our hearts.”

Pang and Tong, the 2008-09 Grand Prix Final champions ranked fourth in the short program. They rallied with a dynamic performance to “The Impossible Dream.” Their program was highlighted by their big throws and difficult lifts. They scored 133.82 points. The 2006 World champions broke the magical 200 points barrier for the first time in their career with a total of 201.86.

Savchenko and Szolkowy of Germany dropped to third with a score of 200.38 after she failed to complete the opening triple toe-triple toe sequence and stumbled on the throw triple flip. Their other elements were strong. “We were not completely concentrated. I don't know exactly, what was the reason for that. Maybe it was the quick turn-around between [Skate] Canada, [returning to] Germany and [then traveling to] Japan,” Szolkowy said.

Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov (RUS) delivered a strong performance but nevertheless slipped to fourth place. Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov (RUS) moved up from sixth after the short to fifth overall with a solid free skate, while Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang (CHN) struggled with some elements to finish sixth overall.

Junior Original Dance

Ksenia Monko and Kirill Khaliavin (RUS) upset reigning World Junior silver medalists Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani (USA) to grab the lead after the junior original dance. The Russians opted for an Ukrainian dance while the Americans chose a Japanese theme for the folk and country dance that reflected their Japanese heritage. Both couples had the same technical base value, but Monko and Khaliavin narrowly beat the brother-and-sister team with 55.70 to 55.21 points thanks to a slightly higher program component score and slightly higher grades of execution for their elements.

“It was our best performance in competition this season so far, it was the cleanest one,” Khaliavin said. “It is surprising for us (to be in first place) as the Shibutanis had higher scores than we had in their Grand Prix events and they skated clean.”

Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov (RUS) came in third with an elegant dance to folklore from the Andes as they got only a level two for their side-by-side footwork (54.35 points).

Cash Rewards

The couples earned big cash prizes in Tokyo. The breakdown (per couple) was as follows:

1st place USD $25,000
2nd place USD $18,000
3rd place USD $12,000
4th place USD $6,000
5th place USD $4,000
6th place USD $3,000

In junior ice dance, the winning couple will split $9,000 (U.S.) the second place team $7,500, third place $6,000, fourth place $4,500, fifth place $3,000 and sixth place $1,500
On Tap

The remainder of the schedule for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final (junior and senior) is as follows:

* Sunday, Dec. 6: Junior Free Dance, Junior Ladies Free Skating, Exhibition Gala

Reigning World champions Yu-Na Kim of South Korea and Evan Lysacek of the United States once again skated away with the big titles when it counted.

Both rose from second place after the short program at the 2009-10 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Japan to win the free skate in their respective divisions and climb to the top of the podium.

Meanwhile, newcomer Polina Shelepen (RUS) won the junior ladies short program (scroll down for more photos).

The Ladies

Kim skated to the gold in and recaptured the title she had lost last year to Mao Asada (JPN), who did not earn a spot in this season's final. Miki Ando (JPN) earned the silver today, her first medal in what was her fifth appearance in the Grand Prix Final. Akiko Suzuki (JPN) captured the bronze medal.

Kim landed four clean triples and three double Axels in her expressive routine to George Gershwin’s “Concerto in F” to score 123.22 points. The South Korean superstar overtook overnight leader Ando to win her third gold medal in the Grand Prix Final with a total of 188.86 points.

“Today in the practice my blades hit each other and got flat. I fixed it but it's still a little bit not too comfortable to skate with. So I tried to forget about it, but even though my performance was not perfect, it was okay,” Kim said. “I didn't give up and that led to this wonderful result. I think it was a good fight for the Olympics. And as I could keep up my strength, I found some self-confidence again.”

Ando nailed also four good triple jumps in her exotic “Cleopatra”-themed routine. The 2007 World champion posted a season best of 119.74 points but slipped to second overall at 185.94. “I’m happy about medaling and automatically qualifying for the Olympic Games (for team Japan),” said Ando, last season's World bronze medalist. “I didn’t make any major mistakes and I skated better that I did at NHK. But I was tired and I know I didn’t skate with enough speed."

Suzuki turned in a strong performance to “Westside Story.” Her program included seven triple jumps as she moved up from fifth to third with a score of 174.00 points in the first Grand Prix Final of her career.

“Before I started, my coach didn’t tell me anything about my jumps. He told me to dance and just be Maria! And that’s just what I did. I wasn’t thinking about ranking or points while I was skating. The happiest moment was when the audience gave me a standing ovation,” the 24-year-old offered.

Ashley Wagner (USA) moved up from sixth after the short prgram to fourth place overall with a solid performance. Joannie Rochette (CAN) and Alena Leonova (RUS) came in fifth and sixth, respectively, with each skater making several key errors.

The Men

Lysacek claimed his first Grand Prix Final title and is the second straight American man to win the title (last year Jeremy Abbott won gold at the final and followed that up with a victory at the 2009 U.S. Championships). Nobunari Oda (JPN) claimed the silver medal, and the bronze went to Johnny Weir (USA), who repeated last year’s result.

Lysacek was second going into the long program but overall he finished more than six points ahead of his nearest competitor. He produced a sophisticated program to “Sheherazade” and reeled off eight triple jumps, including two triple-triple combinations and also showed strong spins and footwork. His only error came when he popped his second triple Axel. Nevertheless, Lysacek earned a personal best 159.60 points and overall accumulated 249.45 points to pull up one spot.

“I feel confident now heading into the latter part of the season,” the two-time (2007-09) U.S. champion said. “I’m happy with [the performance] as far as the scores go; it reflected an improvement from Skate America untill now. Yes, I had that one mistake and I wasn’t happy about it, because I’ve been training this program clean every day. To make a major error like that was disappointing, especially because I didn’t feel tired going into that Axel.”

Like Lysacek, Oda singled a planned triple Axel, but his eight other triples were of excellent quality. He earned 155.71 points for his entertaining “Charlie Chaplin” program. “I’m mad at myself for popping the Axel,” Oda said. “I was third yesterday, and in trying to pull up, maybe I tried to be too perfect. In practice, I can do it (the triple Axel) without any problems. I guess I just try too hard in competition and when I’m skating in front of the audience.”

Weir delivered a clean performance of his routine he titled “Falling Angel.” He landed eight triples in his elegant program and achieved a personal best score of152.75. He compiled 237.35 overall.

“It's the best long program that I've done so far. I rotated all my jumps, so I'm happy with that. And a new career best score is excellent,” Weir said. “I hope this competition gives me some legitimacy, because a lot of people always write me off after I make mistakes and then I have to climb my way back up.”

Jeremy Abbott (USA) moved up from fifth to fourth with the second best free skate. He missed his quad toe but hit all his triples. He scored a competition mark of 235.38.

Overnight leader Daisuke Takahashi (JPN) not only crashed on his quad toe attempt, but also made costly errors on other jumps and his spins to plummet to fifth place overall. He scored 224.60 overall points while Tomas Verner (CZE) remained in sixth place with a competition mark of 192.32 points.

The Junior Ladies

Newcomer Polina Shelepen (RUS) won the junior ladies short program with an impressive performance to “Adagio.” Her program featured a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination. The 14-year-old from Moscow picked up a personal best of 59.54 points.

“I am very pleased with my performance today. I went for the triple-triple (Lutz-toe) combination for the first time in an international event. At some point you have to start doing it in competition and a big event like this motivates me even more to do it.” Shelepen said.

Kanako Murakami (JPN) was just 0.02 points out of first place. The 15-year-old Japanese skater turned in a crisp Flamenco and hit a triple toe-triple toe, but her double Axel was downgraded. Murakami received 59.52 points.

Ksenia Makarova (RUS) rounded up the top three with another solid program and produced a triple toe-triple toe combination as well (55.38 points).

Anna Ovcharov of Russia was fourth (54.92) in the short prgram and American Christina Gao was fifth (52.82). The sixth-, seventh- and eighth-place finishers were also Americans: Ellie Kawamura (50.30), Kiri Baga (49.58) and Anglea Maxwell (47.28), respectively.

Money Talks

The seniors skaters are shooting for a big paydays in Tokyo. Skaters will earn the following:

1st place USD $25,000
2nd place USD $18,000
3rd place USD $12,000
4th place USD $6,000
5th place USD $4,000
6th place USD $3,000

The junior ladies are shooting for smaller paydays. The winner s.will net $6,000 (U.S.), the silver medalist $5,000; and bronze medalist $4,000. The fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place finishers will take home $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively.

On Tap

The remainder of the schedule for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final (junior and senior) is as follows:

* Sunday, Dec. 6: Junior Free Dance, Junior Ladies Free Skating, Exhibition Gala

Meryl Davis and Charlie White (USA) continued their ascent this season and won their first title at the 2009-10 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada took the silver and Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat (FRA) claimed bronze.

Davis and White put out a powerful performance to “Phantom of the Opera” that was highlighted by their whirling lifts. The reigning Four Continents champions earned a personal best 103.64 for the routine. The Americans, who led after the original dance, climbed to the top of the podium with a total score of 169.44.

Davis said the title was the most significant win of their career to date. “It’s been a really great season so far and we’ve been feeling great in all competitions," she said. "The performance went pretty good today. I think that we can definitely skate a lot better and going home we’re going to look through that.”

Virtue and Moir edged the Americasn in the orginal dance. The Canadians performed an elegant dance to Gustav Mahler’s "Symphony No. 5" and scored 104.21 points. Over they compiled a competition mark of 168.22 points.

“There is room for improvement and I can’t wait to get back home and start training for nationals,” Virtue said.

Pechalat and Bourzat totaled 147.62 points to win their first medal in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. "It wasn’t our best today. We were very tired and we didn’t have enough training for a great performance,” Bourzat explained, referring to an ankle injury that has handicapped him during the past weeks.

Sinead Kerr and John Kerr (GBR) came in fourth with a dance to “Krwlng” by Linkin Park. Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte (ITA) were fifth and Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier (CAN) finished sixth.

Cash Prizes

The couples earned cash awards in Tokyo. The breakdown (per couple) was as follows:

1st place USD $25,000
2nd place USD $18,000
3rd place USD $12,000
4th place USD $6,000
5th place USD $4,000
6th place USD $3,000

The remainder of the schedule for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final (junior and senior) is as follows:

* Saturday, Dec. 5: Junior Original Dance, Junior Ladies Short Program, Pairs, Ladies, Men Free Skating
* Sunday, Dec. 6: Junior Free Dance, Junior Ladies Free Skating, Exhibition Gala

Japanese skaters are giving the home crowd plenty to cheer about at the 2009-10 Grand Prix Final being held in Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo. Miki Ando and Daisuke Takahashi are in first place in the ladies and men’s disciplines, respectively, after the short program.

Meanwhile the first sets of medals were handed out, giving the home fans more to celebrate as countryman Yuzuru Hanyu took the junior men’s title. Young upstarts Wenjing Sui and Cong Han (CHN) won the junior pairs title (scroll down to see photos).

The Ladies

Going into the Grand Prix Final, Ando wanted to show that she is the real deal. She won two gold medals on the Grand Prix circuit but felt she had not skated her best. “I am pleased to be in the [Grand Prix] Final and will train hard for it,” Ando said after winning NHK Trophy in Japan. “I’m looking forward to the final in Tokyo, so I can show the people in Japan a better performance. I have to make my free skate more competitive.”

In the short program today, Ando scored 66.20 points. She downgraded a planned triple-triple to open her program and isntead went with a triple-Lutz, double-loop combo. "I wanted to do the triple-triple but the first landing of the triple didn't feel right. I changed it to a double and everything was fine after that," she said.

Skating to “Requiem” by Mozart, Ando skated an otherwise solid program to come out on top. Ando is the 2007 World champion and claimed the bronze at last year’s global event.

Reigning World champion Yu-Na Kim had uncharacteristic problems with a few jumps. The second jump of her triple Lutz-triple toe combination was downgraded. She also singled a triple flip. She produced strong spins and a double Axel to earn 65.64 points.

“I had a huge fall on the Lutz prior to the performance. I got a little nervous," Kim said. "I thought my triple-triple was okay, even if I missed my flip the rest of the program was good.”

Russia's Alena Leonova was third with a score of 61.60. "I’m awarding myself a score of ten-plus for this program, This is a nice present for my coach, who celebrates her birthday today,” Leonova said.

Canadian Joannie Rochette of Canada was fourth with 60.94. Japan’s Akiko Suzuki was fifth (57.54) and American Ashley Wagner was sixth (54.26).

The Men

Takahashi, skating in just his fourth competition in almost two years, landed a triple flip-triple toe loop combination en route to a season best score of 89.95. He was one-tenth of a point ahead of reigning World champion Evan Lysacek of the United States who compiled 89.85 points. Japan's Nobunari Oda was third with a score of 87.65.

“I was very nervous during the warm up since I hadn’t competed with the top skaters last season,” Takahashi said. “But in today’s performance, I didn’t think about what my rivals were doing. The performance today wasn’t ideal but I’m in good condition in the final and I feel I’m achieving my ideal performance step by step.”

Lysacek called his program a “good warm-up” and said he has not pulled out all of his tricks yet.
“For the last two seasons, I’ve been trying to break 85. I think the closest I’ve come was 83 and 84,” he said. “To not just break it, but to go up to almost 90 points, is really a great improvement for me, and I think it’s reflected a lot in the components score. I’ve been working so hard technically making these elements so strong, not just execute them.”

Oda was happy with his performance. “I was very nervous because I was the last skater,” he said. “I knew Daisuke and Evan had gotten high marks, but I just tried to focus on what I had to do. I was confident.“

American Johnny Weir was fourth (84.60), and his teammate, Jeremy Abbott (the defending Grand Prix Final champion) was fifth (76.65). Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic placed sixth (70.17 points).

The Junior Men

Earlier today, Hanyu (JPN) was golden with a stellar showing in the junior men’s division. Hanyu hit a triple Axel and six othertriples including a triple Salchow-triple toe loop combination in the last minute of his routine to “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.”

The 14-year-old posted a season best 136.92 points and accumulated 206.77 overall to move up from third to first place. “I didn’t expect that I could win,” Hanyu said. “My jumps were not good coming into the competition, but what’s important is doing them in competition. I only thought about completing each element as I went along."

Overnight leader Nan Song (CHN) skated to the silver medal with a solid performance that included two triple Axels. He scored 133.29 points for the free skate, which was a season best, and overall had 204.99 points.

Ross Miner (USA) clinched the bronze medal with six clean triples (196.09 points). All three medalists competed in their first Junior Grand Prix Final.

Junior Pairs

Newcomers Sui and Han skated off with the gold medal in their first Junior Grand Prix season, overtaking more experienced competitors. The 14- and 17-year-old skaters turned in a cute Charlie Chaplin program that was highlighted by a big triple twist, a throw triple Salchow and a double Axel-double Axel sequence. The young Chinese team picked up 103.65 points for this routine and totaled 160.45 points.
“We are deeply moved. It is our first time in the Final, and we wouldn't have dreamed about achieving such a good result and promise to give our best in the future as well,” Han said. “From our point of view the, performance today was okay, but we could have performed better.”

To the delight of the home crowd, the silver medal went to Narumi Takahashi and Mervin Tran (JPN), who are only the second pair from Japan to have medaled in the Junior Grand Prix. They produced a throw triple toe and difficult lifts to score 91.36 points and overall had 145.80.

Yue Zhang and Lei Wang (CHN) rounded up an all-Asian podium with their bronze medal. They landed three triple throws and moved up from fifth to third at 137.19 points overall.

In the Money

The seniors skaters are shooting for a big paydays in Tokyo. Skaters will earn the following:

1st place USD $25,000
2nd place USD $18,000
3rd place USD $12,000
4th place USD $6,000
5th place USD $4,000
6th place USD $3,000

Hanyu pocketed $6,000 (U.S.) for his big win; Song netted $5,000; and Miner $4,000. The fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place finishers took home $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. In junior pairs, the winning couple split $9,000 (U.S.) the second place team split $7,500, third place $6,000, fourth place $4,500, fifth place $3,000 and sixth place $1,500.

On Tap

The remainder of the schedule for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final (junior and senior) is as follows:

Saturday, Dec. 5: Junior Original Dance, Junior Ladies Short Program, Pairs, Ladies, Men Free Skating
Sunday, Dec. 6: Junior Free Dance, Junior Ladies Free Skating, Exhibition Gala