Favorites Do Well at Skate Canada

Canadians win three golds, three bronzes, and a silver; Olympic champion surprised as other favorites win.

Skate Canada International happened this week in Mississauga, in its usual position of second event of the series. This is the fourth time this Ontario city has hosted this event. The roster was filled with big names. The biggest names mostly lived up to expectations. The home skaters exceeded them, winning two expected golds and a mildly surprising one, and four other medals, none exactly predicted, and three of them truly unexpected. Some of the other anticipated skaters, however, suffered disappointments.

Men

Oct 29, 2016; Mississauga, Ontario, CAN; Men

None of the men skated a clean short. Even Patrick Chan landed a perfect quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination, only to fall on his triple axel jump. His was the only good quad in that segment. It and his artistry all but decided the competition thanks to favorite Yuzuru Hanyu’s disaster of a short. He went for the quad loop, failed to even partially rotate it, then tripled and skipped on a salchow, costing him a combination. He was left in fourth, over ten points behind Chan.

Of his four quads in the free, Hanyu landed two, the solo salchow and the solo toe. The loop came to the same end as in the short, and he doubled the second salchow. He was also able to land all his triples and do the program some artistic justice. Chan was able do to likewise with his program, but it was much less clean. He hit the quad toe-triple toe again and came extremely closing to maxing out its high value, but he went down on the salchow. Combined with some errors late in the program, and he lost the free skate by quite a bit. But he didn’t lose it by ten points, and so held on to take gold, while Hanyu pulled up to silver.

Oct 28, 2016; Mississauga, Ontario, CAN; Kevin Reynolds of Canada performs in the mens short program during the 2016 Skate Canada International figure skating competition at Hershey Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

After the short, Japanese skater Takahiko Mura was in second, followed closely by comeback Canadian Kevin Reynolds. A skater who was building points on quads before it was cool, Reynolds nonetheless still relied on toe and salchow only. In the short, he landed the toe, with difficulty, and underrotated the salchow in combination. Still he might have been in second, except he also went wrong on a spin. Mura stumbled on his quad toe attempt, but inched ahead on his clean triples and well-done flamenco program.

But in the free Mura faltered, failing to land his first quad toe clean, rotate his second, or even partially rotate his quad salchow. Nor was that his only major downgrade, nor those his only errors. Ninth in the segment, he dropped all the way down to eighth.  Reynolds, meanwhile, landed quad toes both solo and with a triple toe, and his first salchow, but fell on his second. When, like Hanyu, he jumped clean outside of his quads, it was more than enough to hold on to bronze. He even showed signs of improved musicality throughout the competition, though he’s never been the strongest skater outside the jumps.

Other skaters trying to come back having fallen from higher heights found it harder. Czech skater Michal Brezina can perhaps be proud of fighting after a short program that left him in ninth thanks to a doubled lutz and unclean combo. He managed to climb up to fourth with a mostly clean free, although his quad salchow attempt went underrotated and his three-jump combination wasn’t successful either. Chinese skater Han Yan had no such recovery. Going for three quad toes, he stumbled on the one in the short, and underrotated and fell on the solo on in the free. He did land on with a double toe, but that was his only combination in the entire competition. Combined with multiple errors, including on all three of his axels, and he finished tenth.

Ladies

Oct 29, 2016; Mississauga, Ontario, CAN; Ladies gold medalist Evgenia Medvedeva (RUS) is flanked by silver medalist Kaetlyn Osmond (CAN), left, and bronze medalist Satoko Miyahara (JPN) after medal ceremonies during Skate Canada International at Hershey Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

The story of the ladies event should have been Japanese star Satoko Miyahara challenging reigning world champion Evgenia Medvedeva. But the technical panel made the story about them, calling a lot of underrotations. As a perennial offender, Miyahara was hit.  In her short they called her triple lutz-triple toe underrotated and her flip taken off badly on the wrong blade edge, even as the judges gave her the highest score possible for her layback spin. In the free, they ratified her triple-triple, but called three more underrotations, and invalidated her step sequence, possibly out of failure to use enough of the rink. Nonetheless, she ultimately won the bronze, with the considerable help of her presentation scores.

Medvedeva, much less prone to underrotations, had none on her triples, though she did have one on a double axel in the free. These included a beautiful trip flip-triple toe combination in both programs. She landed them all with her usually steadiness and beautiful skating. Even having a cold this week didn’t seem to trouble her that much. However the audience felt about her doing a program with 9/11 voiceover, no one could deny her the win. Home skater Kaetlyn Osmond also escaped much of the tech panel’s penalties. Her short was flawless, with some of the competition’s most beautiful jumps. Like Medvedeva, she had a triple flip-triple toe in both programs. She did fall on an underrotated loop in the free, but between the rest of it and her high energy and personality, she won silver with equal ease.

Oct 29, 2016; Mississauga, Ontario, CAN; Kaetlyn Osmond (CAN) performs her routine during the Ladies free skate at Skate Canada International at Hershey Centre. Osmond finished second. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Medvedeva’s fellow Russian Elizaveta Tuktamisheva actually escaped underrotations completely. However, this may have been because she did a lot less technically. Though she spoke of possibly trying the triple axel at her next event, she did not try anything harder here than a triple toe-triple toe in the short. Combined with a couple of mistakes in her free, and she was only able to finish fourth. A late withdrawal made Alaine Chartrand the only other home skater in the field. She underrotated the triple lutz-triple toe in the short, landed it in the free, then got hit with two more underrotations for fifth.

Hit the hardest were Miyahara’s countrywoman Rika Hongo and American Mirai Nagasu. Hongo had a short with the same content as Tuktamisheva and initially was right behind her. But her free had four underrotations and two full downgrades, including on her triple lutz-triple toe attempt. She was eighth in the segment and dropped to sixth. Nagasu fared still worse. Going for a triple flip-triple toe in both programs, she started by falling on the first jump in the short. Ironically, that was the only triple in the competition where she even got credit for the rotations, and she had a full downgrade on her loop in the free. She finished a painful ninth.

Pairs

Oct 29, 2016; Mississauga, Ontario, CAN; Medalists from the Pairs competition gather on the podium after medal presentations during Skate Canada International at Hershey Centre. From left to right: Silver medalists Xiaoyu Yu and Hao Zhang (CHN), gold medalists Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford (CAN) and bronze medialists Lubov Iliushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch (CAN). Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Recently, Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford have been complaining about not being allowed to do a quadruple throw in the short, trying the throw triple axel in it instead, and then complaining about that not being worth more. Going for it this week, they just about landed it, though her free leg brushed the ice. In the long program, they went for the throw quad salchow instead, and fell on it. They more or less got through everything else, including their throw triple flip and side by side triple lutzes in both programs. That was enough to be get them gold by a wide margin over Xiaoyu Yu & Hao Zhang.

Off the ice, the Chinese now speak of the decision to swap the partners of their top two pairs as one Yu, at least, was involved in. Whether she truly had a say in it we may never know. Yu & Zhang certainly skated well in their international debut together. They hit all their jumps, although they tried nothing harder than a triple toe-double toe combination. They even maxed out their score for their high flying split triple twist in the free. There were moments of awkwardness, however, especially on the side by side spins. In terms of both pulling elements off and artistry, she came off as stronger than him. They won silver by another large margin, if only because below them, things weren’t so clean.

Oct 29, 2016; Mississauga, Ontario, CAN; Xiaoyu Yu and Hao Zhang (CHN) perform their routine during the Pairs free skate at the Skate Canada International at Hershey Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Haven Denney & Brandon Frazier were the only skaters to do both of the first two Grand Prix events. Their programs here weren’t unlike what they were at Skate America. Going for the same side by sides, including side by side salchows in the short, once again they failed to do them. Once again they landed easier throws. It was painfully close for third in both segments. Ahead of them, Lubov Ilyushechkina & Dylan Moscovitch didn’t manage any of their side by sides either. In the short, they did manage the throw triple lutz, but on the free it was one of two falls for her in a row. They went for salchows in the free only; she doubled. Nonetheless, superior skating technique and expression carried the day for the Canadians, winning them the bronze.

Second and fourth does not rule Denney & Frazier out for the Grand Prix Finale. However, it does make their chances of qualifying unlikely. But they still weren’t as unfortunate as elder Russians Yuko Kavaguti & Alexander Smirnov. Like the Americans, they struggled on all their side by sides, and landed easier throws. They also had trouble on some of their non-jump elements as well. Worse than that was the trouble she had with her leg, which left her limping off the ice after their free skate. They finished fifth.

Dance

Oct 29, 2016; Mississauga, Ontario, CAN; Ice Dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (CAN) are flanked by silver medialists Madison Chock and Evan Bates (USA, left) and bronze medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (CAN) after presentations at Skate Canada International at Hershey Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

When interviewed, Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir spoke of just enjoying competing again. It probably helped that they won. It was a narrow victory, however, done on the strength of their short dance. There they dazzled with a knockout performance, although even then their technical tariff was lower than they might have liked. Their free dance was similar, except with deeper emotion. But also she didn’t do the twizzles quite right. That cost them the segment to Madison Chock & Evan Bates, who came within a point of winning. The Americans had the highest technical tariff in both segments, and arguably the most intensity in everything they did as well.

The third team expected to medal here here, Italians Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte, met with real trouble. A level one on their blues-based steps in the short dance was a particularly bad blow to their tariff there. Even in their free dance, the levels on their steps kept their tariff substantially below that of Canadians Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier. Their tariffs in both segments were second highest, and if they didn’t have the finesse of those above at every moment, they did get at it a lot of the time. The entertainment value of their disco short dance helped, despite his appalling 70s appearance. Their free too was compelling enough to hold off the Italians in the presentation score, and so they surprised for the bronze and left Cappellini & Lanotte in fourth.

Oct 28, 2016; Mississauga, Ontario, CAN; Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada perform in the ice dance short dance during the 2016 Skate Canada International figure skating competition at Hershey Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Low technical tariff also helped do away with two younger teams that might have otherwise finished closer to the top four. Russians Alexandra Stepanova & Ivan Bukin paid a high price for it in both programs. They even performed most of their free with passion and high energy, only to get fatigued in the closing step sequences and fail to get good levels on them. In sixth, Americans Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker managed slighter higher levels on their elements, but could not do them as well, especially going wrong in both standard and choreographic twizzle sequences in the free.

Full results are available here.

Next Year’s Event

Location and dates for next year’s Skate Canada were also announced this week. It will come to Regina, Saskatchewan October 26-29, 2017. Regina hosted it once before, in 1986. The dates indicate it will be the second event, as usual. Much more unusual is it not happening back to back with Skate America. Even when the schedule shuffles, events on the same continent usually happen back to back, even when they don’t under the normal schedule. This also means either the two European events or the two Asian events won’t be back to back either.

Next: Decisions of the ISU Council

Meanwhile, next week the series moves to Russia for the Rostelecom Cup. Men’s world champion Javier Fernandez will begin his Grand Prix season, and more than one skater will be wrapping up theirs with their second event.