France’s Grand Prix Event Return to Paris
By Isobel Moody
Three reigning World Champions triumph in Bercy; winning pairs team suffers injury; wet ice derails the ladies competition.
Last year, in Bourdeaux, the Trophé Eric Bompard Cachemire was called off halfway through, due to the ISIS attacks in Paris. Now, minus their title sponsor, the thus renamed Trophée de France return to Paris and the renovated Palais Omnisports in Bercy. The infamous pigeons of Bercy were back in the audience, and the event was completed with nothing worst than some bad ice, though this derailed the ladies competition.
Men
(Photo by Joosep Martinson – ISU/ISU via Getty Images)
Competing for the second week in a row, World Champion Javier Fernandez managed back to back golds. He didn’t do it with his best performances, though. In the short he narrowly averted disaster. He had intended to star with a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop jump combination, but fell on the quad. He had to force a shaky triple toe out after his intended solo quad salchow jump instead. By the end of the free skate he was showing his fatigue, falling on his solo triple axel jump and doubling the lutz to open his three-jump combination. Luckily by then he had already landed a good quad toe and quad salchows both solo and in combination. Combined with a generally clean free and his usual energetic charm, and he won comfortably.
This comfortable win was also because there were only two men in the field who could’ve beaten him, and neither did their best. Denis Ten took silver largely by skating clean and landing a quad toe in both programs, although it was very wild in the short. But his Nikolai Morozov-choreographed programs were dull ones, lacking the content between the elements or the spark that have won him admiration in the past. Nathan Chen was second in the short with the highest international short program score ever by an American man. He might have even led, except he pulled off his quad lutz-triple toe combination and his quad flip, only to double his axel. In the free, he pulled those off again, only to fall on his quad salchow and quad toe attempts. His second quad toe wasn’t clean either, and nor was his three jump. He dropped to fourth.
(Photo by Joosep Martinson – ISU/ISU via Getty Images)
Bronze instead went to his fellow American Adam Rippon. He pretty much had a perfect competition. His short was clean and strong, if quadless. His second-place free was one of the best moments of the week. He landed a quad toe for the first time on his way to a clean skate in which his artistry surpassed anyone else’s. He got a standing ovation. Indeed, one almost felt sorry for poor Japanese skater Takahiko Mura, who had to skate his free right after. Mura had already fallen on his quad attempt in the short, where his combination wasn’t clean either. He came painfully close to also skating clean in the free, and with quad toes both solo and in combination, but then he had issues with his three-jump, and fell on his final jump. He finished fifth.
Ladies
(Photo by Joosep Martinson – ISU/ISU via Getty Images)
The ladies short program went very well. Evgenia Medvedeva was her usual perfect self, triple flip-triple toe, straight level 4s, and all. Canadian Gabrielle Daleman opted for an easier triple toe-triple toe, and got the maximum possible score for it. She was flawless in the rest of her program too, and came in a strong second. New Russian of the year Maria Sotskova came armed with a clean short and a triple lutz-triple toe for third. Home skater Laurine Lecavelier broke through with an enchanting short with the triple toe-triple toe for a surprise fourth. Japanese up and comer Wakaba Higuchi doubled her flip, but also landed the triple lutz-triple toe for fifth. A clean program with a triple salchow-triple toe got young Korean So-Youn Park sixth.
There were disappointments for Mao Asada and Gracie Gold. Asada still is not doing the triple axel, or a triple-triple, and this time the triple flip in her combination was underrotated. She ended up eighth, below oddball Russian Alena Leonova, herself fallen from the heights. But despite also underrotating a flip, Leonova with a triple toe-triple toe and an entertaining Harley Quinn impression did quite well for herself. Gold had a disastrous short and was all the way down in tenth.
Unfortunately, it seems the ice was not resurfaced very well before the ladies free, with visible wetness. This probably was part of the reason the free skate was not a pretty sight. Even Medvedeva went down on her solo lutz, and her other jumps weren’t up to her usual technical brilliance. Nonetheless, when she landed them, including the triple flip-triple toe and triple salchow-triple toe, winning wasn’t a problem. Sotskova similarly skated mostly clean, except her jumps were often shaky, and she also had an underrotation.
(Photo by Joosep Martinson – ISU/ISU via Getty Images)
This still was more than enough for silver when Gabrielle Daleman lost her triple-triple to a fall, popped a flip, and was similarly shaky on her other jumps, especially her triple lutz-double toe-double toe. Sixth in the segment, she dropped to fourth, Higuchi narrowly beating her for bronze. Higuchi landed her triple lutz-triple toe again, and was solid on most of her jumps although her double axel-triple toe-double toe attempt had the triple underrotated, and she popped a lutz.
Fourth in the segment was Park, who also got off relatively easy with a fall and an underrotation. However, with no attempts at a triple-triple, she lacked either the technical content or the presentation to finish higher than fifth. Lecavelier skated well during the first part of her free, landing her triple toe-triple toe again. Then she did a memorable costume change by flipping her dress inside out, and proceeded right after to fall twice and lose a combination. Seventh in the segment, she dropped to sixth.
Down below that, things were still rougher. Asada and Leonova both had possibly the worst free skates of their careers, dropping to ninth and twelfth respectively. Gold’s wasn’t much better, though it took her up to eighth.
Pairs
AFP / LIONEL BONAVENTURE (Photo credit should read LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images)
In a small six-team field, Aliona Savchenko & Bruno Massot, like Fernandez, won gold for the second week in a row. This week, their short program was much better. This time they landed the side by side triple salchows, though they still skidded on the triple axel throw jump. Their free, however, was weaker. This time he failed to rotate either double in their triple salchow-double toe-double toe combination attempt, and his salchow was ugly, and his also doubled their solo toes. They rotated the throw triple axel but fell on it, and only managed a two-footed throw triple salchow at the program’s end. They won, but Savchenko sprained her ankle badly enough on the axel to limp during the medal ceremony held two and a half hours later.
The Germans were lucky it was a not dissimilar story for Russians Evgenia Tarasova & Vladimir Morozov. They nailed their easier jump elements in the short, and would’ve been flawless has their closing spins not gone out of sync. In the free they pulled off a quadruple split twist with a bobble when he put her down and landed side by side salchows. But he doubled and singled out their triple toe-double toe-double toe attempt. Combined with easier throws and artistry that simply did not match that of the Germans, and they had to settle for silver. They were in fact third in the free skate.
(Photo by Joosep Martinson – ISU/ISU via Getty Images)
Second in the free skate was the performance of the competition. Home team Vanessa James & Morgan Cipres were in fourth following the short, where they landed side by side salchows but not very well, and two-footed their arms-raised throw flip. In the free they very nearly pulled off the throw quad salchow, although she landed it on two feet, and did pull off the rest of the jump elements, including another throw flip. Their dramatic free skate is one of the best programs of the year. A year after being unable to follow up on a second-place short, they won bronze, their first ever proper Grand Prix medal.
Third after the short had been Natalia Zabiiako & Alexander Enbert, doing their easier elements but doing everything well. However, they failed to follow up on last week’s silver with another medal. This time in the free they lost their three-jump when he fell, their solo salchows were doubled, and off home ice, their presentation scores dropped slightly. It was enough to drop them to fourth. In fifth, Americans Marissa Castelli & Mervin Tran struggled with all of their jump elements, and fell on one in each program, but that they only had stumbles on the other ones meant their free skate was still one of the better ones they’ve had.
Dance
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All eyes of this competition were on Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron. The World Champions were debuting their programs here at home, and everyone wondered: could they keep it up while still skating to the same kind of music? The answer: absolutely yes. Their short was electric, going effortlessly from dramatic to goofy, and with moves that even upped the technical difficulty. Their free kept to one mood, but they managed to dive into it and come out with an increased amount of emotional power from what they’ve generated in the past, as well as more innovative lifts. They won by nearly twenty points.
Their American training mates Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue might not have their perfection, or programs as good. Nonetheless they are getting steadily better at selling their romantic free dance. They also managed to match Papadakis & Cizeron’s technical tariff in the free, the only team to do so in either segment. This helped them win the silver, as did the simple fact that they skated clean in both segments. Bronze medalist Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier had to fight back after she stumbled on the twizzles in the short dance. Fight back they did, however, with an excellent performance of their intense tango.
(Photo by Joosep Martinson – ISU/ISU via Getty Images)
Russian Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin were short after the short dance, where their technical tariff was relatively low, but they still did the elements well. In the free dance, however, they weren’t as on their game, especially in the twizzles, even before she then fell. They finished fourth, ahead of Israeli team Isabella Tobias & Ilia Tkachenko. In terms of pure aesthetics, Tobias & Tkachenko may have had the most beautiful free dance in the competition, but their elements received too many lower levels in both programs.
View full results here.
Series Standings
As repeat winners, Javier Fernandez, Evgenia Medvedeva, and Aliona Savchenko & Bruno Massot all qualify the Grand Prix Finale easily, at least if Savchenko’s ankle doesn’t force a withdrawal. The way the series is shaping up, Tarasova & Morozov with a silver and bronze are more likely to qualify than not. Zabiiako & Enbert with a second and fourth may even do so, although the odds remain heavily against them. Adam Rippon also has silver and bronze and a good chance. Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue with two silvers have an even better one.
Full series stands can be viewed here.
Next: How to Talk About Art at the End of the World
Next week the series move to Beijing. The Cup of China is infamous for its often low-quality ice, although we might always be lucky.