Home> Sports
Shen/Zhao claim gold at figure skating GP
November-1-2009

Reigning world champion Evan Lysacek of the United States, who only finished third on Friday's short program, posted 151.37 points to lift his ranking to second with 232.17 overall, out of reach for third-placed Sergei Voronov of Russia, the 2006 world junior silver medalist, who finished with 220.39.

Another Japanese Akiko Suzuki lifted the ladies trophy with a strong skating in free skate, beating the 2007 European bronze medalist Kiira Korpi of Finland and Canada's Joannie Rochette, the world runner-up of this year, to the second and third places respectively.

Taking advantage of some strong rivals' errors, Suzuki, nearly nobody before the Cup of China and coming in fourth after Friday's short program, continued with a solid performance in free dancing to West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein for the crown, upgrading most of her spins to level four to score 117.14 points and a total of 176.66.

American duo Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto, runners-up of the ice dancing at Olympic Winter Games in 2006, dominated the field to claim the ice dancing gold after posting 95.85 points from their graceful free dance.

They had led Friday's compulsory and free dances, and then took the overall crown with 194.51.

Russian pair Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski, the 2009 European champions, finished with 180.57 overall, while Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali of Italy, 2009 European silver medalists and six-time Italian national champions, took the bronze with 179.92.

The Cup of China Grand Prix was the third stop of this season's six figure skating series, and skaters compete for a global prize money of 180, 000 U.S. dollars per individual event and receive points according to their placements.

Top six skaters/couples of the series will proceed to the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Tokyo, Japan in December.

     1   2