2011 Skate America

The 2011 Skate America was the first event of six in the 2011–12 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California on October 21–23.[1] Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2011–12 Grand Prix Final.

2011 Skate America
Type:Grand Prix
Date:October 21 – 23
Season:2011–12
Location:Ontario, California
Host:U.S. Figure Skating
Venue:Citizens Business Bank Arena
Champions
Men's singles:
Michal Březina
Ladies' singles:
Alissa Czisny
Pair skating:
Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy
Ice dance:
Meryl Davis / Charlie White
Previous:
2010 Skate America
Next:
2012 Skate America
Next GP:
2011 Skate Canada International

Eligibility

Skaters who reached the age of 14 by July 1, 2011 were eligible to compete on the senior Grand Prix circuit.

In July 2011, minimum score requirements were added to the Grand Prix series and were set at two-thirds of the top scores at the 2011 World Championships. Prior to competing in a Grand Prix event, skaters were required to earn the following:[2]

Discipline Minimum
Men168.60
Ladies117.48
Pairs130.71
Ice dancing111.15

Entries

The entries were as follows.[3][4]

Country Men Ladies Pairs Ice dancing
 Belgium Kevin van der Perren
 Canada Kirsten Moore-Towers / Dylan Moscovitch Alexandra Paul / Mitchell Islam
Kharis Ralph / Asher Hill
 Czech Republic Michal Březina
 China Zhang Dan / Zhang Hao
 France Florent Amodio Nathalie Péchalat / Fabian Bourzat
 Georgia Elene Gedevanishvili
 Germany Maylin Hausch / Daniel Wende
Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy		 Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gazsi
 Italy Samuel Contesti Carolina Kostner
Valentina Marchei
 Japan Takahiko Kozuka
Daisuke Murakami		 Haruka Imai
 Kazakhstan Denis Ten
 Lithuania Isabella Tobias / Deividas Stagniūnas
 Russia Ksenia Makarova Vera Bazarova / Yuri Larionov
 Sweden Joshi Helgesson
Viktoria Helgesson
 United States Richard Dornbush
Armin Mahbanoozadeh
Douglas Razzano		 Alissa Czisny
Joelle Forte
Caroline Zhang		 Caydee Denney / John Coughlin
Mary Beth Marley / Rockne Brubaker
Tiffany Vise / Don Baldwin		 Isabella Cannuscio / Ian Lorello
Meryl Davis / Charlie White
Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue

Schedule
  • All times are Pacific Standard Time (GMT -08:00).
  • Friday, October 21
    • 7:05 p.m. – Men's short program
    • 8:45 p.m. – Short dance
  • Saturday, October 22
    • 11:39 a.m. – Men's free skating
    • 1:34 p.m. – Free dance
    • 7:00 p.m. – Pairs' short program
    • 8:25 p.m. - Ladies' short program
  • Sunday, October 23
    • 1:05 p.m. - Pairs' free skating
    • 2:45 p.m. - Ladies' free skating
    • 7:00 p.m. - Exhibitions (Skating Spectacular)

Results

Men

Michal Březina took an eight-point lead in the short program.[5][6] He was concerned by the narrowness of the rink: "I was kind of scared if I will fit with the curve because the rink is not so wide. I almost hit the board in practice when I was going for the triple flip."[7] He was third in the free skating but held on to win his first Grand Prix title.[8] Kevin van der Perren placed fourth in the short program and won the free skating to take silver medal, his first GP medal since 2007 Skate Canada International.[9] It was the third Grand Prix silver medal of his career. The 2009 Skate America champion, Takahiko Kozuka, took the bronze medal. This was the first time that no US skater stood on the men's podium at Skate America.

Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS
1 Michal Březina  Czech Republic 216.00 1 79.08 3 136.92
2 Kevin van der Perren  Belgium 212.48 4 70.09 1 142.39
3 Takahiko Kozuka  Japan 212.09 2 70.69 2 141.40
4 Richard Dornbush  United States 202.27 5 70.03 6 132.24
5 Denis Ten  Kazakhstan 197.98 6 67.38 7 130.60
6 Daisuke Murakami  Japan 193.32 3 70.67 9 122.65
7 Douglas Razzano  United States 192.95 9 60.69 5 132.26
8 Samuel Contesti  Italy 190.20 10 55.52 4 134.68
9 Florent Amodio  France 187.60 8 62.46 8 125.14
10 Armin Mahbanoozadeh  United States 179.07 7 64.54 10 114.53

Ladies

Alissa Czisny won the short program,[10][11] while Carolina Kostner placed first in the free skating.[12][13] Czisny edged out Kostner by only 0.13 points for the gold medal.[14] Viktoria Helgesson took the bronze and became the first Swedish skater to win a Grand Prix medal.[13]

Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS
1 Alissa Czisny  United States 177.48 1 64.20 2 113.28
2 Carolina Kostner  Italy 177.35 2 60.23 1 117.12
3 Viktoria Helgesson  Sweden 145.75 5 51.13 5 94.62
4 Haruka Imai  Japan 142.94 4 54.67 9 88.27
5 Ksenia Makarova  Russia 142.67 7 45.95 4 96.72
6 Caroline Zhang  United States 140.70 3 55.05 10 85.65
7 Elene Gedevanishvili  Georgia 140.12 10 42.51 3 97.61
8 Joelle Forte  United States 139.70 6 48.86 7 90.84
9 Valentina Marchei  Italy 135.17 9 43.19 6 91.98
10 Joshi Helgesson  Sweden 133.98 8 45.03 8 88.95

Pairs

In the short program, Savchenko and Szolkowy attempted the rare throw triple Axel for the first time in their career but experienced a hard fall.[15][16] They were given credit for completing the revolutions and finished in 5th place, 3.4 points off the lead.[17] They rebounded to place first in the free skating and won their second consecutive Skate America title and third in their career.[18] They added a reverse lasso lift to their free skating but performed only a double twist because they were still working on a new entry to the triple.[19] Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang took silver, their fifth medal at Skate America, after missing the previous season due to hand, shoulder and knee injuries.[19] Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch won the bronze, their second medal at the event.[14]

Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS
1 Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy  Germany 183.98 5 59.45 1 124.53
2 Zhang Dan / Zhang Hao  China 178.66 1 62.85 3 115.81
3 Kirsten Moore-Towers / Dylan Moscovitch  Canada 177.43 4 59.60 2 117.83
4 Caydee Denney / John Coughlin  United States 175.40 2 59.62 4 115.78
5 Vera Bazarova / Yuri Larionov  Russia 173.94 3 59.62 5 114.32
6 Tiffany Vise / Don Baldwin  United States 155.42 7 51.55 6 103.87
7 Mary Beth Marley / Rockne Brubaker  United States 144.80 6 56.16 8 88.64
8 Maylin Hausch / Daniel Wende  Germany 141.54 8 48.94 7 92.60

Ice dancing

Davis and White repeated as Skate America champions, with Pechalat and Bourzat winning the silver medal, and Tobias and Stagniunas pulling up from fifth to take bronze, their first Grand Prix medal.[20][21][22][23] Bourzat was recovering from bronchitis.[24]

Rank Name Nation Total points SD FD
1 Meryl Davis / Charlie White  United States 178.07 1 70.33 1 107.74
2 Nathalie Péchalat / Fabian Bourzat  France 156.29 2 60.07 2 96.22
3 Isabella Tobias / Deividas Stagniūnas  Lithuania 132.58 5 51.83 4 80.75
4 Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gazsi  Germany 131.61 3 55.66 6 75.95
5 Kharis Ralph / Asher Hill  Canada 131.29 4 52.68 5 78.61
6 Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue  United States 131.04 6 49.71 3 81.33
7 Isabella Cannuscio / Ian Lorello  United States 115.22 7 42.05 8 73.17
8 Alexandra Paul / Mitchell Islam  Canada 111.70 8 37.50 7 74.20

References
  1. "Skate America returning to California in 2011". Associated Press. usatoday.com. March 3, 2011. Retrieved June 27, 2011.
  2. "ISU Grand Prix 2011 - 12 Announcement". International Skating Union. July 2011. Archived from the original on August 29, 2011. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
  3. "Entries". Archived from the original on 2013-12-05. Retrieved 2011-06-28.
  4. "2011 Skate America lineup finalized". U.S. Figure Skating. icenetwork. September 1, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  5. Walker, Elvin (October 22, 2011). "Brezina jumps to lead at Skate America". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
  6. Rutherford, Lynn (October 22, 2011). "Brezina plays it safe, steps out to big lead". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  7. "Michal Brezina leads Skate America". The Associated Press. ESPN. October 22, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  8. Walker, Elvin (October 23, 2011). "Brezina takes Skate America gold". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
  9. Rutherford, Lynn (October 22, 2011). "Brezina hangs on for Skate America title". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  10. Rutherford, Lynn (October 23, 2011). "Pretty in pink: Czisny glides to lead in short". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  11. Walker, Elvin (October 23, 2011). "Czisny leads ladies at Skate America". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  12. Walker, Elvin (October 23, 2011). "Czisny wins gold at Skate America". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  13. Rutherford, Lynn (October 23, 2011). "Czisny edges Kostner for first Skate America title". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  14. "Alissa Czisny wins Skate America title". Associated Press. ESPN. October 23, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  15. Rutherford, Lynn (October 23, 2011). "Zhangs edge Denney, Coughlin in short". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  16. Walker, Elvin (October 23, 2011). "Zhang and Zhang lead pairs at Skate America". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  17. "Pairs short programs: Judges details per skater" (PDF). International Skating Union. October 22, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  18. Walker, Elvin (October 23, 2011). "Savchenko and Szolkowy seize third Skate America title". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  19. Rutherford, Lynn (October 23, 2011). "Savchenko, Szolkowy win Skate America title". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  20. Walker, Elvin (October 22, 2011). "Davis and White dance to easy lead at Skate America". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
  21. Rutherford, Lynn (October 22, 2011). "Davis, White in command after sultry Latin short". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  22. Walker, Elvin (October 23, 2011). "Davis and White win second Skate America title". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
  23. Rutherford, Lynn (October 22, 2011). "Davis, White waltz away with dance crown". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  24. Pucin, Diane (October 22, 2011). "White, Davis win second Skate America ice dance title". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
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