PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, 25 October 2004 — American Angela Nikodinov, battling her way back from shoulder surgery two years ago, won the ladies’ title Saturday at Skate America, first stop in the ISU figure skating Grand Prix series.
Nikodinov, 24, posted a total of 149.50 points under the new scoring system officially introduced this year after being tested last season. The system is designed to be more impartial and to protect judges’ anonymity.
Canadian Cynthia Phaneuf finished second and Japan’s Miki Ando was third.
Ando fell on a quadruple and a triple jump to tumble from the top spot she held after the short program, finishing sixth in the free skate won by Finland’s Susanna Poykio.
That opened the door for Nikodinov, who was second in both the short program and free skate, to claim the title.
Phaneuf took the silver after finishing third in both the short program and free skate, while Poykio’s free skate performance moved her up from eighth after the short program to fifth overall.
Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto became the first US ice dancing team in 21 years to win back-to-back Skate America titles.
“It feels wonderful to be champions again,” Agosto said after they debuted their new gypsy folk dance free skate. “Now we’re going to polish the program and make it ready to shine. It’s a good competition to have under our belts.”
Belbin said there was room for improvement in the new routine.
“We’ll clean it up, go home and re-choreograph some things and be that much better in China,” she said, referring to the Cup of China next month.
Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky of Israel earned their second Skate America medal as well, taking the silver. Canadians Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe finished third, earning their first Grand Prix medal with a free dance to “Zorba the Greek”.
Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang scored 166.86 points to win the pairs competition as China dominated the event with two teams in the top four. Yang Ding and Zhong-fei Ren (139.42) placed fourth behind runners-up Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov of Russia (166.26) and third place finishers John Baldwin and Rena Inoue, of the US, who finished third with 158.10 points.
