COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, 15 December 2003 — Canadian champion Emanuel Sandhu scored one of the biggest upsets of the year, winning gold in men’s singles at the ISU Grand Prix finals on Saturday ahead of two-time world champion Evgeny Plushenko.
Sandhu’s surprise victory over Olympic silver medalist Plushenko was highlighted by the fact he was a last-minute replacement in the two-day event for American quad king Tim Goebel. Plushenko, of Russia, won the silver medal in his first defeat since the 2002 Winter Olympics loss to archrival Alexei Yagudin. A two-time national champion, the former dancer who has never before won a major international event also picks up a winner’s check for $35,000.
It took a bizarre set of circumstances to even bring Sandhu to this main event of the Grand Prix season. American national champion Michael Weiss won the bronze.
Fumie Suguri, one of three Japanese in ladies singles, prevented defending Grand Prix final champion Sasha Cohen from keeping her crown.
Suguri, the leader after the short program, held on to her lead and became the first Japanese woman to ever capture the Grand Prix final title.
In Pairs competition, reigning world champions Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China easily won gold. They led their nearest challengers, silver medalists Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, of Russia, by over 20 points.
