NAGOYA, Japan, 7 November 2004 — World champion and home favorite Shizuka Arakawa fell during her free-skating routine but still did enough to clinch her first Grand Prix title at the NHK Trophy figure skating yesterday.
Arakawa, 22, tumbled on a triple flip but still managed to finish second in the section and first overall with 179.06, beating compatriot and world junior champion Miki Ando into second place.
“Today’s victory in the NHK Trophy is my first ever title in the Grand Prix series. That is what I’m the most happy about,” said Arakawa, whose previous best at home was a bronze medal finish two years ago.
“I never skated thinking that I’m the world champion, so I never felt any pressure. I’m always trying to skate aggressively. But my skating was not aggressive enough today. I must practice harder from now on.”
The 16-year-old Ando, the only female skater to complete a quadruple jump in competition, was happy with her performance after sealing second spot with victory in the free-skating.
“I’m glad that I skated almost to 100 percent of what I’ve practiced. Furthermore, I enjoyed my skating today,” said Ando, who made her senior debut at Skate Canada last week.
“However, I need more speed in my skating. I’m going to practice and increase my speed for my next event,” added Ando.
Elena Sokolova of Russia, the 2003 world silver medalist who was second after the short program Friday, made several errors in her triple jumps and finished third with 148.76 points.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski triumphed over their long-standing rivals, world champions Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, to retain their ice-dancing title.
The Bulgarians, runners-up to their Russian nemeses at the World and European championships and the ISU Grand Prix final, trailed Navka and Kostomarov after Thursday’s compulsory but won both the original and free dance to defend the trophy with 204.62 points.
In the men’s short program, US national champion Johnny Weir headed an American one-two-three with Olympic bronze medalist Timothy Goebel and 1999-2000 world bronze medalist Michael Weiss.
