Japanese Teen Asada, Lambiel Take Top Honors in ISU Final

Author: 
Agence France Presse
Publication Date: 
Sun, 2005-12-18 03:00

TOKYO, 18 December 2005 — Japanese teenager Mao Asada upstaged twice world champion Irina Slutskaya in the Grand Prix final yesterday to capture her second women’s title in a month.

In the men’s event, Switzerland’s world champion Stephane Lambiel easily secured gold with a score of 230.10 points, an impressive 15.76 points ahead of world silver medalist Jeffrey Buttle.

Russia’s Slutskaya could not match the leaping, twirling, twisting 15-year-old Asada, who dominated the competition from the start with a combination of athleticism and sublime artistry. Luckily for Slutskaya, she will not have to compete against Asada at February’s Winter Olympics as the Japanese dynamo is too young to join the field in Turin.

World junior champion Asada, who won the Bompard Trophy in November, scored a combined total of 189.62 points to Slutskaya’s 181.48. Japan’s Yukari Nakano finished a distant third on 161.82 points.

Former world junior champion Miki Ando, 17, had a disappointing day and could only finish fourth overall, ahead of Russia’s Elena Sokolova and American Alissa Czisny.

Lambiel had little trouble outclassing his challengers with a commanding free skate to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which earned him technical element score of 76.30, against 63.64 for Buttle.

Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi was third on 212.52, beating countryman Nobunari Oda.

Canada’s Emmanuel Sandhu, the leader in the Grand Prix standings with a maximum 24 points after winning two titles in the run up to the final, came in a distant fifth. Only five men made the finals due to injuries to other skaters.

In the pairs event, twice world champions Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin made sure Russia would not leave the competition empty handed after they held on to their lead from the short program to clinch overall victory. The duo, one of three Russians couples in the event, had an overall total of 193.60 points.

China’s Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang put on an impressive performance in yesterday’s free skate to finish second on 186.12 points, ahead of Germany’s Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy.

In the ice dancing competition, Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov gave Russia a second gold medal of the final with their Carmen Suite free skate. There combined total of 165.72 points was more than 10 points clear of second-placed duo Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov of Ukraine.

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