14th Lalique Trophy
 
 

Saturday, 25th November 2000


 






Ladies long program

Group 1
Shizuka Arakawa   JPN
Purple dress, spanish music
3Lz 2ft and fall, 3S-2Lp, good layback, 2Lip, 2A, circular footwork, 3Lp, 3T fall, 1A, 3T-2T

Laetitia Hubert   FRA
White and blue dalmatian costume, i.e. white with a lot of blue / light blue spots.
3Lz (!), 3F, 3T-2T (was going for 3-3), 2Lp pop, 3Lz (!!), 3S, 1A
THE COME BACK !!!
Partial standing ovation (i at least was standing up ;-) ). This is the program we all were waiting for a long time, i guess Laetitia too !!
Too bad she must receive deduction for not adding a 2T after one of the two 3Lz... but she did 2 !! for the first time in addition...
5.1-5.2 in second mark is way too low IMO.

Diana Poth   HUN
All in white
2Lz pop, 3T-2T, 3Lp, layback, 2F, 3Lz fall, 1S, 2 something, 2A
Better forget this one, right ?

Julia Soldatova   BLR
3S step 3T, 3Lz fall, 2A, 3Lip, 3Lp, 3Lz fall, 2A from a lutz preparation + 3 turn, forward entrance
Music is boring.
Laetitia defeated her in the long, but as she was really far in the short Julia leads overall.

Dirke Baker   NZL
Purple dress
3F sit and fell -same as in SP-, 3turn-3turn into 2S, 3T, 2A great, nice layback, 3T, 2A t-out, 3T
Like Laetitia she did a nice thing putting 2 triple jumps, bur she will have deduction for repeating the same jump, no combo.

Silvia Fontana   ITA
Blue dress, "Con Te Partiro"
3Lz-2T, 2T leaning in the air, 2F, 3Lz fall, 3T hand down, 2A, 2S, 1.5S.
Good she tried 2 triple Lutz, but jumps were not really here today. she didn't held the layback really long, she could use her spinning qualities better. Good choreography.

Group 2
Viktoria Volchkova   RUS
All in white, sparkling
2A, 3Lz-2T, 3Lip, 3Lp, layback nice, 2Lz, 2S, 3T 2ft

Jennifer Kirk   USA
Typical baby ballerina, all in pink with a tutu.
3S, 3fLz-2T, 3T-3T, 2A inside landing to outside, good sit spin, 3Lp, good layback, 3F, 3fLz
Incredibly tight and fast rotation in the jumps. Slow part was not very inspired. Jumping capabilites still  impressing !
Jennifer take the lead over Viktoria at this moment.

Maria Butyrskaya   RUS
3Lz-2T light, 3f fall -same mistake as last year, the big 2ft thing-, 3T-0.5Lp-3S clean, 2Lz pop, 3Lp, 2A.
Very good presentation, good spins.
The fal on the 3f was quite surprising as all the 3F i 've seen her land were light and effortless.
Maria lead, but Viktoria is in second and Jennifer in third.

Jennifer Robinson   CAN
Brown dress.
3Lp, 3lz 2ft, 3S, 3F, 3Lz-2T, good layback, 2A llight, 3T t-out, 3S--2T.
Good presentation.

Elina Kettunen   FIN
Light green dress, piano music.
3Lz-2T, 3Lp, steps to 3F from sit and t-out, 2T, 2Lz, 2S, 2A, Bielmann spin
She is very consistent with the 3Lz !

Vanessa Gusmeroli   FRA
Dark grey and silver costume (nice costume;very original). Music from "Jeanne d'Arc".
3lz-2T (i started to think as what Vanessa said yesterday, "being in third after the short i still can win"), 2F, 2Lp (OK, no more chance...:-( ), 3T, 3F difficult landing, scratchy, 2Lz, 2A, Bielmann spin.
At the end of her program she takes some red veil from her gloves, it's good looking, especially with the Bielmann spin.
 

Press conference
First reactions :
Maria repeated what she wrote yesterday, i.e. she is really happy of ther short program, especially with the 3F as a solo jump, what is new for her. She expected more from her long program, she skated better at the Sparkasssen Cup in Germany two weeks ago, but she is happy she won.
Viktoria is happy with her short program too, she made mistakes in the free program but it all finishes with a happy end.
Jennifer said she feels very good, she is happy with her short and her long, even though she could have skated a bit faster in the long.

Q : Jennifer, can you tell us more about yourself ?
Jennifer : well, i started skating at 9, i skate in Boston Massachussets. I used to do gymnastics before, competitively. I switched to ice skating because i was not really enjoying gymnastics any more.
It's true jumps come very easily to me, i landed my first triple jump at 11, after only 1 week of practice. Gymnastics helps me a lot, like in having a tight rotation in the air, and i'm used to practice on a trampoline.

Q : Maria, can you tell us what you try to express in your program ?
Maria : it's quite difficult to say and maybe for you to understand;  the music comes from a russian movie, which is very well known in Russia. (the movie is about spies and ... i didn't get everything, something like complex situations -skatak).
Q : where did the idea of the program come from ?
Maria : By chance ! I was listening one of my friend's CD in my car, because i like to listen to music when i drive, and i just thought 'this is the music i will use in my program'. We needed to arrange it as it is basically only composed of piano.

Q : Viktoria, what does it feel to do two strong programs, especially after not really doing so in other GP event ?
Viktoria : when i came to Paris i thought i had nothing to lose, i wanted to skate well for me and for my coach. I was not really ready as i have been injured recently,but i'm getting in better shape.

Q to Maria : Do you feel Jennifer is like a baby for you (Jennifer is roughly half the age of Maria ;-) skatak) , do you think you're doing the same kind of skating ?
Maria : i don't want to say bad things about persons in this room, but i think this is a completely different skating. In competition all the other skaters are my competitors. I met Jennifer at an exhibition in Lake Placid, i think she will be a serious competitor in the future.

Q to Jennifer : you've been compared to Tara Lipinski (grrr, that was the question i wanted to ask ! ;-) skatak) , how does it feel and do you plan to have the same carreer, i.e. turning pro at a young age ?
Jennifer : of course it is very nice to be compared to Tara Lipinski, but i definitely plan to stay eligible longer and not get out of this place that soon.

Then i asked Jennifer :
As you've been compared to Tara Lipinski several times, do you work on other 3-3 combinations ?
Jennifer : yes, i've been working on different 3-3, but i injured my ip 2 months ago, so i have included the 3T-3T here at Lalique as it's a combination that i was already landing last year. I hope to include another 3-3 at US Nationals, with a triple loop.

Later i asked her more precisions about 3-3, and she told me before her injury she has been landing 3T-3T, 3F-3T, 3Lp-3Lp and 3Lz-3Lp ( just that !!!!!). The combination she plans to do at US Nats is 3Lz-3Lp.
 
 

Skatak