Canada’s Chan takes Cup of China figure skating win

Canada’s double Olympic medalist Patrick Chan came from third place to snatch gold at the ISU Grand Prix finals on the second day of the Cup of China figure skating in Beijing Saturday.
Chan, Elena Radionova (RUS), Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani (USA), Xiaoyu Yu and Hao Zhang (CHN), and Kaetlyn Osmond (CAN) all secured places for next month’s grand final.
Russia?s Elena Radionova smashed the 200 barrier with her Turandot medley containing seven triple jumps to win gold in ladies? free skating.
“I?m very happy to have come first today. My performance was not perfect, it was not my best skate, but it was the best of the season so far… It?s hard for me to speak right now, I?m very overwhelmed,” said an emotional Radionova after the event.
The story-telling of the choreographic sequence behind the jumps helped her earn 135.15 (205.90 combined), giving her a margin of almost ten over Canadian Kaetlyn Osmond who took silver, slipping from Friday?s lead.
“I did two mistakes. That was very uncharacteristic for me,” Osmond said.
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (127.69, 192.57) took bronze and caught the attention of the crowd with her triple loop/double toeloop/double loop sequence, with the 19-year-old Russian’s closing change foot combination spin getting the biggest cheer of the night.
Chan, the Sochi Olympic silver medalist, won by a margin of just 1.38 over bombastic Boyang Jin, whose performance added 182.37 points for a combined 278.54 silver.
“The program felt very methodical, but I didn?t give it more energy than it needed… Even with the fall with the quad sal I didn?t panic,” he said, adding he hadn’t expected to win.
Jin, the bronze World Champion, packed in three quadruple jumps dressed as a glamorous burglar and afterwards, he said again that it had been “really not bad”.
Sixteen children were dispatched to collect all the teddies thrown during the performance.
Russia?s Sergei Voronov took bronze with 243.76.
World silver winning brother and sister partners Maia and Alex Shibutani of the USA edged from second place for Friday’s short programme to take Ice Dance gold with 111.90, bringing their combined score to 185.13.
Maia?s leap into her brother?s arms for the stationary lift was a crowd pleaser as was their finishing choreographic dance lift and twizzling movement.
Canada?s Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje dropped to second, with 107.76 for their sumptuous performance to ?Concerto de Aranjuez? earning the World champion silver winners another silver.
Russia?s Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov broke the hundred barrier (101.70, 171.94) for their first time to take bronze for their tightly danced tango with the straight lift seeing Katsalapov plane across the rink on one knee.
In Pairs, the Cup?s only contestants to maintain their lead were China?s Xiaoyu Yu and Hao Zhang who secured their place in the final despite Zhang tumbling into a somersault on the opening triple twist lift (131.27, 203.76).
“I feel happy we?ve won our first Grand Prix gold medal but I made a big mistake… I haven?t fallen since the 2010 Olympics… possibly because of the pressure from performing to my home crowd,” Zhang said.
Silver winners were fellow countrymen Cheng Peng and Yang Jin who received rapturous applause for their triple loop and triple salchow throws (128.03, 197.96).
The remaining finalist places will be filled by skaters qualifying at the sixth and final leg of the Grand Prix series, the NHK Trophy in Sapporo from November 25-27.