Uno, Osmond runaway winners at Skate Canada
REGINA: Shoma Uno and Kaetlyn Osmond were in leagues of their own in winning the men’s and women’s crowns on Saturday at Skate Canada International. Japan’s Uno opened with a gorgeous quadruple loop and produced a quad toe loop combo, but faltered on the landing of two other quads, including his trademark flip.
Still, the reigning world silver medallist who led from pillar to post, finished 40 points clear of second place American Jason Brown 301.1 to 261.14. Russian Alexander Samarin notched two strong quads to grab bronze (250.06) ahead of Patrick Chan after the Canadian star struggled through one of his worst performances in memory. Chan fell on his opening quad attempt, then turned four triple jumps and a second quad to doubles for seventh in the free skate and fourth overall. Uno’s challenge to himself
was to execute the three jump combos that eluded him in the past.
“I’m really satisfied I made my goal this week and hopefully I can connect it to my second Grand Prix competition in France.” Uno competes in Grenoble in three weeks while Brown and Chan meet Japanese superstar Yuzuru Hanyu at NHK Trophy in Osaka in two.
On the women’s side, overnight leader Osmond’s Black Swan program proved golden as she finished with 212.91, some 20 points beyond her nearest challenger. It wasn’t the picture perfect performance the Canadian had delivered the day before, but six triple jumps within sophisticated choreography was more than enough to prevail.
“I love this program and I got a great reaction from the crowd and it just makes the program even more exciting for me knowing that the audience loves it. “All the jumps didn’t work, but I’m happy with the overall package,” said the reigning world silver medallist who, like Uno, competes next in Grenoble.
Russian Maria Sotskova took silver on 192.52, while Ashley Wagner of the United States rebounded from her subpar short program and climbed from seventh to third on 183.94. “I definitely put out two solid performances. They were sloppy, but sloppiness can be fixed,” Wagner said. Russian Anna Pogorilaya plummeted from second in
the opener to ninth overall with a disastrous performance reminiscent of her collapse at the 2017 worlds.
Canadian ice dance virtuosos Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir claimed their seventh Skate Canada title with a record total score of 199.86, breaking their own previous high mark set in winning their third world title last March. OFF WITH A BANG
The 2010 Olympic champions captivated the crowd with their passionate Moulin Rouge portrayal which approached perfection. “We were anxious and a little nervous. We wanted to perform well. This is a program that we’re both really attached to and we felt the pressure to give Regina a show, start the year off with a bang,” said Moir, who competes next at NHK Trophy.
Fellow Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje were second on 190.01, less than a point ahead of Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue of the United States. In pairs, Canadians Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford overtook first round leaders Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot, of Germany, to take gold.
A gorgeous throw quad salchow helped the twice world champs to a total score of 222.22, while Savchenko and Massot posted 215.66. French duo Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres were third on 214.37 points.—