The 2011 Skate America was the first event of six in the 2011–12 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California on October 21–23.[1] Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2011–12 Grand Prix Final.

2011 Skate America
Type:Grand Prix
Date:October 21 – 23
Season:2011–12
Location:Ontario, California
Host:U.S. Figure Skating
Venue:Citizens Business Bank Arena
Champions
Men's singles:
Czech Republic Michal Březina
Ladies' singles:
United States Alissa Czisny
Pairs:
Germany Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy
Ice dance:
United States Meryl Davis / Charlie White
Navigation
Previous:
2010 Skate America
Next:
2012 Skate America
Next GP:
2011 Skate Canada International

Eligibility

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Skaters who reached the age of 14 by July 1, 2011 were eligible to compete on the senior Grand Prix circuit.

In July 2011, minimum score requirements were added to the Grand Prix series and were set at two-thirds of the top scores at the 2011 World Championships. Prior to competing in a Grand Prix event, skaters were required to earn the following:[2]

Discipline Minimum
Men 168.60
Ladies 117.48
Pairs 130.71
Ice dancing 111.15

Entries

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The entries were as follows.[3][4]

Country Men Ladies Pairs Ice dancing
  Belgium Kevin van der Perren
  Canada Kirsten Moore-Towers / Dylan Moscovitch Alexandra Paul / Mitchell Islam
Kharis Ralph / Asher Hill
  Czech Republic Michal Březina
  China Zhang Dan / Zhang Hao
  France Florent Amodio Nathalie Péchalat / Fabian Bourzat
  Georgia Elene Gedevanishvili
  Germany Maylin Hausch / Daniel Wende
Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy
Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gazsi
  Italy Samuel Contesti Carolina Kostner
Valentina Marchei
  Japan Takahiko Kozuka
Daisuke Murakami
Haruka Imai
  Kazakhstan Denis Ten
  Lithuania Isabella Tobias / Deividas Stagniūnas
  Russia Ksenia Makarova Vera Bazarova / Yuri Larionov
  Sweden Joshi Helgesson
Viktoria Helgesson
  United States Richard Dornbush
Armin Mahbanoozadeh
Douglas Razzano
Alissa Czisny
Joelle Forte
Caroline Zhang
Caydee Denney / John Coughlin
Mary Beth Marley / Rockne Brubaker
Tiffany Vise / Don Baldwin
Isabella Cannuscio / Ian Lorello
Meryl Davis / Charlie White
Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue

Schedule

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  • All times are Pacific Standard Time (GMT -08:00).
  • Friday, October 21
    • 7:05 p.m. – Men's short program
    • 8:45 p.m. – Short dance
  • Saturday, October 22
    • 11:39 a.m. – Men's free skating
    • 1:34 p.m. – Free dance
    • 7:00 p.m. – Pairs' short program
    • 8:25 p.m. - Ladies' short program
  • Sunday, October 23
    • 1:05 p.m. - Pairs' free skating
    • 2:45 p.m. - Ladies' free skating
    • 7:00 p.m. - Exhibitions (Skating Spectacular)

Results

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Michal Březina took an eight-point lead in the short program.[5][6] He was concerned by the narrowness of the rink: "I was kind of scared if I will fit with the curve because the rink is not so wide. I almost hit the board in practice when I was going for the triple flip."[7] He was third in the free skating but held on to win his first Grand Prix title.[8] Kevin van der Perren placed fourth in the short program and won the free skating to take silver medal, his first GP medal since 2007 Skate Canada International.[9] It was the third Grand Prix silver medal of his career. The 2009 Skate America champion, Takahiko Kozuka, took the bronze medal. This was the first time that no US skater stood on the men's podium at Skate America.

Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS
1 Michal Březina   Czech Republic 216.00 1 79.08 3 136.92
2 Kevin van der Perren   Belgium 212.48 4 70.09 1 142.39
3 Takahiko Kozuka   Japan 212.09 2 70.69 2 141.40
4 Richard Dornbush   United States 202.27 5 70.03 6 132.24
5 Denis Ten   Kazakhstan 197.98 6 67.38 7 130.60
6 Daisuke Murakami   Japan 193.32 3 70.67 9 122.65
7 Douglas Razzano   United States 192.95 9 60.69 5 132.26
8 Samuel Contesti   Italy 190.20 10 55.52 4 134.68
9 Florent Amodio   France 187.60 8 62.46 8 125.14
10 Armin Mahbanoozadeh   United States 179.07 7 64.54 10 114.53

Ladies

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Alissa Czisny won the short program,[10][11] while Carolina Kostner placed first in the free skating.[12][13] Czisny edged out Kostner by only 0.13 points for the gold medal.[14] Viktoria Helgesson took the bronze and became the first Swedish skater to win a Grand Prix medal.[13]

Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS
1 Alissa Czisny   United States 177.48 1 64.20 2 113.28
2 Carolina Kostner   Italy 177.35 2 60.23 1 117.12
3 Viktoria Helgesson   Sweden 145.75 5 51.13 5 94.62
4 Haruka Imai   Japan 142.94 4 54.67 9 88.27
5 Ksenia Makarova   Russia 142.67 7 45.95 4 96.72
6 Caroline Zhang   United States 140.70 3 55.05 10 85.65
7 Elene Gedevanishvili   Georgia 140.12 10 42.51 3 97.61
8 Joelle Forte   United States 139.70 6 48.86 7 90.84
9 Valentina Marchei   Italy 135.17 9 43.19 6 91.98
10 Joshi Helgesson   Sweden 133.98 8 45.03 8 88.95

Pairs

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In the short program, Savchenko and Szolkowy attempted the rare throw triple Axel for the first time in their career but experienced a hard fall.[15][16] They were given credit for completing the revolutions and finished in 5th place, 3.4 points off the lead.[17] They rebounded to place first in the free skating and won their second consecutive Skate America title and third in their career.[18] They added a reverse lasso lift to their free skating but performed only a double twist because they were still working on a new entry to the triple.[19] Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang took silver, their fifth medal at Skate America, after missing the previous season due to hand, shoulder and knee injuries.[19] Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch won the bronze, their second medal at the event.[14]

Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS
1 Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy   Germany 183.98 5 59.45 1 124.53
2 Zhang Dan / Zhang Hao   China 178.66 1 62.85 3 115.81
3 Kirsten Moore-Towers / Dylan Moscovitch   Canada 177.43 4 59.60 2 117.83
4 Caydee Denney / John Coughlin   United States 175.40 2 59.62 4 115.78
5 Vera Bazarova / Yuri Larionov   Russia 173.94 3 59.62 5 114.32
6 Tiffany Vise / Don Baldwin   United States 155.42 7 51.55 6 103.87
7 Mary Beth Marley / Rockne Brubaker   United States 144.80 6 56.16 8 88.64
8 Maylin Hausch / Daniel Wende   Germany 141.54 8 48.94 7 92.60

Ice dancing

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Davis and White repeated as Skate America champions, with Pechalat and Bourzat winning the silver medal, and Tobias and Stagniunas pulling up from fifth to take bronze, their first Grand Prix medal.[20][21][22][23] Bourzat was recovering from bronchitis.[24]

Rank Name Nation Total points SD FD
1 Meryl Davis / Charlie White   United States 178.07 1 70.33 1 107.74
2 Nathalie Péchalat / Fabian Bourzat   France 156.29 2 60.07 2 96.22
3 Isabella Tobias / Deividas Stagniūnas   Lithuania 132.58 5 51.83 4 80.75
4 Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gazsi   Germany 131.61 3 55.66 6 75.95
5 Kharis Ralph / Asher Hill   Canada 131.29 4 52.68 5 78.61
6 Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue   United States 131.04 6 49.71 3 81.33
7 Isabella Cannuscio / Ian Lorello   United States 115.22 7 42.05 8 73.17
8 Alexandra Paul / Mitchell Islam   Canada 111.70 8 37.50 7 74.20

References

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  1. ^ "Skate America returning to California in 2011". Associated Press. usatoday.com. March 3, 2011. Retrieved June 27, 2011.
  2. ^ "ISU Grand Prix 2011 - 12 Announcement". International Skating Union. July 2011. Archived from the original on August 29, 2011. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
  3. ^ "Entries". Archived from the original on 2013-12-05. Retrieved 2011-06-28.
  4. ^ "2011 Skate America lineup finalized". U.S. Figure Skating. icenetwork. September 1, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  5. ^ Walker, Elvin (October 22, 2011). "Brezina jumps to lead at Skate America". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
  6. ^ Rutherford, Lynn (October 22, 2011). "Brezina plays it safe, steps out to big lead". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  7. ^ "Michal Brezina leads Skate America". The Associated Press. ESPN. October 22, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  8. ^ Walker, Elvin (October 23, 2011). "Brezina takes Skate America gold". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
  9. ^ Rutherford, Lynn (October 22, 2011). "Brezina hangs on for Skate America title". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  10. ^ Rutherford, Lynn (October 23, 2011). "Pretty in pink: Czisny glides to lead in short". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  11. ^ Walker, Elvin (October 23, 2011). "Czisny leads ladies at Skate America". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  12. ^ Walker, Elvin (October 23, 2011). "Czisny wins gold at Skate America". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  13. ^ a b Rutherford, Lynn (October 23, 2011). "Czisny edges Kostner for first Skate America title". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  14. ^ a b "Alissa Czisny wins Skate America title". Associated Press. ESPN. October 23, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  15. ^ Rutherford, Lynn (October 23, 2011). "Zhangs edge Denney, Coughlin in short". Icenetwork. Archived from the original on October 25, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  16. ^ Walker, Elvin (October 23, 2011). "Zhang and Zhang lead pairs at Skate America". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  17. ^ "Pairs short programs: Judges details per skater" (PDF). International Skating Union. October 22, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  18. ^ Walker, Elvin (October 23, 2011). "Savchenko and Szolkowy seize third Skate America title". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  19. ^ a b Rutherford, Lynn (October 23, 2011). "Savchenko, Szolkowy win Skate America title". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  20. ^ Walker, Elvin (October 22, 2011). "Davis and White dance to easy lead at Skate America". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
  21. ^ Rutherford, Lynn (October 22, 2011). "Davis, White in command after sultry Latin short". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  22. ^ Walker, Elvin (October 23, 2011). "Davis and White win second Skate America title". GoldenSkate. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
  23. ^ Rutherford, Lynn (October 22, 2011). "Davis, White waltz away with dance crown". Icenetwork. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  24. ^ Pucin, Diane (October 22, 2011). "White, Davis win second Skate America ice dance title". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
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