Canada skates away with three Grand Prix final medals, although none are gold
NAGOYA, Japan — Alina Zagitova performed a near-flawless free skate on Saturday to win the figure skating Grand Prix Final, supplanting Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond, who was first after the short program.
Osmond’s podium finish was still part of a three-medal day for Canada at the finale of the Grand Prix skating season. Ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir finished second and Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford were third in pairs.
Skating to Don Quixote, Zagitova, the 15-year-old world junior champion from Russia, placed all seven of her jumps in the second half of her routine and made no major mistakes to finish with 223.30 points.
Zagitova’s compatriot Maria Sotskova, fourth after the short program, also had a strong free skate and moved up to second place with 216.28.
Osmond, the Newfoundland native who trains in Edmonton, fell on her triple Salchow and dropped to third with 215.16. The Grand Prix medal solidifies her place in the upper echelon after her breakthrough silver medal at the world championships in the spring.
“I made a lot of changes between France and this competition and I think I did really well on those changes,” Osmond said in a quote on the ISU’s website. “I focused a lot on my choreography and improving the package in the storyline of the program. There are things I am really proud of, some silly mistakes for me, but overall I am happy with the performance. It is getting better each time so hopefully I will peak at the right time.”
Two-time defending world champion Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia pulled out because of a fracture in her foot. Less than four points separated second through fifth.
The Grand Prix Final is the last major international competition before the Feb. 8-25 Pyeongchang Olympics.
In ice dance, world silver medallists Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France won the free dance to secure the gold medal with 202.16 points. World champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada were second with 199.86, ahead of world bronze medallists Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani of the United States with 188.00.
“We are on track towards the Olympics,” Virtue said on the ISU website. “We had an extremely successful season so far that’s testament to the team of people around us with our on and off ice coaches, they have put a spectacular plan in place and as athletes it’s been rewarding to really follow that. We just have to continue taking care of the details, making little tweaks to make sure that the programs are at our best for February.”
In pairs, Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany retained their lead from the short program to win the gold medal with 236.68.
World champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China were second with 230.89 while Canadians Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford took bronze with 210.83. Duhamel and Radford bounced back after finishing fifth in the short program.
“Our free skate was OK today. Everything has been going well for us in practice and the short program really shook up our confidence,” Duhamel said on the ISU’s website. “The throw quad is always a risk, but we fought through the long program so when we finished we feel proud of ourselves because we didn’t give up.”
“I think we took a nice step and we built at this competition from the last competition so I think our goal will be to go into our national championships, take one more step up, try to get some more levels, don’t make so many mistakes and we want to hit that big peak at the Olympic Games in February,” Radford said.
The Canadian championships start Jan. 8 in Vancouver.
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada perform during the pairs free skate at the ISU Grand Prix Final on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017.