Skate America, Day 2: Daisuke Takahashi (JPN) claims Men's gold
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Japan's Daisuke Takahashi claimed the gold at Skate America on Saturday. Teammate Nobunari Oda completed a successful day for the Japanese men with his silver medal and Armin Mahbanoozadeh (USA) captured the bronze.
Takahashi nailed six clean triples including in his expressive Tango routine, but he fell on his second triple Axel and tripled his intended quad toe. The 24-year-old earned 148.95 points and totaled 227.07 to overtake Oda.
“I couldn't skate so well today, but my presentation was better than at the NHK Trophy”, said the World Champion. “I wanted to do the quad toe, but it popped out on the landing. I've landed it twice in competition this season, but it is not consistent in practice”, he added.
Performing to Piano Concertos 1 and 2 by Edvard Grieg, Oda went down on his opening quad toe but recovered to complete six clean triples. However, he did a combination too many that didn't count. He had 146.81 points and slipped to second at 226.09 points overall. “I am very disappointed with my performance tonight, because I did a few mistakes. I was just thinking of doing another combination. I repeated this (kind of mistake) so many times that I can't say anything about a solution. But it won't happen again”, noted Oda.
Mahbanoozadeh delivered a strong performance to “Avatar” that included seven triples and difficult spions and footwork to score 143.56 points. With a total score of 211.17 the 19-year-old moved up from fourth to win his first Grand Prix medal. “I'm thrilled beyond words”,Mahbanoozadeh said. “I felt really confident going in today. The long program has been going well, I've been training it well and I let myself do what I do in practice. It went better than I could have hoped for”, he continued.
Adam Rippon dropped to fourth with 203.12 points and Daisuke Murakami (JPN) finished fifth (203.00 points).
Takahashi has qualified for the Grand Prix Final with two wins and Oda most likely qualified with two silver medals.
Source: ISU press release (Nov. 14)
Skate America Day 1: Nobunari Oda grabs Men's Short Program
Nobunari Oda of Japan edged out his teammate and World Champion Daisuke Takahashi by just 1.16 points to take the lead in the Men's Short Program at Skate America in Portland on Friday. Adam Rippon came third.
Oda, who skated last, delivered a solid performance to “Storm” by the Yoshida brothers that was highlighted by a triple Axel, triple flip-triple toeloop combination and two level-four spins. The Skate Canada silver medalist picked up 79.28 points. “I was nervous before my program, but I didn't make any major mistakes on my jumps. However, I do regret making a minor mistake going into the spin. I was too slow. Overall I skated better than at Skate Canada”, Oda said.
Takahashi skated a dance-like routine to Rhumba, Mambo and Samba and hit a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, but he underrotated the triple Axel and stumbled on the exit of the jump as well as on the triple Lutz. The reigning World Champion scored 78.12 points. “I missed two jumps, and that wasn't good. I got only a level one for a spin, and this is a problem for me. I worked hard on my spins before this competition and I'm disappointed that I couldn't show it in competition”, the Olympic bronze medalist explained.
Rippon's classical program to “Romeo and Juliet Overture” by Peter Tchaikovski included a triple Lutz with both arms over his head and three level-four spins, but the 2010 Four Continents Champion stepped out on his triple Axel and the second jump in his triple flip-triple toe combination was underrotated. Rippon got 73.94 points. “Overall I'm pleased with how I skated today. I did make some silly mistakes, stepping out on the Axel and having the triple toe on my triple flip-triple toe combo being downgraded . Mistakes happen and I think that I can take this performance, learn from it and look forward to the free skate tomorrow”, Rippon noted.
Armin Mahbanoozadeh (USA) is sitting in fourth (67.61 points) followed by Daisuke Murakami (JPN) with 67.01 points.
Source: ISU press release (Nov. 13)
(Just a pic to remind us that there seems to be no ~hard feelings~ between the two. Both of you better redeem yourselves at the GP Final!)