Tag Archive for: 2013 Trophée Eric Bompard

Patrick Chan wins gold, set world records at ISU Grand Prix

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PARIS – World champion Patrick Chan capped a super weekend for Canadian figure skaters on Saturday with a gold medal and world record performances in men’s singles at the Eric-Bompard Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition.

Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir added ice dance gold and Meagan Duhamel of Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford of Balmertown, Ont., took silver in pairs.

Chan totalled 295.27 points to smash his previous world mark of 280.98 points set at the 2011 world championships in Moscow. He also bettered his free program world record score from Moscow to 196.75 from the 187.96. Friday’s short program total was also a world’s best.

‘’This is a special day,’’ said Chan. ‘’It’s the first time in a long time I`ve skated two strong programs at one competition. I felt in control of every moment and each element. I`m going to remember how I approached both programs.

The 22-year-old from Toronto nailed his opening quad toeloop-triple toeloop, his quad toeloop and his triple axel jumps. The French crowd gave him a rousing ovation for his performance which included music from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

‘’I know exactly why the way I skated. I paced myself properly to get through the whole program and through all the elements. That’s where I improved.’’

Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan was second at 263.59 and Jason Brown of the U.S., third at 243.09.

In ice dancing, Virtue and Moir were the victors with 180.96 ranking first in both the short dance and free dance. Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia were second at 171.89 and Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France third at 171.08.

‘’We felt like it was a strong skate,’’ said Moir. ‘’There were some great moments and it was a better skate than at Skate Canada especially the ending.  Still we left some points out there. Technically we can’t afford to do those little mistakes.’’

Nicole Orford of Burnaby, B.C., and Thomas Williams of Okotoks, Alta., were eighth.

In pairs, Olympic silver medallists Qing Pang and Jian Tong of China won the gold with 193.86 points edging Duhamel and Radford in second at 190.89. Caydee Denney and John Coughlin of the U.S., were third at 184.01.

The result also puts Duhamel and Radford in good position to make the Grand Prix Final.

“I was proud of that performance,” said Radford. “There’s a lot of pressure. It’s an Olympic season and we wanted to make the Grand Prix Final to keep our name out there heading into the second half of the season. That’s what was on the line today.”

After a wobbly Skate Canada three weeks ago, Duhamel said the couple put pressure on themselves to execute clean programs every day in training. The preparation eventually paid off even though they didn’t produced a clean skate Saturday.

“We weren’t able to deliver the program that we’ve been doing in training but we fought,” said Duhamel. “We knew we needed to come here and get at least second to advance to the Grand Prix Final. There was a lot of pressure and nothing was easy..”

Natasha Purich of Sherwood Park, Alta., and Mervin Tran of Regina were sixth.

In women’s competition, Amélie Lacoste of Delson, Que., was sixth.

Big scores for Chan, Virtue/Moir at ISU Grand Prix

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PARIS – World champion Patrick Chan of Toronto broke his world record score in Friday’s short program to stand first in men’s competition at the Trophee Eric Bompard ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition.

Later on, Olympic champions Tessa Virtue of London, Ont., and Scott Moir of Ilderton, Ont., posted a personal best score for their short dance to grab an early lead as well.

Chan totalled 98.52 points which bettered his previous world best of 98.37 set at the world championships last March. He also improved his score by more than 10 points from last month’s Skate Canada.  The main difference was successfully landing his quad-triple toe jump on Friday.

“I wasn’t feeling completely at my best but I put in the work and the training,” said Chan. “When you do that it allows you to deliver a solid performance like this.  I didn’t expect that kind of score this early in the season but it doesn”t change my mentality or my approach for the rest of the year.”

Yazuru Hanyu of Japan is second at 95.37 and Jason Brown of the U.S., third at 84.77.

In ice dancing, Virtue and Moir earned 75.31 to eclipse their previous best of 75.12 set the Four Continents Championships last season.  Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France are second at 70.59 and Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia are third at 69.07.

At Skate Canada, Virtue and Moir had difficulty with their twizzles and have revamped the short program over the past three weeks in training.

“We moved the twizzles to earlier in the program,” said Virtue.  “It was a bit risky to put it at the end.  Overall the layout of the program is a whole lot better and we have a lot more speed at the end of the program.”

Moir said the changes were beneficial.

“It puts more pressure when you change things around but it has taken us one step higher,” he said.  “It’s normal to tinker with it especially in preparation for the Olympics.  The short program is all about execution and it’s those four required elements that we worry about the most.”

Nicole Orford of Burnaby, B.C.,  and Thomas Williams of Okotoks, Alta., are eighth.

In pairs, Qing Pang and Jian Tong of China lead with 67.69 points.  World championship bronze medallists Meagan Duhamel of Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford of Balmertown, Ont., stand second at 66.07 and Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov of Russia are third at 65.67.

Natasha Purich of Sherwood Park, Alta., and Mervin Tran of Regina are sixth at 55.89.

Amélie Lacoste of Delson, Que., is seventh after the women’s short program.

Large Canadian Contingent Travels to France for Trophée Eric Bompard

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OTTAWA, ON:  Skate Canada will send six entries, for a total of ten skaters, to the 2013 Trophée Eric Bompard, the fifth stop on the ISU Grand Prix circuit. The event will run from November 15-17, 2013, in Paris, France. Canada will have one entry each in men’s and ladies, and two entries each in pair and ice dance.

Three-time and reigning World Champion Patrick Chan, 22, Toronto, Ont., will be the Canadian entry in men’s. Chan, who represents the Granite Club, has won this event three times previously (2007, 2008, 2011) and placed fifth in 2006. In his first ISU Grand Prix assignment this season, he won gold at Skate Canada International. Chan is coached by Kathy Johnson and trains at the Detroit Skating Club.

In ladies, Amélie Lacoste, 24, Delson, Que., is the sole Canadian entry. Representing CPA du Roussillon, she is the 2012 Canadian Champion. This season, she placed fifth at the 2013 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic, and fifth at Skate Canada International. Lacoste is coached by Christy Krall in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

World bronze medalists and two-time defending Canadian champions Meagan Duhamel, 27, Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford, 28, Balmertown, Ont., are the first of two Canadian entries in pair. This will be their third time competing at this event, having won bronze in 2011 and silver in 2012. The representatives of Walden FSC and CPA Saint-Léonard won bronze at their first ISU Grand Prix assignment this season, Skate Canada International. They are coached by Richard Gauthier and Bruno Marcotte at CPA Saint-Léonard.

Natasha Purich, 18, Sherwood Park, Alta., and Mervin Tran, 23, Regina, Sask., will also represent Canada in pair. Earlier this season, the duo representing Ice Palace FSC and CPA Saint-Léonard placed sixth in their first international assignment together, at Nebelhorn Trophy. The pair train out of CPA Saint-Léonard and are coached by Richard Gauthier and Bruno Marcotte.

Tessa Virtue, 24, London, Ont., and Scott Moir, 26, Ilderton, Ont., will be Canada’s first entry in ice dance. Representing Ilderton SC, the 2010 Olympic Champions have previously competed at this event three times, winning gold in 2009 and 2011, and placing fourth in 2006. This will be their third event this season, having won gold at both Finlandia Trophy and Skate Canada International. Virtue and Moir are coached by Marina Zoueva, Johnny Johns, and Oleg Epstein at Artic Edge Ice Arena in Canton, Michigan.

Canadian bronze medalists Nicole Orford, 21, Burnaby, B.C., and Thomas Williams, 22, Okotoks, Alta, will also represent Canada in ice dance. This will be their first ISU Grand Prix assignment of the season. The dance duo representing Inlet SC and Calalta Community FSC won bronze at the 2013 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic earlier this season. They are coached by Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe at the B.C. Centre of Excellence.

Skate Canada Director High Performance, Mike Slipchuk, will be the Canadian team leader and Dr. John Philpott of Toronto, Ont., and physiotherapist Mike McMurray of Oak Bluff, Man., will be the Canadian medical staff onsite. Jodi Abbott of Edmonton, Alta, and Karen Howard of Regina, Sask., will be the Canadian officials at the event.