With a grand exhibition gala yesterday, the Sumsung Anycall Cup of China ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2005 concluded at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium.
Emanuel Sandhu, of Canada, broke Russian domination on the third day of the event to win the men's singles gold medal on Satureday.
Defending champion and two-time world champion Irina Slutskaya, of Russia, kept her title with ease in the ladies' singles. Her compatriots, Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, claimed victory in the ice dancing.
Sandhu won his second successive gold medal in this season's Grand Prix with a strong programme, while the 2005 world champion Stephane Lambiel, of Switzerland, won the silver. Russia's Andrei Griazev won the bronze.
Skating to a composition by Gordon Cobb, Sandhu doubled his triple toe loop in the opening quadruple-triple combination, but then hit a good triple axel, triple salchow and landed a triple loop-triple toeloop combination.
Sandhu picked up 147.56 points and accumulated a total event score of 212.66 to win his second successive title in this season's Grand Prix series.
He won his home event last weekend, where he came from sixth to claim the title.
"Tonight, actually throughout the whole day, I felt very relaxed, very prepared, and I took all the steps that I needed to take to ensure that I felt as comfortable, as confident and as ready as I could be for this competition," said Sandhu.
"I train more for my long programme than my short programme because the long programme that I have is so complicated that I really don't have the chance if I don't train it. More training on the short programme is necessary."
Lambiel and Griazev finished with 133.40 and 129.60 points respectively.
China's Li Chengjiang, who was in second position after the short programme, made several big mistakes during the free skating and finished only eighth.
"The injuries on my leg had a negative affect on my mind during the skating and I felt under pressure," said Li.
"The programme is still new to me. I still need more practice."
In the other competition categories, the Russians continued their domination.
In the ladies singles, skating to the musical combination of Mario Takes a Walk, Rhumba and Flamenco, the red-dressed Russian reigning world champion put on a strong free skating programme, featuring triple-double-double jumping, two triple-doubles and three triples.
Although she slightly struggled while landing after the triple loop, the six-time European Champion earned 125.90 points and accumulated a total of 196.12 to win the gold comfortable. She was well ahead of Japan's Mao Asada and Shizuka Arakawa.
Afterwards, Slutskaya expressed her love for the music she had chosen.
"I really love the programme and I like all the parts of the music," she said. "I feel that it's all mine."
The 2004 world junior champion Asada had a lively programme to the music of the Nutcracker by Tchaikovski and finished with 116.04 points and 176.60 in her debut in the senior competition.
"I made a tiny mistake in the opening, but did the other jumps well," said the 15-year-old Japanese. "I'm so happy to win a medal in my first senior competition, it's a good start."
The 2004 world champion Arakawa scored 113.68 and 173.60 points to come third.
In the free dancing, the last competition of the ice dancing, the overnight leaders Navka and Kostomarov continued their flawless performance to take an easy victory.
Dancing to the Carmen Suite by G. Bizet, they put on a dramatic free dance and gained 101.74 points. Together with their scores from the previous two days, they accumulated 197.07 points to win the gold, followed by Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski from Israel, and Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe from Canada. They scored 186.13 and 163.36 points respectively.
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating continues in two weeks' time when the skaters move to Paris, France.
(China Daily November 7, 2005)
