NHK Trophy 2008: Nobunari Oda from Japan wins men's event

At the 2008 NHK Trophy, Nobunari Oda from Japan just won the men's title and the crowd went nuts! Nobunari skated to Warsaw Concerto by Richard Addinsell and started off shaky. He stepped out of his opening quad toeloop and then his triple axel. But he then settled down to complete the program with solid triple Lutzs, a triple loop, his second triple axel, wonderful spin positions and great choreography. Nobunari has that wonderful sense of movement about him and we will see much more of him. He missed the 2007-2008 season after his DUI arrest and this marks the beginning of his comeback.

Yesterday Mao Asada and her two teammates clinched first, second and third in the ladies field, and the crowd was hoping for another sweep at the podium. Not today, as the United States' Johnny Weir delivered a great free skate to Notre Dame de Paris to win the silver. Johnny's jumps were not completely "on" -- he doubled the triple Lutz, singled the triple flip, left out the quad toeloop, but still, you just appreciate his style and fluidity and the audience loves Johnny so everyone was happy for him. 

France's Yannick Ponsero took the bronze and delivered the free skate he was meant to perform in Skate Canada. At Skate Canada, Yannick was first after the short and fell apart during the free skate to drop to fourth overall. Not in Tokyo -- Skating to big band music from Brian Setzer and Louis Armstrong, Yannick started off with his quad toeloop and went on to complete the triple axel, triple Lutz, another triple axel, triple Salchow, it really seemed as though he had Flubber in his skates, he looked that invincible. Towards the end of the program, he did double the triple loop and his triple toeloop-triple Salchow was not quite there, so maybe the Flubber lost its power.

Complete results for the men are below. (Note: SP=Short Program; FS=Free Skate)

FPl	Name	Nat	Points	SP	FS
1	Nobunari ODA	JPN	236.18	1	1
2	Johnny WEIR	USA	224.42	2	2
3	Yannick PONSERO	FRA	217.24	3	3
4	Kevin REYNOLDS	CAN	199.74	6	4
5	Takahito MURA	JPN	198.07	4	5
6	Stephen CARRIERE	USA	192.30	5	6
7	Adrian SCHULTHEISS	SWE	177.75	7	7
8	Yasuharu NANRI	JPN	167.73	8	10
9	Andrei LUTAI	RUS	166.36	11	8
10	Peter LIEBERS	GER	165.90	10	9
11	Anton KOVALEVSKI	UKR	157.94	9	12
12	Jamal OTHMAN	SUI	157.90	12	11

NHK Trophy 2008: Mao Asada from Japan wins ladies event

At the 2008 NHK Trophy, the ladies free skate just completed, and it was divided into "It was my day" and "It just wasn't my day." Under the "It was my day" column are all the competitors from Japan: Mao Asada, Yukari Nakano and Akiko Suzuki. They were all "on" today and whether they were feeding off the energy of the crowd -- who knows? Mao did two triple axels(!) (the second was downgraded for lack of full rotations, but still, she stayed upright and it looked great), triple flip, triple Salchow, triple toeloop, great spins, footwork...The only thing she goofed up on was at the very very end when she stumbled in her last pose. But what a return to the old Mao we're used to seeing -- she received 126.49 points for her free skate to Waltz Masquerade by Aram Khatchaturian.

Yukari Nakano also had an unbelievable skate to Giselle by Adolphe Adam. With the exception of the triple axel which she doubled, Yukari executed her other five triple jumps cleanly and neatly. She also had lovely spins, nice choreography which incorporated balletic moves, the whole program was really well-balanced and pleasing. Yukari received 112.05 for the free skate, good enough for the bronze medal, and was very tearful afterwards. Yukari and Mao's teammate Akiko Suzuki was a surprise silver medalist and also had a "It was my day" moment by receiving 112.08 to her free skate to Russian folk music.

On the flip side, it just wasn't Mirai Nagasu's day today. The reigning U.S. champion's jumps were just not there -- Mirai two-footed the triple Lutz, fell on the double axel, fell on the triple flip, stumbled a little bit in her straight line step sequence, and overall, looked unsure for most of the program. She still pulled off her signature exquisite spins so I'm hoping that come Nationals in January, she'll go gangbusters in defending her title. She finished eighth overall with 124.22 points. Ashley Wagner of the United States finished fourth, and Katrina Hacker also of the United States finished sixth.

Complete results for the ladies are below. (Note: SP=Short Program; FS=Free Skate)

FPl	Name	Nat	Points	SP	FS
1	Mao ASADA	JPN	191.13	1	1
2	Akiko SUZUKI	JPN	167.64	4	2
3	Yukari NAKANO	JPN	166.87	5	3
4	Ashley WAGNER	USA	161.10	2	5
5	Laura LEPISTO	FIN	158.85	3	4
6	Katrina HACKER	USA	139.46	6	6
7	Cynthia PHANEUF	CAN	138.90	7	7
8	Mirai NAGASU	USA	124.22	8	9
9	Na-Young KIM	KOR	119.77	9	11
10	Annette DYTRT	GER	115.57	12	8
11	Anastasia GIMAZETDINOVA	UZB	115.10	10	10
12	Katarina GERBOLDT	RUS	113.95	11	12

NHK Trophy 2008: Faiella and Massimo from Italy win ice dancing event

The ice dancing event just concluded at the 2008 NHK Trophy in Tokyo, Japan. Italy's Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali won the gold, France's Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat won the silver, and the United States' Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates won the bronze. This is what I love about watching ice dancing -- while Federica and Massimo skated to Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven (although I didn't understand the costumes they wore, see below), the United States' Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre skated to a medley of songs from Fatboy Slim. How great is that? Like I tell my friends, if you want to be a really well-rounded musical person, watch skating.

Interesting tidbit: After the first group of ice dancing couples skated, the event took a few minutes to recognize that this is the 30th anniversary of the NHK Trophy. In honor of this anniversary, special guests were in attendance -- Germany's Katarina Witt (who won the NHK Trophy three times), Japan's own Midori Ito (who won the NHK Trophy six times) and David Dore, a well-respected Canadian and ISU official.

Finals standings are below. (Note: CD=Compulsory Dance; OD=Original Dance; FD=Free Dance)

FPl	Name	Nat	Points	CD	OD	FD
1	Federica FAIELLA/Massimo SCALI	ITA	176.67	1	2	2
2	Nathalie PECHALAT/Fabian BOURZAT	FRA	175.42	2	1	1
3	Emily SAMUELSON/Evan BATES	USA	161.45	3	4	4
4	Ekaterina BOBROVA/Dmitri SOLOVIEV	RUS	159.96	6	5	3
5	Kristina GORSHKOVA/Vitali BUTIKOV	RUS	159.51	4	3	6
6	Kimberly NAVARRO/Brent BOMMENTRE	USA	155.60	5	6	5
7	Kaitlyn WEAVER/Andrew POJE	CAN	151.10	7	7	7
8	Cathy REED/Chris REED	JPN	135.83	8	10	8
9	Xiaoyang YU/Chen WANG	CHN	131.90	9	8	9
10	Isabella PAJARDI/Stefano CARUSO	ITA	128.35	10	9	10

NHK Trophy 2008: Pang and Tong from China win pairs event

The pairs event at the 2008 NHK Trophy just concluded and it was a decisive win for China's Qing Pang and Jian Tong. Skating to a medley of tango music, Pang and Tong skated a near flawless free skate with an amazing triple Lutz twist lift, throw triple Salchow and throw triple loop. Other than each singling their double axel-double axel sequence at the beginning of their program, their level of skating was just heads above the rest of the field. They took the title with 186.06 points overall. Great news for the United States' Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, who won the silver with 161.49 points. Canada's Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison won the bronze with 156.76 points.

Complete results are below. (Note: SP=Short Program; FS=Free Skate)

FPl	Name	Nat	Points	SP	FS
1	Qing PANG/Jian TONG	CHN	186.06	1	1
2	Rena INOUE/John BALDWIN	USA	161.49	2	2
3	Jessica DUBE/Bryce DAVISON	CAN	156.76	3	3
4	Stacey KEMP/David KING	GBR	132.89	4	4
5	Maria SERGEJEVA/Ilja GLEBOV	EST	127.70	6	5
6	Laura MAGITTERI/Ondrej HOTAREK	ITA	127.18	7	6
7	Meeran TROMBLEY/Laureano IBARRA	USA	124.92	8	7
8	Monica PISOTTA/Michael STEWART	CAN	124.80	5	8

NHK Trophy 2008: Faiella and Massimo from Italy lead after Original Dance

At the 2008 NHK Trophy, the ice dancing competition is well underway. Standings after the Original Dance are below. (Note: CD=Compulsory Dance; OD=Original Dance; FD=Free Dance)

FPl	Name	Nat	Points	CD	OD	FD
1	Federica FAIELLA/Massimo SCALI	ITA	89.39	1	2
2	Nathalie PECHALAT/Fabian BOURZAT	FRA	87.47	2	1
3	Kristina GORSHKOVA/Vitali BUTIKOV	RUS	83.34	4	3
4	Emily SAMUELSON/Evan BATES	USA	83.10	3	4
5	Ekaterina BOBROVA/Dmitri SOLOVIEV	RUS	79.41	6	5
6	Kimberly NAVARRO/Brent BOMMENTRE	USA	78.92	5	6
7	Kaitlyn WEAVER/Andrew POJE	CAN	75.28	7	7
8	Cathy REED/Chris REED	JPN	67.04	8	10
9	Xiaoyang YU/Chen WANG	CHN	66.24	9	8
10	Isabella PAJARDI/Stefano CARUSO	ITA	64.38	10	9