Plushenko,
Totmianina & Marinin
win Gold at Skate Canada
Nov.
2 , 2003
Great
showing
for MCE skaters
Evgeni
Plushenko completed a MCE sweep of Gold Medals by
its skaters at Skate Canada.
Plushenko
won his ninth straight victory and set a new standard
for points in the judging system in the men’s
competition.
A
day earlier Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin won
the pairs competition.
Elena
Sokolova finished ninth. Sokolova has been battling
through a knee injury suffered over the summer.
Plushenko
recorded an astounding 233.65 points despite battling
a knee injury and a cold coming into the competition.
Plushenko, after opening with a quadruple toe loop,
decided not to add his signature triple-double to
that combination. He also didn’t attempt a second
quad.
Plushenko,
who celebrates his 21st birthday Monday, is the defending
World Champion and also swept the Grand Prix championship
last season.
“My
skating was not bad, it was not good, it was just
OK,” Plushenko said.
Totmianina
& Marinin win
Gold at Skate Canada
Oct.
31, 2003
Tatiana
Totmianina and Maxim Marinin skated a superb free
skate to their signature program, "The Cotton
Club", to win Skate Canada at Mississauga, Ontario.
Totmianina
and Marinin trailed Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China
by about a point and a half after the short program
but won the free skate by three and a half points.
The combined total (194.02-191.80) gave Totmianina
and Marinin the victory.
The
celebration will be two-fold for Totmianina who celebrates
her 22nd birthday on November 2.
Totmianina
and Marinin hit their opening side by side triple
Salchow, followed by a triple twist and a throw triple
loop. Their performance also featured a throw triple
Salchow and two one-armed lifts as well as a triple
toe loop-double toe loop combination.
"The
first competition for us was hard, but we skated well
for that. It wasn’t perfect yet", Marinin
said. "We are working on a new free program,
but it’s still secret and we’ll skate it
at Russian Nationals for the first time."
Totmianina
and Marinin are the defending Grand Prix Final champions.
They won all four Grand Prix events last season. This
is a non-scoring event for Totmianina and Marinin.
The
new judging system created by the ISU and used during
Grand Prix events is proving to be an exciting alternative
this season.
Evgeni
Plushenko, the winner of Thursday night’s short
program, will be trying to capture his ninth straight
victory in the men’s free skate Saturday.
Plushenko
takes the lead;
Totmianina & Marinin
second at Skate Canada
Oct.
30, 2003
World
Champion Evegni Plushekno is in first place and World
Silver medalists Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin
are in second place after the short programs of men
and pairs, respectively at Skate Canada in Mississauga,
Ontario.
Plushenko,
who had a torn meniscus in his knee earlier this summer,
had almost a four point lead over Takeshi Honda (81.25-77.54).
Plushenko, the defending Grand Prix champion, is competing
in his first GP event of the season. He will perform
his free skate Saturday night.
Totmianina
and Marinin, also the defending Grand Prix champions,
are in one of the closest competitions so far under
the new judging system. They are only 1 1/2 points
behind China’s Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao (68.76
to 67.24).
"We’re
happy with our performance tonight," Marinin
said. "We don’t feel like we skated our
one hundred percent. We feel good and will be ready
for tomorrow." The pairs free skate will decide
the championship Friday night.
