International Olympic Committee : News

Speed Skating: Short Track World Cup Results

12/9/2012 11:05:48 AM

Results of the Women's and Men's 500 metre short track speed skating World Cup on Sunday in Shanghai:

Men

500 metres: 1. Charles Hamelin (CAN) 40.821, 2. Vladimir Grigorev (RUS) 40.854, 3. Wu Dajing (CHN) 41.687, 4. Francois Hamelin (CAN) 41.795

World Cup standings: 1. Charles Hamelin (CAN) 3,400, 2. Liang Wenhao (CHN) 1,563, 3. Francois Hamelin (CAN) 1,454 4. Vladimir Grigorev (RUS) 1,338.

Women

500 metres: 1. Wang Meng (CHN) 43.743 seconds, 2. Fan Kexin (CHN) 43.975, 3. Marianne St-Gelais (CAN) 53.900, 4. Jessica Gregg (CAN) 54.560

World cup standings: 1. Wang Meng (CHN) 4,000, 2. Liu Qiuhong (CHN) 2,450, 3. Marianne St-Gelais (CAN) 2,372, 4. Jessica Gregg (CAN) 2,312

afp

Speed skating: World Cup results

12/9/2012 8:37:26 AM

Results from the World Cup speed skating in Nagano on Sunday:

Men

500m

1. Keiichiro Nagashima (JPN) 35.14, 2. Gilmore Junio (CAN) 35.16, 3. Jan Smeekens (NED) 35.18, 4. Michel Mulder (NED) 35.23, 5. Mo Tae-Bum (KOR) 35.23

Standings after four races: 1. Jan Smeekens (NED) 260, 2. Mo Tae-Bum (KOR) 230, 3. Joji Kato (JPN) 216, 4. Pekka Koskela (FIN) 204, 5. Artur Was (POL) 198

1000m

1. Hein Otterspeer (NED) 1:09.20, 2. Denny Morrison (CAN) 1:09.64, 3. Kjeld Nuis (NED) 1:09.72, 4. Shani Davis (USA) 1:09.81, 5. Aleksey Yesin (RUS) 1:09.99

Standings after three races: 1. Denny Morrison (CAN) 225, 2. Kjeld Nuis (NED) 190, 3. Pekka Koskela (FIN) 180, 4. Hein Otterspeer (NED) 160, 5. Lee Kyou-Hyuk (KOR) 151

Women

500m

1. Lee Sang-Hwa (KOR) 37.60, 2. Jenny Wolf (GER) 37.91, 3. Nao Kodaira (JPN) 38.09, 4. Wang Beixing (CHN) 38.18, 5. Margot Boer (NED) 38.35

Standings after four races: 1. Lee Sang-Hwa (KOR) 400, 2. Heather Richardson (USA) 275, 3. Jenny Wolf (GER) 260, 4. Nao Kodaira (JPN) 256, 5. Olga Fatkulina (RUS) 148

1000m

1. Christine Neshitt (CAN) 1:15.13, 2. Heather Richardson (USA) 1:15.26, 3. Lotte van Beek (NED) 1:15.87, 4. Brittany Bowe (USA) 1:15.93, 5. Marrit Leenstra (NED) 1:16.09

Standings after three races: 1. Heather Richardson (USA) 280, 2. Lotte van Beek (NED) 210, 3. Christine Nesbitt (CAN) 208, 4. Marrit Leenstra (NED) 160, 5. Brittany Bowe (USA) 150

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Figure skating: ISU Grand Prix finals results - 2nd update

12/8/2012 3:54:10 PM

Results from the ISU Grand Prix series finals at Sochi's Iceberg arena on Saturday:

Men

Final standings after free programme

1. Daisuke Takahashi (JPN) 269.40pts, 2. Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) 264.29, 3. Patrick Chan (CAN) 258.66, 4. Javier Fernandez (ESP) 258.62, 5. Takahiko Kozuka (JPN) 253.27, 6. Tatsuki Machida (JPN) 198.63

Free programme results

1. Javier Fernandez (ESP) 178.43pts, 2. Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) 177.12, 3. Daisuke Takahashi (JPN) 177.11, 4. Patrick Chan (CAN) 169.39, 5. Takahiko Kozuka (JPN) 166.88, 6. Tatsuki Machida (JPN) 128.05

Ice dance

Final standings after free dance

1. Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA) 183.39pts, 2. Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN) 179.83, 3. Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat (FRA) 170.18, 4. Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ITA) 165.64, 5. Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Sloviev (RUS) 158.09, 6. Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov (RUS) 156.36

Free dance results

1. Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA) 110.19pts, 2. Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN) 108.56, 3. Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat (FRA) 101.48, 4. Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ITA) 99.53, 5. Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov (RUS) 92.80, 6. Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Sloviev (RUS) 91,86

Women

Final standings after free programme

1. Mao Asada (JPN) 196.80pts, 2. Ashley Wagner (USA) 181.93, 3. Akiko Suzuki (JPN) 180.77, 4. Kiira Korpi (FIN) 174.94, 5. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS) 173.75, 6. Christina Gao (USA) 154.54

Free programme results

1. Mao Asada (JPN) 129.84pts, 2. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS) 117.14, 3. Akiko Suzuki (JPN) 115,77, 4. Ashley Wagner (USA) 115.49, 5. Kiira Korpi (FIN) 111.52, 6. Christina Gao (USA) 105.98

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Figure skating: ISU Japanese Grand Prix results

11/25/2012 6:23:42 AM

Results from the NHK Trophy, the sixth event in the six-round ISU Grand Prix figure skating series, at the Sekisui Heim Super Arena in Rifu on Sunday:

Pairs

Final standings

1. Vera Bazarova/Yuri Larionov (RUS) 192.02, 2. Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch (CAN) 180.63, 3. Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir (USA) 174.51, 4. Alexa Scimeca/Chris Knierim (USA) 163.10, 5. Anastasia Martiusheva/Alexei Rogonov (RUS) 162.25, 6. Lindsay Davis/Mark Ladwig (USA) 143.70, 7. Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise (ITA) 121.53

Free skating

1. Vera Bazarova/Yuri Larionov (RUS) 126.41, 2. Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch (CAN) 115.49, 3. Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir (USA) 112.66, 4. Alexa Scimeca/Chris Knierim (USA) 108.69, 5. Anastasia Martiusheva/Alexei Rogonov (RUS) 105.18, 6. Lindsay Davis/Mark Ladwig (USA) 98.09, 7. Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise (ITA) 79.39

afp

Figure skating: Hanyu GP win boosts Japan disaser zone

11/24/2012 1:16:34 PM

Hometown boy Yuzuru Hanyu romped to the season's sixth and last figure skating Grand Prix title before a roaring crowd in Japan Saturday, boosting a region ravaged by the earthquake-tsunami disaster.

A day after breaking his own world short-programme record at the NHK Trophy event, the 17-year-old high school student also topped the free skate -- at an arena which served as a temporary mortuary after the March 2011 double disaster.

Japan's Olympic silver medallist Mao Asada held on to her overnight lead to win the women's title by just 0.05 points over compatriot Akiko Suzuki.

Hanyu nailed an opening quadruple toeloop and launched an amazing run of triples and doubles -- but fell on his bottom on a triple lutz attempt.

Skating to the tune of "Notre Dame de Paris" by Richard Cocciante, Hanyu sprang back up but ran out of gas, making another pratfall on a change-foot combination spin in the closing minute.

He smiled coyly, going on to earn 165.71 points for a two-day total of 261.03 -- his personal best -- allowing him to lift his second career Grand Prix title.

He finished 9.52 points overall ahead of his teammate and 2010 world champion Daisuke Takahashi owing much to his huge 7.85-point cushion from the record 95.32 he earned in the short programme.

American Ross Miner finished third overall on 235.37 while Spain's Javier Fernandez, the winner of Skate Canada, slipped one spot to end fourth as he fell on a rare third quadruple attempt in one routine.

"I got tired and could not move well in the second half. But I could stay focused and highly motivated," Hanyu said, adding the mistakes gave him "homework to do".

He thanked a sell-out crowd for their support at the 7,000-seat Sekusi Heim Super Arena on the outskirts of his hometown, Sendai, hard hit by the double catastrophe that killed nearly 19,000 people and sparked a nuclear crisis.

"I believe I could generate such power because I was performing at home. They cheered me when I started skating or nailed a quadruple, giving me power to carry on," said Hanyu.

Hanyu's home and skating rink were damaged by the tremor, forcing him to seek alternate training sites while appearing in some 60 charity ice shows on the road before returning to Sendai.

He went on to win the 2011 Cup of Russia and grab the bronze at the world championships last March.

Hanyu joins three other Japanese -- Takahiko Kozuka, Tatsuki Machida and Takahashi -- as well as world champion Patrick Chan of Canada and Fernandez in the Grand Prix Final next month at the 2014 Olympic venue in Sochi, Russia.

The elite competition brings together the top six finishers in each category. Each skater has been allowed to compete in just two events and the rankings are based on placement with 15 points going to the winner.

Both Asada, who won the Cup of China three weeks ago, and Suzuki qualified for the women's final to join US champion Ashley Wagner and Finland's Kiira Korpi as well as Russians Julia Lipnitskaia and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva.

"I could not land jumps and I regret that I could not show what I have been doing," said the 22-year-old Asada, who won the world title in 2008 and 2010.

The ice skating title went to Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White, the 2011 world champions, with Russia's Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov second and US skaters Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani third.

sps/jms

Figure Skating: Cup of Russia Cup results

11/10/2012 3:04:37 PM

Results from the second day of the Cup of Russia, the fourth leg of ISU Grand Prix skating series here on Saturday:

Men

Final standings sfter free programme:

1. Patrick Chan (CAN) 262.35pts, 2. Takahiko Kozuka (JPN) 229.99, 3. Michal Brezina (CZE) 224.56, 4. Konstantin Menshov (RUS) 223.72, 5. Nobunari Oda (JPN) 217.92, 6. Richard Dornbush (USA) 210.89, 7. Artur Gachinski (RUS) 209.84, 8. Zhan Bush (RUS) 199.37, 9. Denis Ten (KAZ) 177.77, 10. Johnny Weir (USA) withdrawal

Pairs

Final standings after free skating:

1. Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov (RUS) 207.53pts, 2. Vera Bazarova/Yuri Larionov (RUS) 191.08, 3. Caydee Denney/John Coughlin (USA) 179.21, 4. Paige Lawrence/Rudi Swiegers (CAN) 154.16, 5. Anastasia Martiusheva/Alexei Rogonov (RUS) 150.15, 6. Tiffany Vise/Don Baldwin (USA) 143.15, 7. Nicole Della Monica/Mateo Guarise (ITA) 142.53

Ladies

Final standings after free programme:

1. Kiira Korpi (FIN) 177.19pts, 2. Gracie Gold (USA) 175.03, 3. Agnes Zawadzki (USA) 166.61, 4. Kanako Murakami (JPN) 166.34, 5. Adelina Sotnikova (RUS) 157.98, 6. Alena Leonova (RUS) 157.27, 7. Polina Korobeynikova (RUS) 153.32, 8. Viktoria Helgesson (SWE) 151.48, 9. Valentina Marchei (ITA) 148.67, 10. Caroline Zhang (USA) 138.21

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Figure Skating: Russia's Cup results

11/9/2012 2:04:10 PM

Results from the first day of the Russia's Cup, the fourth leg of ISU Grand Prix skating series here on Friday:

Pairs

Short Programme:

1. Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov (RUS) 74.74pts, 2. Vera Bazarova/Yuri Larionov (RUS) 66.02, 3. Caydee Denney/John Coughlin (USA) 59.02, 4. Paige Lawrence/Rudi Swiegers (CAN) 51.86, 5. Anastasia Martiusheva/Alexei Rogonov (RUS) 50.90, 6. Nicole Della Monica/Mateo Guarise (ITA) 50.25, 7. Tiffany Vise/Don Baldwin (USA) 45.91

Ladies

Short Programme:

1. Gracie Gold (USA) 62.16pts, 2. Kiira Korpi (FIN) 61.55, 3. Agnes Zawadzki (USA) 60.18, 4. Alena Leonova (RUS) 58.85, 5. Adelina Sotnikova (RUS) 57.11, 6. Kanako Murakami (JPN) 56.78, 7. Viktoria Helgesson (SWE) 54.10, 8. Polina Korobeynikova (RUS) 51.45, 9. Valentina Marchei (ITA) 46.25, 10. Carolina Zhang (USA) 46.15

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Figure Skating: Skate Canada results - collated

10/28/2012 1:02:46 AM

Results from the Skate Canada Grand Prix at Windsor, Ontario, on Saturday:

Men

Final

1. Javier Fernandez (ESP) 253.94, 2. Patrick Chan (CAN) 243.43, 3. Nobunari Oda (JPN) 238.34, 4. Florent Amodio (FRA) 218.72, 5. Ross Miner (USA) 213.60, 6. Denis Ten (KAZ) 203.70, 7. Elladj Balde (CAN) 199.94, 8. Takahito Mura (JPN) 199.74, 9. Artur Gachinski (RUS) 199.58, 10. Liam Firus (CAN) 169.67

Free skate standings

1. Javier Fernandez (ESP) 168.07, 2. Patrick Chan (CAN) 160.91, 3. Nobunari Oda (JPN) 156.20, 4. Ross Miner (USA) 144.19, 5. Florent Amodio (FRA) 144.11, 6. Takahito Mura (JPN) 137.64, 7. Artur Gachinski (RUS) 128.84, 8. Denis Ten (KAZ) 128.44, 9. Elladj Balde (CAN) 127.48, 10. Liam Firus (CAN) 109.17

Women

Final

1. Kaetlyn Osmond (CAN) 176.45 pts, 2. Akiko Suzuki (JPN) 175.16, 3. Kanako Murakami (JPN) 168.04, 4. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS) 168.00, 5. Elene Gedevanishvili (GEO) 160.52, 6. Ksenia Makarova (RUS) 154.11, 7. Gracie Gold (USA) 151.57, 8. Amelie Lacoste (CAN) 151.44, 9. Caroline Zhang (USA) 149.87, 10. Polina Shelepen (RUS) 124.29

Free skate standings

1. Akiko Suzuki (JPN) 120.04, 2. Kaetlyn Osmond (CAN) 115.89, 3. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS) 112.90, 4. Kanako Murakami (JPN) 111.83, 5. Elene Gedevanishvili (GEO) 99.72, 6. Gracie Gold (USA) 99.38, 7. Amelie Lacoste (CAN) 97.63, 8. Caroline Zhang (USA) 96.90, 9. Ksenia Makarova (RUS) 95.55, 10. Polina Shelepen (RUS) 78.11

Pairs

Final

1. Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy (GER) 201.36, 2. Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford (CAN) 190.49, 3. Stefania Berton/Ondrej Hotarek (ITA) 172.03, 4. Paige Lawrence/Rudi Swiegers (CAN) 158.33, 5. Daria Popova/Bruno Massot (FRA) 149.37, 6. Tiffany Vise/Don Baldwin (USA) 141.21, 7. Lindsay Davis/Mark Ladwig (USA) 122.26

Free skate standings

1. Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy (GER) 129.10, 2. Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford (CAN) 126.00, 3. Stefania Berton/Ondrej Hotarek (ITA) 112.24, 4. Paige Lawrence/Rudi Swiegers (CAN) 105.45, 5. Daria Popova/Bruno Massot (FRA) 100.94, 6. Tiffany Vise/Don Baldwin (USA) 94.74, 7. Lindsay Davis/Mark Ladwig (USA) 75.21

Ice Dance

Final

1. Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN) 169.41, 2. Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ITA) 160.06, 3. Ekaterina Riazanova/Ilia Tkachenko (RUS) 143.39, 4. Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier (CAN) 136.74, 5. Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA) 135.16, 6. Julia Zlobina/Alexei Sitnikov (AZE) 132.80, 7. Pernelle Carron/Lloyd Jones (FRA) 130.75, 8. Kharis Ralph/Asher Hill (CAN) 126.60

Free dance standings

1. Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN) 104.32, 2. Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ITA) 94.98, 3. Ekaterina Riazanova/Ilia Tkachenko (RUS) 87.59, 4. Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier (CAN) 83.03, 5. Julia Zlobina/Alexei Sitnikov (AZE) 81.88, 6. Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA) 80.32, 7. Pernelle Carron/Lloyd Jones (FRA) 79.08, 8. Kharis Ralph/Asher Hill (CAN) 76.60

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Figure skating: Kozuka sweeps past Hanyu

10/21/2012 6:03:43 AM

Takahiko Kozuka turned the tables on teenaged compatriot Yuzuru Hanyu Saturday as he led a Japanese podium sweep at the Skate America Grand Prix at Kent, Washington.

Kozuka fell once in his free skate but his score of 166.12 was still good enough to make up a nearly 10-point deficit on Hanyu, who could not come close to matching his dazzling short programme of a day before.

"I think the level of Japanese men is very hard and very competitive," said Kozuka, who won with a total of 251.44 points.

"But this is just the beginning of the season and I want to keep on skating as good as I did (for) the rest of the season."

Hanyu, third in the free skate, was second overall on 243.74 and Tatsuki Machida was third on 229.95.

Hanyu had earned 95.07 points for a flawless short routine on Friday, the highest score ever recorded for a short programme in competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union.

In the deciding free skate, however, he fell three times.

"Today's performance was very close to my worst," Hanyu said. "I haven't skated that bad even in practice."

Russians Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, silver medallists in the last two world championships, won the pairs competition with a total of 195.07 points.

China's 2010 Olympic silver medallists Pang Qing and Tong Jian were second on 185.16 and Americans Americans Caydee Denney and John Coughlin were third on 178.22.

Ladies competition and ice dance got under way with short programmes.

Ashley Wagner of the United States, hoping to build on a breakthrough season, delivered a solid short programme to lead the women with 60.61 points.

Russia's Adelina Sotnikova was second with 58.93 and American Christina Gao third on 56.63.

Wagner won the US national title last season and her fourth-placed finish at the world championships in March was the best for an American woman since 2007. She also beat Japanese star Mao Asada to win the Four Continents crown.

Olympic silver medallists Meryl Davis and Charlie White comfortably won the short dance with a total of 71.39 points. The elegant Americans put themselves in position for a third consecutive Skate America crown.

Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje were second on 65.79 followed by Russians Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev with 62.91.

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Skating in Vancouver: a mix of jumps, creativity and speed

2/5/2010 11:30:00 PM

Demonstrating creativity while executing precise jumps and movements, with a global audience and an eagle-eyed panel of nine judges watching, is the daunting task facing competitors in figure skating. But whether that prospect is more challenging than racing on an oval track on blade-thin, ankle-high skates in search of Olympic glory is a question to which speed skaters, both long and short track, could perhaps provide the answer.

Three events for figure skating

Olympic figure skating comprises three events: singles (men and women), pairs and ice dance. In singles, skaters must wow judges during both a short and free programme that are set to music, with a required sequence of steps, jumps, spins and combinations. A “free skate” section allows skaters to demonstrate their creativity. The pairs competition comprises a male and a female skater and follows the same format. Overhead lifts and jumps are not included in ice dance, where the focus is on combining rhythm and interpreting music while executing a number of precise steps and moves. The ice dance competition is made up of three parts: one compulsory dance, an original dance and a free dance.

Racing around the oval

Speed skating is staged on a 400m oval, with six events each for men and women, ranging from the 500m to the 10,000 m (men) and the team pursuit. Skaters start in pairs and must change lanes once per lap to level out the distance covered. The Netherlands’ Ireen Wust, already an Olympic speed skating champion and one of the top contenders for Vancouver, says: “My favourite distance would definitely be the 1,500m, but my ambitions for Vancouver are a lot greater. Winning gold medals in the 1,000m, 1,500m, 3,000m as well as the women’s team pursuit is the ultimate goal!” But the Vancouver Games will also see the rise of new stars, such as 15-year-old Miho Takagi, the youngest female speed skater from Japan ever to make an Olympic squad.

The short track version, which sees four to six athletes compete, is staged on a 111.12m oval and comprises four events each for men and women, including a relay.

Stunning sporting legacy for the Richmond Oval

Figure skating and the short track events will be held at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver which, post-Games, will serve as a venue for various events including ice shows, boxing, basketball, hockey, concerts, large assemblies, and trade and consumer shows.
The 8,000-capacity Richmond Olympic Oval is 14km south of downtown Vancouver and will host the speed skating events of longer distances. The town of Richmond will be a major beneficiary after the Games, when the Oval will be transformed into an international centre of excellence for sports, featuring two international sized ice rinks, eight gymnasiums, a 200m running track and 23,000 square foot fitness centre.

Learn more about skating
www.vancouver2010.com
www.isu.org