Fournier Beaudry, Soerensen 2nd in ice dance at Grand Prix Espoo behind American duo
Kao Miura, Kaori Sakamoto win men's, women's titles to book a place at Finals
World champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the ice dance competition in Espoo, Finland for their second Grand Prix win this season, securing a spot at the Finals in Beijing next month.
Skating to music by Pink Floyd, the American duo extended its lead from Friday's rhythm dance to score a total of 209.46 points. They are unbeaten so far in 2023. Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen of Montreal were second on 206.32 and Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis took third for Finland with 195.80.
The Canadians were also second after the rhythm dance.
"We're just super happy. Finishing our second Grand Prix, and another great performance of this program that we love so very much," Soerensen said. "We love coming to Finland — the crowd is great, and the rink is really familiar to us, so this an event we really enjoy."
WATCH | Fournier Beaudry and Soerensen pick up 206.32 points in ice dance event:
Toronto's Brooke McIntosh and Benjamin Mimar of Terrebonne, Que., placed seventh of eight pairs after the free program with 147.27 points.
Germany's Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin, who were third after the short program, won with a score of 192.72, followed by Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii (188.60) and the Hungarian duo of Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko (186.19).
WATCH | McIntosh appears to avoid injury after being dropped by partner:
World champion Kaori Sakamoto secured her place at the finals with her second series win of the season.
Sakamoto landed seven triple jumps in the free skate as she extended her lead from Friday's short program to finish with a total of 205.21 points, exactly 15 points ahead of fellow Japanese skater Rion Sumiyoshi, who fell on a triple loop.
'I'm still in shock'
Amber Glenn of the United States soared from 11th overnight to finish in the bronze medal position with the second-highest-scoring free skate of the day for a total of 185.39.
"I'm still in shock that I'm up here right now," Glenn said. "I'm excited to see where the rest of the season goes."
There was another one-two finish for Japan in the men's event as Kao Miura edged past his teammate Shun Sato to win his first figure skating Grand Prix title and book a place in the finals.
Miura and Sato each landed three quadruple jumps in the free skate, with Sato scoring slightly higher. Miura's three-point advantage from Friday's short program helped him hold on to win with a total of 274.56 points to Sato's 273.34.
It's the first career Grand Prix series win for Miura, who won the world junior title and Four Continents Championship gold last season.
Kevin Aymoz of France recovered from a poor short program to take the bronze Saturday, rising from fifth to third to finish on a total 250.03. Jimmy Ma of the United States had been in third place after the short program but a fall and other errors in his free skate dropped the 28-year-old from New York to 11th overall.
Grand Prix Espoo is the fifth of the six events that determine qualification for the Finals.
WATCH | Men's free program full-event replay:
With files from CBC Sports
