Canada's Marjorie Lajoie, Zachary Lagha take ice dance silver at Cup of China
Fellow Canadians Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud take bronze in pairs event
Canadian figure skaters Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha won ice dance silver at the Cup of China on the Grand Prix circuit Saturday.
Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., captured their second medal of the Grand Prix season after also claiming silver at Skate Canada in Halifax.
The Canadians scored a season-best 205.16 points. World bronze medallists Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy captured gold (209.13) while Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko of the United States took bronze (198.18).
WATCH | Lajoie and Lagha take silver in China:
"It was a fun week but really stressful when we skated," Lajoie said. "I'm really happy with how we fought through it, and we delivered a really good free dance so I think we're pretty satisfied with the competition overall."
WATCH | Guignard, Fabri win Cup of China title:
In the pairs competition, Canada's Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud skated to bronze.
The duo set a season-best total of 188.74, behind Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy (211.05) and Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany (209.36).
Pereira of Milton, Ont., and Michaud of Brantford, Ont., bounced back from a disappointing fifth-place finish at the Grand Prix de France earlier in November.
"Definitely an improvement in both the short and the long this week," Michaud said. "We practised really well this week so that's always a confidence-booster for what we're trying to do. We want to keep pushing our programs to show what we're doing in practice, so it was a great week for us in that sense."
WATCH | Pereira and Michaud win bronze:
Glenn scores 2nd Grand Prix title
Amber Glenn of the United States performed a personal-best free skate on Saturday to win the Cup of China's women's event and secure a spot in the Grand Prix Final.
Skating to "I Will Find You The Return," Glenn, second after the short program, opened with a clean triple axel and reeled off six clean triples to overtake Japan's Mone Chiba with a personal-best score of 144.70 for a total of 215.54 points.
"I'm very excited that I've been able to show consistency throughout these Grand Prix and the season so far and that was my main goal," said Glenn, the U.S. champion.
Along with her victory at the Grand Prix of France, the result in China means Glenn qualified for her first GP Final, which will be held Dec. 5-8 in Grenoble, France where she will face five Japanese opponents.
"I'm just so thrilled to be competing against such incredible athletes that I respect and I think they are absolutely amazing," the 25-year-old Texan said. "It's unreal to me to be considered at that standard and at that level."
Glenn became just the fifth U.S. woman to win two Grand Prix gold medals in a single season and the first since Ashley Wagner in 2012.
Chiba looked like she would hold on to her slim lead from the short program but fell in the step sequence late in her routine which cost her valuable points.
The Japanese skater finished second with 211.91 points but also secured a place in the Grand Prix Final.
"All the seven jumps got a positive grade of execution and all jumps were fully rotated," Chiba said. "I made a mistake in the step sequence. I lost my balance. This is something I should improve for the Grand Prix Final."
Kim Chae-yeon of South Korea also skated a clean program and was third with 208.47 points.
Kaori Sakamoto, Higuchi Wakaba, Hana Yoshida and Rino Matsuike are the other Japan women to qualify for the GP Final.
Canada's Madeline Schizas finished in seventh place (180.77) after posting the eighth-best short and free programs.
Reigning men's national champion Wesley Chiu, of Vancouver, withdrew due to injury.
WATCH | Schizas finishes 7th at the Cup of China:
Sato takes men's title
In the men's event, Japan's Shun Sato barely held on to his lead from the short program, landing three quadruple jumps to finish with a total of 278.48 points.
WATCH | Sato claims Cup of China victory:
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan landed four quad jumps and finished first in the free skate but his second place finish in the short program meant that he was second overall with 276.17 points.
Adam Siao Him Fa of France touched down on a triple toeloop and over-rotated a triple axel and finished third with 252.53 points.
In the pairs, European champions Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy won the free skating to finish first overall with a total of 211.05 points.
World bronze medallists Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany were second with 209.36 points.
Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud of Canada finished third with 188.74.
WATCH | Canada's Pereira, Michaud claim bronze:
The Grand Prix is the top series in figure skating, consisting of six events and a final. The Cup of China was the sixth stop on the circuit and the Grand Prix Final is set for Dec. 5-8 in Grenoble, France.
The Associated Press
