Chinese skaters Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo win comeback show at ISU Cup of China
Chinese pairs figure skaters Shen Xue (申雪) and Zhao Hongbo (趙宏博) of China showed no ill effects from their two-year retirement with their convincing victory here on Saturday, October 31, at the 2009 ISU Cup of China Grand Prix event in Beijing. The former three-time World title holders and two-time bronze Olympic medalists placed first in the Cup of China short program earning a personal best score of 72.28 and then hit a high-flying 128.69 points in the free skating to give them a total score of 200.97.
This favourite veteran pairing of Shen and Zhao are making a comeback!
Shortly after Shen and Zhao’s third world’s title at the March 2007 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, they announced their engagement, got married soon thereafter, and retired from competitive skating to concentrate on coaching.
A long-time partnership, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo began skating together in 1992. Shen and Zhao are the first Chinese pair team to ever medal at an International Skating Union event. At the 2002 World Figure Skating Championships, they became the first Chinese team to win the World Championships. The pair won three World titles: 2002, 2003 and 2007. They are also the first Chinese pair skaters to medal at the Olympic Games, capturing two Olympic bronze medals: 2002 Salt Lake City and 2006 Turin.
Shen and Zhao left no doubt as to what their objective is with their 2009 comeback. During a post-competition interview at the Cup of China, Zhao Hongbo said, “We are sure to do our best in the following competitions, but the most important thing is to be fit and to resume the level of our best since both of us have a series of injuries. Our biggest aim is to show up at the Vancouver Olympics.”
Chinese pairs skaters Zhang Dan (張丹) and Zhang Hao (張昊), 2006 Olympic silver medalists and three-time World silver medalists, earned 124.57 points in the free skate for a total of 186.49 to capture silver at the Cup of China event after finishing a disappointing fourth in Friday’s short program.
Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov of the Ukraine won the Cup of China’s bronze medal in pairs skating with the combined score of 170.79. The two are the three-time Ukrainian national champions.
Akiko Suzuki of Japan was a surprise winner, capturing the ladies’ crown when she scored the best free skate with 117.14 points for a combined total score of 176.66. She was in fourth place after the short program. Akiko Suzuki may challenge former world champion Mao Asada for one of Japan’s three Olympic spots. The Japanese Skating Federation looks at place finishes at the Grand Prix Final for its Olympic team.
Finland’s Kiira Korpi, the 2007 European bronze medalist, retained her second place after Friday’s short program, by skating a season best of 102.07 points in free skating and 163.27 in total.
The biggest surprise was Joannie Rochette of Canada, the 2009 World silver medalist and five-time Canadian national champion, who started the day at seventh place after her short program but won the ladies’ bronze medal with the second best free skate, collecting 111.06 points for a 163.18 overall total.
For the Men’s title: Nobunari Oda of Japan came in first with a total combined score of 239.58; Evan Lysacek of the United States was second with a total of 232.17; and Sergei Voronov of Russia came in third with 220.39 points.
The Cup of China results in Ice Dancing: first place to Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the United States with a total of 194.51 points; second place to Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski representing Russia with 180.57 points; third place to Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali of Italy with 179.92 points.
The Cup of China Grand Prix was the third stop in this season’s series of six Grand Prix figure skating events. The top six skaters/couples of the series in each category will proceed to the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Tokyo, Japan in December.
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[...] Chinese skaters Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo win comeback show at ISU …Chinese pairs figure skaters Shen Xue (申雪) and Zhao Hongbo (趙宏博) of China showed no ill effects from their two-year retirement with their convinc… Written by Skate Punk – Skate ShopBookmar this post: « Old School 70s Skateboard Tricks (Skateboard Tricks Video) [...]