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Trophee Eric Bompard champion Nobunari
Oda (JPN) leads after the short program at
Cup of China.
Photo: AP/Elizabeth Dalziel
Two weeks removed from his victory at Trophee Eric Bompard, Japanese champion Nobunari Oda continues his success on the Grand Prix series this season with a short program win at Cup of China. But Oda is only ahead by a slim margin, just a few points ahead of Russian champion Sergei Voronov and World champion Evan Lysacek. The top three men all broke the 80-point barrier with their clean short programs.
Oda bested the field with his score of 83.35, improving on his short program score from Paris. With another clean skate, he is gaining confidence and growing stronger with each competition. He continues to impress the judges with his subtle power and the cleanness of his jumps, with both his Technical Elements Score (TES) and Program Components Score (PCS) higher than they were two weeks ago.
Voronov is playing the role of the spoiler in the battle between Oda and Lysacek, sandwiched in the middle of the two in second place as a result of his clean quad toe-triple toe combination, the only clean attempt in the competition. His PCS in Beijing was much higher than those he received at both Finlandia Trophy and Trophee Eric Bompard, giving him a personal best score of 81.40.
Lysacek, skating for the first time in competition as a World champion, also skated a clean program, but the execution of his jumps was not as strong as that of Oda and Voronov. His lower TES placed him in third with a total of 80.80. He has traditionally been a stronger free skate skater, and will certainly challenge Oda for the top spot tomorrow.
Italian champion Samuel Contesti sits in fourth place with a 72.08 after stepping out of his triple axel. Right behind him is World junior bronze medalist Jinlin Guan, who leads the Chinese men in the field in his first appearance at a senior international competition. Guan is 0.05 ahead of French champion Yannick Ponsero, who opened his short program with a jarring fall on his quad toe that left him with a gash on his forearm. He recovered well enough to place sixth going into the free skate.
2008 U.S. bronze medalist Stephen Carriere was tentative on his jumping passes, but otherwise skated a well-constructed short program to open his Grand Prix season in seventh place. The third American entry in the men’s field, 2009 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist Armin Mahbanoozadeh, had trouble with his jumping passes and currently sits in 12th place.
MEN (after the short program)
1. Nobunari Oda JPN – 83.35
2. Sergei Voronov RUS – 81.40
3. Evan Lysacek USA – 80.80
4. Samuel Contesti ITA – 72.08
5. Jinlin Guan CHN – 66.70
6. Yannick Ponsero FRA – 66.65
7. Stephen Carriere USA – 65.24
8. Chao Yang CHN – 65.10
9. Denis Ten KAZ – 64.05
10. Ming Xu CHN – 61.02
11. Kevin Reynolds CAN – 60.12
12. Armin Mahbanoozadeh USA – 59.54
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