Lysacek Stumbles At Skate Canada But Several Americans Hold Medal Positions

(Ottawa, Ont.) - American skaters fared well on the first day of Skate Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with at least one skater or team in position to medal after the short programs and compulsory dance.

Ice Dancing, Compulsory Dance

In ice dancing, U.S. silver medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White are in position to take home their first senior international gold medal. They finished first in the compulsory dance with 34.29, narrowly edging out France's Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat (33.90) for the lead.

U.S. Championship bronze medalists Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre are also in position to win their first medal on the Grand Prix after a third place performance. They carry 31.67 points into Saturday's original dance.

Americans Jennifer Wester and Daniil Barantsev scored 28.71 to secure sixth place.

Pairs, Short Program

U.S. Champions Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker are poised to extend their medal streak to 10 competitions following an impressive short program in the pairs competition. Performing to a modern version of "Malaguena", McLaughlin and Brubaker recorded a personal best 60.66, which puts them in second place. Brubaker skidded out of the landing on the pair's side by side triple toes but all other technical elements were near flawless for the pair, who won silver last weekend at Skate America.

McLaughlin and Brubaker are in second place after day one, trailing Russians Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov (65.02). World Championship bronze medalists Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison from Canada are currently in third place with 60.14 points going into Saturday's free skate.

U.S. Championship pewter medalists Tiffany Vise and Derek Trent, who hold the distinction of being the first pair in history to successfully perform a throw quadruple jump, are in fourth place with 53.94. Highlights of their program to William Joseph's "Sweet Remembrance of You" include side by side triple toes.

Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig (47.04), the third American team competing in Ottawa, are currently in last place among the eight pairs. They received two deductions including one for Evora's fall on their attempted side by side triple Salchows.

Ladies, Short Program

World Junior Championship silver medalist Caroline Zhang of the United States placed third behind Canadian Joannie Rochette (64.74) and Japan's Fumie Suguri (57.92) in the ladies short program. Performing for the first time this season, Zhang earned 53.28 for her program to "La Bayadere."

Zhang fell on her opening triple flip, which was supposed to be the first in her two jump combination. But she avoided what could have been a disastrous outing by tacking on a double toe to her triple loop, earning points for a combination.

Beatrisa Liang edged out fellow American Alissa Czisny for fifth place, 49.92 to 49.66, despite falling on her triple flip. Czisny had both her triple flip and triple lutz downgraded to doubles.

Men, Short Program

Ryan Bradley, only fifth at the recent national championships, is the top American after the men's short program. He scored a personal best 72.50 and is in third place behind France's Yannick Ponsero (78.05) and Ottawa's own Patrick Chan (77.47).

Bradley wowed the crowd by opening with a quadruple toe-triple toe combination, although his landing on the second jump was flawed. He also landed a triple axel in his Elvis medley program.

An expected front runner Evan Lysacek, a two-time U.S. Champion and two-time World Championship bronze medalist, managed only a fourth place finish. He received 71.40 points, well off the 81.30 he scored last week at Skate America.

Lysacek did not receive credit for the second jump in his planned triple lutz-triple toe combination because he took steps between the jumps rather than connecting them. He did, however, perform a clean triple axel.

Brandon Mroz of the U.S. also scored a personal best 67.03. In his first senior competition, he finds himself in sixth place heading into the free skate.

Skate Canada continues Saturday with the original dance, pairs free skate, men's free skate and ladies free skate. The competition concludes Sunday afternoon with the free dance.

Skate Canada is the second event in the six-event Grand Prix series that concludes with the Grand Prix Final in Goyang City, Korea, Dec. 10-14. The other events are Skate America in Everett, Wash., Oct. 24-26; Cup of China in Beijing, China, Nov. 6-9, 2008; Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris, France, Nov. 15-18; Cup of Russia in Moscow, Russia, Nov. 20-23; and NHK Trophy in Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 27-30.

The Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series, now in its 14th season, consists of six international events in a cumulative, point-scoring format. The top six scoring athletes in each discipline move onto the Grand Prix Final, which will be combined with the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.