Skate Canada Competition Led By Zhang, Liang after First Day

(Paris, France) - Former World Junior Champion Caroline Zhang and 2008 World Championship team member Beatrisa Liang are within reach of a medal after the first day of competition at Trophee Eric Bompard, which runs Nov. 13-16, in Paris, France.

Men, Short Program

Skate Canada silver medalist Ryan Bradley is less than five points out of third place following the men's short program. While he is currently in fifth place with 69.35 points, fellow American Brandon Mroz is in sixth place after scoring 65.44.

Patrick Chan of Canada leads the competition with 81.39. In second and third are Japan's Takahiko Kozuka (77.00), who had a one point deduction for falling on a spin, and France's Brian Joubert (73.75), the 2008 World Champion.

Bradley's program started with a quad toe-double toe combination, although he put his hand down on the landing of the first jump and only tacked on a double instead of triple. He also performed a clean triple axel and a triple lutz with some minor difficulty.

For the crowd, the highlight of the program may have the circular footwork or the straight line step sequence to the music of Elvis Presley's "Hounddog."

Mroz performed a huge triple axel to start his short program but he put his hand down on the landing. He went on to land a triple lutz-triple toe, with problems on the landing of the second jump, and also performed a solo triple flip.

The men's free skate is Saturday. Both Americans will skate in the final group of skaters with Mroz skating seventh out of 12 skaters and Bradley skating eighth.

Pairs, Short Program

Tiffany Vise and Derek Trent are sixth after the short program. The 2008 U.S. Championship pewter medalists are carrying 46.48 points, which includes a one point deduction, into the free skate on Saturday.

In the short program, the pair started with a split double twist. They also performed side-by-side triple toes with Trent having a two-footed landing. After the strong start, the pair experienced problems on their throw triple loop, which Vise fell on.

The leaders after the short program are Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy (68.18), Russia's Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov (64.84) and Canada's Meagan Duhamel and Craig Buntin (58.66).

Vise and Trent are hoping to repeat history Saturday. Last year at Trophee Eric Bompard, they etched their name in the history books by becoming the first pair to ever successfully perform a throw quadruple jump at an International Skating Union competition. She landed a Salchow.

Ladies, Short Program

Zhang is in medal position after securing third place with a 51.76 point short program. The 2008 U.S. Championship pewter medalist landed a triple flip-triple toe and a triple loop. She aborted her double axel.

Liang is in fourth place with 49.60 after falling on her triple lutz attempt, which was supposed to be in combination with a double toe. She also landed a triple flip and a double axel.

The surprise leader after the short program is Canada's Joannie Rochette (59.54), who fell on her triple flip, the second jump in her program. She surpassed reigning World Champion Mao Asada of Japan who scored 58.12.

It was a rough outing for 2006 Olympic team member Emily Hughes, who came into Paris only having finished third at the North Atlantic Regional Championships. She started her program with a fall on her solo triple flip and followed that with a two footed the lutz in the triple lutz-double toe combination.

Although Hughes landed a solid double axel and performed an excellent layback spin, she finds herself in eighth place out of 10 skaters. Hughes carries 44.32 into Friday's free skate.

Hughes missed the 2008 U.S. Championships because of an injury. Subsequently, she did not qualify to compete at the Four Continents Championships or the World Championships last season.

Ice Dance, Compulsory and Original Dances

The ice dancers had the difficult task of opening and closing the first day of action at Trophee Eric Bompard. In the morning, the teams performed the compulsory dance and then returned at night for their original dance.

After the first two portions of the competition, World Champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France lead with 93.21. They were first in the compulsory but finished third in the original dance behind Italy's Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali as well as Great Britain's Sinead Kerr and John Kerr.

The Italians are second overall with 90.25 while the Brits trail with 87.84. They were also second and third in the morning's compulsory dance.

Americans Jennifer Wester and Daniil Barantsev are in eighth place with 73.80 points. The husband and wife team place eighth out of 10 couples in the compulsory dance (28.02) and eighth in the original dance (45.78).

The free dance is the final event Saturday.

Trophee Eric Bompard is the fourth 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; Skate Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Oct. 31-Nov. 2; Cup of China in Beijing, China, Nov. 6-9; 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.

Jamie M. Blanchard is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This feature was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.