PAIRS
The United States staked its claim for a possible two pairs medals in a Grand Prix event, a feat that hasn’t happened in 10 years. In 1996, Shelby Lyons and Brian Wells, and Stephanie Stiegler and John Zimmerman, went 2-3 at Skate America – the second year of the Grand Prix Series (then called the Champions Series).

But this year, Inoue and Baldwin (59.28 points), and Naomi Nari Nam and Themi Leftheris (57.32) are in a position to make it happen again. The two pairs lead a small field at Skate America, due to a number of late withdrawals, including Chinese World champions Qing Pang and Jian Tong.

Third place went to Canada’s Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay (55.86), while the Polish team of Dorota and Mariusz Siudek struggled with a couple of their elements to finish fourth with 50.34 points.

It could be the first Grand Prix gold medal for Inoue and Baldwin, who say they only decided after the World Championships to compete another year.

“We really didn’t know we would be competing this year,” Baldwin said, “but we sat down and talked about it and decided it would be worth it. We have a lot more to accomplish, and we are in a great position this year. We want to get that medal at Worlds.”

The U.S. champions had the highest elements score despite two small mistakes. Inoue stepped out of the side-by-side double Axels and put her hand down on the throw triple Axel (which still received 6.80 points). Level fours on four other elements helped keep them ahead of the competition. They also had the highest program components score.

Having never competed under the international judging system in an ISU event, Nam and Leftheris necessarily notched a personal best score of 57.32. They opened the program with spot-on side-by-side triple toe loops and a throw triple loop – an element they just added this year.  Their least successful element was the combination spin, which only earned a level two and received a few negative GOEs.

This is the first Grand Prix event for the pair. Nam competed in the Junior Grand Prix Series as a singles skater but never in the Grand Prix.

“We felt really confident, comfortable and at ease out there,” Nam said.

The third American team of Tiffany Vise and Derek Trent sits in seventh.

MEN
Japan’s Nobunari Oda pulled off a historic skate, racking up 81.80 points for his flawless short program, separating himself from the rest of the competition, which includes France’s Alban Preaubert in second (career-best 73.80) and Lysacek in third (70.35). Oda’s score is the second highest ever under the international judging system (IJS), behind only the 90.66 posted by Evgeny Plushenko at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. He surpassed his previous best by more than three-and-a-half points.

In contrast to the skaters who sit 1-2 heading into Friday’s free skate, Lysacek had trouble with his jumps. He put his hand down on the ice on his triple Axel, and came out of the landing on the latter half of his triple Lutz-triple toe combination. He did land a clean triple flip, and his spins and footwork were fast and smooth.

“There's a lot of difficulty in the components, so I’m glad to see that aspect of it is getting worked out,” Lysacek said. “I had some minor errors, but I tried to put my heart and soul into the rest of the performance, and I think it showed in the scores.”

Because of its high score, Oda’s program could be considered the surprise of the night, but the U.S.’s Ryan Bradley could also stake a claim to that title. Bradley, the reigning two-time U.S. Collegiate champion, landed all his jumps cleanly in his “Polka” program but was downgraded on his spins. His score of 64.44 was good for fourth.

“The arena was great,” Bradley said. “People were really warm and accepting. I kind of have a program that’s a little bit out there, so it’s kind of risky there. It’s kind of one of those things that they didn’t get into the performance right away, but I kind of stuck with it, and it turned out great. The audience just pushed me through to the end. I just had a blast.”

This is just Bradley’s second Grand Prix event. At his first, 2002 Skate Canada, he placed a respectable sixth. The third American in the field, Scott Smith, had a rougher go of it. Skating to “Night Train,” Smith was the only man to attempt a quad, a jump on which he fell. He also put his hand down on his ensuing triple loop but started the program with a clean triple Axel. Smith was questioned about putting the quad into the program.

“In the past it has worked for me. Obviously, right now, I’m thinking, ‘Why did I do it?’” he joked.

ICE DANCING
Skating essentially on home turf, U.S. ice dancers Gregory and Petukhov jumped a step further in their careers by placing second in the compulsory dance. Gregory and Petukhov trained in the Hartford area for three-and-a-half years, and the duo has been making the rounds over the last couple of weeks promoting the year’s inaugural Grand Prix event.

“It's been great this week,” Gregory said. “It’s so nice to be home in Hartford. Everybody has been so warm, and you see so many friendly faces in the stands, so it’s cool.”

Gregory and Petukhov (35.02 points) skated a strong and smooth Westminster Waltz, finishing nearly three points ahead of third-place finishers Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France (32.38). Not surprisingly, Bulgarian World champions Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski are in first place with 39.19 points.

2006 Four Continents silver medalists and U.S. Team members Morgan Matthews and Max Zavozin are in position to match or exceed their highest Grand Prix placement – fourth at 2005 Trophee Eric Bompard. The young team is in fifth place with 29.95 points, but that is less than a point behind fourth-place finishers Sinead Kerr and John Kerr of Great Britain. Matthews and Zavozin finished just behind the Kerrs at the 2006 Nebelhorn Trophy last month, so they know all about the competition they are facing.

“We went into the first event a little blind, so we were more comfortable tonight,” Zavozin said. “We are excited to put our programs out there.”

The third America team, Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre, might be the team most thrilled to be here, and they were still smiling after an eighth-place finish in the compulsory dance. This is their second season together and first Grand Prix assignment. They won the bronze medal two weeks ago at the Karl Schaefer Memorial in Vienna.

“[It was] awesome,” Bommentre said of their appearance on the Hartford ice Thursday night. “I thought we had a good start to our season this year and kicked things off well.”

Skate America continues Friday with the ladies short program, the men’s free skate and the ice dancing original dance.