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Friday may have been one of the last times figure skating fans saw Lysacek’s “Carmen” free skate, but for those in attendance, it was one to remember. His final straight line step sequence exhilarated the crowd and showed why he is one of the world’s most exciting skaters. Lysacek nailed his final program by landing eight triple jumps. He won the free skate with 150.74 points, although it still wasn’t enough to overcome Oda’s lead after the short program.

“I feel good,” Lysacek said. “I’m happy with my conditioning at this point in the season. I came in here to do well, so it feels good to end it on a better note.”

American Scott Smith moved up two places to finish sixth overall. Once again he was the only man to attempt a quad, and his fall on that jump and an ensuing pop on his triple Axel were costly errors. He landed seven triples.

“I hit two out of two quad Salchows in my practice this afternoon, so I was feeling really good about [the quad],” Smith said. “Then it just did not happen at all tonight. It was way under-rotated, and I fell. It was really not even an attempt I’m used to.”

Fourth after the free skate, Ryan Bradley dropped four places after some jump problems early in the program. Thinking through the program, Bradley improvised and added double toes on two jumps late in the program when he missed combinations early on.

“It was a little bit of a letdown from yesterday,” Bradley said. “Today I just let things rattle me early. I really think I’m on the right track. Things at home have been going really well. I just need to keep pushing it.”

Alban Preaubert of France finished third, winning his first Grand Prix medal.

LADIES
Meissner placed third in the ladies short program, while Japan’s Mao Asada and Miki Ando executed their short programs with personal-best marks, finishing first and second, respectively. Olympian Emily Hughes skated a strong program and sits fifth heading into Saturday’s free skate, while her U.S. teammate Katy Taylor struggled and placed 11th overall.

Meissner took the lead after the first group of skaters and ended up with a score of 58.82. She failed to cleanly execute her opening triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, settling for a triple Lutz-double toe loop.

“I think when I went into (the Lutz) I may have rushed a little bit and ended up forward, but I was actually pretty over it when I watched it again,” Meissner said. “I was just forward, and that’s a lot better than being back because if I was back I would have been on my back.”

Hughes stumbled once but still managed a personal-best mark of 57.42. Her previous best score was 57.08 at the Olympic Winter Games.

“It went really well,” Hughes said. “I received a personal-best score despite messing something up. I can gain a lot of confidence from this knowing I went out there, messed up and still I was better than last year, and that means a lot to me.”

Many members of the Hughes’ family were in the stands, including her older sister, Sarah, who won Olympic gold in 2002.

Taylor, the 2006 Four Continents champion, recorded a disappointing mark of 34.66.

“I tried my best,” Taylor said. “I had a lot of personal issues, and I’ll try harder tomorrow.”

ICE DANCING
If Friday’s original dance at Skate America was an indication of how Petukhov skates through pain, he should injure himself more often.

During the warm-up before his group was supposed to compete, Petukhov, skating apart from partner Gregory, lost his footing and smashed into a cutout in the boards at the Hartford Civic Center, gashing his shoulder and forearm. After seeking medical attention, he and Gregory went out and skated a sparkling original dance to put themselves in position for their second ISU Grand Prix medal (Their first and only was a bronze at last year’s Skate Canada).

“(The crash) should have been a plus three – bonus move,” Gregory joked. “I heard a big boom. I looked back and saw black, but I knew everybody was wearing black. And I’m thinking, ‘It's not Denis, it’s not Denis.’ And then I see him on the ice, and I say, “Holy cow, it’s Denis.' But then I saw him get up, and he was smiling.”

Gregory and Petukhov set a personal best in the OD, scoring a 55.61 in the segment (their previous high was 55.10, set at the 2005 Four Continents Championships) to give them 90.63 for the competition. The only part of Gregory and Petukhov’s “La Cumparsita” and “Tanguera” program that wasn’t sharp was their twizzles. Other than that, they received level fours on four elements, and skated with an effortlessness and confidence not yet often seen from the pair.

The Bulgarian team of Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski widened their lead over the Americans following an OD in which they received level fours on five of the six elements, the only team to accomplish that feat.

Americans Morgan Matthews and Maxim Zavozin scored 51.05 in the original dance and received four level fours. Their lifts and spins were exemplary.

 “It wasn’t anything special,” Zavozin said. “That whole dance in general was about how we usually do it. We were pretty happy with it. It was very stable, and we felt a connection on the ice. We went out there and tried to perform it instead of skate it.”

 The team that made the biggest leap of the night was the American duo of Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre. Skating to John Powell’s “Assassin’s Tango” and Tom Waits’ “Little Drop of Poison,” they got level fours on all but two elements and beat their previous personal best by more than 3.5 points.

“(The music) adds a bit of playfulness, a little bit of fighting, but we kind of like it,” Navarro said.