Guignard and Fabbri claim redemptive gold in China
2024 Cup of China | Ice Dance
Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy, who were second at Grand Prix de France, took a redemptive gold in Ice Dance at Cup of China on Saturday. Canada’s Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha earned the silver, while USA’s Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko claimed the bronze.
Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri
The 2024 World bronze medalists slightly improved their score from their Grand Prix in France by just over two points with a score of 84.84 in the rhythm dance. Their entertaining routine featured level-four twizzles and rotational lift. The pattern steps gained a level (three), while the midline steps were a level two and three.
“Performing here felt much better than in France,” noted Fabbri. “The ice was good, the temperature, the rink is amazing, so we felt very well and today it was much easier to perform for the crowd.”
He added that the past two weeks since their second-place finish at 2024 Grand Prix de France had been “tough,” especially mentally. Not because of their result and placement, but due to the fact that they felt it was probably the “worst performance” of their career.
“In France, we were physically well trained, we were prepared for that competition,” said Fabbri. ” So, today was like a restart for us, giving us some much-needed good vibes for the rest of the season.”
Sporting new costumes, the two-time European champions delivered a strong and convincing performance to music by the Robotboys. While the lifts and spin were graded a level four, the twizzles were a level four and three. They earned the highest program components scores of the field after racking up high grades of execution (GOE) and placed first in the free dance and overall (124.29/209.13).
“We actually changed quite a lot of things in this program, because the performance in France opened our eyes a bit,” said Fabbri. “We realized that some things could have been changed, improved, and that some things didn’t really work, even if they were performed the correct way. After the last event, our mood was not very good, so we decided to change a lot of technical things in this program. We also decided to go for more elegant, maybe less realistic costumes.”
Fabbri added that they hadn’t thought much of the Grand Prix Final at this point.
“Of course, at the beginning of the season it was our goal, but after the performance in France, it became something secondary,” he said. “We just wanted to come here, skate better here and improve our performance.”
The team now has a total of 28 points for the Grand Prix Final qualification, taking the fourth of six slots.
Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha
2023 Four Continents bronze medalists showed lots of character and energy in their Austin Powers routine, producing level three midline and pattern steps. Lajoie was off on one of the twizzles which were graded a level three and four, but the rotational lift received a level four. All elements earned high GOEs and they placed second with 81.53 points.
“It wasn’t our best skate, but we struggled a bit the last week in the training,” said Lagha. “To come here and put all of this behind us was good. So, all things considered, we did a good job today, so congrats to us.”
They clarified that issues they had at 2024 Skate Canada were not related to injuries or health. Lagha relayed that his skates had been sharpened a bit too much and that it takes time to adjust.
“It’s only our second competition,” he said. “So, we didn’t have the time to go more in the character in this program and to really enjoy our performance. We’ll see how it’s going to develop for the rest of the season.”
The five-time Grand Prix medalists delivered a fervent and moving free dance to “The Sound of Silence” by Disturbed and “Murky Solitude” by Karl Hugo. The team displayed the best level-four twizzles of the field in this event, earning the highest GOEs. The lifts and spin were also graded a level four, and they finished second in the free dance and overall (123.63/205.16) with new season best scores.
“It was hard mentally, but I guess we’re stronger than we felt mentally,” said Lagha. “Of course, there is a lot of stuff that could be better, but we’re very happy with how we performed today and how we dealt with the stress.”
“Romain Haguenauer came up with the idea and the music for our free dance, and I really liked it,” added Lajoie. “The words are very powerful, and I really can relate to it.”
“I didn’t like it in the beginning,” Lagha chimed in. “But at first I also didn’t like music last year and the year before, too. But with time, the music starts to grow on you, and you start like it more.”
Lajoie and Lagha have grabbed the last qualification spot for the Grand Prix Final next month with 26 points.
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko
The two-time Four Continents bronze medalists placed third (79.22) with their energetic rhythm dance. The twizzles and were graded a level four, but the rotational lift lost a level and was scored a level three. The midline steps were also a level three, while the patter steps were a level two.
“I think we’re a bit more relaxed this week,” said Ponomarenko. “I felt really good out there and we keep pushing the energy higher and higher, so I’m happy with how today went.”
The team had worked for three days with Olympian Gabriella Papadakis.
“She was amusing, really helpful,” said Carreira. “She gave us a new perspective on our program, on how to approach it a bit differently. I think it was really refreshing and helpful to have her for a couple of days.”
“It was funny,” added Ponomarenko. “At one point, we worked with Madison (Chock), Gabriella and Scott (Moir) one day. I turned to Christina, and I was like, ‘look, we are working with three Olympic champions today!’ That was pretty awesome. It’s very special to have these people and champions around.”
The 2024 NHK Trophy silver medalists showed good expression in their free dance to music from the Carmen Suite. All three lifts, spin and the twizzles were graded a level four, and they earned many positive GOEs on all elements in their steadfast routine. They finished fourth in this segment but maintained third place overall (118.96/198.18) for the bronze.
“Today we were a bit nervous and kind of stiff,” admitted Ponomarenko. “We’re happy we were able to we get the job done, but it wasn’t it wasn’t our best performance. I think our physical preparation came out a lot. We’ve been training really hard; I feel like I played it safe a bit in some areas. We did the job today but moving forward, I think we need to show a little bit more attack in our free dance.”
Carreira added that they had been wanting to skate to Carmen for years.
“This year when we came back from Worlds that was kind of the only thing we wanted to do,” she said. “We had to convince the coaches to let us do it though, especially Scott (Moir). For years now we’ve been sending the music back and forth and adding it to the playlists that we put together for the coaches. Even last year, if we had a hard day of training, we were sending each other a piece of Carmen to cheer each other up.”
It was Mathieu Caron who suggested a golden dress for Carreira. At first, the team thought about a more traditional color like black or red, but he insisted on the gold, and they are now really happy with the choice.
With 24 points total on the Grand Prix circuit, Carreira and Ponomarenko are the first substitutes for the Grand Prix Final.
Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck
Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck of Spain put out an entertaining rhythm dance which was highlighted by level-four twizzles and curve lift. The team earned a level one on the pattern steps, while the midline steps were graded a level three and two. The 2024 Skate America bronze medalists placed fifth with a new personal best of 75.96.
“Today was very fun to skate,” said Smart. “The goal was to keep our consistency, especially after we changed the last part in our rhythm dance. Getting a medal at Skate America was fantastic for us. It’s our first one as a team, and it was just really an honor to get it.”
“The field here in China is like a mini-Olympics, so we came here not hoping for anything,” she added. “You could end first or you could end tenth here; everybody is fantastic, and it depends on whoever delivers on the day.”
During the warm-up for the free dance, Smart collided with Carreira and Ponomarenko and took a fall, but later said it wasn’t a “bad” fall.
“Things like this didn’t happen to me for a very, very long time,” she said. “Also, I was skating alone when it happened, so I didn’t have Tim protect or help me.”
Smart and Dieck delivered a captivating free dance to music from the Dune soundtrack. All three lifts, the dance spin and twizzles were graded a level four in their telling performance. They scored a new personal best of 120.56 for third place in the free dance, but with a total score of 196.52, placed fourth overall.
Smart didn’t feel that their free dance was the strongest in terms of expression and performance.
“We came off the ice and it felt like a fight,” she said. “We were both pretty tired today. At the same time, feelings lie a lot and sometimes things look better than they feel. I think we can trust that with the score today. We still have some levels to improve, so hopefully the second half of the season will be even stronger.”
Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis of Finland placed fifth overall (192.57) followed by USA’s Caroline Green and Michael Parsons (189.86) and Loicia Demougeot and Theo Le Mercier of France (185.23).
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