Sui/Han begin Olympic season with Skate Canada title
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E-mail Xinhua, November 1, 2021
Two-time world champion pair Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China scored a runaway victory at the ISU Grand Prix Skate Canada International on Saturday, winning with 31 points to spare.
Russia's Daria Pavliuchenko and Denis Khodykin claimed the silver medal while Ashley Cain and Timothy Leduc of the United States rose from sixth to take the bronze.
Skating to "Bridge Over Troubled Water", Sui/Han earned 145.11 points for free skate after landing a triple twist, triple toe-double toe-double toe, big throw triple flip and Salchow, while their only glitch came when Sui fell on the triple Salchow.
The 2018 Olympic silver medalists totaled 224.05 points for the title, beating the 2018 world junior champions Pavliuchenko/Khodykin to the second place on 193.08, and the 2018 ISU Four Continents silver medalists Cain/LeDuc to the third at 189.90 points overall.
"Our performance was not bad. We had some misses, and we missed a level on a lift and spin. We can improve on this and we will try to fix all of it," Sui said. "This is our first win at Skate Canada, so it is really exciting."
Sui/Han had competed at Skate Canada International three times before and finished second each time.
American-born Chinese Nathan Chen dominated in the men's singles competition, winning with a nearly 50-point advantage over teammate Jason Brown and Russia's Evgeni Semenenko.
The three-time and reigning world champion scored 200.46 points after skating last to a Mozart compilation and racked up 307.18 points overall to win the eighth ISU Grand Prix event gold medal of his career.
On the women's part, Kamila Valieva of Russia set new record scores to win, while teammates Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Alena Kostornaia completed a Russian sweep of the podium.
Canadians Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier captured the ice dance title in front of home fans. Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri of Italy danced to the silver medal while Spain's Olivia Smart/Adrian Diaz secured the bronze, their first ISU Grand Prix medal.
The next Grand Prix of figure skating will take place in Turin, Italy on November 5-7.
