Hektor Giotopoulos Moore and Anastasiia Golubeva have finished in fourth place in the pairs event at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Shanghai, China.The performance matches Australia's previous best result at the Four Continents, achieved by dual Olympian Joanne Carter in the women's singles event of 2005. In the opening short program, the pair scored 58.79 to put them in seventh place, with a few mistakes costing them from placing higher. The pair then had a much improved free skate, scoring a seasons best 125.04 points, the fourth best of the round. The combined total score came to 183.83 points and a final ranking of fourth, making it an impressive Four Continents debut. "This experience will help us greatly towards the World Championships," said Giotopoulos Moore. "This skate today proved to ourselves that it doesn’t matter what happens in the short program, doesn’t matter what happens in the free program. Just put your mind to it and you can do it.” In the ice dance, Holly Harris and Jason Chan had career best scores for their total score (176.34 points) and free dance (107 points) on their way to finishing in ninth place, narrowly missing out on matching their previous best at the event in eighth. Also representing Australia at the Four Continents Darian Kaptich - 21st Charlton Doherty (Men's Singles) - 27th Maria Chernyshova (Women's Singles) - 21st Vlada Vasiliev (Women's Singles) - 26th India Nette / Eron Westwood (Ice Dance) - 16th The 2024 World Championships will take place in Montreal, Canada, from March 18-24. |
Hektor Giotopoulos Moore and Anastasia Golubeva have finished in fourth place for the second time this season at the NHK Trophy in Osaka, Japan. Competing in just their second career senior ISU Grand Prix event, the pair started the event in fine form, with a career best skate in the short program scoring 64.61 points to put them in third position. After the short program, Giotopoulos Moore commented. “We are very tired now. We took out the 3-3 combination because I was struggling in the warmup and we rather wanted to focus on a clean skate given the position we were in”. In the free skate, the pair had a season best score of 120.78 points which was the fourth highest of the round. The total score for the pair was 185.39 points, giving them a final ranking of fourth, just missing the podium by 1.08 points. Taking victory was German pair Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin on a total score of 202.51 points, with Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise of Italy in second with 190.31 with Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini also from Italy in third on 186.47. “We take so much experience from our first senior GP season. It’s so more professional and bigger than on the Junior circuit,” said Golubeva. The pair will now return to home for the Australian Figure Skating Championships in Erina, NSW, on December 7-8, and then train at the O’Brien Icehouse in Melbourne’s Docklands during January. “Next for us is Australian Nationals. We are the only senior team competing there. It will be to gain experience with the programs. Maybe we will try a sbs flip there for fun,” said Giotopoulos Moore. Australian figure skaters have competed at the prestigious International Skating Union Grand Prix events in October, with the pair of Anastasiia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore competing in the Skate Canada event in Vancouver, Canada, and ice dancers Holy Harris and Jason Chan in the Skate America in Allen, TX, USA.
Making their senior Grand Prix debut in Vancouver in pair skating, Golubeva and Giotopoulos Moore finished an impressive fourth overall, after placing third in both the short program and free skate with a total score of 179.61 points, less than two points behind the bronze medal team of Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise from Italy on 181.42. In first place was Canadian pair Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps on 214.64 with Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary in second place with 187.78 points. At the Skate America in Allen, Texas, Holly Harris and Jason Chan finished in tenth place with a total score of 156.98 points. 2023 World Champion’s Madison Chock and Evan Bates from the USA took the win with a total score of 212.96 points, with Canadian’s Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha in second on 196.99, with French skaters Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud rounding out the podium in third. Golubeva and Giotopoulos Moore will compete in their second ISU Grand Prix event of the season at the NHK Trophy in Osaka, Japan, on November 24-26. Australian figure skating pair Hektor Giotopoulos Moore and Anastasiia Golubeva have recorded an incredible eighth place at their first ever senior World Championship event in Saitama, Japan.
After finishing in the silver medal position at the past two Junior World Championships, the pair showed they are ready to compete against the very best in the world, to record Australia's best World Championship result since Anthony Liu finished seventh in 2002. The pair started off in the short program scoring 61.85 points to be ranked in 11th place, with just one mistake holding them back from a higher score. In the free skating final event, the pair had an unbelievable performance to score a personal best 127.52 points, the fifth highest of the round, moving them up into eighth place with a total score of 189.47, also a career best. In first place was Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi of Japan with 222.16, with Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier of the USA in scoring 217.48 in second, and Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii in third with 208.08. Also representing Australia at the World Championships was Holly Harris and Jason Chan in the ice dance. The couple reached the top-20 free dance final skate with a 16th place performance in the short program scoring 64.80. In the free dance, the couple improved to have the 15th best performance of the round, scoring a career best 104.67 points, giving them a final ranking of 16th overall with a total score of 169.47. Anastasiia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore have become just the second Australian pair to win a medal at the International Skating Union (ISU) Junior World Championships, after finishing second in Calgary, Canada.
The first pair to medal at the Junior World Championships for Australia were Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley Windsor, who were victorious back in March, 2017. The short program saw the pair ranked third, 7.77 points behind first place after scoring 59.18. In the final free program skate, the pair put in another good performance with the second highest skate of the round with 111.18 points. Their final combined score for both programs was 170.36, putting them 13.11 points behind event winners Sophia Baram and Daniel Tioumentsev of the USA with a total score of 1183.47, with Ukrainians Violetta Sierova and Ivan Khobta in third scoring 159.39. Vlada Vasiliev also made her World Championship debut for Australia in the women's single events, placing 42nd after scoring 36.93 in the short program. Anastasiia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore have continued their strong junior performances, claiming victory at the International Skating Union (ISU) Junior Grand Prix final in Torino, Italy.
The pair are now the second Australians to win gold at the Junior Grand Prix Final, joining Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley Windsor who won the prestigious event in 2017. The end of year ISU Grand Prix Final brings together the six best juniors and six best senior skaters in each discipline to determine the best of the best. The short program saw the pair ranked second, 3.13 points behind first place after scoring 60.19 points. In the final free program skate, the pair put in a dominant showing with the highest score of the round with 121.18 points, moving into the gold medal position with a combined total score of 181.37. Rounding out the podium was Sophia Baram and Daniel Tioumentsev of the USA with a total score of 176.78 and fellow Americans Cayla Smith and Andy Deng in third with 150.51. |
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March 2024
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