The 2011 Skate America was the first event of six in the 2011–12 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California on October 21–23. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2011–12 Grand Prix Final.

Eligibility Skaters who reached the age of 14 by July 1, 2011 were eligible to compete on the senior Grand Prix circuit.

In July 2011, minimum score requirements were added to the Grand Prix series and were set at two-thirds of the top scores at the 2011 World Championships. Prior to competing in a Grand Prix event, skaters were required to earn the following:

Discipline Minimum Men 168.60 Ladies 117.48 Pairs 130.71 Ice dancing 111.15

Entries The entries were as follows.

Country Men Ladies Pairs Ice dancing Kevin van der Perren Kirsten Moore-Towers / Dylan Moscovitch Alexandra Paul / Mitchell Islam Kharis Ralph / Asher Hill Michal Březina Zhang Dan / Zhang Hao Florent Amodio Nathalie Péchalat / Fabian Bourzat Elene Gedevanishvili Maylin Hausch / Daniel Wende Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gazsi Samuel Contesti Carolina Kostner Valentina Marchei Takahiko Kozuka Daisuke Murakami Haruka Imai Denis Ten Isabella Tobias / Deividas Stagniūnas Ksenia Makarova Vera Bazarova / Yuri Larionov Joshi Helgesson Viktoria Helgesson Richard Dornbush Armin Mahbanoozadeh Douglas Razzano Alissa Czisny Joelle Forte Caroline Zhang Caydee Denney / John Coughlin Mary Beth Marley / Rockne Brubaker Tiffany Vise / Don Baldwin Isabella Cannuscio / Ian Lorello Meryl Davis / Charlie White Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue

Schedule All times are Pacific Standard Time (GMT -08:00). Friday, October 21 7:05 p.m. – Men's short program 8:45 p.m. – Short dance Saturday, October 22 11:39 a.m. – Men's free skating 1:34 p.m. – Free dance 7:00 p.m. – Pairs' short program 8:25 p.m. - Ladies' short program Sunday, October 23 1:05 p.m. - Pairs' free skating 2:45 p.m. - Ladies' free skating 7:00 p.m. - Exhibitions (Skating Spectacular)

Results Men Michal Březina took an eight-point lead in the short program. He was concerned by the narrowness of the rink: "I was kind of scared if I will fit with the curve because the rink is not so wide. I almost hit the board in practice when I was going for the triple flip." He was third in the free skating but held on to win his first Grand Prix title. Kevin van der Perren placed fourth in the short program and won the free skating to take silver medal, his first GP medal since 2007 Skate Canada International. It was the third Grand Prix silver medal of his career. The 2009 Skate America champion, Takahiko Kozuka, took the bronze medal. This was the first time that no US skater stood on the men's podium at Skate America.

Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS 1 Michal Březina 216.00 1 79.08 3 136.92 2 Kevin van der Perren 212.48 4 70.09 1 142.39 3 Takahiko Kozuka 212.09 2 70.69 2 141.40 4 Richard Dornbush 202.27 5 70.03 6 132.24 5 Denis Ten 197.98 6 67.38 7 130.60 6 Daisuke Murakami 193.32 3 70.67 9 122.65 7 Douglas Razzano 192.95 9 60.69 5 132.26 8 Samuel Contesti 190.20 10 55.52 4 134.68 9 Florent Amodio 187.60 8 62.46 8 125.14 10 Armin Mahbanoozadeh 179.07 7 64.54 10 114.53

Ladies Alissa Czisny won the short program, while Carolina Kostner placed first in the free skating. Czisny edged out Kostner by only 0.13 points for the gold medal. Viktoria Helgesson took the bronze and became the first Swedish skater to win a Grand Prix medal.

Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS 1 Alissa Czisny 177.48 1 64.20 2 113.28 2 Carolina Kostner 177.35 2 60.23 1 117.12 3 Viktoria Helgesson 145.75 5 51.13 5 94.62 4 Haruka Imai 142.94 4 54.67 9 88.27 5 Ksenia Makarova 142.67 7 45.95 4 96.72 6 Caroline Zhang 140.70 3 55.05 10 85.65 7 Elene Gedevanishvili 140.12 10 42.51 3 97.61 8 Joelle Forte 139.70 6 48.86 7 90.84 9 Valentina Marchei 135.17 9 43.19 6 91.98 10 Joshi Helgesson 133.98 8 45.03 8 88.95

Pairs In the short program, Savchenko and Szolkowy attempted the rare throw triple Axel for the first time in their career but experienced a hard fall. They were given credit for completing the revolutions and finished in 5th place, 3.4 points off the lead. They rebounded to place first in the free skating and won their second consecutive Skate America title and third in their career. They added a reverse lasso lift to their free skating but performed only a double twist because they were still working on a new entry to the triple. Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang took silver, their fifth medal at Skate America, after missing the previous season due to hand, shoulder and knee injuries. Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch won the bronze, their second medal at the event.

Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS 1 Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy 183.98 5 59.45 1 124.53 2 Zhang Dan / Zhang Hao 178.66 1 62.85 3 115.81 3 Kirsten Moore-Towers / Dylan Moscovitch 177.43 4 59.60 2 117.83 4 Caydee Denney / John Coughlin 175.40 2 59.62 4 115.78 5 Vera Bazarova / Yuri Larionov 173.94 3 59.62 5 114.32 6 Tiffany Vise / Don Baldwin 155.42 7 51.55 6 103.87 7 Mary Beth Marley / Rockne Brubaker 144.80 6 56.16 8 88.64 8 Maylin Hausch / Daniel Wende 141.54 8 48.94 7 92.60

Ice dancing Davis and White repeated as Skate America champions, with Pechalat and Bourzat winning the silver medal, and Tobias and Stagniunas pulling up from fifth to take bronze, their first Grand Prix medal. Bourzat was recovering from bronchitis.

Rank Name Nation Total points SD FD 1 Meryl Davis / Charlie White 178.07 1 70.33 1 107.74 2 Nathalie Péchalat / Fabian Bourzat 156.29 2 60.07 2 96.22 3 Isabella Tobias / Deividas Stagniūnas 132.58 5 51.83 4 80.75 4 Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gazsi 131.61 3 55.66 6 75.95 5 Kharis Ralph / Asher Hill 131.29 4 52.68 5 78.61 6 Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue 131.04 6 49.71 3 81.33 7 Isabella Cannuscio / Ian Lorello 115.22 7 42.05 8 73.17 8 Alexandra Paul / Mitchell Islam 111.70 8 37.50 7 74.20

References

External links

2011 Hilton HHonors Skate America at U.S. Figure Skating ISU GP Skate America 2011: Entries, time and practice schedule at the International Skating Union