Germany’s Hase and Volodin defend Grand Prix Final Pairs’ title

07.12.2024 18:14

2024-25 Grand Prix Final | Pairs

Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin defended their title in the Pairs’ event at the 2024-25 Grand Prix Final on Friday in Grenoble, France. Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan, who sat out the Grand Prix last year due to injury, finished second. Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava made history by collecting the bronze, the first medal of any color for Georgia in the Pairs’ discipline at this event.

Headliners Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada pulled out of the event on Monday as Deschamps is recovering from an illness.

Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin

In the short program, the defending champions earned a new personal best of 76.72 for first place with their confident and bluesy routine to “You Were Mine.” They produced a solid triple twist, side-by-side triple Salchows, and throw triple loop. The lift, spin, steps and death spiral were all graded a level four.

“After landing the jumps I was thinking, ‘let’s put everything we had into the performance,'” said Hase. “We actually felt a little shaky today, but we covered it with passion!”

The team felt “grateful” at the end of their program.

“We just felt really grateful at the end of the program,” said Hase. “It was a great program, and I was really happy that we could show a good one at the Grand Prix Final. That was just amazing, that was a personal best for us! Of course, it’s nice being first after the short program and it’s just halftime, so we have a lot to work on. We have to get a lot of work done tomorrow, but it’s a nice first day.”

Minerva scratched herself with her blade during the warm-up.

It’s nothing serious,” she said. “It was just bleeding, but not a deep scratch.”

“We already are thinking about tomorrow,” added her partner, “but it feels really nice to have scored a personal best.”

The 2024 World bronze medalists delivered a dramatic and heartfelt free skate to The Four Seasons that was highlighted by a very good triple twist, three difficult level-four lifts and strong throw triple Salchow. Hase put her hand down on the first jump of a triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence, underrotating the last jump. She also put a foot down on the triple Salchows but fought for the landing of the throw triple loop. They placed first in the free skate and overall (141.38/218.10), separating themselves from the rest of the field by over 11 points.

Hase said today was “shaky,” especially for her, but said that her partner was “fine.”

“He rocked today in the performance,” she said. “I was wobbling myself through that program. But I’m so, so proud and happy that we kept it together to the end. We fought for each element, and at the end, we still had a solid program. So, I’m just happy that we still made it.”

Hase felt that this event was “10 times harder” than last year, especially with the strong Japanese team in the mix.

“It was tough, but it was nice,” she said. “I love competition, and I think now that pair skating is on the upswing again and I’m really happy for that.”

“One year ago, I was sick, and I remember nothing,” said Volodin. “So, I don’t have emotions from this. I just did it and that’s it. Today I’m so happy. We showed a good performance, and I feel so many emotions. I feel that it is a really, really big title. It’s a really good feeling!”

The team has nationals in two weeks and are looking to defending their title. They will perform in two shows in Germany and then take a few days off after the New Year before buckling down for Europeans.

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara

Skating to an orchestral version of “Paint it Black” in the short program, the three-time World medalists opened with a level-three triple twist. Ther intense and powerful routine also featured a throw triple Lutz, but Miura underrotated her jump on the side-by-side triple toes. The lift, spin, footwork, and death spiral were all graded a level four, and they placed a close second (76.27) going into the free skate.

“For this short program I made one mistake, but I tried to be as detailed as possible,” said Kihara. “I’m happy with the score we got because it is better than the NHK Trophy.”

“I made some mistakes with the lift, but we tried to be really focused on each element,” added Miura. “For the free program we will try harder to pay attention to each element. Even if we didn’t get the best score, we are happy with our performance.”

“This program means ‘the new us’ and the new step sequence is also really good,” she continued. “It was difficult at first, but now that we kept skating it, it became something easy to do for us.”

The two-time Four Continents medalists had a difficult free skate which included a fall by Miura on the throw triple loop. The team struggled with their first jump sequence in their intriguing routine to “Adiós” by Benjamin Clementine, and Miura also stepped out of a throw triple Lutz. However, the side-by-side triple Salchows were clean and the three level-four lifts earned many high GOEs. They placed third in the free skate and second overall (130.44/206.71).

“It’s been two years since we participated in the Final, so we’ve made some mistakes today,” said Kihara. “It wasn’t good, but we were able to get 130 points, so I think that’s good. But we will learn from it and improve ourselves to aim for the Olympics.”

“We will go through our practice routine again to improve our performance for next time,” added Miura.

Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava

The 2024 World Junior Champions attacked their athletic short program to “Why?” by Bronski Beat, opening with an effortless level-three triple twist, throw triple Lutz and side-by-side triple Salchows. The lift, steps and spin were graded a level four, and they picked up a new personal best of 72.26 points for third place.

“We feel really good about the skate today,” said Metelkina. “The points were good. The death spiral was a bit worse compared how we do it in practice. We came to Skate America well prepared. We are actually always well prepared. We have no idea what happened there, but we never stopped believing in our chance to make it here.”

The 2024 NHK Trophy gold medalists were nearly flawless in their expressive and innovative free skate to “A Necessary End” by Saltillo. The only mistake came when Metelkina slightly underrotated and stepped out of the back end of the triple Salchow-double Axel sequence. Otherwise, they produced solid triple toes, a throw triple Lutz and a throw triple loop. Two lifts, the death spiral and pair spin were rewarded a level four, and they finished second in the free skate and third overall (133.52/205.78).

“I don’t think we were too nervous today,” said Metelkina. “Normally we can control the nerves and put it to work. We felt well together; maybe today I was a bit more worried because I wanted to skate clean. The audience was really warm. It’s always nice to get feedback from the crowd, and the atmosphere was amazing!”

“We really enjoyed our skate, except for the little mistake on the Axel,” added Berulava. “It was a great experience. The Salchow came out amazingly well. In my previous competitions, I had made exactly the same mistake as Anastasiia made today. I did a perfect Salchow, great landing, good speed, but I rushed a bit so the combination didn’t turn out so well. So today it was her turn to make a mistake, but we are going to work on it.”

Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii

Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy placed fourth (70.49) in the short after their engaging routine to music from Carmen Suite. They opened with a level-four triple twist, but Conti stepped out of the throw triple loop. The triple Salchows were solid, and the lift, steps and spin were graded a level four.

“The competition is very strong,” Macii pointed out. “In this field it is ‘when you miss you are out.’ And we missed today. It was my mistake on the throw. I missed the timing. She is so strong to not have fallen; I am so proud of her! Still, our points are good. Just being here means that we are among the top six teams in the world!”

“Today was a little bit different,” Conti offered. “We feel the tension a bit. I was very focused on skating clean. Mistakes happen, we are all just human.”

The 2023 World bronze medalists fought through their emotional free skate to “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” They hung onto the level-four triple twist which had a mistake in the catch and Macii took a fall on the triple Salchows. However, they landed a triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence as well as the throw triple loop and throw triple Salchow. Two lifts and the pair spin were graded a level four, and they placed fourth in this segment and overall (129.57/200.06).

“It’s not the best moment when you start the program with a mistake,” said Conti. “I tried to do the other elements better and to keep going with the points that we lost. It was super difficult today. The tension was so high because we
know we can be on the podium or fall back, but it’s ok, it’s another competition.”

“This is the first time I missed the Salchow,” said Macii. “I have a problem with the combination, but the Salchow I
can land it in the dark wearing shoes! I always land the Salchow. Sara said, ‘it’s ok,’ but it’s not ok!”

Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea

USA’s Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea delivered a rousing short program to “Rain, in Your Black Eyes” which had difficult transitions throughout. Kam stepped out of a throw triple loop, putting a hand down, but that was the only error. The triple twist, death spiral, spin, and lift were graded a level four, and the side-by-side triple Salchows were clean. They scored 68.91 for fifth place.

“We landed our throw very well in the warm-up,” said O’Shea. “The timing was a little bit off during the competition. We are a little bit confused with our level three on the steps. We worked really hard on it, and I think we hit a lot of keys and it’s a difficult step. But we are happy with the other levels we achieved.”

“It feels great to skate here at our first Grand Prix Final,” added Kam. “I hope it will just be our first of a few.”

The 2024 Four Continents bronze medalists showed lots of emotion in their free skate to “Concealed Passion” and “Stand by Me” which was highlighted by three level-four lifts and pair spin. The throw triple Lutz was clean, but O’Shea took a fall on the side-by-side triple Salchows while Kam underrotated hers. Both skaters also struggled on the triple Salchow-double Axel-double Axel sequence, and the landing of the throw triple loop was tight. They placed fifth overall (129.35/198.26).

“We’re so happy, honestly,” said O’Shea. “It was a good program. It was nice to put exactly what we practiced into performance and let the world see what we can do. The triple toe was a little bit off but still. I haven’t looked at levels yet, but it felt really well.”

“It was the first time for us with the three-jump combination,” said Kam. “It was a little shaky, but we got through it. Also, I got my first flower crown; that’s the biggest win today!”

The 2024 U.S. Champions will go to Montreal soon to work on choreography with Marie-France Dubreuil on choreography and make small adjustments. Then they will return home for Christmas shows before preparing for Nationals.

Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini

Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini of Italy were the first alternates and were added to the line-up after the withdrawal of Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps.

The two-time European champions gave a clean short program to “El Tango De Roxanne” which featured a throw triple Lutz, side-by-side double Axels, and a level four lift, death spiral and combination spin. They placed sixth with 65.80 points.

“Last Monday we had just finished our practice when we got the call ‘guys, you need to pack,'” said Ghilardi. “I mean obviously we haven’t prepared as ideally as we could have for a Final, but we are really happy to skate here and grab the chance. We now went back to our old skates; we had just changed to new ones.”

The Italian champions displayed good artistry in their “Dracula 2.0” free skate, but the team struggled on their side-by-side jumps. However, both the throw jumps—triple Lutz and triple loop—were solid, and the lifts and spin were graded a level four. The finished sixth (115.72/181.52).

The team was happy with their performance as they felt it had improved since their last outing in France where they took the bronze.

“We had some mistakes, of course, since we changed some part of the program,” said Ghilardi. “We hadn’t tried it so much, so we chose to go with those. But now we know it works and we will try to make it better in the future.”

“I was a bit nervous as I fell this morning during on the Salchow and my leg hurt a bit,” said Ambrosini. “After Finland, I was also a bit injured on the leg, but the physio took care of it very well.”

They will compete next at Italian Nationals and then take five days off over the Christmas holidays.