ISU GP Cup of China 2024: Chiba Mone holds narrow lead as top three separated by just 0.38 points in women's short program
Chiba, Amber Glenn, and Sumiyoshi Rion all scored over 70 points in a tightly contested women's short program in Chongqing, with just over three points between Chiba and Kimmy Repond in sixth.
Figure Skating
The women's event at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Cup of China 2024 is anyone's to win.
After the short program on Friday afternoon (22 November), Japan's Chiba Mone is the nominal leader – but just 0.38 points separate her and teammate Sumiyoshi Rion in third, and only 3.15 points between her and Switzerland's Kimmy Repond in sixth.
In a session where every single skater received at least one negative grade of execution score from a judge, the difference was made in artistry and program components rather than true technical element skill.
Chiba, skating to Donna Summer, topped the scores with 70.86 points despite being called for an unclear edge on her opening triple Lutz, which was also marked a quarter under-rotated. While her total elements score was the lowest of the top three, her program components helped eke her past U.S. skater Amber Glenn, who was just 0.02 points behind in second place.
Glenn performed to Janet Jackson's This Time and would probably have placed first, if not for a wild second element. After landing her opening triple Axel – the only woman of the 12 to attempt a triple instead of double – a quarter under, the 25-year-old lost her balance on landing the triple flip part of her triple flip-triple toeloop combination, stepping out and putting a hand down on the ice to prevent a total fall.
Sumiyoshi, meanwhile, had the cleanest skate of anyone on Friday, only receiving a single negative mark from one judge on her flying camel spin. Unsurprisingly, her clean double Axel, triple Lutz-triple toe combination, and triple flip led her to the highest technical marks of the entire field. However, the 21-year-old's program components score was noticeably lower than both Chiba's and Glenn's, giving her a total of 70.48 points.
Kim Chaeyeon of Republic of Korea (69.27) sits fourth, having had high hopes of cracking the top three. Skating last in the second warm-up group, Kim was undone by a quarter under-rotation on a triple Lutz. Another Japanese skater, Watanabe Rinka, is fifth on 69.08 with Repond sixth on 67.71.
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Earlier, Italy's Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri took a three-point lead in the ice dance competition, scoring 84.84 points to top the rhythm dance.
They sit ahead of Canadians Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha (81.53) on the back of stronger grade of execution scores for their elements, while U.S. duo Christina Carreira / Anthony Ponomarenko (79.22) are over two points further back in third, having dropped points on their pattern dance type step sequence, which received only a level two compared to level threes for the top two teams.
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Cup of China 2024 results
Women's short program
- Chiba Mone (JPN) 70.86
- Amber Glenn (USA) 70.84
- Sumiyoshi Rion (JPN) 70.48
- Kim Chaeyeon (KOR) 69.27
- Watanabe Rinka (JPN) 69.08
- Kimmy Repond (SUI) 67.71
- Kim Minchae (KOR) 62.94
- Madeline Schizas (CAN) 61.10
- An Xiangyi (CHN) 60.10
- Zhu Yi (CHN) 58.36
- Anastasiia Gubanova (GEO) 52.11
- Chen Hongyi (CHN) 45.81
Ice dance rhythm dance
- Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri (ITA) 84.84
- Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha (CAN) 81.53
- Christina Carreira / Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) 79.22
- Juulia Turkkila / Matthias Versluis (FIN) 77.80
- Olivia Smart / Tim Dieck (ESP) 75.96
- Caroline Green / Michael Parsons (USA) 75.63
- Loicia Demougeot / Theo le Mercier (FRA) 73.50
- Diana Davis / Gleb Smolkin (GEO) 70.53
- Ren Junfei / Xing Jianing (CHN) 61.64
- Xiao Zixi / He Linghao (CHN) 59.96