Duhamel & Radford win bronze at Skate America
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford captured bronze at Skate America on Saturday, securing themselves a spot in the Grand Prix Final in the process.
The two-time world champions had been the leaders after the short program but dropped behind 2017 World silver medallists Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany and Xiaoyu Yu and Hao Zhang of China following Saturday’s free skate.
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Team Canada, perform during the pairs short program at the 2017 Bridgestone Skate America, Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
The performance had its early troubles as Duhamel fell on their side-by-side triple lutzes and touched down on the landing of the throw quad salchow. But she didn’t let those two errors rattle her, coming back to produce a triple salchow combination and a great throw triple lutz.
The Canadians earned 140.31 points for an overall total score of 215.68. Savchenko and Massot received 150.58 for their free skate, bringing their overall mark to 223. 13. Yu and Zhang’s free skate scored 145.53 for 219.20 overall.
Duhamel and Radford had won gold at their previous Grand Prix event this fall, Skate Canada International.
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, of Team Canada, perform during the pairs short program at the 2017 Bridgestone Skate America, Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
There is a now a one-week break before the Grand Prix Final begins in Nagoya, Japan on December 7. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, along with Kaetlyn Osmond, had already been among the top-six finishers in their disciplines from the Grand Prix series to qualify.
After that, the focus turns to the national championships in Vancouver, with the senior events taking place January 12 and 13, following which the Olympic team for PyeongChang 2018 will be decided.
