Aljona Savchenko, left, and Bruno Massot, of Germany, perform during the pairs free skate at the 2017 Bridgestone Skate America, Saturday, Nov. 25, 2017, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Republished November 25, 2017 - 3:56 PM
Original Publication Date November 25, 2017 - 1:11 PM
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - Canada's Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford qualified for the ISU Grand Prix Final after a third place finish on Saturday at Skate America.
Duhamel of Lively, Ont., and Radford from Balmertown, Ont., scored 215.68 points to finish behind Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany, who took gold with 223.13, and Xiaoyu Yu and Hao Zhang of China, who were second with 219.20.
"Today wasn't our best skate but it wasn't our worst," said Duhamel. "We fought and I think overall we are happy with this competition. This is our next to last Grand Prix and I refuse to leave here frustrated."
Duhamel and Radford — skating to music from Muse — opened with a triple twist before Duhamel fell on the side-by-side jump and touched her hand down on the throw quad Salchow.
The two-time world pairs champion won on home soil at Skate Canada International in October, and along with Saturday's result, qualified for the ISU Grand Prix Final from Dec. 7-10 in Japan.
Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Michael Marinaro of Sarnia, Ont., were sixth.
Massot and Aliona Savchenko overcame Massot's back injury to win the seventh stop on the figure skating circuit to cap a week when Massot also overcame a major obstacle for competing at the Olympics in Pyeongchang.
The French-born Massot found out Thursday he had passed the German citizenship test, clearing the way for him and Savchenko to participate in South Korea.
The pair struggled Friday in the short program, with Massot falling on a triple salchow. He said Saturday he has a back injury, which he expects to bother him through the Olympics.
— With files from The Associated Press
News from © The Canadian Press, 2017