In the first Challenger Series event of the 2021-22 figure skating season, two Americans earned medals at Lombardia Trophy in Bergamo, Italy.
Alysa Liu ran away from the competition on the women's side, finishing with a total score of 219.24 points, besting silver medalist Ekaterina Kurakova of Poland, by more than 30 points. Team USA's
Audrey Shin claimed bronze with 172.46 points, just ahead of Switzerland's Alexia Paganini.
Liu, who was skating in her first senior international competition abroad, won both the free skate and short program by at least 12 points. Shin, the 2019 U.S. junior silver medalist, secured fifth in short program and improved to fourth in free skate to finish on the podium.
On the men's side,
Tomoki Hiwatashi improved from a ninth-place short program to finish fifth overall (213.11) after a fourth-place free skate. Team USA's
Yaroslav Paniot withdrew during the short program.
Daniel Grassl of Italy won gold, while Adam Siao Him Fa of France and Morisi Kvitelashvili of Georgia earned silver and bronze, respectively.
In the ice dance competition, the United States' duo of
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko finished fourth overall with 172.78 points, after a fourth-place rhythm dance and a sixth-place free dance. Teammates
Molly Cesanek and Yehor Yehorov finished 13
th overall with 151.76 points.
Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri won gold, Canadians Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen took silver and Spaniards Sara Hurtado and Kirill Khaliavin collected bronze.
The United States did not have any entries in the pairs event.
Next weekend, senior Team USA members will compete at both Autumn Classic International and the U.S. International Classic. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Series will continue in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Fans can also follow along on
Competition Central on the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone.
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