U.S. Brings Home Six Medals on Final Day of Grand Prix Final

Team USA concluded the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2022 with six medals, winning three pieces of hardware in each of the senior and junior events on the final day of competition in Torino, Italy.

Including senior pairs team Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier's silver on Friday, the United States earned seven total medals and won a medal in each senior discipline for the first time in U.S. history. 

Over the course of the competition, Team USA earned at least one medal in every event a U.S. skater was entered at in both the senior and junior events. On Saturday, Madison Chock and Evan Bates and Isabeau Levito brought home silver in the ice dance and women's competitions while Ilia Malinin claimed bronze in the men's competition.

In the junior events, Team USA had two on the podium in the pairs competition as Sonia Baram and Daniel Tioumentsev and Cayla Smith and Andy Deng earned silver and bronze, respectively, while Lucas Broussard stood on the podium in the junior men's event with silver.

With the silver, Chock and Bates clinched their fourth Grand Prix Final medal, adding to their collection of silvers they won in 2019, 2015 and 2014. With a total score of 211.94, Chock and Bates kept Team USA's medal streak in ice dance alive as this marks the 14th straight Grand Prix Final that the United States has stood on the podium.

Known for their lifts, the highest scoring element for the three-time World medalists was their Level 4 combination lift, which received more than 14 points from the judges. Chock and Bates also earned Level 4s for their synchronized twizzles and dance spin to secure 126.45 points for their free dance set to music by Jorane.

"It was everything we hoped it would be. I think for the amount of work we've put in since Skate America and NHK (Trophy) we have pushed to grow and evolve this program in a very short amount of time," Chock said. "We're so pleased with how we performed today. We had a great time connecting with each other, and it felt like we were really present in every moment."  

2022 Olympians Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker finished fifth in their second Grand Prix Final. Their performance included an impressive Level 4 combination lift that received more than 13 points as well as Level 4 synchronized twizzles, scoring 118.56 points for a total tally of 198.06.

Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier locked up the silver medal with a score of 215.64. Taking the bronze with a score of 206.84 was Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy.
 

Team USA's two reigning World Junior champions, Levito and Malinin, made incredible comebacks to stand on the podium, jumping up from fifth to second and third, respectively, thanks to second-place finishes in the free skate.

En route to her silver, 15-year-old Levito competed a triple flip, a triple toe and a double Axel in the first half of her program to "Dulcea Si Tandra Mea Fiara" before gaining more than 12 points for her triple Lutz-Euler-triple Salchow in the second half of the performance. She ended with a Level 4 step sequence and spin to put an exclamation mark on her day, earning 127.97 points in the free skate and 197.23 points overall to become the first U.S. senior women's silver medalist at Grand Prix Final since Ashley Wagner in 2012.

"I'm still not really realizing it yet, but it's so amazing, and I'm so proud," said Levito of her silver.  

Mai Mihara of Japan won gold with a score of 208.17 while Loena Hendricks of Belgium came away with bronze with 196.35 points.

In the senior men's event, Malinin also jumped up into medal position thanks to a strong free skate. Skating to "Euphoria" by Labrinth, the two-time Grand Prix gold medalist in his senior debut season opened with his signature quad Axel, one of four quad jumps to start the performance, with all receiving positive grades of execution. Two more jump combinations – a triple flip-triple toe loop and a triple flip-triple Axel sequence – earned Malinin big points for his comeback. His skate earned 191.84 points for a total of 271.94 as he claimed his first Grand Prix Final medal.
 

"I believe in myself, and I believe in my training," said Malinin of managing five quad jumps in his free skate. "I'm confident knowing that everything I do in practice I'm able to go out and do." 

With Malinin securing the bronze, the United States has now earned a medal in the senior men's event the last five times the event has been held. Nathan Chen earned a medal in each Grand Prix Final between 2016 and 2019.

A pair of Japanese skaters topped the podium as Shoma Uno and Sota Yamamoto clinched gold and silver with scores of 304.46 and 274.35, respectively.

The junior competition also wrapped up Saturday with four U.S. skaters competing in the pairs and men's events.

Baram and Tioumentsev and Smith and Deng earned silver and bronze, respectively, marking the first time Team USA has had two junior pairs teams stand on the podium at the Junior Grand Prix Final since 2006. The podium finishes also are the first medal for the United States since 2011.

Reigning U.S. junior champions Baram and Tioumentsev started their free program to "Pilgrims on a Journey" and "Primavera" with a strong triple twist and a triple Salchow-double Axel jump sequence. Later, they performed a standout Level 4 reverse lasso lift, their highest scoring element, to clinch a spot on the podium with 113.16 points in the free skate and 176.78 points overall. Both scores are international personal bests.
 

"It felt great! The best feeling of my skating career," Tioumentsev said.

Smith and Deng demolished their previous personal bests in the free skate and total score by nearly 10 points, scoring 95.30 for their free skate for a two-day total of 150.51. Highlights of their performance to "Angel Et Demon" by Maxime Rodriguez included their Level 4 step in lift and their side-by-side triple Salchows.

"I think this has been a great experience," Deng said. "I met a lot of new people, and we had a pretty good skate, so I'm happy with that."

Standing on the podium next to the two American teams were Anastasia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore of Australia, who won the event with a score of 181.37.

In the junior men's event, Broussard added another silver to Team USA's medal haul with a total score of 220.43, a new personal best by more than nine points.

Broussard, who won both his Junior Grand Prix events, skated to "The Leftovers" by Max Richter and "Compassion" by Ilya Beshevli, opening with two clean triple jumps, a toe and a loop, before executing a triple flip-Euler-triple Salchow, which was his highest scoring element at more than 11 points. He was rewarded with a free skate score of 139.32.

"As far as my program goes, I accomplished my goals and I'm happy with how I handled the experience here," Broussard said. 

Robert Yampolsky also represented Team USA, finishing fifth. Despite struggling on his jumps early, he saved his best for last with his triple Lutz-double Axel sequence. Yampolsky also earned Level 4s on two of his spins, scoring 124.71 for the performance and 198.02 overall.  

Nikolaj Memola of Italy secured the gold with 230.50 points while Nozomu Yoshioka of Japan claimed the bronze with 208.01 points.

For full results, news, bios and more, visit the Grand Prix Final Competition Central on the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone.