2002 Skate America


The 2002 Skate America was the first event of six in the 2002–03 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington on October 23–27. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2002–03 Grand Prix Final. The compulsory dance was the Austrian Waltz.

Results

Men

Reigning Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin withdrew with injury after the short program in what became the final competition of his amateur career. Brian Joubert went on to win the event for his first international title.
RankNameNationTFPSPFS
1Brian Joubert2.021
2Alexander Abt3.532
3Matthew Savoie6.063
4Zhang Min6.044
5Michael Weiss8.556
6Emanuel Sandhu9.595
7Vakhtang Murvanidze12.0107
8Derrick Delmore12.088
9Sergei Davydov12.579
10Kensuke Nakaniwa15.51110
WDAlexei Yagudin1

Ladies

and Ludmila Nelidina both landed a triple axel in their free skating, together becoming the first female skaters to perform the jump in international competition since Midori Ito landed it at the 1992 Winter Olympics. Nakano landed it first and Nelidina, who skated after her, also performed it successfully.
RankNameNationTFPSPFS
1Michelle Kwan1.511
2Ann Patrice McDonough5.062
3Elena Liashenko5.043
4Jennifer Kirk6.025
5Ludmila Nelidina6.554
6Viktoria Volchkova8.537
7Yukari Nakano10.086
8Júlia Sebestyén12.579
9Miriam Manzano13.0108
10Annie Bellemare14.5910
11Zuzana Babiaková17.01211
12Elina Kettunen17.51112

Pairs

Ice dancing