It was a golden finish for Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava of Georgia as the competition wrapped up at the ISU Grand Prix Cup of China with the Pairs Free Skating Saturday. The Cup of China was the second event of six in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. 

Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava (GEO) claim gold 

Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava skated off with their second ISU Grand Prix gold medal while defending Cup of China Champions Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii of Italy took the silver. 2022 Olympic Pair Skating Champions Wenjing Sui/Cong Han of China started their return with the bronze. 

Overnight leaders Metelkina/Berulava skated last and produced a high triple twist, side-by-side triple toe as well as big triple throws and difficult lifts. The only glitches in their program to “Keepin Me Alive” came when Metelkina missed the last jump in their triple Salchow-double Axel-double Axel combination and when Berulava wobbled on a lift. The 2024 ISU Grand Prix Final bronze medalists scored 139.47 points and totaled 217.24 points to claim the title. 

“It all is a bit surprising for us, we are still in shock,” Berulava commented. “Maybe we were lucky. This wobble on the lift is something that never has happened before.”

Metelkina nevertheless enjoyed performing for the Chinese audience. “The audience here is great, so warm and welcoming. We competed in China before at the Junior Grand Prix Final and we were really happy when we got the Cup of China Grand Prix,” she said.

The two-time ISU World Junior Champions will compete again at Skate America in three weeks and want to assure their spot in the Final. 

“We now will take three days off and rest, then we’ll start working again and prepare for Skate America,” Berulava said. 

Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (GEO) secured gold in the Pairs at the ISU Grand Prix Cup of China in Chongqing © ISU

Conti/Macii gave an emotional performance to “Caruso” that featured a triple twist, triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence and level-four lifts. However, the throw loop and Salchow were a bit wobbly. The two-time ISU World bronze medalists scored 136.47 points for the Free Skating and 209.88 points overall to take silver. 

“We are proud of our work,” Conti said. “There were a lot of emotions to skate after Sui and Han today. It was a good start of the season for us, we tried to control the tension at our first Grand Prix.” 

Their next event will be the NHK Trophy where they will meet Sui/Han again. “We will go to Japan and train there as we don’t want to go back (to Italy),” Conti explained.

Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii (ITA) took silver at the ISU Grand Prix Cup of China in Chongqing © ISU

Performing to “Tapestry of a Legendary Land”, a Chinese movie soundtrack telling the story of famous painter Ximeng Wang, Sui/Han completed a triple twist, excellent throw triple flip and Salchow as well as a level-four death spiral and pair combination spin. However, they struggled with the last lift. The Olympic Champions picked up 130.47 points and had 202.92 points overall to take the bronze four years after their last ISU Grand Prix event in fall 2021. 

“We are very proud of ourselves,” Han said. “This was only the fourth time that we did a full run-through of our Free Skating. There were still errors and the time was short, so considering that it was a great achievement today. We still have a lot to improve.”

Wenjing Sui and Cong Han (CHN) skated off with bronze at the ISU Grand Prix Cup of China in Chongqing © ISU

2024 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions Jiaxuan Zhang/Yihang Huang (CHN) finished fourth in what was their debut at the senior-level ISU Grand Prix (195.41 points). Rebecca Ghilardi/Filippo Ambrosini (ITA) moved up from seventh to fifth place with 186.85 points.

Lucrezia Beccari/Matteo Guarise (ITA) withdrew before the Free Skating as Beccari suffered an injury. They stood in eighth place following the Short Program. 

ISU Grand Prix Standings

Check out who is on their way to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix Final:

Men                               Women                    Pairs                      Ice Dance

For full entry lists and further information regarding the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series please visit here.

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