U.S. Men Dominate Cup of China

This weekend's Cup of China in Beijing continued the astonishing role reversal in U.S. figure skating, in which American women have been non-factors internationally and American men have been dominant.

Jeremy Abbott and Stephane Carrierre won the top two spots in the men's competition, giving U.S. men six medals from five different men in the season's first three grand prix events. Meantime, the U.S. women again failed to medal, with Alexandria's Ashley Wagner claiming fourth place and fellow American Katrina Hacker managing just eighth.

The only medal won by the U.S. women this season was the bronze that Alissa Czisny claimed at Skate Canada last weekend.

This weekend, Wagner competed gamely but earned fourth-place marks in both the short and long program for a final tally of 155.59, fewer than four points out of the medals. Korean star Yu-Na Kim, 18, dominated the event by winning the short and long programs with 191.75 points. Miki Ando, the 2007 world champ from Japan, finished second with 170.88 over Finland's Laura Lepisto (159.42).

Abbott, 23, won his first grand prix event and major competition by hitting eight clean triple jumps in the long program and earning personal best scores in the short and long. He finished with 234.44, well ahead of Boston College premed student Stephen Carrierre, who claimed 217.25, and Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic, who earned 205.48.

By Amy Shipley  |  November 10, 2008; 6:58 AM ET  | Category:  Figure Skating
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