After the short program, Hendrickx leads the rankings with 76.98 points, ahead of the American Isabeau Levito (73.73) and the South Korean Haein Lee (73.55).
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Hendrickx, second (2022) and third (2023) in recent years, skated a compelling exercise. The European champion opened with a combination of two triple jumps (lutz and toeloop), followed by a double Axel. After thirty seconds, Hendrickx already had the audience in the Bell Center on her side.
The adrenaline and painkillers helped her tremendously, Hendrickx said after she won “a small gold medal” with her victory.
“It’s good that we now have a real team,” said Hendrickx. “Because without physio and mental coach I wouldn’t have made it.” Due to a painful hip, she had not been able to train properly in the last week. Sleeping went very well, sometimes until eleven o’clock. “Yes, I was well rested.”
She spoke relaxed about Friday’s free freestyle on Wednesday. “Something new and surprising happens with every match. We’ll see what comes of it.”
Pinzarrone: Too much thinking and nosebleed
Nina Pinzarrone has the prospect of ranking in the top ten, which was her goal. She is eleventh after the first day.
© AFP
Pinzarrone, also eleventh in Japan in 2023, performed two triple jumps (flip and toeloop). That didn’t go entirely as planned. The pirouettes and the triple Rittberger did not cause any problems.
“The first jump combination was not what I wanted, I thought too much,” Pinzarrone responded after her short program. That influenced the rest of her program. “The rest was pretty good. I passed all levels. I dropped points. But the field was close together.”
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Pinzarrone could see that she was repeatedly hampered by nosebleeds in Montreal, where temperatures fluctuated widely. “I didn’t think about that,” she said. Nor did she think about the pain in her tailbone from all the adrenaline. Last week the skater fell when she wanted to take down the suitcases for the trip. “Oh yeah. Those are also mistakes. I know. I know I can do better.”
Physiotherapist Ellen Jacobs has had a lot of extra work due to the physical discomfort of Hendrickx and Nina Pinzarrone. The day before the match it was decided to cauterize the wounds in Pinzarrone’s nose. That was supposed to put an end to the annoying nosebleed.
Hendrickx and Pinzarrone will compete against the rest of the world in Montreal, but of course it is also a mutual battle between the two Belgians. Two years before the Winter Olympics, Hendrickx (24) does not want to know anything about the generational change that Pinzarrone, seven years his junior, is looking for. At the last World Cup the difference was 19 points, at this year’s European Championship it was 11. In between, at the Grand Prix final, Hendrickx was only 9 points better. In Montreal the margin after the short program is 12 points.
The drivers have Thursday off to train. But if Hendrickx has his way, there will also be time for sightseeing.
Only women on jury
The organizers will use Stromae in the Bell Center to announce the Belgian riders. During the penultimate mop-up break, Stromae came out of the speakers – the Brussels native has already performed in the immense stadium and elsewhere in the French-speaking part of Canada.
The jury, by the way, only consists of women, and this prompted the comment from German trainer Michael Huth, who coached Carolina Kostner in the past, that this is very one-sided. “Women also deserve a male gaze. I’ve never seen that before.”
World champion Kaori Sakamoto, who is now fourth (73.29), had to work hard to achieve a good result. Artistically she is inferior to Hendrickx, but in terms of sport and fitness the Japanese is considered the standard. That could be decisive on Friday. The free freestyle, a four-minute exercise, is often decided on the first jump and in the last minute.
In the pair riding, Canadians Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps are first with 77.48 points, ahead of Riuku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara from Japan (73.53) and Sara Conti/Nicolo Macii from Italy (72.88).