Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin are now international medalists. To kick off the third season of their partnership, Yankowskas and Coughlin won the Ice Challenge in Graz, Austria, finishing ahead of American teammates Chloe Katz and Joseph Lynch.
Yankowskas and Coughlin won both portions of the competition to finish with 163.14 points overall. Although Katz and Lynch were fourth in the free skate, the pair claimed the silver medal with 154.77, edging out Italy’s Stefania Berton and Ondrej Hotarek (151.77), who were second in the free and Germans Maylin Hausch and Daniel Wende (150.28), who were third.
Skating to selections from the Pearl Harbor soundtrack, the gold medalists performed a triple twist and a throw triple Salchow to start of the program. They had small troubles throughout, including on the side-by-side triple toes, which received a negative grade of execution, and Yankowskas’ fall on the throw triple loop, but skated well overall.
Katz and Lynch did not fall in their program. However, they experienced a major loss of points when their side-by-side triple toes were downgraded to doubles. They also received no credit for the Group 5 axel lasso lift toward the end of their performance to the Henry V soundtrack.
At the 2009 U.S. Championships, Katz and Lynch finished in sixth, the highest national standing of their career, while Yankowskas and Coughlin were seventh. Katz and Lynch won their first international medal last season by placing second at Coupe de Nice.
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