Despite fall, U.S. champion Alissa Czisny wins Skate America

Defending U.S. champion Alissa Czisny survived an early fall on her triple flip and held off Italy's Carolina Kostner on Sunday to win the women's title at Skate America at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario. Czisny, who also had a crooked landing on a triple loop and doubled another planned triple, outshone Kostner with her fast-paced footwork and technically better spins, also elements that are judged.

Czisny finished with 177.48 points, just ahead of Kostner's 177.35.

Skating to "Valse Triste" by Jean Sibelius and dressed in deep purple, Czisny's fall came on the second jump of her program. On her next jump, the triple loop, Czisny had an unsteady landingm but the 24-year-old gathered her composure and finished with highly rated spins and circular step work.

Viktoria Helgesson of Sweden won the bronze medal with a score of 145.75. Caroline Zhang, an 18-year-old from Brea who was third after the short program, had three falls in her long program, which ranked last among the 10 skaters Sunday, and fell to sixth place overall.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Alissa Czisny celebrates her gold medal victory ahead of Carolina Kostner of Italy (left) and Viktoria Helgesson of Sweden (right) for the Ladies Free Skate competition. Credit: Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images

Germans win Skate America pairs gold medal

Robin Szolkowy and Aliona Savchenko, the defending world champions, won the pairs competition Sunday at Skate America at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, coming from fifth place after the short program with a free skate that beat the field.

Szolkowy and Savchenko, of Germany, finished with 183.98 points. Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of China were second with 178.66 points and Canadians Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch were third. The top Americans, Caydee Denney and John Coughlin, were fourth and brought the crowd to its feet with their program, skated to the classical Puccini music "Nessun Dorma." The performance was without major mistakes but it was also cautious and didn't contain as many difficult elements as those done by the medal winners.

Szolkowy made reference to the error-marred short program he and Savchenko had done by saying, "I hope you missed us yesterday. Today's performance, though, was quite OK."

Zhang and Zhang were also happy. After missing much of last year because Zhang Hao was injured, the two had practiced their Sunday free skate only four times. "I was pretty pleased with it," Zhang Hao said. "We're still lacking condition and endurance, but that is still something we can work on. I don't think this is a major problem."

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Robin Szokowy and Aliona Savchenko perform their routine during the free skate portion of Skate America on Sunday at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario. Credit: Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images

White, Davis win second Skate America ice dance title

Reigning world ice dancing champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States earned a standing ovation and also accumulated five perfect marks of 10 while winning their second consecutive Skate America ice dancing gold medal at the Citizens Business Bank Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Davis and White, skating elegantly to music from the Johan Strauss piece "Die Fledermaus," evoked the atmosphere of a Viennese ballroom in the 19th century as they floated across the ice and scored a commanding win with 178.07 points.

Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France, who performed an Egyptian-themed free dance to music called "The Pharaoh and His Mummy," were far behind with 156.29 points. Bourzat, who could barely catch his breath in between coughing spells, said he was going straight to a doctor after receiving his medal.

Isabella Tobias and Deividas Stagniunas of Lithuania, who received an invitation to the event only two weeks ago after a Russian couple withdrew because of illness, moved up from fifth place after the short dance to take the bronze medal. Tobias is originally from New York and is a trained ballet dancer.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Meryl Davis and Charlie White perform their free dance Saturday at the Skate America event in Ontario. Credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images