Loena Hendrickx was the last of the 11 invited skaters to take action. Her first jump, a triple Flip, came off right away. But with the next Axel she stuck with a single instead of a double. That didn’t score her any points.
Hendrickx, who turned 24 on Sunday, was not upset and continued to inspire the audience and jury in her well-known, graceful style. She completed the rest of her program with another double triple jump flawlessly.
The speed with which the number 3 of the World Cup performed her pirouettes and combinations on the ice to the sounds of I’m nin’alu (Mor Avrahami Remix) by Ofra Haza and Living for Love by Madonna was phenomenal. She shifted spectacularly on her knees and even danced right in front of the jury.
It rewarded her with 70.65 points. Three weeks ago in Texas she received 75.92 points. But Hendrickx was still satisfied with this, she knew she had made a mistake, although she did not understand why.
Next to her on the podium of the short freestyle were 2 Japanese girls: Rika Watanabe (21) got 65.09 points, Hana Yoshida (18) 64.65.
Tomorrow morning she can try to book her second GP victory in a row in the free freestyle.
Last week Nina Pinzarrone took 2nd place in the French GP. The young Belgian will not compete in China, she will skate the NHK Trophy in Osaka, Japan at the end of November.
Tags: mistake Loena Hendrickx lead short freestyle Chinese Figure skating
