The International Challenge Cup took place this weekend in The Hague, Netherlands. Anyone who wanted this to be a worlds prep for Jeremy Abbott and Alissa Czisny had better hope that this was instead their chance to screw up royally, so that they got it out of their systems.
Abbott fell twice in his short program and received negative grades of execution on four jumping passes in the free skate, not to mention a quad downgrade. He still managed to win the silver medal behind France's Brian Joubert. France's Florent Amodio withdrew, and Italy's Samuel Contesti won the bronze.
In the ladies portion, it's starting to become no surprise that Italy's Carolina Kostner dominated. But the fact that Alissa Czisny finished in third behind Italy's Valentina Marchei is no good. Czisny fell twice in the free skate. More details at Examiner.com.
Full standings are here.