Rena Inoue & John Bladwin
(from the Free Skate)
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1. Rena Inoue & John Baldwin built on their success in the US nationals to take the lead by 3.71 with a polished performance to Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor, although it wasn’t perfect. Their first move, side by side triple toe loops gained a slight negative GoE (-0.29). Baldwin, at 32, the oldest of the pair entrants said they were still not attempting the solo triple Lutzes because his right big toe, which had been impacted on a triple flip that went wrong, had not healed preventing from picking for the takeoff on that foot. (For the Lutz he picks with the right toe, for the toe loop he picks with the left.) They received Level 4 for their lift and their flying change foot combination spin, both of which were awarded positive GoE’s (+0.07 and +0.31 respectively). The four other level moves, forward inside death spiral, double twist, circular step sequence and pair combination spin were level 3. These moves all received base level or higher except for the twist which was given a very slight negative -0.04. The throw triple loop was awarded +0.70. Baldwin said the value of their content for both routines put them in the running for a medal in Turin. "I’m no longer talking about getting into the top ten," he said. "With the score we got at nationals, is a bronze medal possible? No question about it. If we skate a clean program there, there’s maybe a few other teams in the entire world that can get a better technical score. There’s going to be a lot of pressure but I think between the two of us we have enough experience to handle it." He said since they won back the national title they first won in 2004, they had been inundated with requests for interviews. They were also doing a Sports Illustrated photo shoot. Inoue said, "Today I thought we skated really well. I mainly focused on trying to not skate small, tight." They began skating six years ago. Inoue said it was only after a couple of years that they began to look like a pair and not like two singles skaters doing identical moves. Baldwin said, "I thought pairs would be easier than singles but I soon found out that wasn’t the case." It was at the world juniors in Colorado Springs that their paths first crossed, with Rena skating pairs and Baldwin singles. "Recently, I replayed a tape of that event and right at the end they showed Rena doing a spin." Later Baldwin lived and trained at the Broadmoor with Carlo Fassi. "I looked out of my hotel room this morning and saw the house where we used to live." Baldwin, who has competed at every nationals since 1986, was burned out as a singles skater, working as a day trader and about to leave the sport when his father, who was also a nationals competitor, decided to get him teamed up with Inoue who had competed in both the 1992 and 1994 Olympics, once in both pairs and the other time in singles. "It was basically gambling. You can imagine how distracting that was. I was thinking about how the market was doing when I was skating – not very conducive to concentrating." It was Inoue doing a triple Axel in practice that gave them the idea of trying the throw triple Axel. They became the first to accomplish this move in Nationals and hope to become the first to execute it in an international event in the free in Colorado. Asked if they would skip the Olympic Opening ceremony, which is just a day before the short program, Baldwin said he had thought about it. "I didn’t like the idea of standing for four hours but Rena said, "You have to go. That’s an experience you’ll never have again and like she said - if we missed it we’d regret it so I’ll follow her advice. She’s going to walk me through and show me the ropes." Asked how this Olympics compares to her other two, Inoue, 29, said, "The country I’m competing for is totally different. That’s kind of obvious. It’s been 12 years since the last time I went and a lot has changed, not just in skating, but in my life. Today I thought we skated really well. I mainly focused on things we both know like we have to deal with the altitude and everything. I just focused on trying to not skate small, tight, slow, trying to save energy toward the end. I just focused on letting it all out. We can rest later." 2. Utako WAKAMASU & Jean-Sebastien FECTEAU, who is 30, basically had the same national situation but she chose a different path. "It was a very hard decision. To become a Canadian, I would have to give up my Japanese citizenship and I couldn’t do that, not even for the chance to become an Olympian." They, too, had met in Colorado Springs when she was competing in Skate America in singles and his coach approached her to see if she was interested in trying pairs. The pair was second in Canadian nationals last year and eighth in the world but were only third this year. Of their short program in Colorado Springs, the 24 year old Wakamasu said, "It wasn’t perfect but we did everything. I fought for the landing of the triple toe loop. We just had a little mistake on the throw triple Salchow. I touched down a little." She jackknifed forward on the landing. Their death spiral was held for enough rotations to give them a Level 4 and their lift had an interesting position with her in a split position in which she he face touches her ankle. They used music from The Swan from Carnival of the Animals. They wore white with a tie-dyed fringe of blue. They were 3.71 marks behind Inoue & Baldwin. 3. Marcy HINZMANN & Aaron PARCHEM, skating to The Mission soundtrack, she in pink, her in maroon, were 2.76 behind Wakamasu & Fecteau. After they placed second and earned a place on the Olympic team in St. Louis, the 28 year old Parchem said, "When we got done with nationals it felt like a weight had been lifted off us and we felt we could finally go out there and perform as well as we can. I never had to skate a schedule like the one we’re going to skate so pretty much it’s an adventure from here on out. I think we’re peaking at the right time, but I’m really going out there and trying to stay competitive and hoping for the best. "The Olympics – I just feel so thrilled to be a part of something so special. We’re not going there to get a medal. We’re just going there to skate our best and represent the U.S. as well as we can and with that said we know we can sit back and enjoy our time there, especially after we’re done." They, too, will go to the Opening Ceremonies. "We worked for this and we’re going to have the whole experience," Parchem added. "This is a once in a lifetime deal for us. Our coach, Johnny Johns, won national championships (with Melissa Militano, 1975 & 1975) but he’s never been to the Olympics until now. So it’s a big deal for all of us and we just want to take in as much as we can while we’re there." They lie only a very marginal 0.06 above Langlois & Hay. Hinzmann, 23, said of her problem on the change foot combination spin, "The warm up was a little shaky. This is our third year but we don’t have much experience." They lost training time prior to this season because of her knee surgery. "In the camel spin, I stepped a little more forward and the synchronization was kind of an issue. The new system really has up-ed the skating. You have to hold more than a turn in the death spiral. Now you have to do three revolutions to get a high level. If you had said that before, I would have said, ‘That’s impossible!’" 4. Anabelle LANGLOIS & Cody HAY only began skating this season. Parchem. Langlois, 24, was fifth in the world in 2003 with Patrice Archetto, while Hay, 22, was only a junior. They were fourth in the recent Canadian nationals. This was only their fourth competition. She said, "We stated the program and the program wasn’t one of those that is so smooth and you just say it happens by itself. We had to fight for everything but we did everything." Hay said, "The last spin – I just missed her. I didn’t have my glasses on today! The performance itself felt pretty good. It felt hard to do the whole thing. I didn’t feel exactly over my feet. Everything wasn’t perfect, but overall it was good. We had pretty good practices and felt pretty good on the warmup. We were just kind of fighting against each other." Their music was The Messiah is Coming. 5. Katie ORSCHER, 21, & Garrett LUCASH, 27, revealed that when they lost their national title in St. Louis he had incurred a groin injury in the short. "I went back to the hotel (after the short) and in the hotel it really began to hurt. It’s been getting progressively worse since then. I’ve altered my jump take offs since then. It was a good save. I get a sharp pain when I reach back (for the take-off for the triple toe loop which he doubled.). I don’t feel in the comfort zone with it. The rest of the program was definitely a lot slower than we are capable of doing it. And it was cautious." They did not think about withdrawing from this event he said because, said Lucash, "We were invited. It’s our duty as medalists at Nationals to come to this event. I think it’s important to represent our country here." They skated to Egyptian Disco by DJ Disse, wearing lovely bright orange and black outfits with an original markings. "We send out music to our designer to decide on what we will wear," said Orscher. 6. Elizabeth PUTNAM, 21, & Sean WIRTZ, 25, skating to an enjoyable, lively SP to Sing Sing Sing in yellow outfits with red polka dots, she with a skirt over boxer shorts, got a deduction of 1.0 for her fall on the straight line step sequence. They have been going through a difficult time. In 2003 and 2004 they were third in Canada. But in 2005 they were fourth and this time they finished fifth. Here they lie only 0.66 behind Orscher & Lucash but 2.15 ahead of Li & Xu. 7. Jiaqi LI, 15, & Jiankun XU, 19, who are from Changchun but train in Beijing with Sha Yanwei, were fifth in their nationals. This is their first international. They did nice triple toe loops but got a -1.40 for the touch down on their throw triple loop. They received two Level 4’s – for their forward inside death spiral and for their lift which used a swing through the legs ascent. Their double twist was high. 8. Marina Aganina, 20, & Artem Knyazev, 25, from Tashkent, who will represent their country, Uzbekistanm in the Olympics, were 1.55 behind the Chinese and a massive 10.47 ahead of the Australians. They performed to Musetta’s solo and duet from the Puccini Opera, La Boheme. The pair has competed in worlds since 2002 with a best place finish last year of 14th. 9. Emma Brien, 20, & Stuart Beckingham, 24, from Sydney, are the Australian champions. They performed to Mr. Pin Stripe Suit by Scotty Morris. In their only international, the secondary Olympic qualifying competition, they finished 12th. |
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