2001 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Senior Dance

Standings

Notes.

The ice dance competition began with the skating of the Westminster Waltz and the Silver Samba.  Naomi Lang & Peter Tchernyshev were first to skate the waltz.   It was generally well done despite two small errors - Tchernyshev stumbling at the start of the dance and Lang having a smaller slip later.  Their samba, however, was trouble-free and very well done.  Beata Handra & Charles Sinek, who placed fourth last year behind Deborah Koegel & Oleg Fediukov,  moved up this year placing second in both dances.  Their samba was lively and spirited.  Jessica Jospeh skating with new partner Brandon Forsyth placed third in both dances.  Koegel & Fediukov had a bit of bad luck.  Near the end of a decently skated waltz Fediukov hit a toe pick and fell, bruising his left knee and also bruising the inside of the quadriceps muscle at the level of the kneecap.  After attempting treatment, the couple withdrew from the competition after the first dance.  Said coach Robbie Kaine, "It's a lot of discomfort, as far as putting any pressure on it.  That muscle is responsible for control of your edges and control the push.  He (Fediukov) felt that under the circumstances that it was giving out.  He was willing to try it and push for it."

Lang & Tchernyshev's original dance started with a side-by-side straight line step sequence with ragged unison but quickly settled into a dominating, lively and secure performance which earned them unanimous first place marks.  In a major movement in place for a ice dance competition, Belbin & Agosto placed second in the original dance very fine, energetic performance.  After being fourth in both compulsory dances they moved up to third place overall.

Despite placing third in the OD, Handra & Sinek held on to second place overall.  Their performance was nicely done and was unaffected by a nasty spill they took during the warm-up.  While practicing a footwork sequence Handra brushed the boards and fell taking Sinek down with her.   They slid at high speed towards the end of the rink but managed to avoid crashing into the boards.

Jessica Joseph skating with her new partner Brandon Forsyth dropped one place from third to fourth and now are in fourth place overall after the OD.  There dance was fairly well done but was considerably slower than the performances from the three teams that surpassed them.

The free dance warmup groups were broken up into the unusual combination of 2 couples in the first group and 5 in the second.

Second to skate in the last group were Belbin & Agosto.  The 2000 National Junior Champions and World Junior bronze medalists skated a passionate dance to music by Stamatis Spanoudakis called "Alexandros."  This routine was derived from their junior free dance, with the music expanded by 1 minute and with revised choreography.  Their powerful performance, depicting a love story between two people in the days of gladiators, earned unanimous second place marks and moved them up to the silver medal and a place on the World Team.  Belbin is a Canadian citizen and is ineligible to compete for the U.S. at the Olympic games but is permitted to compete in other international competitions for the U.S.  They are the third junior team in the last four years that has moved up from Junior Champion to senior silver medalist in one year.  Said Belbin on this subject, "I don't know if it's any special pattern going on, everyone carrying through on their junior title.  We feel very good about the move up and hopefully we'll be able to go on from here."  Added Agosto, "I think all the teams that have won in the past have all been really hard workers.   They really worked hard on their jump up and I think we've worked pretty hard this year too."

Belbin & Agosto were followed by  Lang & Tchernyshev who skated a complex routine to "Aire on a G String" and "Storm."  In spite of two minor mis-steps it was a powerful performance which earned them one mark of 6.0 in the second mark, the second perfect mark of their careers.  "This year when we were making our programs with Sasha Zhulin we decided to take the path of more interesting and complicated choreography and not to  hold back with the technical aspect of the program," said Tchernyshev.  "Taking into consideration that this year we have much more speed than we used to have last year, every little error the two of us makes costs us bigger consequences."  Added Lang, "This program is a bigger risk for us.  It's very challenging choreography, but its a dangerous sport and it comes with the territory."

After placing fourth the past two years, Handra & Sinek were sitting in second place after the OD with their goal of taking the second spot on the World Team in sight.   Their free dance, however, was not up to the challenge.  Skating to music by Carlo Santana, there performance was capably done in terms of basic skating but not of medal quality overall.  Their lifts were simple an uninteresting and the program was slow and boring.  They placed fourth in the free dance to end up fourth overall for the third year in a row.

Last to skate were Joseph & Forsyth.  They skated a jazzy number of music from the musical "Chicago".  It was a fast number with good footwork and nice lifting.  They moved up one place from after the OD to capture the bronze medal.   Joseph was he 1998 Silver medalist with her former partner Charles Butler.   After the breakup she had been away from competition for two years.  On returning to competition she said, "Honestly, I have not appreciated skating so much for a long time.  It has been very difficult to come back, but it has been worth it.   Before I truly enjoyed it, but it's a totally different feeling now.  Even though I'm still nervous, being in front of a whole bunch of people - a large crowd - makes me feel great.  I love when people are supportive."

Free Dance

Original Dance

Compulsory Dance 2

Compulsory Dance 1

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