By Alexandra Stevenson
The 2-time US pair champions, Keauna McLaughlin & Rockne Brubaker, are competing for the first time in World Seniors, because last season she was too young. Much has been made of their prospects but they are careful to state that their goal is just to put out two clean performances. Brubaker, 22, sleeps with an Olympic flag in his bedroom to constantly remind him of his ultimate goal. He said, "I am surrounded by the idea of the Olympics. I live in Colorado Springs where the headquarters of the USOC is. I go to the Olympic training center everyday to practice and work out. I am constantly reminded of the Games. The motto of the US Olympic Committee is, ‘It’s not every four years; it’s every day.’ I agree. You have to keep your mind focused on the goal and keep working toward the Olympics every single day. We are going to Los Angeles trying not to think too much about the fact that it’s our first World Seniors. We are trying to think of it like we have to go out and just have two good skates. Let it be what it’s going to be. We certainly won’t have any excuses about jet lag. If we put out two great skates, we know we can be in the top five."
Brubaker has gone back to his original brand of blades, after having problems with critical jumps. "I don’t know what made me try the other brand in the first place," he admits. (The "rocker" or circumference of the curve of the blade was different and that meant a slightly different position had to be accomplished for the correct flow out of jump landings.) Problems with jumps led to him having to schedule a series of extra classes with jump specialist Damon Allen. Amazingly, for such a determined competitor, Brubaker didn’t make a good initial start in the sport. He saw his older sister skating and pleaded with his mother to let him try the sport. But after she’d got him skates and enrolled him in group lessons, he changed his mind and threw a tantrum. His mother, unable to get a refund on this purchase, wouldn’t let him give up till the classes were over. Fortunately, by that time, he’d got back his original enthusiasm. Some years later, he decided he’d rather pursue wrestling and basketball but after about six months away from the ice rink, he decided he missed skating and returned. When they teamed up in 2006, Brubaker, who is 5’8", was already a very experienced competitor. He had won the US Junior title with Mariel Miller and had gained considerable international experience. That partnership dissolved because Miller grew too tall.
Though younger, McLaughlin had also had some success, earning bronze at the US novice championship and then placing fourth in the 2005 US championships at junior level with Ethan Burgess. McLaughlin & Brubaker got off to a very heady start, winning everything they entered in their first season including US national and World Junior championships. No wonder everyone is predicting great things for them. McLaughlin, who turned 16 on September 25, was born in Tarzana, CA. Her mother is a skating coach who performed with Disney on Ice. She, too, is obsessed with the prospect of competing in the Olympic Games next year. Even the screensaver on her phone, which she sees every time she sends a text message, reads Amazing Awaits 2010. Recently, Tai Babilonia has begun mentoring her. Babilonia was the youngest competitor in the 1976 Olympics, and won the 1979 world pair title with Randy Gardner. They were the heart-break story of the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, when, on the warm-up for the Short Program, it became obvious an injection to control pain had eliminated all feeling in one of Gardner’s legs. They were forced to withdraw. Babilonia explained, "Keauna and I have so much in common. We both came into the figure skating limelight at a very young age. Keauna is about the same age as I was when I first came into the public eye. I know what she is going through, and I know what it is like to have the world watching your every move. It can be scary. I know what it’s like to want to defend the US pair title. Randy and I won that title five times. I want to be there if Keauna & Rockne need me."
In the recent Four Continents Championships, McLaughlin & Brubaker finished 5th, with their teammates, Caydee Denney & Jeremy Barrett, 6th. Rena Inoue & John Baldwin, the 2004 & 2006 US champions, also competed in that contest and finished 7th, reflecting the order of finish at the 2009 nationals. Inoue & Baldwin are the first reserves for Worlds, an event in which they have competed for the past six years with a best place finish of 4th in 2006. Last year they were the highest placed Americans, finishing 10th just ahead of their teammates, Brooke Castille &Ben Okolski, the 2007 US champions, who were 11th in Gothenburg. Worlds in Sweden was Castille & Okolski’s last competition prior to nationals in Cleveland where they finished only fifth. Okolski said, "I have had a lot of injuries and we were forced out of our planned fall competitions." The pair is uncertain of their future.
Denny & Barrett are in their first season together. Denney, who was born on June 22, 1993, made the age cut-off to be eligible for World Seniors by only 9 days. Denny, who has been skating since she was two, has been over-the-moon since she and her partner won the Short Program at nationals, and got the silver medal overall. "With me, there’s no pressure," she said at the send-off the Ellenton Ice Center in Florida, gave for her this past weekend, "I’m just enjoying it. It’s not all the time you get to do things like this. I’m just enjoying and taking things as they come."
Canadians Jessica Dubé & Byrce Davison were runners-up in the recent Four Continents Championships with the world’s top two Chinese couples taking gold and bronze. They are expected to provide the leading North American challenge at Worlds. The favorites are the German defending champions, Iliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy, and the top Chinese and Russians duos. Last year these Canadians, who were only 2nd in their nationals, unexpectedly won bronze behind Savchenko & Szolkowy, who became the first Germans to win the world championship since their coach, Ingo Steuer, and his partner, Mandy Woertzel, dominated the event in 1997. Dubé & Davison were 2nd in the Free Skate which pulled them up from 4th after the Short Program in Gothenburg. Can they medal again?
In a teleconference on Monday, March 17, they admitted it is a hard task. Dubé, 21, said, "We’ve been working on being more positive in and more comfortable with every single element." Her partner, 23, explained that, they had worked with their choreographer, David Wilson, the previous week. "It’s been a question of polishing the routines. We can’t make too many improvements this late in the season. Hopefully, we have everything technically that we need. It’s just making things nice looking and smooth."
Does being the bronze medalists weigh on their minds or is it inspirational? Davison admitted, "It’s a little bit of both. It inspires us, for sure. We want to be on that podium again. It’s an incredible feeling to be up there but it also puts on the pressure to do the same or better and there are quite a few people who have already been in that position or have been world champions. We know we can be there, because we’ve done it, but it’s always tough."
A critical move is their triple twist, which they only put into competition last season. Davison, who was born in Walnut Creek, just 16 miles outside of Oakland, CA, where his father was working briefly, admitted, "It started out a little bit rough at the beginning of the season at Skate Canada. The problem was mainly with the catch. The quality of the twist is a lot better now. We’ve been getting pretty good height all year on it but we worked a lot on the catch and on getting more of a split on it. It’s coming along. The quality has gotten a lot better, nearer 0 than -1 and it’s consistently staying pretty big.
"We did change the element order in the short just a little bit. The spiral sequence is right after lift as opposed to the throw triple loop. It fit the music a little bit better and, hopefully, we can finish on time which we didn’t at the Four Continents where we got a one-point timing deduction. That is one of the things that can happen if you are not careful. We’re looking forward to doing both programs clean in competition."
Also representing Canada are Meagan Duhamel & Craig Buntin, who were sixth in the 2008 world championship and 4th in the 2009 4Cs. The 2008 Canadian champions, Anabelle Langlois & Cody Hay, who were eighth in Worlds last year, have not competed all season because of her injury back last July. The accident did not occur on any major move, just some choreographed steps. It resulted in a broken fibula in her right ankle which is her landing foot. It required a metal plate with five screws to be implanted on July 30. The pain associated with the injury just refuses to go away, aggravated by the pressure of her skating boot. Their replacements are Mylene Brodeur & John Mattatall, who finished 8th in the 4Cs.
Uneasy lie the crowns on Iliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy’s heads. The Germans won the 2008 world title by a 5.04 margin. But, they had to come from behind. In the lead after the Short Program were Dan Zhang & Hao Zhang from China. The Germans won their first Grand Prix this season, Skate America, but were again eclipsed in the Short Program, this time by the Russians Maria Mukhortova & Maxim Trankov, which also happened when they retained their European title in January. (Mukhortova & Trankov had finished only 7th in worlds last year.) At the Grand Prix Final in December, the Germans did win the Short Program, but then were overtaken by both the Zhangs, who finished 2nd, and Qing Pang & Jian Tong, who won.
The Zhangs, who are not related, won Olympic silver in 2006 despite a prolonged interruption when Dan spreadeagled flat onto her knees on an under-rotated quad. They were recently beaten decisively in the Four Continents Championship by both their teammates, Qing Pang & Jian Tong (who scored 194.94) and Dubé & Davison (185.62). The Zhangs, who are 24 and 24, received 174.83. "We have had injury problems this season," Hao Zhang said, after collecting his bronze. Pang & Tong, who are both 29 won the 2006 world title but their lack of success since then, and her low weight, spawned rumors of anorexia. In February, asked about their success in Vancouver, Tong said, speaking through an interpreter, "This season, we have had a new approach. The first thing was to strengthen Pang’s leg muscles so she could jump higher. The second was to have her gain weight so she had the strength to hold the landings on the jumps." Pang & Tong have competed in every World championships since 1999. Previous to that debut, they had competed in three world junior championships. They have won all three senior medals world medals, bronze in 2004, gold in 2006 and silver in 2007. They are aiming to compete in next season’s Olympics, which will be their third Games. Tong said, "All we want is an Olympic medal." Their teammates, the Zhangs, have also competed in two Olympics. Their first World Seniors was in 2002, the year after they won the world junior championship. They have won a (Sr) bronze in 2005 and two (Sr) silvers (2006 & 2008).
In the recent European championships Mukhortova & Trankov finished 3rd overall, one slot down from their finish in the previous season’s event. They were pipped for silver by only 0.70 by their teammates, Yuko Kawaguchi & Alexander Smirnov, who got credit for rotating a throw quad Salchow. Kawaguchi is Japanese. She came to New Jersey to beg Tamara Moskvina to find her a pairs partner. Moskvina, the famed Russian coach who was then training Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikharulidze in Hackensack, initially teamed Kawaguchi up with a Russian, Alexander Markuntsov, and they represented Japan. Then she teamed up with an American Patrick Devin, with whom she competed in the 2006 US championship. When Moskvina returned to her native St. Petersburg, Kawaguchi followed and was teamed with Smirnov. Despite a disastrous start when she broke a bone in her ankle, they have won the last two Russian championships. She recently received her Russian passport and the spelling on her last name has officially changed to Kavaguti.
Missing are Lubov Iliushechkina & Nodari Maisuradze of Russia, the current world junior champions who finished fifth in the recent European championships. The day after winning the junior title in Sofia at the beginning of March, Maisuradze unwisely went skiing, fell and injured both wrists, which meant he has been unable to practice. In their place is the pair who won silver at the World University Games in Harbin behind the Zhangs, Ksenia Ozerova & Alexander Enbert.
Copyright 2009 by ISIO