2004

World Championships

Pairs Event

By Marcia Burchstead

Errors proved costly for the reigning world champions, Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China. Although she landed steady as a rock after soaring through the air on the opening element of the program, the throw triple loop, he fell on the triple toeloop jump and caught her on two feet on the double twist. They had drawn to skate fourth of the nineteen teams and by the end of the evening lay in fourth behind their rivals and last year’s silver medallists, Tatiana Totmianina & Maxim Marinin. Maria Petrova & Alexei Tikhonov from Russia and their countrymen, Qing Pang & Jian Tong finished second and third respectively. In order to retain their title they will have to skate the free clean and hope for some help from the teams in second and third.

After their performance Zhao was at a loss to explain the error. "It is normally a very solid element (the toeloop), but I did not feel tight in the air."

Despite miscues by most of the entries the overall standard of skating was high if not terribly exciting. Even the leaders Totmianina and Marinin, were not immune with a rough catch on the double twist and a unison problem during the solo spins. One judge, however, felt the mistakes did not spoil the overall effect and awarded them a perfect mark of 6.0 for presentation.

Totmianina complimented the programs of the other couples and said, "It is good to have such a strong field of competitors."

Petrova & Tikhonov, perennial runners-up to their teammates, seem to have regained the form that won them the world title in 2000. He did travel on the solo spin combination and took a hop to keep from putting his free foot down on the pairs spin but the difficult jump and throw elements were executed with ease. They felt it was their best performance of the short program this season but admitted feeling pressure from the other top-ranked teams. "We did a great job tonight, the level of pairs skating is very high," Tikhonov said.

Pang & Tong were also excited about their performance and placement, as this was the first time they had ever bested their countrymen in any phase of competition. There was an obvious lack of synchronization and traveling during the solo spins but the throw triple loop flew across the ice and the double twist executed in a lateral position was huge.

"We are happy with our results, our training this morning did not go well," Tong said. It is the couples first trip to Germany and they are enjoying the local hospitality.

Unfortunately for the two teams from the U.S. errors proved costly. Rena Inoue & John Baldwin had to settle for ninth place when Baldwin doubled the intended triple toeloop jump, performed the double twist with little height and a rather simple lift. "I slipped on the take off and had to double this element," he said. The couple had been to Dortmund for a short stay last year after taking part in the, "Bofrost on Ice," competition and were happy for the opportunity to return.

Kathryn Orscher fell off her edge on the back outside death spiral and partner; Garrett Lucash doubled the toeloop jump leaving them in fourteenth place. Their coach, former world champion, Vadim Naumov, was at a loss to explain Orscher’s error. "We don’t know what happened. She never makes a mistake on this element, the death spiral is normally her strength."

The Canadian entry, Anabelle Langlois and Patrice Archetto had every right to feel slighted by the judges with a clean performance that nevertheless left them in eighth overall. Archetto shrugged off the marks stating, "There is nothing I can do, I have no control over the marks."

He praised his partner and said they had a rough beginning to the week’s practices when Langlois was struck with a migraine. "I told my coach there was no point in continuing the practice as I couldn’t jump," she related. Apparently she has suffered from this ailment for some time once so severe that it has caused problems with the vision in one eye.

Archetto had several fingers of his right bandaged from an injury, a torn ligament, that happened during the Four Continents Championships in Hamilton, Ontario. "He’s been tough, I squeeze his hand so hard in the death spiral," said Langlois.

The Canadian national champions, Valerie Marcoux &Craig Buntin found themselves in tenth place after she fell on the triple toeloop jump. Their lift with a release into a tabletop with a cartwheel exit was first rate as was the death spiral.

The third Russian pair, Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov showed some nice moments in their program including a difficult straight-line step sequence and a huge twist lift. Their lift was rather pedestrian and some traveling during the solo spin left them seventh overall.

The sole German entry of Eva-Maria Fitze and Rico Rex were delighted with their performance even though it did not compare with the higher ranked entries. Their weaknesses with the double twist, death spiral and combination spin were offset to a degree by the triple toeloop jumps and throw triple Salchow. They feed off the enthusiasm off the home country audience and claimed they felt less nervous and pressure here than at the European championships.

The third Chinese entry, Dan & Hao Zhang wowed the spectators with a delayed lateral twist lift. The jump and throw was also clean but weak spins left them in sixth.

The Polish champions, Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek had arguably the most difficult and well-executed lift of the evening but the program suffers from his weak positions in the spins.

It will be interesting to see if the world champions can pull off another emotional performance in the free skate with their classical program to music from the Nutcracker ballet or if Totmianina and Marinin can claim their first title.

It was 24 years ago (1980), the last time the world championships were held in Dortmund, that China sent its first pair to the competition. Bin Yao, the coach of all three entries here, with his partner Bo Luan finished in last place. Last night he stood at the boards watching proudly as the teams took three of the top five spots. It would appear that the Chinese have supplanted the Soviet/Russian dynasty of the discipline.

Again the overall level of skating was high and errors proved costly. The U.S. contingent was unable to make much headway in this strong field of competitors. Kathryn Orscher & Garrett Lucash moved up one spot to finish thirteenth, primarily due to the jump errors and aborted lift from the Ukrainian team. Their overall placement was three better than last years result.

Lucash missed the opening triple toeloop and Orscher landed the throw triple flip in an almost split position when the toe pick on her landing foot caught the ice. The rest of the program went smoothly even the back outside death spiral she had fallen out of in the short program.

"I showed the judges I can do a back outside death spiral," she said. "The ice has more speed here, and we have to compensate by flattening out the edges which we didn’t do (Monday evening)." "The throw triple flip was too big, I over rotated, my upper body kept going past my lower body," she added.

Her left hand and arm was wrapped and she said that she suffering from tendonitis going from her thumb to just below the elbow. "The doctors also found an old stress facture in the radius," she explained. "It only hurts on the twist lift. I got a shot of cortisone one and a half months ago but I tape it during training and competitions because it weakens the tendon. I keep it in a splint when I’m not skating"

The couple will take some time off, Orscher to let the tendon heal and Lucash will undergo surgery on his nose, which was broken in two places by a previous partner during a split triple twist lift. "I think every male pair skater has had his nose broken at least once doing that element," he said, "Right now I can’t breath out of one nostril which makes it difficult during the program."

They plan to have two new programs for next season and resume practice on a quad throw. Orscher is leaning towards the Salchow but Lucash would like to use the flip. They also plan to invest in new boots. Lucash broke his landing boot during the Skate America competition last October and went to Skate Canada the next week with it taped.

Rena Inoue & John Baldwin dropped to tenth in the free skate, overtaken by the Canadian champions, Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin. They also finished tenth last year. He fell on the triple toeloop jump and she fell on the throw triple loop. They do have an expressive mature style but must develop stronger technique if they hope to challenge in the international standings. They are one of the few couples still using a swoop dismount from a lift.

It appeared Baldwin rushed the toeloop taking off before his partner, "it was perfect in the air, I tried to hold the landing but I had too stiff a knee," he said. Inoue said she felt too tight during the missed throw.

"The fact that we are so consistent in practice makes it so disappointing when we have errors in the competition," he said.

The couple are among the oldest competitors at these championships. Inoue, 27, competed at two Olympic Games representing Japan. In 1992 she competed as a singles skater and in 1994 in pairs. She came to the United States hoping to improve upon her freestyle technique and was convinced by Baldwin’s parents to team up with their son who was coming to the end of a long singles career. Baldwin had also skated pairs through the junior level competing at the world junior championships in 1991. She obtained her green card in 2000 and will be eligible for U.S. citizenship in early 2006 in time for the Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy.

The U.S. will still be able to field two entries at worlds next year. The point system determining entrants is relaxed in the pairs discipline owing to the lack of international competitors.

For Marcoux this was a second appearance at worlds, the first coming in 2002 with previous partner, Bruno Marcotte. He fell on a second triple toeloop later in the program but the throw triple loop and triple twist were done with solid technique.

"This program was the best of the year, we are still learning to deal with the pressure of competing internationally, getting used to the atmosphere at such a big championship, dealing with the media, …" he said.

"Our goal is to get the same look as the top three teams, the way they skate around the ice, the little details," she said.

It was also a respectable outing for the Eva-Maria Fitze & Rico Rex. Fifteenth at last year’s worlds but second at their national championships, they qualified for worlds only because the champions were ineligible to compete. It was obviously important for them to present themselves strongly before their countrymen in the audience.

"We were a bit tight, I was nervous from the beginning but the audience pushed us through the performance," said Fitze.

"At times it was so loud in the rink that we couldn’t hear our music," Rex said. "We feel we can progress in the years to come and that is very positive."

They must add more technical content to their programs and develop artistry. Obviously coach Ingo Steuer needs to enlist the help of an experienced and qualified choreographer to assist him with his stable of teams. The German federation would be well advised to take more of an interest in this discipline if they wish it to flourish.

The Zhang’s showed a high level of technical prowess but still lack a mature, polished style. This will come in time as they are still relatively young by pairs standards, she is 19 and he is 20. They burst upon the international scene at the World Junior Championships in 2000 in Oberstdorf, Germany where they placed fourth and executed the first quadruple twist in a junior level competition.

In the free skate they did a triple twist with Dan flying high over her partners head. His strength shows off in the lifts while her stability is apparent on the throw landings.

The Polish champions, Dorota Zagorsk & Maiusz Siudek dropped a spot to finish in sixth overall primarily due to errors on the solo jumps. Their lifts are the high points of their programs and coach; Richard Gauthier packed the program with five of them. Gauthier, who has been working with the couple full-time in Canada for the last year, has also smoothed out some of their rough edges. Now if only he could do something about Siudek’s free leg positions in the spins and spirals!

"We have been focusing on different aspects of our skating, it is now more about art than the triples and throws," Siudek said.

Many of the couple’s friends from Poland made the trip to Dortmund to support the duo.

Julia Obertas & Sergei Slavnov appeared to be over marked, perhaps a bias of the judges favoring their coach, Tamara Moskvina. The new partnership, still a work in progress, obviously needs more time together to gel but if Moskvina can once again weave her magic she will have created another successful partnership.

Obertas fell out of the triple toeloop jump putting her hand down on the first one and turning out of the second. She also missed the landing of the throw triple loop. She attributed it to a mental bloc, which started with their practice that morning. Despite the errors they remained ahead of Canadians Anabelle Langlois & Patrice Archetto.

The Canadians dropped three spots from last year finishing eighth despite another strong performance. It was a complete program showing off many interconnecting moves in the field elements, strong lifts and throws. That the new Russian team and the Polish pair overtook them was obviously disappointing. Langlois complained that early season preparation hadn’t paid off because with the utilization of Code of Points (CoP) in the Grand Prix series they were forced to make adjustments several times to try and get the program ready for worlds.

"It wasn’t the best idea, we got our programs (for this season) done right after last years worlds, then the rules changes came out in August and we had to try and fix things.

Maria Petrova & Alexei Tikhonov made several small errors landing their jumps in their free skate and this was enough to keep them off the medal podium. Petrova had been injured during the morning practice and was wearing a bandage where her arm was cut.

"We tried to do our best, but it didn’t work," said Tikhonov, "the injury was a big problem and we were nervous."

Qing Pang & Jian Tong were given a standing ovation from the audience numbering over 4,500. Their lateral triple twist was one of the programs highlights. A triple toeloop jump and two double Axels added to the technical difficulty but it was the emotion of their skating that paid off and earned them a perfect 6.0 from one of the judges.

Pang and Tong were especially pleased with their performance as he has been battling a cold for the last three days. "Our first world medal has great significance for us, it is a reward for many years of hard training. Sitting here we are still feeling emotional," he said. "Our good results come from our coach and Shen & Zhao, their spirit and courage inspires us," he added.

Asked about their improvement in the artistic presentation Tong said, "We train off-ice in dance; modern, ballet, jazz."

Totmianina & Marinin were next to skate and while just about technically perfect the program to, "Art on Ice," by Marton, didn’t draw the audience in. There is something aloof about their style of presentation that doesn’t have the emotional impact Russian teams have long been known for. Perhaps Totmianina comments were telling when she said, "At the beginning we smiled at each other and communicated with our eyes, and then we focused on ourselves."

"We knew Pang & Tong had received high marks and we knew we couldn’t afford any mistakes," she added.

This was their sixth world championships.

Shen & Zhao took to the ice after the Russians and had heard the string of 5.9’s for technical and presentation. They knew nothing short of perfection would win them the free skate, although not the title, and this they delivered until the final element when there was a rough dismount from their lift. But even this could not break the spell they wove throughout the arena.

Skating to music from "The Nutcracker," ballet they were at once the Cavalier and his Queen. Solid technique and an especially good pair spin displaying smooth transitions highlighted the program. The program choreographed by LeeAnn Miller was mesmerizing; the right combination of athleticism and artistry skated by capable technicians.

Zhao said he felt happy about the free skate, " because we performed our best." "However since the short program I felt depressed, I made stupid mistakes, before we took to the ice (tonight) we knew Totmianina and Marinin had won," he added.

Asked to speculate a final result had CoP been in effect, Zhao shrugged, "It is possible (that we could have won) but with the old (present) system we knew we could not win.

They were also asked to comment on the 12 perfect scores the judges awarded them and he said, "We were pursuing a performance not a placement."

Comparing this free skate to last years he said, "We feel we still have not achieved our potential."

The newly crowned world champions were diplomatic at the press conference obviously aware they had performed strongly in both phases of the competition but still been beaten soundly in the free skate and to a less enthusiastic reception from the audience.

Totmianina said, "It has been a long wait for us to get this medal (gold), it is a big present for us."

"It is an honor for us to win against such strong competitors," said Marinin.

The only obvious testiness came when Totmianina replied to a question posed to them about winning despite the overwhelming number of 6.0 marks awarded the Chinese. "Is the question for us or for the judges?" was her cynical retort.

2004 World Championships Pairs Medalists