Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto broke away from the rest of the pack that had occupied second through sixth place after the CD.  They now have a 5.25 lead over the next best team.  Their performance was arguably their best of the season.  These rhythms suite them and they skate the routine with an infectious enthusiasm.  Belbin & Agosto actually scored higher than Navka & Kostomorov in element scores, and trailed them by only two points in program components!

Elena Grushina &  Ruslan Goncharov continue to hold third place, but they remain in a virtual tie with Albena Denkova & Maxim Staviski.  Only 0.87 point separate them.  Grushina &  Goncharov skated a peppy routine with personality, though their step sequences looked like they were skating on tar. The two couples were scored almost equally in elements, leaving it to the subjective program components to sort them out.

In fifth and sixth place, Isabelle Delobel & Olivier Schoenfelder and Galit Chait & Sergei Sakhnovski are in their own virtual tie, separated by 0.44 points.  For these two couples it was the mid-line step sequence that told the tail.  Delobel & Schoenfelder were scored a full point lower than Chait & Sakhnovsky on this element thanks to some sloppy skating by Delobel.

Melissa Gregory & Denis Petukhov remain in eleventh place overall, but dropped one place in the OD alone.  Their routine was fast and perky but had several errors in their mid-line steps.  They were marked significantly below their nearest competition in this move.  If the two U.S. teams can hold their positions to the end, the U.S. will be able to send three teams to Worlds and the Olympics next season, something that has not been the case for a long time.  However, the Kerrs, of Great Britain passed Gregory & Petukhov in the OD, so the pressure is on them to come through for the U.S. in the free dance.

On a general note, one thing that stood out in this competition is that the ODs are looking more and more like a pairs short program without jumps and overhead lifts.  Five tricks and connecting moves gets the job done.  No need to put together a dance that is a coherent whole.  For only the very best couples does the OD still look like a DANCE.  Maybe the name of the event should be changed to Pairs Lite.

Finally, an event where you can enjoy the skating without having half the competitors wipe up the ice!

Tatiana Navka & Roman Kostomarov won the free dance and the event, with a margin of victory of 6.55 points.  The were fast and strong with just one minor bit of sloppiness in the exit of their last lift at the end of the program.  Skating to "Tosca" they won the dance in the program components.  As for their interpretation, though, I didn't get it.  Their costumes had nothing to so with the story line and neither did their choreography; nor did it have anything to do with the characters.  It was a well skated program, but one that could have been skated to any number of musical selections. 

Tatiana Navka & Roman Kosotomarov

Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto's program, on the other hand, screamed their music.  Skating to Gypsy music, their interpretation was spot on.  There execution was clean and energetic.  They earned the second highest technical scores of the group, beating Navka & Kostomorov in that area, and trailed by only 2.39 points in program components.  Placing second overall, Belbin & Agosto won the first silver medal in dance for the U.S. in 30 years.  Together with the 11th place finish for Melssa Gregory & Denis Petukhov, the U.S. has qualified three dance couples for next year.  Given the progress Belbin & Agosto have made since last season, it is a shame they will not be eligible to represent the U.S. at the 2006 Olympics.  At the rate they are going, they could well be contenders for the gold medal next season.

Elena Grushina & Ruslan Goncharov placed fourth in the Free Dance, but held on to win the bronze medal.  Their program to Baroque music is interesting, but the execution ran hot and cold.   Some sections were very well done, but other not, particularly near the end.  Their diagonal step sequence looked slow and labored and Goncharov was a little shaky on their closing lift.

Isabelle Delobel & Olivier Schoenfelder barely edged out Grushina & Goncharov fro third place in the Free Dance, but they were too far back in the first two dances (sixth in each) to make the podium.  They did manage, however, to move up to fourth place.  They had the highest technical score of any couple but were more than 5 points below the gold medalists in program components.  Their routine to the "Frida" soundtrack started out strong, but went somewhat adrift in the second half and the program seemed to lose its focus.  Of the top teams, theirs was the dance that looked most like pairs skating (with Belbin & Agosto looking the least).

Gregory & Petukhov placed 11thy in the Free Dance, to hold 11th place and help the U.S. win that precious third dance position for next season.  They skated about as well as they did at U.S. Nationals.  Two of their elements received negative GoEs, both of them twizzles.  The couple seem mired in the middle of the pack with little prospect to move up any time soon.