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Pairs / Dance
- One more saison for Shen-Zhao ??..
- In this post Olympic period, that normally coincides with the renewal of the athletes ranks, in the world of figure skating there are crossing decisions and doubts: while some skaters have already made it official that they will end amateurs competitions, other skaters are waiting, changing their mind, claiming they will continue at least one more year.
Now we are talking about the chinese pair Shen-Zhao. According to the chinese magazine KingSports, the two skaters still don't want to leave competitions. In fact they declared that they will continue to train with the aim of winning another world champions next year. They have already been world champions in 2002 and 2003.
They have been strongly penalized during the Olympic season because of the accident occurred during the summer to Hongbo Zhao when he broke his Achilles tendon, that let them out from the main competitions. And yet, they have been able to show their tenacity, and they conquered the bronze medal in Turin 2006. Maybe Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao only want to make the most of a favorable moment.
In fact, with the withdrawal of Totmianina and Marinin, the run to the world leadership is open again, with many young pairs that are still searching for that artistic and technical maturity that is already the strong point of the two good and tenacious Chinese.
Will we then have the full big team of Chinese pairs? Anyway, their purpose, if confirmed, will make us happy: they are an elegant pair, technically complete, they will surely be appreciated by the public and by the fans of this diificult cathegory.
- Obertas/Slavnov leave Moskvina
- After the disappointing perfomances of the past season, Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov decided to leave Mrs Moskvina in order to join their previous coaches Nikolai Velikov and Lyudmila Velikova who had been training them until 2003. On the other hand, Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov who trained before with Velikov and Velikova will be coached by Moskvina from now on.
- 2006/2007 will be Chait/Shakhnovsky’s last competitive season
- The news comes from their official web site www.ice-dance.com/cs/ : Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky (both 31 years old) decided to skate during the 2006/2007 figure skating season for the last time. After winning the bronze medal at the 2002 World Championships, the Israeli ice dance couple wants to capture a medal for the European Championships.
- Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe retire from competition
- The Canadian ice dancers Megan Wing (30 years old) and Aaron Lowe (31 years old) announced their retirement from competition on 25th April. They had been skating together for 20 years ! They competed five times at the International Skating Union World Figure Skating Championships. At the 2006 Olympic Winter Games of Torino, the couple ranked 11th. Now the skaters plan to focus on finishing their master's degrees in the University of Windsor but they do not want to leave skating. Actually, they intend either to coach or to choreograph programs. Moreover, they're also interested in getting involved in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
- Bulgaria's Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski's perseverance was finally rewarded
- Bulgaria's Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski's perseverance was finally rewarded when they won the ice dance gold medal at the world figure skating championships on Friday for their first major title.
Partners since 1996, Denkova and Staviski had featured on the podium at European and World championships throughout their long career but had never climbed to the top step until their unexpected victory in Calgary. Leaders after the compulsory and original dance, the Bulgarians only produced the third best free skate but it was just enough to see off a determined challenge from home favourites Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon of Canada (pictured).
Denkova and Staviski posted a winning total of 199.14 points, fractionally ahead of the Canadians on 198.69.
Olympic silver medallists Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the U.S. completed the podium, taking the bronze with 196.74.
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- Qing Pang/Jian Tong captured the title of the World Championships
- Pairs, Free Skating
The Pairs event concluded with the Free Skating. China’s Qing Pang/Jian Tong captured the title, their teammates Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang took the silver and Maria Petrova/Alexei Tikhonov of Russia earned the bronze medal.
Petrova/Tikhonov skated first in the final flight. The 2005 World silver medallists opened their inspiring performance to “The Four Seasons” with a triple toeloop-double flip sequence followed by a double Axel, a double twist and a beautiful throw triple loop and Salchow. The two-time European Champions completed difficult lifts and maintained good speed throughout the program. After they bowed to the audience, Tikhonov knelt down in front of his partner and kissed her hand. Petrova/Tikhonov were awarded 123.18 points (64.50 element score/58.68 program component score), slightly surpassing their previous personal best and accumulating a total score of 186.22 points.
Next up were Valerie Marcoux/Craig Buntin of Canada, who delivered a nice routine to “Our Song” by Paul Kunigis, completing a throw triple loop and Salchow as well as strong lifts, but he touched down with his hand on the side by side triple toeloop and she stumbled out of the double Axel. The Canadian Champions earned a total of 181.09 points to finish fifth. ... - Read more
- Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto have their own website
- The Olympic silver medalists, Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the American ice dance team, have create their own website. You are invited to visit it and discover their blog, results, programs, coaches. There are also videos of the Olympic adventure and photos taken by Jay Adeff. Let’s click on…
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- Belbin et Agosto make worlds their stage
- Winning a title at this week's figure skating world championships might be just as tough as winning at last month's Olympics.
It's true that none of the gold medalists from the Turin Games will be at worlds. But skaters headed for Calgary aren't concerned about weak fields or post-Olympic blues. Instead, they're focused on buckling down, battling exhaustion and winning the most prestigious title outside the Winter Games.
“After the Olympics were over, we realized how exhausted we were because of the nonstop schedule and all we had gone through just to get to Torino,'' says ice dancer Tanith Belbin, who along with Ben Agosto finished second at the Olympics. ''But we had to whip our heads around and keep going because it is not over. Worlds are still a major goal for us, as they should be. It's been a real test for us to stay calm and focused in such a crazy year.'' ..... - Read more