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China sweeps top places in pairs
2007-02-08
China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo bid a spectacular farewell to their American fans on Thursday by delivering an enthralling free skate to capture their third Four Continents pairs title. The twice-world champions, who have said they will retire at the end of the season, posted an overall total score of 203.05 in their final competitive North American appearance, leaving team mates Pang Qing and Tong Jian a distant second on 185.33. Americans Rena Inoue and John Baldwin took bronze with 175.48. The first Chinese pair to win a world title, Shen and Zhao's final season has been one of total domination, the ground-breaking couple finishing first in every event they have entered including the Grand Prix final and Asian Winter Games. The twice-Olympic bronze medalists now look poised to make their final exit in a blaze glory as they head to next month's world championships as the hot gold medal favorites. The pair can only hope there will be a few more spectators in Tokyo than the few hundred sprinkled across a near vacant World Arena. "I feel like today was a big surprise because coming here there were a lot of obstacles because the last two competitions were really close," Zhao told reporters through an interpreter. "We feel really happy to have scored over 200 points for a second time but technically we can still do better." BLADE The pairs free skate got off to a frightening start when Canada's Jessica Dube was struck in the face by her partner's blade. The Canadian champions were midway through their routine when Bryce Davison's razor sharp blade appeared to slice across Dube's face during side-by-side flying camel spins. Dube dropped to the ice and grasped her face as medical personnel rushed on to the ice. She was quickly loaded on to a stretcher and transported to hospital. Earlier, Olympic silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto survived a scare during their original dance routine to take the lead in the ice dance. The American duo had looked headed for disaster midway through their snappy tango when Belbin's skate became entangled in her flowing costume. But Belbin calmly reached back and ripped her blade free, allowing the pair complete their routine. The judges were also sufficiently impressed, awarding top marks of 60.45 to move the Americans atop the rankings with an overall total of 98.17 going into Friday's free dance. World silver medalists Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon of Canada, who took advantage of a stumble by Belbin and Agosto to lead after Wednesday's compulsory dance, had their own problems during the tango and slipped into second with 97.86 ahead of team mates Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir with 90.90.
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