2004

Skate America

Pairs Event

By Sanda Stevenson

Photos Copyright 2004 by George S. Rossano

 
Standings
Place Team Country SP FS
1 Dan Zhang / Hao Zhang  CHN 3 1
2 Julia Obertas / Sergei Slavnov  RUS 2 2
3 Rena Inoue / John Baldwin, Jr.  USA 4 3
4 Yang Ding / Zhongfei Ren  CHN 6 5
5 Elizabeth Putnam / Sean Wirtz  CAN 7 4
6 Kathryn Orscher / Garrett Lucash  USA 8 6
7

Jennifer Don / Jonathan Hunt 

USA 5 7
8 Julia Shapiro / Vadim Akolzin  ISR 9 8
- Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin  RUS 1 -

 

Short Program

 
Starting Order - Short Program
  1. Dan Zhang / Hao Zhang CHN
  2. Yang Ding / Zhongfei Ren CHN
  3. Julia Obertas / Sergei Slavnov RUS
  4. Kathryn Orscher / Garrett Lucash USA
  5. Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin RUS
  6. Julia Shapiro / Vadim Akolzin ISR
  7. Rena Inoue / John Baldwin, Jr. USA
  8. Elizabeth Putnam / Sean Wirtz CAN
  9. Jennifer Don / Jonathan Hunt USA

 

Short Program Placements

Place

Team Country
1 Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin  RUS
2 Julia Obertas / Sergei Slavnov  RUS
3 Dan Zhang / Hao Zhang  CHN
4 Rena Inoue / John Baldwin, Jr.  USA
5

Jennifer Don / Jonathan Hunt 

USA
6 Yang Ding / Zhongfei Ren  CHN
7 Elizabeth Putnam / Sean Wirtz  CAN
8 Kathryn Orscher / Garrett Lucash  USA
9 Julia Shapiro / Vadim Akolzin  ISR



Totmianina & Marinin


As expected, the Russian world champions, Tatiana Totmianina & Maxim Marinin, took the lead showing off their beautiful new Ave Maria short.

They floated through the first six of their eight required elements - Level 1back inside death spiral, Level 2 spiral sequence, superb throw triple loop which gained plus two from seven of the eleven judges (four gave them only plus one), excellent solo triple toe loops, low double twist, and secure Group 5 lasso lift.

But they were completely off on their side by side combination spin. Marinin did not fulfilled the requirement number of revolutions. Two judges gave minus three, seven minus two and two generous feeling officials punched in minus one. They recovered, as experienced competitors do, to present their final element, the pair combination spin.

Again, as experienced competitors, they sloughed off the mistake in the subsequent press conference. The 22 year old Totmianina, who was born in Perm, said, "The start of the program was good. We made a small mistake. It’s the first time we’ve performed this program, so, for a start, it was okay."

Her 27 year old partner, who was born in Volgograd, said, "I’ve had problems on the triple toe and I was concerned about that, so I lost concentration."

The Russians teamed together in St. Petersburg where they trained until early 2001 when they moved to Chicago to be coached by Oleg Vasiliev.

They are three times European but only twice Russian champions.

In the past their choreography has been made by Guiseppi Arena, and the skaters have been criticized for being too "cold" as performers. "He is a great guy," said Vasiliev, "But he doesn’t skate." This summer, we worked with (Canadian) Lori Nichol and it’s been great for Tatiana.

"Lori was a skater so she gets on the ice and shows Tatiana what to do and that’s helped her show more expression. The long is to Scherezade. It’s funny. When we got together with Lori, she asked what I thought they should skate to and we both made a list. We both came up with this music as our first choice."

Second were Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov, also representing Russia. Twenty year old Obertas was born in the industrial city of Dnepropetrovsk (where Oksana Baiul also first saw the light of day). The blonde Obertas competed for Ukraine until 2000 when she suffered a bad accident in the world championships with her former partner.

She moved to St. Petersburg and in 2003 began skating with Slavnov who is 22 and was born in this northern city with its showplace Hermitage music and Kirov ballet. They are currently ranked third in their country and were seventh in the recent world championships.

"After a year, we feel better as a pair," said Obertas.

They are trained by Tamara Moskvina, who has now settled back in her hometown after living for several years in Hackensack, New Jersey. "They are working to bring the programs to a higher level of difficulty, working within the requirements of the new system, while still keeping trademark elements I had with the other couples – keeping those traditions and innovative elements."

Seven of their elements were fine but they had trouble while in their lift. Moskvina explained, "She was changing position to straight upside down above him. She’s supposed to go straight up into that position but she went into an intermediate crouch position. But she got there."

Gaining third place were Dan Zhang & Hao Zhang, who drew to skate first. In somber black outfits with just a shimmer of silver, they performed to Blues music - All Alone by Joe Satriani. As ever they had a superbly high lateral double twist for which four judges awarded plus two.

Their lift was also good but she had a less than stellar exit from her triple toe resulting in six minus ones. But to show there is still room for "disagreement", four judges gave them zero which means the move was adequately performed and one thought it was better than that and presented a plus one. (Unfortunately, we can no long point the finger and be sure who that errant thinker is.)

As usual with Chinese pairs, their spinning was their weakest area. The newly turned 19 year old Dan Zhang and her 20 year old partner are not related despite their same last name (which is very common in China). The pair, who was fifth in the last world championship up from sixth the year before and ninth in their debut in 2002, were both born in Harbin, the birthplace of Chinese pair skating, but now train in the superior facilities in Beijing with Bin Yao.

Hao Zhang admitted, "We didn't feel it was up to our normal standard."

Ecstatic about their splendid showing were the US champions, Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, Jr., who gave the best performance I have ever witnessed from them to slide into fourth place, only 0.46 points behind the Chinese.

Even Baldwin’s struggle to hold the landing on their first move, side-by-side triple Lutzes, in which his body jackknifed forward but he held onto the edge while doing a very steep edge, did not significantly mar their presentation.

All but two of the other pairs did the far easier triple toes for the required side-by-side jumps while the Canadians, Elizabeth Putnam & Sean Wirtz did triple Salchows and the last placed Israelis, Julia Shapiro &Vadim Akolin, were content to do double Axels.

Baldwin said, "It was nice for the first time out. I bobbled the triple Lutz but otherwise it was clean. We want to place at this event and I think we have a good chance to do it."

Their music was Bird of Fire played by the Salsoul orchestra. Baldwin, who turned 31 three days before the short, has been on the US National team since 1986. But his foray into pairs only began when he teamed up with Inoue for the 2001 season.

Inoue was 28 four days before the short. She was born in Nishinomiya, a satellite city near Kobe and Osaka, and represented Japan twice in the Olympic Games, in 1992 in pairs and in 1994 in singles.

They teamed up for the 2001 season and won the US championship in 2004 in their fourth try. The pair, who is coached by Jill Watson, a bronze medalist in pairs from the 1988 Olympics, have been tenth in the last two world championships.

Jennifer Don, who recently turned 20, & Jonathan Hunt, 23, drew to skate last. They made no major error though they did receive minor minuses on their lift and back inside death spiral from a minority of the judges.

Skating in dark navy, the pair, who has competed together since 2002 and finished fourth in the 2004 US nationals, used the well loved Piano Concerto No 2 by Sergei Rachmaninov to gain fifth place, 5.52 points behind their teammates.

Artur Dmitriev, the Russian Olympic champion who recently began training Inoue & Baldwin in Hackensack, was extremely pleased. "I didn't expect to see them skate that way tonight. They've been skating at about 70 percent of what they can do, and tonight I thought they skated at 80 percent. It is a good base, but we need to add more difficulty."

Skating second, immediately following their teammates, were Yang Ding, 20, & Zhongfei Ren, 22, who competed in the world junior championships four times, finally winning silver in 2003.

Performing to Prelude Rondo Capriccioso by Sheng Sang, they received small minuses on five of their eight elements, including the twist. However their first move, the throw triple loop was great.

They are coached by Luan Bo in Harbin. Bo is Bin Yao’s partner. They were the first Chinese pair to take part in a world championship, which they did in 1980. Although they finished last, they have been responsible for devising the training scheme in their own country which has producing today’s extremely successful generation of Chinese pairs.

Putnam & Wirtz, who have ranked third in the past two Canadian championships, took seventh place. The 19 and 24 year olds made a recent move to Hackensack to train with Dmitriev. "He took us back to basics and we’re completely reworking out technique," said Wirtz. "We went right back to the start and began working on single flips."

Katie Orscher & Garrett Lucash, who are trained by former Russian world champion, Vadim Naumov, have been the runner-up pair in US nationals for the past two years (to two different teams).

They struggled to their music Still Got the Blues by Gary Moore. Their double twist was okay but Lucash fell on their second move, side-by-side triple toes. That meant that not only did they receive minus threes, they also got a deduction of minus 1.0 for the fall.

Then Orscher stepped out of their throw triple flip. In all they had minus scores for five of their elements. Lucash, who is 26, and Orscher, 20, were at a loss to explain their problems.

"There were no questions about our confidence," said Lucash. "We’re not going to do anything differently in preparing for the free skate. We felt good, so we're going to keep doing what we're doing."

Missing from the competition were former world champions, Maria Petrova & Alexei Tikhonov. Apparently she incurred an injury in the summer and they were not able to take part in a screening given by the Russian Association, which declined to give them the go-ahead to travel to Pittsburgh.

 

Free Skating

 
Starting Order - Free Skating
  1. Elizabeth Putnam / Sean Wirtz CAN
  2. Kathryn Orscher / Garrett Lucash USA
  3. Julia Shapiro / Vadim Akolzin ISR
  4. Yang Ding / Zhongfei Ren CHN
  5. Rena Inoue / John Baldwin, Jr. USA
  6. Jennifer Don / Jonathan Hunt USA
  7. Dan Zhang / Hao Zhang CHN
  8. Julia Obertas / Sergei Slavnov RUS
  9. Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin RUS

 

Free Skating Placements
Place Team Country
1 Dan Zhang / Hao Zhang  CHN
2 Julia Obertas / Sergei Slavnov  RUS
3 Rena Inoue / John Baldwin, Jr.  USA
4 Elizabeth Putnam / Sean Wirtz  CAN
5 Yang Ding / Zhongfei Ren  CHN
6 Kathryn Orscher / Garrett Lucash  USA
7

Jennifer Don / Jonathan Hunt 

USA
8 Julia Shapiro / Vadim Akolzin  ISR
- Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin  RUS

 





The sad climax of this event, Totmianina’s accident after a fall form a lift that went shockingly wrong, is covered elsewhere on this site.

With Totmianina & Marinin given no marks for their free, Zhang & Zhang, advanced from third place to win. The Chinese pair, skating to Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King, wowed the audience with their superbly high triple twist, which six judges rewarded with plus twos.

Side by side double Axels sequenced to triple toe loops received six zeros and five minus ones. However, their throw triple Salchow was flawed and received seven minus twos, one minus three, although three generous officials gave minus ones.

Their change foot combination spin was a Level 1 and gained five plus ones and the rest zeros. Their group 3 lift was awarded Level 2 received five plus ones and the rest were zeros.

Their side by side triple Salchows gained nothing lower than zeros. Their Spiral Step Sequence got unanimous zeros. But their back outside death spiral was not good but only three judges gave it as low as minus one. The throw triple loop received ten plus ones and one zero.

Their Group 5 lift was given a Level 2 and got five plus ones, five zeros and one minus one. (What did that judge see that the others didn’t?) Their forward inside death spiral was awarded eight plus ones and three zeros. The circular step sequence was a Level 1 worth nine zeros and two plus ones.

The Group 5 Axel Lasso Lift gained a Level 2 got eight plus ones, two zeros and one minus one. Their final move, a pair combination spin Level 1 got three plus ones and eight zeros.

Which proves that even in this system, the judges rarely agree!

Dan Zhang said, through an interpreter, "The performance was pretty good. There was a minor mistake. Overall we’re happy with it. We don’t plan on making any changes before our next Grand Prix but we have to work on our transitions and speed."

Obertas & Slavnov were second. They used music from the soundtrack, The Truman Show. They started spectacularly with a quad twist with a base value of 6.5 (two points above a triple twist) which gained a range of marks from zero to minus two.

Obertas explained through an interpreter, "The quad twist is a dangerous element. I’m afraid of it. But it’s not a difficult element for me because our double and twists are so easy. I did the first one in July in a summer camp in Germany."

After the twist, they did a sequence of two triple toes which had the same range. Their throw triple flip was superior and given ten plus ones and a zero.

But then planned triple toes became doubles. There was a good Group 5 Axel Lasso lift Level 2 with a base value of 6.0. Their back outside death spiral was a Level 2, the throw triple loop was superior but their Spiral Sequence was only a Level 1.

A second Group 5 Axel Lasso lift was only a Level 1 (base value of 5.5) but there was a near disaster and it gained unanimous minus threes.

Obertas explained, "My hand slipped and I saw the ice coming near. I thought, ‘Oh, my God! I have to hold onto something or I’ll hit my head. Fortunately my partner grabbed me. Thanks to him, I was lucky this time."

In the 2000 Nice Worlds Obertas had a similar mishap and the fall was partially responsible for her changing partners and countries. "I remember that fall. Fortunately, there, I was able to turn and hurt my hip, not my head."

Then came a Flying Change Foot Combination Spin which was awarded a Level 2 but gained a slight minus.

The straight line step sequence was a Level one. A Group 4 Lift was Level 2 but gained an average of minus 0.18. The back inside death spiral was a Level 3 but with an average of minus 0.14 and their final move, a pair combination spin was a Level 1 with an average of minus 0.06.

That gave them second place in the long and overall but only 0.6 separated them from the Chinese.

Obertas said, "We’re happy with our performance because we haven’t been together than long. We haven’t jelled yet.

Inoue & Baldwin took the bronze. "I’m very proud of Rena," said Baldwin. "She did the triple Lutz in both short and long. I got a little up in my knees and did a double today. I’m disappointed in myself.

"We’ve worked really hard. The choreography is by Peter Tchernyshev. I had admired his skating with Naomi and I saw a program he did with John (Zimmerman) and Kyoko (Ina).

"He worked a lot of dance steps into the program. At times, we had to remind him, ‘Hey, we’re pair skaters.’ At first, I thought we’d never make it through. It’s very challenging but I enjoy it the best of any program in my 30 years of skating.

"It’s our fourth season together. We were tenth in our first nationals and now we have the title. We want to go to the Olympics. We hope that Rena’s citizenship will come through by then."

They are in the process of moving from California to Phoenix. "I’ve been in Los Angeles all my life but our coach, Jill Watson, has been offered a post there and we won’t consider another coach."

Inoue said, "I definitely see improvement in our skating from last year."

He wore an asymmetric outfit. Baldwin confided, "It’s a kind of wild, disheveled look that suits the music."

Although their first two elements were downgraded from triples to doubles because he doubled the Lutz and the twist wasn’t perfect, they gave a very good showing to finish 7.96 points behind the Russian.

Ding & Ren tried a throw quad toe but she fell. They were fourth with Putnam & Wirtz, who drew to skate first, climbing to fifth. The Canadians said they were delighted they are now training in New Jersey with Artur Dmitriev with Don & Hunt. "We’re all live together. I’m a good cook," said Wirtz.

Orscher & Lucash, who skated to Saint-Saens’ Samson and Delilah, finished sixth. They had a fall on their side by side triple toe loops and she had a problem on their back outside death spiral.

Lucash said, "She has the best back outside death spiral so I don’t know what went wrong. We had the best practice here ever. That used to be a problem so already we’re one step ahead. Maybe we got overconfident. I’d like to go back and do it again. Maybe struggling in practice is good because it makes you focus.

"Our long is new but we kept the short."

Don & Hunt, who skated to Prokofiev’s Cinderella, both said their performance was "not very good". They had two deductions for falls. She fell on the triple toe and he messed up his flying sit spin. They dropped from fifth to seventh. Don said, "The short was a wonderful experience. Coming here makes us want to go to our next Grand Prix, Cup of Russia."

They began training with Dmitriev in August. "Artur is managing my back very well," said Don who is recovering from a back injury. Working with him is amazing. He keeps saying, ‘I wish you’d come earlier.’"

They didn’t have outfits so Hunt dug out an old costume he’d worn with a former partner and Don took a practice outfit that "kinda" matched it and sewed on some decoration which Artur produced seemingly out of thin air.


2004 Skate America Pairs Medalists

Photo by Paul Harvath

 

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