Pang and Tong Win Pairs Title at Worlds, Inoue and Baldwin Finish Fourth Options

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LIVE FROM CALGARY: THE LATEST FROM WORLDS

Pang and Tong are the 2006 World champions.
CALGARY -- China’s Qing Pang and Jian Tong captured the title at the 2006 World Figure Skating Championships in Calgary, Canada. Their teammates Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang took the silver and Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov of Russia earned the bronze medal.

Pang and Tong had drawn to skate last. Performing to “The Phantom of the Opera,” the 2004 World
bronze medalists hit the opening double Axel-double toe loop, but Pang fell hard on the toe loop and it was downgraded to a double. The Chinese recovered to land a triple twist and high throw triple Salchow and displayed some strong lifts. They earned 124.22 points (65.71/60.51), thus winning the free skate and pulling up from second to first with a total of 189.20 points. When the result was shown on the monitor, they jumped up in joy and waved to the crowd. “It was a good performance in spite of the mistake. We will continue to work hard,” Pang said.
Zhang and Zhang claimed silver.
Zhang and Zhang led after the short program. The Olympic silver medalists started strongly with a huge throw triple Salchow, a double Axel-triple toe loop combination and a triple twist. But they seemed to run of steam in the second half of their routine. After the throw triple loop, she doubled the side-by-side Salchow while he fell on a triple, and they lost speed in their footwork. Zhang and Zhang were awarded 120.84 points (64.39/57.45). They were ranked fourth in the free skating and slipped from first to second overall at 186.42 points, just edging Petrova and Tikhonov with 0.20 points for the silver.

“We’re very happy that two Chinese couples won the gold and silver medals. We didn’t skate so well today, not as good as at the Olympic Games. We want to give our best in the future competitions,” Hao Zhang said. “We didn’t feel any pressure after the short program. The short program is shorter, we could be more relaxed. You need more energy for the free skating. We didn’t have enough energy and made mistakes in the second half of our program.”
Petrova and Tikhonov captured the bronze.
Petrova and Tikhonov skated first in the final flight. The 2005 World silver medalists opened their
program with a triple toe loop-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. They 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.

U.S. pairs team Rena Inoue and John Baldwin skated a personal best free skate to earn the highest technical elements score and finish fourth overall. It is the highest major international placement of their career, after finishing 11th at the 2005 World Championships and seventh at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. The two-time U.S. champions have a bright future ahead.

“We have a lot more that we want to accomplish in our skating,” Inoue said when asked about retirement. “And I really feel like our team has a lot more to do. It’s not like we’ve reached the top yet. It’s very exciting to accomplish our goal every year.”

Inoue and Baldwin had a near flawless free skate, with Inoue slightly putting down a hand on the landing of the throw triple Axel. The team performs the record-setting element in the second half of their program, securing them extra points. They also executed a clean side-by-side triple toe and side-by-side double Axel-double Axel sequence. Their combination spin was in near perfect synchronization.

“Actually, we skate like that at home, but the key is to put it out there in competition,” Baldwin said. “Definitely to get those two clean programs out there at the World Championships is a very important place to do it, and we’re happy. Yeah, that’s the best we’ve ever done two programs.”

After receiving lower levels on some elements than they expected in the short program, the team made changes to their straight line step sequence for today’s free skate. The modifications worked, as they were back up to a level 4 in the free skate. Their finish today was also the best by a U.S. pairs team at the World Championships since Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman's bronze medal in 2002.

Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin of Canada delivered a solid routine, 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.

Marcy Hinzmann and Aaron Parchem of the U.S. finished in 11th place, two spots higher than their 13th place finish at the 2006 Olympics. Hinzmann took a rough fall on the throw triple loop, slipping off her blade and landing on her stomach. She had little time to react before the side-by-side triple toes, and she fell on that element as well. Her hand touched the ice on the throw triple Salchow, but the 2006 U.S. silver medalists regained their composure and finished strong.

“That is actually the first throw loop I have missed in probably two years in competition,” Hinzmann said. “And since that is our second element that really kind of sets the tone for the program. Right after the throw triple loop is our side-by-side triple toes… So, me falling on that made us have to scramble into the next thing, which I think kind of rattled my confidence a little bit, and then I couldn’t do the triple toe like I usually can.”

Parchem said the team has not yet made a decision about whether they will continue to compete next year, but will meet to discuss their future with their coaches in a couple of months.