Click to view attachment Click to view attachment After the Original Dance: The Leaders
Currently, (above photo on the left) Navka and Kostomarov are in first place with Belbin and Agosto in second place. Photos by Susan D. Russell

TORINO, ITALY – With the original dance portion of the event completed, two-time and reigning World ice dance champions Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov of Russia currently lead the pack at the XX Winter Olympic Games. Americans Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto danced their way into second place with Ukrainians Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov currently in third.

It was not your usual night of ice dancing with spills and falls galore. Three of the final five couples fell during their programs. The leaders after the compulsories, Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio, as well as Canadians Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon (in fourth place after compulsories), took bad falls. Bulgarians Albena Denkova and Maxim Stavisky also took a spill.
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“Nobody wants to fall," Belbin said, "and there are a lot of emotions involved in not only figure skating and the sport, but in addition to that at the Olympic Games it’s really heightened. I think that everyone will go home tonight, have a good night’s sleep and realize that the competition is not over. I think that tonight was just testament to the fact that dance is just really unpredictable at this point and you really get rewarded for good skating. I don’t think there should be any disappointment in any of the skating tonight, because a lot can happen tomorrow, and they’ll have a great opportunity to redeem themselves.”

Skating to a cha cha, rhumba and samba combination, Navka and Kostomarov’s original dance was flawless. They danced at a fast pace, in perfect synch and their components were done perfectly. They earned 61.07 points (30.39/30.68) and 99.27 overall.

Following close behind them in the standings are Belbin and Agosto. They went into the original dance in sixth place, but set themselves apart from many of those who were ahead of them (with the exception of the top-rated Russians) with a terrific performance. Skating last in the final group Belbin and Agosto performed a salsa, rhumba, cha cha combination. In the cha cha portion of their skate, they showed good control in the footwork sequence.

"This is an extremely close competition, and I think this is the first time we’ve been in a competition where it is this close,” Agosto said. “Tonight we feel like we were confident in this dance. It just makes everything count all that much more.”
Click to view attachment Grushina and Goncharov moved into third.
Grushina and Goncharov danced to a samba, rhumba, samba combination. They were in fifth after the compulsory dance but earned 59.29 points (29.22/30.07) to compile 96.68 points at this point in the competition and land in third.

Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France are in medal contention in fourth place with a convinced a technically strong and clean program. They earned 58.34 points for their original dance and have 94.78 overall points.

Denkova and Staviski dropped from third to fifth after missing the first position in their combination spin that subsequently was graded only a level one.

The surprise leaders after the compulsories, Fusar Poli and Margaglio hit a big snafu with just seconds left in their program, which left them in fifth in the standings. On the final spin, he appeared to drop her and she landed on the ice in a bundle. When the music ended, the two dancers were in obvious shock and seemed to glare into each other’s eyes. The drama was intense.

Dubreuil and Lauzon also hit rough waters and now sit in sixth place. They danced to a salsa and rhumba combination, and things were going very well them early in the program. But the spinning lift with their undoing, as Lauzon crashed to the ground (it appeared as though she could not keep the hold).

CURRENT RESULTS
Below are the standings after the orginal dance.
The first score listed is for the compulsary dance, the second is for the orginal dance and the last is the overall score.
(The free dance will determine the final outcome)

1 Navka, Kostomarov (RUS) 38.20 61.07 99.27
2 Belbin, Agosto (USA) 37.36 60.53 97.89
3 Grushina, Goncharov (UKR) 37.39 59.29 96.68
4 Delobel, Schoenfelder (FRA) 36.44 58.34 94.78
5 Denkova, Staviski (BUL) 37.65 55.85 93.50
6 Dubreuil, Lauzon (CAN) 37.44 54.36 91.80
7 Fusar-Poli, Margaglio (ITA) 38.78 51.73 90.51
8 Drobiazko, Vanagas (LTU) 35.23 52.79 88.02
9 Chait, Sakhovski (ISR) 31.07 55.65 86.72
10 Domina, Shabalin (RUS) 33.37 52.36 85.73
11 Kerr, Kerr (GBR) 31.58 50.28 81.86
12 Wing, Lowe (CAN) 31.42 49.17 80.59
13 Faiella, Scali (ITA) 33.20 43.25 76.45
14 Khokhlova, Novitski (RUS) 30.90 47.15 78.05
15 Gregory, Petukhov (USA) 30.51 47.00 77.51
16 Watanabe, Kido (JPN) 27.95 46.59 74.54
17 Silverstein, O'Meara (USA) 27.53 46.00 73.53
18 Pechalat, Bourzat (FRA) 28.59 44.07 72.66
19 Hoffmann, Elek (HUN) 27.53 44.04 71.57
20 Fraser, Lukanin (AZE) 27.27 43.83 71.10
21 Grebenkina, Azrojan (ARM) 24.28 43.83 68.11
22 Kauc, Zych (POL) 24.93 42.06 66.99
23 Zaretski, Zaretski (ISR) 23.51 41.21 64.71
24 Golovina, Voiko (UKR) 23.88 39.92 63.80