EVERETT — Americans Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto, the 2006 Winter Olympics silver medalists, took a first step toward their fifth Skate America ice dancing championship on Friday afternoon with a polished performance in the compulsory program.
Skating next to last among nine competing couples, Agosto and Belbin received a 37.63 score in the Viennese Waltz, a mark that was more than three points higher than the previous leader.
Still, there was one couple left to skate and the last tandem was Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France, the defending world champions. Delobel and Schoenfelder were even better, posting a 38.49 to take the first-day lead at Comcast Arena at Everett Events Center.
Ice dancing continues today with the short program, followed by Sunday’s free skate. Of the four events at Skate America — men’s, ladies’ and pairs are the others — ice dancing is the only one with three programs. The others have two.
Friday’s ice dancing compulsory program was the first competitive performance for Belbin and Agosto since the 2008 World Figure Skating Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, last March. Bidding for their first world title, they instead finished fourth after Belbin fell during the compulsory program.
On Friday, the U.S. team seemed ready to begin their push to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., just 17 months away. Since their disappointing world championships seven months ago, the pair has moved from Detroit to the Philadelphia area to train with noted coaches and choreographers Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponossov.
On Friday, Belbin called their Skate America compulsory program “very respectable.” Because of their training with Linichuk and Karponossov, “I think people can see a little bit of change in us already,” she added.
“This is the first compulsory dance where we went in without any nerves,” Agosto said. “It was more anticipation, but less nerves.”
Delobel, meanwhile, said she and Schoenfelder feel no pressure at Skate America, despite their status as reigning world champions.
“We don’t think about that,” she said. “We just skate. That makes everything better.”
Two other American ice dancing teams are entered at Skate America. Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates rank fifth after the compulsory program while Jane Summersett and Todd Gilles are eighth.
Training companions: Linichuk and Karponossov won gold medals in ice dancing at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., and have since coached many of the world’s top ice dancing teams in recent years.
Earlier this year, in addition to Belbin and Agosto, Linichuk and Karponossov began working with the Russian duo of Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, who are the defending European champions and winners of the International Skating Union Grand Prix final earlier this year.
Though not at Skate America, Domnina and Shabalin will be likely contenders at the 2010 Olympics.
Having rival teams sharing coaches and rink space at the IceWorks Skating Complex in Aston, Pa., could be awkward. But according to Agosto, it’s not.
“The atmosphere is great,” he said. “Oksana and Max are great skaters, they’re great competitors and we’ve known them for a long time.
“It’s a little bit of a competition every day. It reminds us that if they’re working hard, we’d better be working even harder. It’s a good motivation in that way.”
Drug checks: Figure skaters are probably not on a par with other athletes when it comes to steroids and other drug abuses, but they still are subject to anti-doping tests. After the final free skate in each of the four events, the winner (or one of the winners in pairs and ice dancing) will be tested, as will one random competitor in each event.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
