XX winter Olympic Games. Russian pair Yana Khokhlova and Sergey Novitsky perform during the ice dance tournament.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Russians Replace American Skaters
The world's leading figure skaters, six in each of the four types of the sport, are gathering in St. Petersburg for the Grand Prix Final today. Only two Russian pairs were able to garner sufficient points to participate: Maria Petrova and Alexey Tikhonov and dance pair Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin.
American silver medal winner in Turin Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto qualified for the Grand Prix but did not attend because Agosto had a last-minute back injury. Their place was taken by Russians Yana Khokhlova and Sergey Novitsky. They are looking forward to the chance to face off in front of a home audience against Americans Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov, who edged them out of the running in Japan.
Domnina and Shabalin are off to a good start this season, having won in China and come close to victory in Moscow. But Shabalin fell while performing an original dance, for the first time in his career, he said. Now they are close to the first big really success in their lives. The specialists are cautious about them, however. Just a year ago, they were far from prize material. “It's not hard to take off, it's hard to stay up,” observed Tikhonov.
Petrova and Tikhonov were unwilling to say much about their own performance. Petrova caught a cold during a Stars on Ice show. The pair is miffed at the judges who they say gave them low marks in Moscow and let German pair Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy win. “They say that the connection between the elements was insufficient and my endurance was poor. We tried all week to add to it, to correct it. We're together now and we'll see what comes of it,” Tikhonov commented.
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All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 15, 2006
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