Moscow — In the bright lights of the Luzhniki Sports Palace, the truth became all too clear: Canadian pairs struggled to tread water while Chinese and Russians created a tidal wave at the world figure skating championships.
Canadian pairs finished eighth and ninth Wednesday, better than they figured, but helped only by the surprise last-minute withdrawal of two-time world champions Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China.
Canadian silver medalists Utako Wakamatsu and Jean-Sebastien Fecteau of Thetford Mines, Que., finished exhausted and collapsed together at the end at the first world championship.
And it may be their last. Japanese-born Utako Wakamatsu has decided not to seek Canadian citizenship, a move that would have allowed her to represent Canada at the Turin Olympics. She would have to give up her Japanese citizenship to do it, and it might be very difficult to get it back.
Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia in action during the pairs free skate at the Wednesday in Moscow. (Jamie McDonald/AFP/Getty Images)
Canadian champions Valerie Marcoux of Ottawa and Craig Buntin of North Vancouver did well to finish, with Buntin battling a groin injury that completely disrupted their training in the month before the world championship. They were 10th one spot below their finish last year.
Together the two teams held onto two Olympic berths for Canadian pair teams, but they were unable to get the maximum three spots. No matter. Richard Gauthier, who coaches both of them, says Canada may not have three strong, seasoned teams to send next year anyway.
Russians Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin won their second consecutive gold medal at the world event, with a large wildly cheering, flag-waving home crowd that applauded their every move. Their victory put a marvellous cap on a frightening season, in which Totmianina fell hard from a high Axel lasso lift and bashed her shoulder and head into the ice at Skate America in Pittsburgh, Pa., last October.
Last night, the Russians did the same difficult lift, and as Marinin set his willowy, brave partner back down onto the ice safely and softly, the crowd erupted in cheers. When they skated, the Palace halls were empty. Everyone scrambled for a spot to watch the poignant story unfold.
Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov of Russia won the silver medal while Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao – normally ranked the No. 3 team in China – won the bronze medal.
Last year's bronze medalists Pang Xing and Tong Jian finished fourth, making little mistakes all along the way.
The former Chinese world championships withdrew because Zhao suffered a tendon injury in a foot that was most painful when he landed jumps. It caused the team to withdraw from the Four Continents championships in Korea in February, and they had finished third in the short program on Monday.
The roles were switched from the 2003 world championship when Shen suffered an injury, but bravely went on to win gold in Washington, D.C. Now that the roles are reversed, how does Shen feel? “I just give him more smiles,” she said.
But Marcoux and Buntin skated anyway, a harder task than anyone watching them ever knew. “I think that's one of the toughest challenges we've had as a pair,” Buntin said. “It was really our first full run-through in over a month. To be able to finish with speed, and strong like that took a lot of mental focus on both our parts. Especially since Val had to hold me up the whole way through.” The pair said nothing particularly worried them. When their names were called, they switched their minds back to a time when they were fully trained. “They say it's 90 per cent mental and 10 per cent physical,” Buntin said. “We were running on the 90 per cent.'' The team was helped by the fact they skated to Moscow Nights music last night. It was unintentional. Buntin said they searched for two months for the right music and when they finally found something they liked, they heaved a sigh of relief. “Russian, Canadian, Italian, it wouldn't have made a difference,” Buntin said. But the Russian crowd appreciated the choice, and cheered them on from the beginning.
“It was fun to be out there and have the crowd behind us and cheering for us,” Marcoux said. “Especially in the last part. It gave us the extra energy that we needed.” Marcoux said she had to block her mind from worrying about Buntin and whether he was okay. “I trust him,” she said. “I wasn't worried. I knew he was going to try everything and really focus. He's really strong. You could never tell if he was injured or not. He never complained about that.... It's easy to trust him.'' The scariest part was the collapse of a lift, the same one that Totmianina fell on at Skate America.
Buntin said the timing of the lift was fine and Marcoux went up exactly where she should have. “I just went to turn and step on my right foot and it wasn't there,” Buntin said. “It's better to put her down on her feet than risk injury. Getting to the summit is optional but getting home is necessary.” Doctors told Buntin he must rest for six weeks. When he hinted that he might return sooner, Marcoux said he'd have to reckon with her, first.
Fecteau, who carefully watched competitors at practices, said he hopes Canada can get back into a top contender position, and break the stronghold of the Russians and Chinese. “It will take a lot of hard work, more risk to upgrade to the very difficult element, to take advantage of every little thing in the new judging system, to build on our strengths and really work on our weaknesses,” he said.
“A sub-par performance won't cut it any more.”
Fecteau said they made a rash of minor mistakes last night, but came off the ice coughing, because he found it so hot and dry in the rink that it was difficult to breathe.
The last lift almost met with disaster. Wakamatsu who tends to get a second wind when Fecteau's energy is flagging, pushed him into the last lift, he said. “My legs were really burning at that point,” he said.
“Just getting the lift up was more difficult than usual,” he said. “The lift almost went down and I had to bring it back up very quickly. When you legs are not underneath you any more, and you're tired, it becomes a little more difficult to do. A second effort saved the lift.” When it was over, Fecteau said he could not do one more element.
Others had worse problems Wednesday. Russian coach Alexei Mishin told some of his friends that three-time world champion Evgeny Plushenko will withdraw from the men's event on Thursday. Concerned for Plushenko's health, Mishin did not want him to attend the event at all.
