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Zhang-Zhang rank second in short program
(AP/www.ttav89.com)
Updated: 2006-02-12 10:32 The free skate is Monday night, when "Tot and Max" could become the 12th
straight Russian or Soviet pair to win this Olympic title.
Tatiana Totmianina
and Maxim Marinin from Russia perform during the figure skating Pairs
Short Program at the Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy,
February 11, 2006. [Reuters] | "Unbeatable, I
would like to believe they're unbeatable," coach Oleg Vasiliev said. "But figure
skating depends on many things — ice, judges, political situations."
It was the first Olympic event under the code of points created in the wake
of the 2002 pairs judging scandal. Three of the Salt Lake City gold medalists —
Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia — are
in Turin to watch the games.
Totmianina and Marinin skated as one to "Snowstorm" by Georgi Sviridov. Their
side-by side triple toe loops were flawless, and they finished with a superb
string of combination spins.
"I think it was the best performance of our short program this season," she
said.
And they didn't succumb to the pressure of keeping their nation's golden
streak going.
"I feel the atmosphere inside the ice rink was going up, so it was like a
stone fell off my shoulders when we finished," Marinin said. "It was just more
concentration on the skating. Maybe that looks like I am really nervous, but it
is not that."
Inoue and Baldwin's triple followed the one they did last month at U.S.
nationals and helped get them 61.27 points.
"It felt fantastic, just what I wanted," added Inoue, who revealed this week
she had lung cancer in 1998, just 18 months after her father died of the
disease.
In the third place were Russia's Maria Petrova, skating on a sore ankle, and
Alexei Tikhonov with a clean performance including a complex lift during which
he swung her between his legs and into the air, followed by a neat twisting
dismount.
That got the red-and-white uniformed Russian athletes in the crowd excited,
but they booed when they heard the marks for the world silver medalists.
In the new format, only nine of the 12 judges who score the event count, and
the high and low scores are thrown out.
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