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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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