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Belbin and Agosto win fourth US ice dancing title
By Lindsay DeWall // US Figure Skating // January 29, 2007
SPOKANE, Wash. (Jan. 26, 2007) —Brooke Castile (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) and Ben Okolski (Ann Arbor, Mich.) upset reigning U.S. champions Rena Inoue (Santa Monica, Calif.) and John Baldwin (Santa Monica, Calif.) to win the U.S. pairs title at the 2007 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Wash. Tanith Belbin (Northland, Mich.) and Ben Agosto (Chicago, Ill.) claimed their fourth straight U.S. ice dancing title. And reigning U.S. novice champion Eliot Halverson (St. Paul, Minn.) won back-to-back U.S. titles by securing the junior men’s gold medal.
SENIOR PAIRS
Castile and Okolski arrived in Spokane, Wash., earlier this week without much notoriety. The Michigan-based pairs team finished eighth last year at the U.S. Championships in St. Louis and placed second in their qualifying sectional for this year’s event.
Defending champions Inoue and Baldwin had understandably grabbed all the pre-event press. But when it was over, it was Castile, 20, and Okolski, 22, standing on top of the podium. Their flawless free skate to the “Requeim for a Dream” soundtrack vaulted them from third after the short program to first place.
The champions set the tone early in their free skate by nailing their throw triple twist. They received bonus points for their throw triple loops and double Axels. The only negative grade of execution came on their level four combination spin.
“It was everything we wanted to do today, and we skated nice and strong,” Castile said. “It felt great to skate like that at nationals. It’s like my dream; it felt really good.”
Inoue, 30, and Baldwin, 33, each had a fall in their free skate – Inoue on the throw triple Axel and Baldwin on the side-by-side triple toe loops. Leaders after the short program, they finished second. Their silver medal marks their fifth at the U.S. Championships (2003: third, 2004: first, 2005: second, 2006: first, 2007: second).
After Inoue and Baldwin skated, the door was left open for Naomi Nari Nam (Irvine, Calif.) and Themi Leftheris (Long Beach, Calif.), and their free skate to the music “Caravan.” They busted out by landing their triple toe-triple toe sequence and triple twist. But moments later Nam fell on their throw triple Salchow and throw triple loop. They earned the bronze medal in their second year as a team.
Castile and Okolski and Inoue and Baldwin will represent the United States at the World Figure Skating Championships in March in Tokyo, Japan.
SENIOR ICE DANCING
Belbin and Agosto debuted their new free dance to “Amelie” Friday night after their previous program to “That’s Entertainment” received lukewarm feedback from fans and judges earlier in the season. Amazingly, they put the new program together in four weeks, and the gamble paid off. With an increase of speed and poetic movements, their new program featured a handstand lift and a lift featuring Belbin in a Biellman position.
“We feel great,” Belbin said. “That was a really sound performance. For the first time out to be relatively clean and to feel like we did capture the character here and there was a huge achievement. It’s more than we could have asked of ourselves as this point with this program only a few weeks old, and we couldn’t be happier or prouder of ourselves.”
With this victory, Olympic silver medalists Belbin and Agosto have now won their fourth U.S. title. They were named to the 2007 U.S. World Team, along with Melissa Gregory (Chicago, Ill.) and Denis Petukhov (Hartford, Conn.) – who finished second – and Meryl Davis (West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Charlie White (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) – who finished third in their first year on the senior level.
Gregory and Petukhov skated full out to “Adam and Eve,” with deep intensity and powerful emotion. Their silver medal now brings their U.S. total to four, with silvers every year since 2004.
Davis and White had excellent synchronized twizzles and innovative lifts during their “Prince Igor Polovtsian Dances” program. The reigning U.S. junior champions stepped up amidst the talented pool of seniors and proved they belong. As training partners with Belbin and Agosto, the teams will travel together to the World Championships in March.
JUNIOR MEN
Halverson cruised to the U.S. junior men’s title Friday, adding it to his novice title of 2006. The last man to pull the out the double victories in consecutive years was two time World bronze medalist Evan Lysacek, who won the novice title in 1999 and followed it up with junior gold in 2000.
“I feel incredible,” Halverson said just after stepping off the ice. “That was definitely the program I wanted to do. I wouldn’t change anything.”
While he was solid in his jumping technique, landing seven clean triples (the back end of a triple Lutz-triple toe combination was downgraded), it was his presentation that set him apart.
American junior men, including Halverson, had extraordinary success on the international circuit this year. The 16-year-old, who was adopted from Bogota, Colombia, as an infant, won two medals in the Junior Grand Prix Series but failed to qualify for the JGP Final.
Brandon Mroz(St. Louis, Mo.) did qualify and finished with the silver medal in Bulgaria. He collected the silver medal Friday as well. His only major error was a bad stumble out of the double Axel, but he had a few bobbles throughout.
Mroz’ training mate in Colorado Springs, Austin Kanallakan (Colorado Springs, Colo.), found himself in sixth after the short program. Perhaps it took some pressure off, because he managed to win the free skate by a sliver over Halverson, 122.90-122.67. His element score of 68.04 outpaced the field but the deficit was too much to overcome the leaders. He won the bronze.
He landed seven triples, including an opening triple flip-triple toe combination that received all positive grades of execution. For the first time, he also landed both double Axels in his program.
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