Inoue & Baldwin had a difficult time Wednesday. Inoue fell out of the opening triple toes, and then later on the throw triple Axel and throw triple loop. The side-by-side double Axels were good, but Baldwin didn’t do the ensuing double loop.

“We are disappointed because I think we knew we were going to have one of our best performances tonight,” Baldwin said. “We were really confident going into it, so yeah, it’s definitely a disappointment. Our specialty is the technical, and that fell by the wayside tonight. It was actually the least amount of technical that we did all season. It was our lowest score, so that’s tough, for us to walk away that way. The best skaters have some off nights, and I really think – I’m not the best skater – but I do know that Rena is the best skater. Not just the best pair girl in the world, but the best female in the world.”

Inoue & Baldwin are uncertain if they will retire after this season. They said they plan to go home and rest, and will make a decision after they have had some time away from competition.

Castile & Okolski had trouble as well during the free skate, but it was clear that Castile was still suffering from the stomach flu following the night’s performance.

“You learn a lot just from being here and seeing all the other teams and how they deal with the pressure and how they get through a World competition,” Okolski said. “And we obviously gained some experience in skating a good short program. Unfortunately, we didn’t really repeat it in the long.”

China’s Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao won the gold medal, which marks their third World title. They performed effortlessly to “Meditation” in what is likely their last competitive performance.

In second was their countrymates Qing Pang & Jian Tong. Germany’s Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy won the bronze and collected the first medal for a German pairs team since Peggy Schwarz and Mirko Muller won bronze in 1998.

The World Championships continue Thursday with the original dance and the men’s free skate.

– U.S. Figure Skating –
U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the International Skating Union. U.S. Figure Skating is comprised of approximately 1,450 member clubs and Basic Skills programs representing nearly 200,000 members. U.S. Figure Skating is charged with the development of the sport on all levels within the United States, including athletes, officials, sanctioning of events and exhibitions, and establishing the rules and guidelines by which the sport is governed.