DORTMUND, Germany, 26 March 2004 — Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia finally emerged from the shadows of their Chinese rivals Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao to claim pairs gold at the world figure skating championships here on Wednesday.
Shen and Zhao, winners for the past two years ahead of the Russians, had to settle for silver this time after trailing in fourth following the short program despite a stunning performance which put them first in the free skating final. Chinese national champions Qing Pang and Jian Tong achieved their first major medal in third position.
Shen and Zhao gave a faultless performance to Tschaikovsky’s Nutcracker in the free skating final which earned them 12 perfect 6.0s but they were too far behind to claim the title.
Totmianina and Marinin, who have won the European title three times, also skated faultlessly to Marton’s Art on Ice, achieving one perfect 6.0 for presentation, as did Pang and Tong, as the judges allowed the skaters what could be one last opportunity to earn the coveted mark. Totmianina admitted that it was unnerving when they heard that Pang and Tong had achieved a 6.0.
Zhao said that they knew that they had nothing to gain but pride after his fall ruined their chances of the title earlier in the week.
The Chinese pair’s marks for technique ranged from 5.7 to two 6.0s and from 5.9 to ten 6.0s for presentation, while the Russians were from 5.6 to two 5.9s for technique and from 5.7 to one 6.0 for presentation.
Earlier Michelle Kwan’s bid for a sixth world title got off to a shaky start with the defending champion fighting for her crown after a below-par performance and a surprise showing by Japanese pair Shizuka Arakawa and Miki Ando.
Arakawa took the lead in their qualifying Group A ahead of 16-year-old Japanese national champion Ando after two faults left Kwan struggling in third with two rounds to go. Kwan’s US teammate Sasha Cohen produced a faultless performance to lead her Group B, ahead of world silver medalist Elena Sokolova of Russia, putting Arakawa and Cohen level on points going into today’s short program.
“That was like a wake-up call,” admitted 23-year-old Kwan, who opened her Tosca routine by singling a toeloop and fell on a triple lutz later in a program where she produced just four triple jumps.
Her marks were as low as 4.9 to 5.6 for technical merit with her marks from 5.6 to 5.9 for presentation keeping her in the running.
Arakawa, third at the Japanese nationals, attributed her improvement to her switch to Russian coach Tatiana Tarasova at the end of last year.
