BOSTON -- Now here's a shock: Two-time defending national
ice dance champions Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev are in first
place.
|  | | Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev were impressive during their Westminster Waltz performance during the compulsory dance. |
While it's true that dance results don't change much from year
to year -- temperatures in Siberia move up faster than couples do
until the old favorites retire -- the duo clearly was better than
anyone else Tuesday night in the compulsory dance at the U.S.
Figure Skating Championships.
Skating to the "Westminster Waltz," they looked more like a
couple dancing in a ballroom than on a rink, floating across the
ice. With Tchernyshev in a tuxedo with tails and Lang in an
elegant, flowing white dress, they took the audience back to the
days when ballroom dancing was the main entertainment for
Europeans.
And their "Silver Samba," was saucy -- starting with their
costumes. Lang wore a lemon yellow dress that had enough material
to be legal, but just barely. Tchernyshev was dressed in black, his
shirt open down to his navel.
"I feel we especially skated good on the second dance,"
Tchernyshev said. "By then, we were more used to the crowd, the
ice and the rink."
The 2000 silver medalists, Jamie Silverstein and Justin Pekarek,
have split up, so there's really no one to challenge Lang and
Tchernyshev. But the leaders changed coaches this year, dropping
Igor Shpilband and Elizabeth Coates and moving to New Jersey to
train with 1993 world champion Alexander Zhulin.
Zhulin is also their choreographer.
"We are very, very happy," Lang said of the switch. "It has
been nothing but positive. We're getting great support, and we
really appreciate him."
Beata Handra and Charles Sinek, fourth after the compulsories
last year, are in second place. Jessica Joseph, an Olympian in
1998, and her new partner, Brandon Forsyth, are third in their very
first competition together.
"Coming back has been better than it was before," Joseph said.
"I enjoy skating so much more, I appreciate it so much more."
Deborah Koegel and Oleg Fediukov, the bronze medalists last
season, withdrew after the first dance. Fediukov tripped after the
routine, bruising his quadriceps muscle around his left knee.
Fediukov got treatment between dances and went on the ice for
warm-ups, but the injury was too painful to continue competing.
"The knee wasn't responding," said Robbie Kaine, his coach.
"That muscle is responsible for control of your edges, the push.
... It has nothing to do with discomfort. The body just isn't going
to respond to it."
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ALSO SEE
Results from Tuesday
Monday's results
Silverstein and Pekarek end career
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