Pang, Tong in hunt as Canadian pair soars
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PANG Qing and Tong Jian’s almost flawless performance put them in a good enough position to at least fight for the pairs gold medal at the 2015 ISU world figure skating championships, which began in Shanghai yesterday.
It’s the 35-year-old pairs 16th attendance at a world championships, and probably their last. They placed second with a season-best 72.59 points in yesterday’s short program, behind Canadian pair Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, whose 76.98-point performance sent them to the top of the 19-pair standing.
“We are very proud of our skating today especially after seeing the huge support Chinese pairs have been receiving,” Radford said.
Pang and Tong, the 2010 and 2006 world champions and 2010 Olympic silver medalists, returned to competition only last year at the Four Continents.
“At first we were a bit worried thinking about competing in front of a home crowd,” Tong said. “But as the competition went on, we managed it.”
For the first time lyrics were allowed in the background music at the world championships and the Chinese veterans changed their music to Moonflower by Secret Garden from the Tango-style song they used in the Four Continents shortly before the Shanghai event started.
“We wanted to try out something new, like the Tango one. But our performance (at Four Continents) wasn’t satisfying, and therefore we decided to stick to the style we are familiar with,” Tong said.
Tong also revealed that it was his partner’s idea to return from retirement and compete in front of the home crowd.
“To come back itself is not easy. It will be hard (to win the championship), but we will give everything we have,” Pang added.
Another Chinese pair Sui Wenjing and Han Cong proved to be a surprise package last night, scoring a season-best 71.63 points to place third after the short program.
Coached by retired world champion Zhao Hongbo and veteran coach Yao Bin, Sui, 19, and Han, 22, regarded the result as a reward for their hard training.
“China has a lot of potential young pair skaters. We will continue to focus on delivering what we have been doing in training,” Sui said. “We will work harder on our spins and other details in future competitions.”
Sui and Han were drawn to be the last pair to perform at today’s free skate following Pang and Tong.
In the morning session, the American duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates managed a season-best to lead in the short dance with 74.47 points.
Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Canada (72.68) ended up second, ahead of defending world champions Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte of Italy (72.39).
“We’ve worked so hard for this moment. It is always great to have that (season’s best) at the world championships,” Chock said.
“We’ve been so critical on our levels, but finally we achieved all level fours today,” added Bates, who was especially happy with their footwork.
“We know we can’t rest and have to absolutely attack the free skate as though we are coming from behind.”
The only Chinese pair, Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu, placed 18th out of 30. The pair said they felt nervous and didn’t skate their best as it was their first world championships.
Chock and Bates are now taking aim at the championship, with the only other American duo to win a world ice dancing title being Meryl Davis and Charlie White (2011, 2013), who also won gold at the Sochi Winter Olympics. The duo hasn’t competed since last year’s Olympics, but took part in the world championships opening ceremony in the afternoon.
The 40-minute opening ceremony featured performances from big-name skaters, including China’s first lady world champion Chen Lu, Evgeni Plushenko, and of course retired Chinese world champion pair Shen Xue and partner/husband Zhao Hongbo. As ambassadors of the Shanghai event, the couple not only skated, but also sang during the performance.
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