Pair teams electrify the crowd

(March 25, 2003)
There was no margin for error in the Pairs short program at the 2003 World Figure Skating Championships.

Many teams had error-free performances, and one mistake by Canada's Jacinthe Larivière and Lenny Faustino cost them dearly, as they ended the evening in 15th-place.

The night belonged to the Russians, with Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin in first-place, Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov currently standing in third, and Julia Obertas and Alexei Sokolov placing fourth. Only the Chinese team of Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, who currently stand in second, broke up the Russian sweep.

Canada's Anabelle Langlois and Patrice Archetto were clearly a crowd favourite. The duo absolutely nailed their program, which was enough to put them in a solid sixth-place after the short program. Just ahead of the Canadians in fifth are the seasoned Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek, of Poland.

Langlois and Archetto were very pleased with their performance.

"Our ups and downs this season have not been as extreme as in the past," said Langlois. "I had an ankle injury before Skate America, and I re-injured it warming up at Skate Canada."

"It was hard for her to be confident (speaking of Langlois' injury)," said Archetto. "This was only the second time this season that we skated a clean program. The first was at Grand Prix Final, and now here.

"It took us until then to get it clean. Our elements were more solid, our technique is stronger, and if there are any mistakes, they are from a lack of concentration rather than from problems with technique."

Skaters are interviewed by media backstage