Colorado Springs – The trick that could give Americans Rene Inoue and John Baldwin a surprise Olympic medal in pairs skating fell as flat as Inoue did Thursday night at World Arena. However, a fall in their trademark triple-axel throw wasn’t enough to prevent them from winning at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships.
Inoue and Baldwin, whose difficult throw propelled them to the U.S. championship two weeks ago in St. Louis, scored 111.38 points in the long program for a two-day total of 168.89. That easily bested the second- place Canadian team of Utako Wakamatsu and Jean-Sebastien Fecteau, who totaled 156.93.
“Obviously, our nationals performance was a lot better than it was (Thursday),” Inoue said. “But still, it wasn’t that bad when you look at the elements. I just took a hard fall.”
They are the only pair who has done the 3 1/2-revolution throw, and it came halfway through the program. Inoue landed on the side of her skate and fell flat on her front side. However, she got up quickly and the rest of the program remained clean.
“That’s a testament to Rene’s strength, to get right up after that,” Baldwin said. “That’s a letdown, because we do it so consistently.”
The pairs field had nine couples and only two others headed to the Olympics. Another American couple going to Turin, Marcy Hinzmann and Aaron Parchem, finished fourth at 148.90.
Belbin makes list
U.S. ice dancer Tanith Belbin made ESPN.com’s top 10 list for its Page 2 girl, the website’s annual celebration of the most beautiful women in sports.
“I saw that,” Belbin said. “That’s pretty fun, absolutely. It’s definitely fun to do something a little bit outside of skating. Obviously skating is my love and it’s gotten me to where I am, but ultimately we’d love to open some doors with our success in skating, and maybe someday when our careers are finished we can segue into something new.”
Belbin, 21, isn’t worried about being thrust into the realm of sex symbol as her exposure grows.
“I’m certainly not offended by it,” she said. “I’m a pretty free person, so I feel pretty good about it. … So it’s certainly flattering. Anything that increases exposure to the sport is good.”
Belbin and her partner, Ben Agosto, easily had the top score in the original dance program at 59.28. Their two-day total of 97.51 is way ahead of the 83.73 of Americans Morgan Matthews and Maxim Zavozin.
The free dance is at 2 p.m. today, with the men’s long program at 6:30 p.m.
Change in standings
A human error in the new international judging system caused a change in the pairs standings after Wednesday’s short program. An incorrect element worth 4.5 was entered for Hinzmann and Parchem instead of 5.0. When the error was discovered later that night, the couple flip-flopped into third place over Canada’s Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay.
Critics of the new system say if a similar error is discovered in an Olympics, it cannot be corrected after medals are awarded.
Liang leads
Americans Bebe Liang and Katy Taylor stood 1-2 after the women’s short program as Liang scored a personal-best 61.04 and Taylor a personal-best 57.26. The long program is Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
Quotable quote
Parchem on how many family, friends and relatives will watch him in Turin: “They’re going to need to put another wing on the Olympic Village.”
John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
