Being a big-time sports fan, John Coughlin used the timing of this week’s World Figure Skating Championships in Nice, France, to compare it to America’s current obsession.
“If you look at it from an NCAA Tournament standpoint, Europeans and Four Continents feed into the world championships,” said Coughlin, who, along with Colorado Springs training partner Caydee Denney, took second in pairs at Four Continents last month at the World Arena. “They kind of separate the two halves of the figure skating world.
“And we did well in Four Continents.”
Yet as U.S. champions, Denney and Coughlin carry a burden. Continuing the March Madness theme, the U.S. pairs’ drought at worlds is akin to the Sun Belt Conference’s in the NCAAs. To wit:
• An American pairs team has not medaled at worlds since Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman took bronze in 2002 in Nagano, Japan.
• No American pairs team has won gold since Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner in 1979 in Vienna, which remains the only gold.
• At the next level, a U.S. pairs team hasn’t won an Olympic medal since Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard took bronze in 1988 in Calgary.
Could this be the year? Unlike past, well, decades, there is hope.
Besides Denney-Coughlin, Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker took third at Four Continents behind former junior sensations Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China.
However, missing from the World Arena last month were Qing Pang and Jian Tong, the defending Olympic silver medalists. You can likely pencil them in for one medal when pairs begin today (Universal Sports TV), as well as Germany’s Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, the three-time world champs and Olympic bronze medalists.
But defending Olympic champions Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China retired, and Savchenko is recovering from a thigh injury that kept her out of the Europeans. One podium spot appears wide open.
“It’s exciting that two teams could medal from the United States in an event where we’ve traditionally struggled,” said Coughlin, who took sixth last year with Caitlin Yankowskas. “We’re on the upswing.”
The Russians, who won 12 consecutive Olympic golds until Vancouver, are back. They swept the Europeans, topped by defending world silver medalists Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov.
“It’s a lofty goal,” Coughlin said. “There are very, very strong teams in the field. As we’ve both said before, no one trains at home for second place.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299, or jhenderson@denverpost.com
