Sat, Mar 24, 2007 page18

• Bulgarians clinch second straight ice dance crown

  • AP
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  Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria captured their second consecutive ice dance title at the World Figure Skating Championships yesterday in possibly the last competitive event of their career.

  They had a score of 201.61 points to 200.46 by Canadians Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon.

  Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto of the US were third with 195.43 points.

  

  Bulgarian pair Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski perform during the free dance at the World Figure Skating Championships in Tokyo yesterday.

  PHOTO: AFP

  Later yesterday, Mao Asada and Kimmie Meissner begin their confrontation in the women's short program. Asada has the support -- and the high expectations -- of the local crowd. Meissner is the defending champion, winning the title in an upset after the Olympics when the stars did not show up or faltered for last year's worlds.

  In the ice dance, the top three were bunched within a half-point of each other entering the free dance and repeated the top three from last year's world championships following the Olympics.

  Denkova and Staviski took the gold with a free dance program to a modern arrangement of Mozart's Requiem with a story theme of "Seven Deadly Sins" dressed in white.

  

  Canadian pair Marie-France Dubreuil, left, and Patrice Lauzon perform during the free dance competition at the World Figure Skating Championships in Tokyo yesterday. They finished second.

  PHOTO: AFP

  At the end, Denkova was balanced on Staviski's knees in a routine full of intricate spins and rotations.

  They have said this is their last competition and redeemed a third place finish at the European championships.

  "It is probably our last competition," Denkova said. "We were thinking about it that this could be our last year. We cannot say 100 percent, but I think so."

  "No, it's enough. I want a life," Staviski said. "But she is the president of the federation."

  They live together and are a couple off the ice, too.

  The Canadians' free dance to a throaty version of At Last by Etta James was a more relaxed skate.

  "It was a lot more pressure last year. The worlds were in Canada and it was the first time we were going back to Canada since our accident at Torino," Dubreuil said.

  She was hurt when she was dropped heavily on her hip and they had to withdraw.

  "This year it was a lot less stress than last year," she said.

  France's Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder, who won the Europeans, were fourth with Russians Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin fifth.

  Belbin and Agosto were far behind the others in the free dance to Amelie, only finishing fourth in that section. She made a major mistake when she went off balance on a twizzle -- a one-foot spin -- nearly bumping into Agosto.

  "I can't believe I missed my twizzle. I never do that," Belbin said. "I felt relieved we finished, but disappointed I couldn't give this program complete justice."

  But they were far enough ahead of the French and Russians to hold on to third.

  Belbin thought the bronze was gone.

  "I was already changed and ready to go," Belbin said.
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