Chinese veterans Pang and Tong savour their first World gold
It was time to go but they couldn't get Tong Jian to leave the kiss and cry area.
The 26-year-old from Harbin wanted to savour the moment, celebrating his first gold medal in the pairs event on Wednesday at the Calgary World Figure Skating Championships.
"I am sitting here, but my mind is still in the kiss and cry area of the arena when we were waiting for the scores," Tong, who skated with partner Pang Qing, told reporters. "We stand on the top of the podium for the first time in this event.
"We belong in the medal contenders in each competition but we weren't always able to do our best."
They no longer have to worry about that as Pang and Tong gave China their third pairs title in the last five years by leading a 1-2 sweep at the 450,000 US dollar event.
Skating last in the free skate, Pang and Tong rallied from a second place showing after Monday's short programme to vault past compatriots Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao and seize their first world title.
The two-time national champions have each been skating for two decades and teammed up in 1993 but this is their first victory in a World or Olympics.
"I am in a mode of extreme happiness" Tong said.
Olympic silver medallists Zhang and Zhang collected 40,500 dollars for second while retiring Russian champions Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov earned 27,000 dollars for the bronze in front of a crowd of about 10,000 at the Calgary Saddledome.
The door was open for a new champion in Calgary after Olympic gold medallists and two-time world champions (2005, 2004) Tatiana Totmainina and Maxim Marinin announced their retirement after the Turin Games.
Russian or Chinese skaters have now won the last five world titles.
Sensing their good fortune, Tong stood in the kiss and cry area while the scores were being announced then embraced his 26-year-old partner.
"We know we can do even better. This will give us a lot more of confidence in the future," Pang said.
The veteran Chinese pair have a treasure chest of experience which showed in Wednesday's free skate programme as they spun and spiralled to music from the Phantom of the Opera.
Their only other medal at the worlds was a bronze two years ago. They finished fourth in both the Turin Olympics last month and the 2005 Moscow Worlds.
Zhang and Zhang captured the silver medal at last month's Winter Olympics despite an interruption of almost three minutes in the long programme after Zhang Dan fell.
They blamed their second place finish on the injury and a lack of training leading up to the Calgary event.
"We didn't have as much time to train for the worlds as we did for the Olympics," the 20-year-old Zhang Dan said.
Russian champions Petrova and Tikhonov were hoping for another world title to go with the one they won in 2000. They were runners up last year and placed fifth in Turin. They made it official Wednesday by saying they will retire from international skating.
"Calgary was the site of my first and last competition," Tikhonov said.
Americans Rene Inoue and John Baldwin placed fourth while host Canadians Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin rounded out the top five.
Canadian champion Joannie Rochette stormed into the early lead with a personal best score in women's group B singles qualifying.
The 20-year-old Rochette ammassed 117.12 points, shattering her previous personal score of 113.08 which she set two years ago in France.
Skating in the third to last position, Rochette vaulted past the early leader Yukari Nakano.
The Japanese dynamo registered 111.14 points to put herself in contention heading into Friday's short programme.
Gold medal favourite Sasha Cohen, of the United States, stumbled three times on jumps in the evening session of qualifying but still managed to place third with 110.36 points.
Japan's Fumie Suguri lead group A with a score of 113.88. The 25-year-old from Yokohama finished fourth in the Turin Olympics and is just slightly ahead of second place American Kimmie Meissner who earned 113.84.
AFP
