Broadmoor pair second after Four Continents short program

At the U.S. National Championships just over a week ago, Caydee Denney and John Coughlin dug themselves a hole with a fall on a triple flip in the short program.

The pair, who train in Colorado Springs, won’t need to do any digging after Saturday’s short program at the World Arena.

Denney and Coughlin nailed the flip, and with it their entire routine, to put themselves in second place going into Sunday’s free skate at the ISU Four Continents Championship. Their score of 63.35 was a career best.

“It was just something we needed to zero in on when we got to it,” Coughlin said. “I think that’s why it was successful today in the short program is because neither of us had it on our mind until it was time to tap for the flip. We kept it on its compartment.”

That compartmentalization has them heading into Sunday’s free skate trailing only China’s Wenjing Sui and Cong Han, who dazzled en route to a score of 66.75. Sui and Han came into the Four Continents Championships ranked No. 6 in the world, the highest-ranked duo in the competition.

Denney and Coughlin, who are unranked, lead five other pairs who came in ranked among the world’s top 20.

Flash back to the pairs’ competition at nationals, which concluded April 29 in San Jose, Calif. A fall on the flip dropped Denny and Coughlin to third place in the short program, nearly five full points behind the leaders, Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker. Denney and Coughlin overcame the sizable deficit with a tremendous free skate to win. (Brubaker and Marley were third Saturday.)

“I think when it actually happened at nationals, I was a little bit shocked myself,” Denney said. “It wasn’t a mistake that happens a lot.”

Denney and Coughlin have been working together since May after the completion of the 2011 World Championships. They train with the Broadmoor Skating Club under the tutelage of coaches Dalilah Sappenfield and Larry Ibarra.

“I think we’re getting closer and closer to how we do it in training. We skate pretty consistently at home, pretty free at home and that’s what Dalilah and Larry are always talking to us about,” said Coughlin, who is the first man in U.S. history to win back-to-back titles with different partners. “We were just trying to be as clean and neat as possible on polish this weekend.”

After Sunday’s free skate, Denney and Coughlin will set their focus on the 2012 World Championships in Nice, France, in March and ultimately on the 2014 Olympics.

“Looking forward from this competition to worlds,” Denney said. “I think that we have some time to really grow as a team with our skating and the program itself and with the little details and just polishing and making things as finished as they can look.”