Chinese pair go country to win short program at Four Continents

Chinese pair in first place

Skating to a tune called “Country Dance” and costumed like they were headed to a West Virginia square dance, Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China brought the World Arena to its feet during their short program in the pairs competition Saturday.

Sui, 16, and Han, 19, are leading heading into Sunday’s free skate. The duo scored 66.75 in the short program on Saturday, 3.4 points ahead of Americans Caydee Denney and John Coughlin.

“The throw was very beautiful today and the crowd was happy,” Han said through an interpreter. “In the free program, we will do both quad throws and I hope we will succeed.”

Dancing with the stars

Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White head into Sunday’s free dance in the lead with 72.15 points. They’re followed closely by Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada, who scored 71.60.

The U.S. brother-sister tandem of Maia and Alex Shibutani was graded at 63.38, a score that drew groans from the partisan crowd and put them in fourth. In third is Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Canada at 64.23.

U.S. pairs all in contention

All three U.S. couples scored 60 or more points in the pairs short program. Caydee Denney and John Coughlin go into Sunday’s free skate in second place with 63.35 points with Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker in third with 62.42. Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig are in fifth with 60.75.

“We had a few like little bobbles and things, I mean on our twists and a little bobble on our throw,” Brubaker said. “Aside from that, the elements, the performance factor, I thought were really good.”

Chan wins men’s competition

Defending world champion Patrick Chan of Canada took both the short program and the free skate to win the men’s competition, which was completed late Friday. Chan, who trains in Colorado Springs with Broadmoor Skating Club coach Christy Krall, scored 273.94 points. Daisuke Takahashi of Japan was second, 29.61 points behind, followed by Americans Ross Miner (223.33) and Adam Rippon (221.55).

“You just have to feel it and I was feeling it,” said Chan after Friday’s free skate. “It came together very well today. My plan from the beginning was two quads, but if it didn’t go well, I just trust my training. You just have to trust yourself.”