Canadian pair withdraws after Meagan Duhamel’s hard fall; China’s Shen-Zhao win pairs

Canadian pair out after hard fall at Skate America

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Two-time Olympic bronze medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo took a big step toward Vancouver in their comeback when the Chinese pair won Skate America on Saturday.

The free skate was marred by a nasty fall by Canadian Meagan Duhamel, forcing her and Craig Buntin to withdraw. Duhamel fell hard to the ice and reinjured her right leg.

Duhamel landed on her shoulder, then banged her head on the surface on a throw triple loop. Buntin immediately skated over and helped her to her feet and she was wobbly as she went to the sideboards.

But Buntin said it was her leg, in which she has had several stress fractures, and not her head, that was bothering her.

“It’s an old injury,” he said, “and on the throw loop her foot stuck in the ice. She said she couldn’t feel her leg at first.

“After the camel spin, she almost stopped, as well. But she said her head is OK. I’ve known Meagan for years and we all know she has a very thick head.”

Skate America officials said Duhamel had no injuries other than to her leg.

Shen and Zhao were nowhere near as clean or impressive as in their sensational short program the previous day. Both blamed that on a lack of sleep.

“Three hours,” Zhao said, then wiped his brow.

“Today, the free program was very hard for us,” his partner and wife added.

Still, they added their first Skate America title to their victory at Cup of China two weeks ago. Not a bad way to start a comeback after retiring two years ago.

“When we didn’t compete, the last two years,” Shen said, “we skated in Stars on Ice and that really helped us with our presentation mark.”

Ukraine’s Tatiana Volosozahar and Stanislav Morozov were a distant second.

Earlier, 2006 Olympic silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto stretched their lead in ice dance.

The last time folk music was required for the original dance, Belbin and Agosto went the close-to-home route with an American theme. This time, they’ve gone Moldavian.

“Our coaches told us it is not a Russian dance, it is not a Ukrainian dance, it is Moldavian,” Belbin said with a chuckle. “We love doing it.”

They did it well enough Saturday to increase their lead after winning compulsories. The 2006 Olympic silver medalists and runners-up at last year’s world championships head into Sunday’s free dance with nearly a 14-point lead over Russians Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski, who struggled in the original dance.

Belbin and Agosto, seeking their fifth Skate America title, seemingly never had time to take a breath while they stepped and stomped all over the ice.

“This has been a challenging dance from the start because it’s so fast throughout,” Agosto said. “It’s very fast and high-energy and difficult.

“We wanted to do something new. The last time we chose (American), and we felt lucky we had the rest of the world to choose from and this is a fun dance.”

Italy’s Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte were second in the original dance with a playful routine to, naturally, Italian folk music. Israel’s Alexandra and Roman Zaretski were third, but Russia’s Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski remained second overall despite a spotty program.

“We made too many mistakes,” Novitski said.

The Italians were thrilled with their performance.

“There is a lot of variety with folk dance,” Cappellini said. “We are happy to perform music from our country.”

The women’s short program, featuring world champion Kim Yu-na of South Korea, and the men’s free skate, with world champ Evan Lysacek of the United States in front after winning the short program, were scheduled for Saturday night.