Now That's More Like It

Good news for Canada in the pairs discipline today in Tokyo.
Former Canadian champs Valerie Marcoux of Gatineau, Que., and Craig Buntin of Kelowna, B.C., laid down their best short program of the season and stand fifth in the pairs event at the 2007 worlds — exactly where they wound up a year ago in Calgary.
With 60.73 points, Marcoux and Buntin are also well placed to gain a spot in the final standings. They’re just 1.34 points behind Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov, a new team representing Russia.
“It feels good to be smiling. We’re happy with what we did,” said Buntin after their clean skate. “We kept the focus just on ourselves and skated like Val and Craig out there, and we’re just really happy.”
Also heartening was the effort of Jessica Dube of St. Cyrille de Wendover, Que., and Bryce Davison of Cambridge, Ont. The Canadian champions are seventh after the short with 58.94 points.
It was only about five weeks ago, you’ll recall, that Dube was cut badly across her nose and left cheek by Davison’s skate blade when they got too close on side-by-side spins. Today’s skate was, by all reports, a little rough, but it should help them settle in a little more for the free skate.
Again, keep an eye on the final placings for these two teams. The magic number is 13 — anything totalling that number (or less) means Canada keeps three pairs spots for the 2008 worlds.
Anabelle Langlois of Hull, Que., and Cody Hay of Grande Prairie, Alta., wound up 13th in the short. This is Hay’s worlds debut.
Former world champs Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China hold the lead with a whopping 71.07 points. They're followed by Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy (67.65) and the reigning world champs from China, Qing Pang and Jian Tong (66.75).
We should know a final result by the time us folks in the East rise and shine on Wednesday morning.