Alumna Tanith Belbin Takes Silver Medal at Worlds

"It always means something to beat Russians."

By Lynn Rutherford, special to icenetwork.com

(03/26/2009) - "It always means something to beat Russians."

Tanith Belbin's words could be seen as a rallying cry in the cold war of ice dance, but in this case she's talking about a couple she and partner Ben Agosto see every day: Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin.

Since last May, the teams have trained alongside each other in Aston, Pa., under 1980 Olympic champions Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponossov. It seems to be paying off for both, as they sit just 0.64 points apart going into Friday's free dance.

"I honestly don't see any disadvantage to training with them," Agosto said. "You know what they say, 'Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer.'

"Not that we're enemies; we're good friends. But every practice is a competition. We watch each other out of the corners of our eyes; we're always trying to work harder."

At Skate America, Belbin and Agosto's original dance to Kander and Ebb's Stepping Out caused them to lose ground. At the Grand Prix Final in December, it put them in fifth place. They later withdrew from the event due to Agosto's back injury.

The program has been transformed since then, and not just because of Belbin's bright red beret and lipstick. It's faster, brighter, with the feel of a big MGM musical. Like the other top couples, the Americans earned Level 4s for all of their rated elements and positive Grades of Execution across the board. They won the event with 65.16 points.

"It's seven points ahead of our season's best, and that's a big step," Belbin said. "We focused on showing what we've been working on -- more confidence, broader posture, more speed."

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Reported By: Amber�Walker

03-30-2009

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