The ice dancing event at the upcoming 2012 ISU Four Continents Championships in Colorado Springs, Co. should prove to be as exciting as the elaborately produced television show Dancing With The Stars on ABC. The ice dance event begins Saturday and will be a display of skill and artistry as only the best in the world can showcase. Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White, Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani will compete head to head with their training partners Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Chasing the trio will be Canadian silver medalists Kaitlin Weaver and Andrew Poje who have a very real chance at the podium.
While there won’t be spotlights until the exhibitions, the dance event will be full of glamour, technical skill and drama as these North American teams all vie for medals in the last major competition before the 2012 World Championships in Nice, France at the end of March.
In the pairs event, the newly crowned US champions Caydee Denney and John Coughlin will take on Canadians Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford. The Chinese pair of Wenjing Sui and Cong Han could prove a challenge to both these teams, but they have failed to build any real momentum during this year’s Grand Prix season. New US silver medalists Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker, with US bronze medalists Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig will face a challenge from Canadians Jessica Dube` and Sebastien Wolfe. Marley and Brubaker are a new team as are Dube` and Wolfe, while Floridians Evora and Ladwig have forged their bond in Olympic competition and are looking for redemption after failing to make this year’s world team. The key is skating two clean programs under the scrutiny of a panel of experts judging their every move, while the entire world watches. No problem, right?
For more information on the 2012 ISU Four Continents Championships, see www.icenetwork.com, and www.universalsports.com for specific streaming and/or broadcast times. For information about skating in your area, contact your local ice skating rinks about session times, classes, and private lessons. Here are links to some Orlando area rinks: The Ice Factory www.icefactory.com, RDV Sportsplexhttp://www.rdvsportsplex.com/florida-orlando-rdv-sportsplex-ice-den, Space CoastIceplex www.spacecoasticeplex.com.
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