This past summer there seemed to be a rash of changes in the figure skating world with respect to skaters changing coaches and locations, and also with pairs and dance teams changing partners. One new pairing that has attained a level of success already that might not have been unexpected is the pairs team of Caydee Denney and John Coughlin. Both are past U.S. Champions with other partners, and last month in San Jose, CA, they won the pairs title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in their first try as a new team.
This weekend the pair will try for another title at the 2012 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Colorado Springs at World Arena. Pairs competition begins with the short program at 1:00 on Saturday, with the free skate at noon on Sunday.
Coughlin commented on the changes that many skaters went through during the off-season, "It was probably the same number of changes that there normally are. Maybe some of them were higher profile and made them stand out a little bit. What made mine different was I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep going, so it was more of a life decision. I'd been through the ringer with what had happend the year before for me in my life away from skating."
Coughlin was considering moving into coaching, or signing on with a professional skating show. At first the new pairing was very informal. "It went from a friend skating with me trying to help me decide what to do next, to where we are today," he explained. "I think Caydee is the only person I could have put this together with so quickly, and so enjoyably. We put a lot of long day in to get where we are. She's a joy to get on the ice with. It doesn't feel like work."
Denney chimed in about Coughlin's individual ability that helped make the pairing work so well, "Definitely. John...absolutely. Before we teamed up together, I always respected his skating. With both of us having the same work ethic, and same goals, that makes skating motivating."
Both skaters really felt they had a good chance at winning nationals, despite their limited time as a team. "That was our goal going into it," Denny said. "It was something I believed could happen. We'd worked so hard. We thought if we just skated our best it could happen."
Coughlin added, "We'd worked so hard at home. I feel that if we skate to our capabilities, we can put ourselves in position at each event."
The pair is using the Four Continents Championships as another chance to hone their routine before going to the World Championships next month in Nice, France. "I think every event is crucial when you're as new as we are, "Coughlin commented. "It's another chance for mileage on our program."
Denney added, "That's was I was going to say--mileage. It's crucial, but you're getting experience each time out toward the ultimate goal of Sochi (the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia), and hopefully over the next couple years we'll really be where we want for the Olympics."
Men's Short Program
Despite falling on his opening quad toe loop, defending World Champion Patrick Chan of Canada has the lead after the men's short program Thursday evening. Chan was pretty good after the opening bobble, with good speed and smooth flow during the rest of his routine. Chan's score of 87.95 is 4.51 points ahead of second place skater Takahito Mura of Japan. Daisuke Takahashi and Tatsuki Machida, also of Japan, are close behind.
U.S. skaters Ross Miner and Adam Rippon are in the hunt for medals, sitting 6th and 7th, respectively. American Richard Dornbush is 13th.
Competition continues Friday with the ladies' short program at 1:00, and the men's free skate at 7:00.
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