Russians edge Americans for ice dance title

By Nancy Armour

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin don't mess around. Their first medal at the world championships, and they Russians make it a gold.

Domnina and Shabalin's powerful yet composed free dance was just enough to hold off training mates Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, giving the Russians the ice dance title at the World Figure Skating Championships on Friday night. Domnina and Shabalin finished with 206.30 points, 1.22 ahead of the Americans.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada won the bronze medal. Barely. They edged Meryl Davis and Charlie White by a mere 0.04 — a margin usually seen in swimming, not figure skating.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Move over, Kobe. A new world champion just rocked your house.

Feeding off the energy of the crowd in his adopted hometown, Evan Lysacek won the title at the World Figure Skating Championships on Thursday night, the first by an American man in 13 years. And he did it with the passion and flair the folks at the Staples Center usually see from Bryant, pounding his fists like he was banging on a drum before he'd even finished his final spin.

"This whole event, I knew it was going to be special because I always loved skating in this building. It's such an electric building and the people of L.A. have been so supportive. I just wanted to do well for them tonight," he said. "To get out there and perform the way that I imagined it hundreds of times and visualized in my head, I couldn't have asked for anything more.

"I'll never forget this incredibly special experience."

Neither will anyone who saw him skate.

Lysacek was devastated by the tentative, restrained performance that cost him a third straight title at the U.S. championships, and a week spent with choreographer Lori Nichol earlier this month reminded him to let loose and skate with abandon and joy. He set the tone for his "Rhapsody in Blue" program with his very first element, a triple lutz-triple toe loop combination he landed with confidence and security. He did eight triples in all, including a triple flip as part of a three-jump combination.

But it was his showmanship that won over the crowd — and the judges.

While other skaters look like they're checking things off element by element, he flowed from one trick to the next. His spins were quick and so perfectly centered he could have drilled a hole through the ice, and his footwork was wonderfully expressive, matching the lightness and playfulness of the music.

The audience was caught up in his emotion, a roar of applause rising as he danced across the ice in his footwork that led into that final spin.

"Well, tonight I wasn't thinking about winning, I wasn't even thinking about medaling," Lysacek said. "I just wanted to skate well for my hometown crowd of L.A."

Making it even more impressive: He did it with a bum foot.

Lysacek had downplayed the injury all week, but finally admitted afterward he has a stress fracture in his left foot. It kept him from doing a quadruple jump, and had limited the number of toe loops and salchows he could do leading up to the event. Eventually, he'll have to get it treated.

"It sounds so bad but it's really not that bad," he said.

When you're a world champion, all is good.

"We were not really expecting this," longtime coach Frank Carroll said. "It really was our desire to just come here and skate clean."

Brian Joubert had bigger goals in mind and, had he skated cleanly, the 2007 world champion would have another gold medal.


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