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Bourne and Kraatz win bronze fourth straight year
HELSINKI (CP) -- Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz will be back to try again.The Canadian ice dance champions won bronze world championship medals for the fourth year in a row Friday, and said they'll try for gold again next year.
"If we do ever end up winning I think it's going to be so much more memorable than if we were one-time wonders," said Kraatz. "The hard work will have paid off.
"We're inching our way forward but I guess it's still not quite enough. But there's no way we'll bow out without achieving our goal."
They weren't griping about being third yet again because Bourne slipped out of Kraatz's grasp 15 seconds from the end of their four-minute Heart Attack routine to techno-pop music and the automatic deduction eliminated any hope of winning.
Russians Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov retained the title, and Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France took silver. The crowd preferred the French pair and their Man In the Iron Mask number but the judging panel split 5-4 in favour of the Russians.
It was the curse of the standing ovation. The only one Friday was given Anissina and Peizerat. On Wednesday, Chinese duo Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao got the only standing ovation in the pairs final, and the judges opted for Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.
"I am afraid so," Peizerat replied when asked if he was the curse's latest victim.
Maybe boxing promoter Don King selected the judges.
No. But, still, the result made a mockery of the notion floated after the original dance Thursday, when the French jumped into first place, that movement in normally static dance standings was about to occur.
The order of finish of the top five couples was exactly the same as it was one year ago in Minneapolis.
Krylova was asked why she thought she and her partner had won with their dance to African drums.
"You can see the video and you can see why our program is more difficult than the French couple," she said.
Peizerat begged to differ. He also suggested judges should be required to appear at a news conference following a competition.
"We are sad," he said of settling for second place. "It is very hard for us to handle. But we will be here next year. The crowd's reaction gives us the power to carry on. Nothing can replace that (reaction) -- not even the medal."
The Russians also said they'd be back.
"Next season we will skate for sure and we will fight to win again," said Krylova.
Bourne, 22, of Chatham, Ont., and Kraatz, 27, of Vancouver competed under a handicap. Bourne has damaged cartilage in her left knee. She'll have specialists look at it Monday in Toronto.
"It's a bit sore but I'm happy how we got through the week," she said. "Energy can do wonders."
Their free dance contained more footwork than any of the other dances. The top two couples were more theatrical.
"Our program was so jam-packed with things from one step to the next," said Bourne. "There's more chance of a mistake to happen because it is hard.
"It felt like a quad program" as in singles skating.
On the slip, "We're human, I guess," said Bourne.
Chantal Lefebvre of LaSalle, Que., and Michel Brunet of Gatineau, Que., finished 15th.
Skaters from Russia or the former Soviet Union now have won the ice dance title each year since 1991, when the Canadian-raised, sister-brother team of Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay prevailed for France.
First was worth $82,500, second $49,500 and third $33,000 US.
Competition concludes today with women's singles free skating. Maria Butyrskaya of Russia is in first place, and defending champion Michelle Kwan is fourth after falling on a double Axel jump in the short program.
Canadian champion Jennifer Robinson of Windsor, Ont., is 13th.