Local skaters revel in Olympic debut

Local pairs figure skaters Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig concluded their Olympic debut Feb. 15 with personal best scores for free skate and overall score, finishing 10^th in the pairs figure skating competition at the Pacific Coliseum.

"After being in 10^th after the short, I was really nervous going into the long,” Evora said. “We wanted to stay in the top 10, and I put more pressure on myself than I should have. To compete as well as we did under the pressure I put on myself, it's really a success for me."

The pair received a score of 114.06 points in the free skate for a combined overall score of 171.92. Evora and Ladwig’s previous bests were 98.19 and 148.33, respectively, which they set at 2009 Skate America in Lake Placid, N.Y.

“I enjoyed every moment of this program, more than I ever have,” Ladwig said. “It wasn’t perfect, but it was still our season’s best. I only missed the [triple] toeloop. I think I got a little excited about the [triple] toeloop and sort of muscled it, and you just have to let it flow.”

Teammates Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett finished 13^th with score of 105.07 in the free skate and 158.33 overall.

“It wasn’t about being perfect,” Barrett said. “We wanted to show the world what the USA had to offer.”

China claimed the top two spots on the podium with Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhou winning the gold medal with a score of 216.57. Teammates Qing Pang and Jian Tong finished second with 213.31 points and Germany’s Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy won the bronze medal with 210.60 points.