History Made for Inoue and Baldwin in Pairs Free Skate
by Michelle Wojdyla
 History was made this afternoon at the 2006 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Rena Inoue and John Baldwin (All Year FSC) landed the first throw triple Axel in history en route to winning their second U.S. title and securing their place on the Olympic Team next month in Torino, Italy.
Marcy Hinzmann (Winterhurst FSC) and Aaron Parchem (DetroitSC) were second and were also named to the Olympic team. Parchem also makes the history books as the first African-American male figure skater named to the U.S. Olympic squad.
2005 pairs champions Katie Orscher and Garrett Lucash (Charter Oak FSC) could not overcome a series of errors and were fourth in the free skate and third overall, just 1.16 points out of contention for Torino. Tiffany Scott (Colonial FSC) and Rusty Fein (Washington FSC) were third in the free skate and fourth overall, winning a medal at their first U.S. Championships as a team. Although they skated beautifully, Naomi Nari Nam (All Year FSC) and Themistocles Leftheris (Los Angeles FSC) do not yet have enough difficulty in their program and placed fifth.
“For me, being at my 20th nationals I feel like I have been at school for 20 years and tonight I graduated,” Baldwin said. “I am sharing that with Rena, and I love her so much for being there for me.”
Inoue and Baldwin’s Shostakovich program brought the crowd to its feet for an extended standing ovation that saw the couple embrace in a long kiss in celebration. The four and half minute competitive program was packed with technical content highlighted by the throw triple Axel.
“We were working on the throw triple Axel last year but took a few hard falls and opted not to do it last year,” Baldwin said. “This year it was something we were determined to do mainly because we wanted to make our mark on the sport of pairs figure skating.”
After Baldwin turned out of the opening side-by-side triple toes, they put the error behind them. Their second jump element, the double Axel-double Axel sequence received mostly +1s. Although none of the technical elements received a full point GOE bonus, the level 3s and 4s gave them a 10+ point lead over the next highest score (66.89 over Scott and Fein’s 56.28). Their 58.68 program components were also top of the field.
“Rena and I knew what we had to do tonight, and we knew that it wouldn’t be easy,” Baldwin said. “We knew that we had to pull off the best performance in our competitive careers.”
Inoue has previously competed in both singles and pairs in the Albertville (’92) Olympics and in singles in Lillehammer (’94).
“When I think about it, it will be my third Olympics which I think is truly amazing,” Inoue said. ”It is not like I medalled before, but it is hard to explain how excited I am to be going to my third Olympics.”
Hinzmann and Parchem were first to skate in the final group. Their “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” program—choreographed by Parchem’s wife, Zuzanna Szwed—was judged equal in both technical elements and program components. Where most of the 18 teams had a large gap one way or the other between the technical and component scores, Hinzmann and Parchem’s were only half a point apart.
Hinzmann fell on their side-by-side triple toes, but the rest of the program was steady. Of the 117 remaining GOEs awarded, only two –1s marred the collection of +1 and base scores.
“Tonight felt wonderful!” Hinzmann said. “I was more than thrilled with our performance and with our placement for Aaron. We just wanted to do what we had been doing in practice, and I can honestly say we did that tonight.”
Twenty-eight-year-old Parchem was first alternate to the Salt Lake City Olympic team with his former partner Stephanie Kalesevich. This quadrennium, he knows he will compete under the five rings.
“I turned to our choreographer after we skated and I said, ‘I just don’t want Aaron to be the first alternate again,’” Hinzmann said.
“All pairs go through ups and downs, and we’ve had our share,” Parchem said. “There have been times when we have had to drag each other kicking and screaming through a season. But we have stuck them out which is a real testament to Marcy with the injury she had, and I am just very excited to be going to the Olympics.”
Leaders after the short program, Orscher and Lucash could not take advantage of the 3.24 point lead they created Wednesday. Lucash doubled the planned triple toe in their opening combination, Orscher put both hands down on the landing on the throw triple Salchow and flipped out of the throw triple flip. Their planned base value of all the elements was 50.6, but their score after deductions was 49.12, a loss of 1.48.
“We just did not perform to what we are capable of doing,” Orscher said.
“There are some days where you and your partner are just clicking together, but it has to be on the same wavelength,” Lucash said. “For some reason we had to fight through every element tonight.”
Four years ago Tiffany Scott made the Salt Lake Olympic team with then-partner Philip Dulebohn. Now she skates with Rusty Fein, and Dulebohn stood at the boards to offer coaching support.
“I actually did some research and wrote like a10-page essay titled, ‘How Tiffany can continue her Success,’” said Fein about pairing up with Scott. “I was so nervous and embarrassed when I handed it to her. I thought she would say no.”
“The main reason why I kept on skating and teamed up with Rusty was because I felt that there were still things that I could improve in terms of my skating,” the 28-year-old newlywed said. “I actually feel younger.”
The duo had a strong outing considering their short time together and Fein’s short time in pairs skating, period. They placed second in technical elements, fifth in program components and were third in the free skate.
“I think that we proved everybody wrong tonight,” Fein added. “They thought we were crazy when we teamed up.”
The U.S. Figure Skating International Committee names Inoue and Baldwin and Hinzmann and Parchem to both the Olympic and World teams. Orscher and Lucash join them on the Four Continents roster.
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