Together Again, They Skate to the Top

In a rarity, the sequel was better than the original. Call it “The Return of the Waitress and the Truck Driver.” Calla Urbanski and Rocky Marval are back as the pairs winners in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Although they won last year, they had critics who advised them not to give up their day jobs. But they returned this year with the same raw power, more confidence and improved sense of style.

Eight of the nine judges awarded them first place Thursday night at the America West Center in the free skating phase of the competition. The other judge gave his highest marks to runners-up Jenni Meno and Todd Sand of Costa Mesa, who joined Urbanski and Marval at the Olympics last year but with different partners.

“A lot of people were questioning our decision to skate together before,” Meno said. “Tonight, they saw that we made the right decision.”

Urbanski and Marval split for three months last summer, but they returned even better than before.

“It’s a sweet repeat,” Urbanski said. “We worked hard for it, and the hard work paid off.”

In the ice dancing competition, the European style appears to be winning favor with U.S. judges, which gives one of the teams here a decided advantage. One of their members is a European.

Gorsha Sur, a Russian defector, has teamed with Renee Roca, a former national champion from Colorado Springs, Colo., to win the first two phases of the ice dancing competition in the America West Arena. In Thursday night’s original dance, the Viennese waltz, they were first according to eight of the nine judges.

“It (has become) very apparent to a majority of our top judges what the European, or Russian, style of ice dancing is doing at the world-class level and that maybe there is a lot of merit to it and maybe we have to adopt some of it,” said Sandra Hess, who coaches Roca and Sur.

Hess said the American style is fast, aggressive and highly technical, while the European style is more balletic.

While recognizing the differences, Susan Wynne, a two-time national champion who is in second place here with partner Russ Witherby, suggested that the superiority in the European style is primarily in the eyes of European judges.