Ice dance champions waltz to tuneup victory

The Americans are participating in the Four Continents competition.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Give Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto a chance to put on a show, and they'll take it.
The three-time U.S. ice dance champions are making the most of what will be their final tuneup before the Turin Olympics, easily winning the compulsory dance Wednesday at Four Continents.
"Tanith and I are both natural performers. That's the part of skating we love," Agosto said. "We love skating, and I think that shows. We have a great time on the ice, even if it's just compulsories."
Their score of 38.23 points was more than seven points ahead of fellow Americans Morgan Matthews and Maxim Zavozin, a gap that has the makings of a rout. Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, silver medalists at last year's junior world championships, were third.
Jamie Silverstein and Ryan O'Meara, who passed Matthews and Zavozin to make the U.S. Olympic team, were fifth.
Champions excel
U.S. pairs champions Rena Inoue and John Baldwin also led after the short program. They scored 57.51 points, putting them almost four points ahead of Utako Wakamatsu and Jean-Sebastien Fecteau of Canada going into today's free skate.
Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay of Canada were third, and U.S. Olympians Marcy Hinzmann and Aaron Parchem were fourth. Former U.S. champions Katie Orscher and Garrett Lucash were fifth after he cut a planned triple toe loop jump into a double.
The men's competition was later Wednesday.
With the start of the Turin Olympics two weeks away, many skaters opted to skip Four Continents. None of the women on the U.S. Olympic team are here, and Matt Savoie is the only one of the men. The top Canadians stayed away, too.
But Belbin and Agosto never considered staying home. Now that the Canadian-born Belbin is eligible for Turin, she and Agosto are the best chance to end the United States' 30-year medal drought in dance and they want to be as prepared as possible.
"Lots of teams feel better staying at home and just taking it easy and building up themselves in training. But for us, it's definitely better to come here," said Belbin, who won a silver medal with Agosto at last year's world championships.
Judging
"These are the same international judges who will judge us at the Olympics and we want their feedback. "We don't want to stay in hiding!"
So far, the reviews are excellent.
All couples skated the same dance in compulsories, the tango romantica. But while the other teams faded together in a blur of monotony, Belbin and Agosto found ways to stand out. A small wave of her hand on a turn, a swagger in his body language as he twirled her around -- they're little things, but they added up to make a big difference.
They used every inch of the ice surface, and their edges were so crisp you could hear them cutting into the ice from the stands.
With deep knee bends and impressive unison, they looked more like a couple getting in one last dance at a cantina than skaters putting on a show.
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