Denney and Barrett win U.S. pairs skating championship

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett weren’t even skating together two years ago. Now they’re U.S. champions.

And on their way to the Vancouver Olympics.

Denney and Barrett skated a high-energy, action-packed program to “Sheherazade” on Saturday that was not only worthy of the title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but also ought to make the rest of the world take note.

Denney and Barrett finished with 190.30 points, almost 17 points in front of their training mates, Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig. Both pairs were later selected for the Olympic team.

“Our free skate today was one of the best programs we’ve ever done,” Denney said. “It was just so much fun, and I will remember that forever.”

Former U.S. champions and 2006 Olympians Rena Inoue and John Baldwin were third after landing their signature throw triple axel, and an argument could have been made to send the veteran pair to Vancouver. But Baldwin dismissed that idea while the selection committee was still meeting.

“First and second, that’s how you should pick it,” he said. “It’s not up to me, but that’s how you should pick it.”

Keanua McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, almost a lock for Vancouver after winning the national title in 2008 and ’09, took themselves out of contention with yet another flawed performance after a disastrous short program. It was a stunning reversal of fortune for the former Whiz Kids, who had surprisingly quick success and endless potential but finished fifth.

Denney and Barrett left them in the dust.

The Floridians skated together briefly in the summer of 2006 before Denney moved to Colorado with her mom and sister. But they missed Denney’s father, who had stayed in Florida, and returned home when the separation got to be too much. With Barrett still without a partner, the two reunited in the summer of 2008.

“I knew it was going to happen eventually, but I wasn’t sure whether it was this cycle or next,” coach Jim Peterson said. “But I knew when they came together they were going to be something big.”