China's decade-best Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo made a successful comeback on Friday after resuming figure skating from retirement, earning an undeniable lead at the pairs standings after short program. The most famed "Couple on Ice" hit a very high score of 72.28 points for their flawless performance to Sarah Brightman's Who Wants to Live Forever.
It has been the pair's personal best of short program, earning them an edge of nearly 10 points over the distant runners-up Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov from Ukraine.
Shen Xue (L) and Zhao Hongbo of China perform during the pairs short program competition of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2009/2010 in Beijing, China, Oct. 30, 2009.
The Ukrainian duo, with 62.95 points, had to work very hard to hold on to the second place as the reigning world junior champions pair Lubo Iliushechkina and Nodari Maisuradze settled temporarily at the third position at 62.54. Most favored Chinese pair Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, however, finished in a disappointing fourth after coming up to the spotlight last and scoring 61.92.
The Olympic silver medalists, whose finish in Turin three years ago has been the best ever result for China in a Winter Olympics, could be in danger to make this season's Finale if they failed to improve in Saturday's free skate.
According to the world skating governing body, only top six skaters/couples of the series will proceed to the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Tokyo, Japan.
With Friday's skating, Shen and Zhao, who have teamed for 17 years, proved themselves still a golden combination in China.
"It's a surprisingly good score. We are very satisfied with today's performance, though it's not perfect," said Zhao, whose torn Achilles' tendon had cost most of their chances to move further upgrade.
"Our skating today have shown our true level in the right moment and we did catch up with the passionate music," said the 36-year-old. "We are so thankful to the enthusiastic audience here who motivated us a lot."
"This short program has a modern style and can bring out more passion of us," added the wife Shen.
The duo won the first pairs' world title for China in 2002 and then retained it in 2003 before incurring a string of injuries.
Zhao had been suffering from a torn Achilles' tendon which affected them at the Turin Olympics and forced them to pull out of the 2006 worlds.
The very next year, the pair have overcome a dismal 2006 to sweep all before them this season, winning the Cup of China, the NHK Trophy, the Grand Prix final and the Four Continents event.
After lifting the world championships title in Tokyo, Shen and Zhao left the national team.
The two bronze medals in Salt Lake City and Turin Olympic Games,however, can never offset the regret of Olympic title drought for their nearly one-and-a-half decade career. In their words, it's a temporary leave.
"We will surely resume systematic training with the national team before the 2010 Winter Olympics," said Zhao in early 2008 and he and Shen have kept their words.
But the pair declined to talk some about next year's Vancouver Olympics, saying "it's too early to say anything about their expectations and a short program just cannot tell much."
The Cup of China Grand Prix was the third stop of this season's figure skating series, taking place at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium from October 30 to November 1. And Shen and Zhao have decided on another appearance in the following GP in the United States.
Skaters will compete here for a global prize money of 180, 000 U.S. dollars per individual event and receive points according to their placements.