Chinese stand apart

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Two-time Olympic bronze medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo are up first in the pairs short program.

Probably where they’ll finish the night, too.

Returning from a two-year layoff for one last run at an elusive Olympic gold medal, the Chinese have been simply brilliant this year. They’ve won each of their competitions by huge margins.

The Grand Prix final had the most stacked field outside of the Olympics, and Shen and Zhao blew away the field by a dozen points.

Their practices here have been masterful – seeing them is better than watching some others actually compete.

Their athleticism, always their strength, hasn’t dropped off at all even though they’re in their 30s, ancient for pairs skaters.

But they’re also wonderfully expressive and emotional, a big change from a couple whose faces used to look like blank slates.

“The Chinese couples leave the same impression as in the past weeks. They are very solid,” said Ingo Steuer, who coaches two-time world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany.

They will have to be if they hope to finally claim the gold medal – not to mention end the streak that has seen Russian or Soviet pairs win every Olympic pairs title since 1964.

The pairs short program is today, and the free skate Monday. Five teams have legitimate shots at gold, and two more could be in the medals mix. The top couples have combined to win 19 world medals, and three have claimed the ultimate prize: the world championship. In addition to Shen and Zhao and Savchenko and Szolkowy, China’s Pang Qing and Tong Jian won in 2006.

“We know that we can win, and we want to win,” Szolkowy said.

Savchenko and Szolkowy figure to give Shen and Zhao the toughest test. The Germans won the last two world championships with such ease, they could have skipped the second half of their free skate and still been on top.