CINCINNATI (CP) - Canada won the dance and pairs crowns, the United States took the men's individual title and Japan won the women's event at the Campbell's Cup team figure skating meet Sunday. The victorious Canadian ice dancers were Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon of Montreal, and Tessa Virtue of London and Scott Moir of Ilderton, Ont., who earned a total of 155.
57 points to 139.99 for the United States. Canadian pairs champions Valerie Marcoux of Gatineau, Que.
, and Craig Buntin of Kelowna, along with Utako Wakamatsu and Jean-Sebastien Fecteau of St-Leonard, Que., earned 171.19 points to 150.
76 for a U.S. side.
Dance and pairs titles were worth US$40,000 each, while the losing teams got US$20,000. Dubreuil and Lauzon, the world silver medallists, easily won the free dance over Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov, while Olympic silver medallists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto took the original dance over Virtue and Moir. Marcoux and Buntin edged Rena Inoue and John Baldwin in the pairs short program, while Wakamatsu and Fecteau beat Naomi Nari Nam and Themi Letheris in free skating.
Canada has always had three or four what I call world-level (pairs) teams, Fecteau said. I've always said to reporters that it's tougher to get out of Canada (into international competition) than it is to finish in the top 10 in the world. In singles, the winning U.
S. and Japanese teams got $60,000 each and the losers $30,000 each. Johnny Weir, the three-time U.
S. champion, got his team rolling by winning the short program over Japan's Kensuke Nakaniwa. It was OK, said Weir, who was battling a flu.
It was kind of slow. Nobunari Oda of Japan won the men's free skating, with Americans Evan Lysacek and Scott Smith and teammate Daisuke Takahashi following in that order. The U.
S. side wound up with 350.01 points and Japan 327.
08. Mao Asada, Mai Asada and Miki Ando swept the women's event and amassed 282.20 points.
Ando edged Sasha Cohen in the short, and Mao Asada won the free skating ahead of reigning world champion Kimmie Mesiner, Mai Asada and Emily Hughes. The Americans got a total of 269.03.
Cohen and Meissner both botched planned triple Axels, costing them valuable points. I was a little disappointed, said Cohen, the defending U.S.
champion. I popped my flip. I'm just happy to be on my feet.
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