Long odds for Canadian comeback in pairs

There may not be room on the podium for Canada’s top pairs figure skaters at the Sochi Olympics.

It will be a near thing, but with seven world titles owned by the teams in the four spots ahead of them after Tuesday’s short program, the odds of a comeback are long.

Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford are doing their jobs, though — even when the crowd is roaring for “Russ-ee-ya!” while the Canadian champions are hoping to hear their music start.

“It felt like we stepped on the ice in the middle of a Montreal Canadiens game,” said Duhamel.

“After they’d scored a goal,” said Radford. “This was a lot more challenging than the team event. First of all, doing another short was a strange feeling. And along with that, the crowd, following the Russians after they had such a great skate ... it was really challenging not letting the crowd get into our heads.”

On the bright side, only the first two pairs — defending world champions Tatiana Volsozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia and four-time champs Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany — look untouchable.

It was the eye-popping 84.17 points put up by Volosozhar and Trankov that had the crowd roaring.

Duhamel and Radford are only three points out of third, held by the second Russian pair, Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov, and one point behind two-time world champs Qing Pang and Jian Tong of China.

So all is not lost. Nor is the sixth place occupied by the No. 2 Canadian pair, Kirsten MooreTowers and Dylan Moscovitch, who also skated a clean short program. But both pairs skate in the next-to-last flight Wednes- day, which isn’t ideal for trying to come from behind.

“Points are tight, it’s all about the l ong program,” said Kris Wirtz, who coaches Moore-Towers and Moscovitch.

The night was also a success for Saskatchewan’s Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers, whose 13th place in the short meant they survived the 16-team cut.

Among the fans cheering them on were Lawrence’s parents and two brothers. “The bull riders, they’ve invaded Sochi,” she said.

The family brought along a cowbell, given to the skaters a week ago by the uncle of 2010 Olympic skeleton champion Jon Montgomery.