Chapter 162: The Final Tune Up

A week and a half before Christmas, the leading lights of the figure skating community landed in Berlin for the Grand Prix finals.

Sophie and Warren were excited. Because this was their last year in skating, they were trying to savor everything. And they'd never been to Berlin, so this was an opportunity to check out a new city. They arrived early, with Betsy in tow, and did copious sightseeing. They checked out the Brandenberg Gate and strolled down the Unter Den Linden. They checked out the Berlin Wall Museum and Checkpoint Charlie. They took a tour of the Reichstag.

"This is possibly the best thing about being a skater," Warren said. "We've seen so many places. It might be the part I miss the most."

"Now we'll just have to do it as tourists," Sophie laughed.

"Maybe, maybe not," Warren said. "I've been thinking about my career."

"How so?"

"I was thinking about what the doc that operated on my knee said to me. About becoming an orthopedic surgeon with a specialty in sports medicine, instead of a pediatrician. He says he still works with mostly kids and teenagers. And it'd give me a way to stay connected with sports."

"You mean like volunteering to be the doctor at competitions, stuff like that?" Sophie said.

"Exactly," Warren said. "I have time to think about it, but I'm seriously thinking about it."

"That would be cool, actually. You know how I feel--whatever you want to do. But, hey, you are an athlete. You know how an athlete's body works. I think you'd be dynamite at it."

"Yeah. And it'd be fun to go more places."

"We've seen a lot, haven't we?" Sophie said. "I mean, we've been all over the US and Canada, but, even outside of that, we've seen a lot."

"Yeah. Paris, London, Moscow, now Berlin. We've seen Switzerland and Norway."

"Beijing. Nagano, Japan. Don't forget Amsterdam," Sophie grinned.

"How could I forget Amsterdam?" Warren laughed. "And if we go to Worlds this year, we'll get to see Budapest."

"That's the best reason for going to Worlds," Sophia laughed.

The schedule for the Grand Prix Final was thus: the short programs (or original dance) on Thursday; the first free program on Friday; the second free program on Saturday. The second free, which was the current year's free, was worth half the score. The original program and the other free were worth one fourth each.

Since there are two OD's in ice dancing now, one would be drawn for the Final. Warren and Sophia were kind of hoping to rip off their rock and roll OD, but it was the quickstep that was drawn. That was OK, too, they were confident in that.

The order of skaters was the same as the Olympics: Pairs, Men, Dance, then Ladies. So, the pairs started out with their short program. The battle seemed to be between Andrea and Brett and the Canadian champs, Sellers and Poulin. However, at least in the short program, that battle was pre-empted, as both the top teams had problems. The leaders after the short program were the Czechs, Trogonickova and Kepul, who had finished fourth at last years' Worlds. Second were the young Russian pair of Yaskovarina and Chebinskiy. Andrea and Brett were third, Sellers and Poulin fourth. The defending world bronze medallists, Yin and Li of China, plummeted to sixth after major difficulties.