A silver medal dance

MOSCOW -- They decided a while ago that next year's Olympics might just be a winter fantasy for them. Benjamin Agosto is eligible and Tanith Belbin isn't and that's not likely to change between now and February. So America's best ice dancers have decided to grab whatever medals come along the way.

"We came here to be on the podium, to beat our personal best," said Belbin after she and Agosto finished second to defending champions Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov of Russia inside the Luzhniki Sports Palace last night for the first podium finish by a US couple since Judy Blumberg and Michael Seibert in 1985 and the best showing since Colleen O'Connor and Jim Millns won silver in 1975. "We did that in every portion of the competition here. We absolutely couldn't ask for more."

Belbin is a Canadian citizen and, barring an unlikely act of Congress, won't become naturalized until 2007. "At this point, we basically assume we're not going to be able to go, and have come to terms with that," said Agosto.

But that doesn't take away from what he and Belbin have accomplished, reviving a discipline that had gone dormant in the States. With the husband-and-wife team of Melissa Gregory and newly minted citizen Denis Petukhov placing 11th, the US earned three Olympic spots for the first time since 1984.

Problem is, the Americans don't have three eligible world-class couples right now. Lydia Manon and Ryan O'Meara, who were third at the national championships, have split up. The men in both the fourth- and fifth-place couples are Russian citizens. And Brookline resident Loren Galler-Rabinowitz and David Mitchell, last year's third US couple, missed the current season after Mitchell tore shoulder cartilage.

Maybe the Americans can trade one entry to the Russians for their third pair and a second-round pick in 2010. For now, though, they're celebrating the startling rise of the lissome 20-year-old Belbin and the energetic 23-year-old Agosto, who made their breakthrough in Boston in 2001 when they vaulted all the way from juniors to second among seniors in one year.

On the world level, they've gone from 17th to 13th to seventh to fifth to second. They had no illusions about beating the Russians, who've now won the dance title for the 17th time in the last 21 years. But after finishing second in Tuesday's compulsories and staying there after Thursday's original dance, Belbin and Agosto were in prime position to grab a sterling silver.

Last night, they nailed it down with a spirited Russian gypsy number that put them more than seven points ahead of Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov, who won Ukraine's first medal in the event.

That'll be Belbin and Agosto's last curtain call on the global stage until next year's post-Games worlds in Calgary, where the Americans would be favorites if Navka and Kostomarov win Olympic gold and move on. "If something did happen and we were able to go, that would be the icing on the cake for us," said Agosto. They don't need something shiny from Turin, though, to make their mark. "We've made our presence felt," said Belbin. "I don't think we're going to be forgotten."

Meanwhile, Sasha Cohen was still sitting in silver position behind Russian former champion Irina Slutskaya going into this afternoon's free skate. "I'm ready for it right now," said the 20-year-old Cohen, after finishing second in yesterday's short program. "I just want to go out there and nail everything. No questions."

Unlike last year, when Cohen could have beaten Japan's Shizuka Arakawa by winning the long program, she'll need to make up nearly three points to overtake Slutskaya, who shook off the wobbles to remain in first yesterday.

"I could never have imagined that it would be that hard to skate at my hometown," said the 26-year-old Muscovite, who won her world crown three years ago in Minneapolis after Olympic champion Sarah Hughes opted out. "I tried to ignore the crowd, but it's impossible. It is too much of pressure."

Still in medal position was five-time champion Michelle Kwan, who rebounded from her worst skate in eight years in qualifying to move up two places to fifth. "I just tried to make myself enjoy it," said the 24-year-old Kwan, who has made the global podium nine straight times. "It's been rough so far."

After a shaky debut under the code of points scoring system Wednesday, a disgusted Kwan gave herself a fight talk. "I said to myself, `Michelle, you haven't done anything yet. Get back together and wake up!' "

So Kwan skated a clean short, moved past Arakawa and her teammate, Fumie Suguri, and now is within a point of Italy's Carolina Kostner and the bronze medal. Had she skated cleanly, too, Newton native Jennifer Kirk might have moved up to the top dozen range. But a fall on her triple flip, after she'd landed her triple lutz combination, undid her. "When you make a mistake, you have to leave it," said Kirk, who's in 16th. "I'm learning, but it's not there yet."