By Nancy Armour
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The pain in Shen Xue's ankle was so bad earlier this week she and partner Zhao Hongbo briefly considered withdrawing. What a performance the world would have missed if they had.

The Chinese couple put on one of the most phenomenal shows skating has seen in a long time Wednesday night, defending their title at the World Figure Skating Championships. And fans knew they were seeing something special, rising to their feet and roaring their approval with 35 seconds still to go.

As Shen and Zhao stood in the middle of the rink drinking in the adoration, fans began chanting "Six! Six! Six!" The judges obliged, giving the couple four perfect marks in a program that might have deserved more.

"I appreciate my partner's performance," said Zhao, who grabbed Shen in a bearhug when they finished. "If we can make changes to our gold medals, I want to make mine smaller and give part of my medal to her."

There's no way to know if Shen and Zhao's perfect 6.0s counted, though. Under the interim judging system, a computer randomly selects which judges' marks to use, and no one knows which ones counted.

And one judge must have been watching something else, putting Russia's Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin ahead of the Chinese. The Russians were solid, but totally uninspiring. Watching them and then watching the Chinese was like going from a black-and-white television to color.

Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov of Russia were third.

"We skated good," Marinin said. "Today the Chinese pair was better."

Better? Try in a totally different class. And with Shen skating on only one ankle, no less. She fell at practice last weekend, spraining her ankle so badly they thought about dropping out.

But they decided to continue. Shen had two painkilling injections Wednesday, numbing her ankle to the point that Zhao had to tell her when to land their throw jumps because she couldn't feel anything.

When they'd completed all of the elements, a huge grin washed over Shen's face.

"I saw the audience standing there, giving me an ovation," she said. "I feel very excited and I continue to the end."

Shen and Zhao's performance was what pairs skating is meant to be. Their technical elements were simply awe-inspiring. Their throw triple salchow was so huge, her skates were well above his head. She probably could have thrown in another revolution if she'd wanted.

Their triple twist was even more impressive. She hung in the air so long he could have raced around the rink once or twice and still made it back in time to catch her. And when they did their final carry, he flipped her around as if she was a baton.

Shen and Zhao have always had the tough tricks, but it's their artistry that has made them champions. They weren't just skating Wednesday night, they were truly putting on a show.

They brought their program to life through their body language and facial expressions. She smiled and skipped along beside him during their playful circular footwork, drawing laughter from the crowd.

"The audience here is fantastic," Zhao said. "We are very, very excited by that."

There was little to get excited about with Totmianina and Marinin. Last year's silver medalists had won every competition they'd entered this year - even beating Shen and Zhao at the Grand Prix final earlier this month - but they skated without any fire Wednesday.

Five years from now, no one will remember their program. Everyone who was in the arena will remember Shen and Zhao.

"They skated cautious, perhaps too careful," said Oleg Vasiliev, Totmianina and Marinin's coach.

The top two American teams abandoned caution, and it paid off as they squeezed into two, all-important spots in the top 10. U.S. champs Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn were ninth, while Rena Inoue and John Baldwin Jr. finished 10th in their first world championships.

Scott and Dulebohn needed to redeem themselves after a disastrous short program, and they took the ice with some attitude as a boisterous, flag-waving crowd cheered them on.

They moved across the ice with speed and confidence, looking as sure of themselves as world champions. They had great unison on their combination spin, and they pulled off a nice throw triple salchow.

The crowd responded with a standing ovation when they finished.

"It's the best way we could have ended the season," Dulebohn said. "It means everything, to finish the long program clean and with a standing ovation."

It meant even more doing it in front of the home crowd, too. Dulebohn is from nearby Silver Spring, Md., and the pair had plenty of family and friends on hand.

"It was odd. Before we started, in a full arena of thousands of people, I was able to pick out my closest friends, my mom and dad, my girlfriend and Tiffany's boyfriend," Dulebohn said. "To get to share this with our friends and family in the arena is really special."