Partnership takes off

Every great relationship revolves around that defining moment, that instant when you know you've found your match. For Mark Ladwig, it happened as soon as Amanda Evora agreed to try out with him.

The first time they skated together, Evora told Ladwig to launch her into a throw triple loop. That was all it took for the guy from Moorhead, Minn. Any woman willing to try such a daring trick with a total stranger had just the kind of spark he was looking for in a pairs teammate.

Since that day in 2002, Ladwig, 27, has made his other perfect partner his wife, settled into an unlikely skating haven in Florida and earned four top-10 finishes with Evora at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. In tonight's short program at Xcel Energy Center, the two hope to take their first step toward going global. With making the world championship team their primary goal, Ladwig and Evora will also try for their first U.S. championships medal.

"We've been right on the edge," said Ladwig who still calls the Red River Valley Figure Skating Club his home. "The podium is a goal for us, but making the world team is the biggest goal. We've trained very hard and very consistently, and we are prepared."

Like many partners, Ladwig and Evora aren't exactly alike. He listens to country music; she prefers anything but. He lived in Moorhead until he was 19, while she's a native Texan. She's classically trained and had to work to get into the groove of their "Stray Cat Strut" short program, which wasn't a problem for her more pop-oriented partner.

They mirror each other in their appetite for work and in their respect for their craft and for each other. Ladwig works as a restaurant server, skating teacher, skate sharpener and Zamboni driver at Florida's Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex, where the pair has trained since 2003. Evora does office work at the rink and gives lessons in between her classes at the University of South Florida.

All that fits around their skating. After performing their playful, crowd-pleasing short program at a Tuesday practice session at Xcel, Ladwig and Evora gritted their teeth and skated sprints up and down the ice.

Ladwig played hockey as a kid in Moorhead, where his father, John, is a doctor and his mother, Carol, is a member of the school board. He shifted to figure skating at age 12 with little success in the singles ranks. "Once in Peoria, I was first in the short program as a novice boy and pretty much died of shock," he said. "That was the only time I did well."

Until he decided two can be better than one. Ladwig already had begun skating pairs and had three partners before his former coach, Ron Ludington, helped him find his match. Ladwig had been skating in a Radio City Music Hall ice show before volunteering at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics; afterward, he drove across the country and tried out with a number of potential teammates.

Ludington had mentioned him to Florida coach Kerry Leitch, who suggested Ladwig give Evora a whirl. He did, literally, and was impressed with her nerve and steely attitude. They have made the national championships in each of their six years together, finishing fifth in 2005, seventh in 2006 and fourth last year.

"She is very gutsy, very tough mentally, and I could see that right away," Ladwig said. "She also has a very feminine presentation, and that's a great combination. We were able to have success pretty quickly."

The pair had one of its best seasons in international competition this year, with a third-place finish at the Nebelhorn Trophy and a fourth at Skate America. Ladwig also is in a new comfort zone after marrying junior-high sweetheart Janet Beverly of North Dakota in 2006. An interior designer who just happens to be named after figure skater Janet Lynn, she and Ladwig recently bought their first house in Parrish, Fla.

If all goes as they hope, Ladwig and Evora's season will be extended through the world championships in March. They expect their association to run far longer, now that they've found the perfect fit.

"[Leitch] said when we first became a pair that it takes five years to become a pair team," Ladwig said. "Then after that, you start developing into a good team. We're just at the beginning of a great partnership."