Stars on Ice tour goes heavy medal with world and national champs

The stars will shine brightly tomorrow at KeyArena as the 17th annual Stars on Ice tour skates into town with a host of national and world ice-skating champions.

The lineup for this 61-city U.S. tour includes: Olympic champions Tara Lipinski, Alexei Yagudin and Katarina Witt; Olympic pairs champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, and Jamie Sale and David Pelletier; world champions Kurt Browning and Todd Eldredge; national pairs champions Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, and Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman; and British national champion Steven Cousins.

This year's Stars on Ice explores the theme of power -- athletic power, star power and the power of a dream -- using music ranging from Elvis to Ozzy Osbourne, Leonard Cohen to Guns & Roses, Tony Bennett to Will Smith.

Husband-and-wife skating team Meno and Sand joined the Stars on Ice tour in 1998, following a successful pairs skating career that brought them numerous national and world championship medals, including U.S. National Champions in 1994, 1995 and 1996.

The pair started skating together in 1992, and became engaged during the 1994 Olympics, where they placed fifth. They placed eighth at the 1998 Olympics, just after Meno suffered a serious ankle injury, keeping her off the ice until a week before the competition.

"We've skated together almost 11 years, and we've had a relationship off the ice for the same amount of time, so from the beginning we've spent a lot of time together on and off the ice," Meno explained by phone the week before Christmas. "We know each other so well by now. We know how to read each other."

After retiring from amateur competition following the 1998 Olympics, Meno and Sand knew they wanted to join Stars on Ice. They had seen the show many times, and knew nearly everyone involved with it.

"We always felt that if we had the opportunity, it was something we very much wanted to do," she says. "We're skating together every night with some of our best friends."

While the 32-year-old Meno and 39-year-old Sand trained for years for each Olympics, Stars on Ice isn't a walk in the park. Each show features solo, pair and group skates.

"It really stretches you to go in different directions with your skating," she says.

Ice-skating is always the powerhouse of Olympic viewership. And Stars on Ice is a huge hit everywhere it goes.

"It's very athletic, but it's also very entertaining," Meno explains. "You have the grace and the beauty, but also the athleticism and the power."

The tour began just after Christmas, and ends in April. The skaters are on the road constantly during that time and are able to go home for a few days only when the tour is near their homes in California and Nevada.

"We'd like to do it as long as we feel we're giving something to an audience," Sand explains. "We'll definitely do it for a couple more years, then we'll see how we feel, because we definitely want to start a family."

Meno and Sand's stellar career is something to be proud of, but there are several moments that stand out in his mind.

"In 1995 we skated absolutely the best we could at the national championships and received six perfect marks: 6.0. It was a defining moment in our career."

And just one month after the 1998 Olympics, when Meno had that injured ankle, they captured the world silver medal.

"We came back and won the short program in front of a home audience and won the silver medal," he says. "It felt good; it was a good way for us to cap off our eligible career."

The schedule of performing is much more rigorous as a professional than an amateur, he says. Amateurs try to peak for specific events, such as the Olympics. But professionals need to maintain at a certain level.

"It's a different pressure," he admits. "We work hard and we push each other."

Working with such close friends and rivals can be difficult for some people, but Meno and Sand thrive on touring with their friends.