Domnina and Shabalin teamed up in spring 2002 ... Before, both had competed successfully at the international junior
level with different partners ... Domnina started to skate at the age of six and went into dance two years later ... She left her home town of Kirov at 15 in order to train under Gorshkov ... Shabalin left his home town of Samara at the age of 15 as well to train in Bulgaria and then returned to Russia ... Shabalin underwent meniscus surgery on his right knee in May 2007 and appendix surgery in September 2007; he then needed surgery on the meniscus in his left knee in December 2007 immediately after they won gold at the Grand Prix Final ... He recovered enough to compete and win gold at the 2008 European Championships, but a re-injury to the left knee caused the pair to withdraw from the 2008 World Championships ... A year later, however, they won their first world title, taking the gold in Los Angeles and ending Russia's rare three-year hiatus from the top of the dance podium.
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2008 Season Notes
PD Music: "Waltz" from "Suite No. 2 for Jazz Orchestra" by Dmitri Shostakovitch
FD Music: Music from the Spartacus soundtrack by Aram Khatchaturian