Castile's foot injury forces pairs withdrawal from Cup of China
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- U.S. pairs team Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski withdrew Friday from the upcoming Cup of China because of her foot injury.
The Nov. 6-9 event at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium is the third of six competitions in the ISU's Grand Prix of Figure Skating series.
Castile fell during practice last week while attempting a triple split twist, and suffered a severe contusion of her right heel.
Castile and Okolski still are scheduled to compete Nov. 20-23 at the Cup of Russia in Moscow.
"Though [her injury] has greatly improved, she cannot yet skate on it without severe pain," said her physician, Stephen I. Goldman.
Johnny Johns, the team's longtime coach, supported the decision to withdraw.
"I felt it was in the best interest of Brooke's recovery, and the best interest of the team, to pull her off the ice for the remainder of this week, to give her foot more time to heal," Johns said Friday. "We are hoping with rest and therapy she will be ready to go for Russia."
They will be replaced in Beijing by Chelsi Guillen and Danny Curzon. The pair won bronze in the junior event at the 2008 U.S. championships and finished 10th at the 2008 world junior championships.
Castile and Okolski withdrew from both of their Grand Prix events last season, also because of an injury to Castile's foot. They came back to win the bronze medal at both the U.S. championships and the Four Continents.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
