FIGURE SKATING : Ice Dance Champions Hope Congress Kinder Than Judges

DALLAS —  Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur, the reigning national dance champions, hope to fare better with the U.S. Congress than they did with judges Wednesday in Skate America, the only major international figure skating competition in the United States this season.

The team will not be eligible to represent the United States in February’s Winter Olympics unless Sur, a 1990 defector from the former Soviet Union, has the five-year waiting period for citizenship waived by Congress.

But even if they are allowed to compete in Lillehammer, Norway, in February, they have no reason to believe they will be greeted enthusiastically by international judges after a seven-member panel placed them sixth after the two compulsory dances at Reunion Arena.

Roca and Sur appeared puzzled by their scores after the first dance, despondent during the second. Sophie Moniotte and Pascal Lavanchy of France are leading.