| 2002 World Figure Skating Championships: Day 3 |
The 2002 World Figure Skating Championships continued today in Nagano with the Ladies Qualifying Round and the first Champions were crowned after the Pairs final Free Program.
Ladies, Qualifying Round
The Ladies began their competition with the Qualifying Round. 40 Ladies competed, and the top 15 of each group advance to the Short Program on Friday.
Four-time and defending World Champion Michelle Kwan (USA) and three-time World silver medallist Irina Slutskaya (RUS) confirmed their role as favorites by clearly winning their respective Qualifying Rounds. Kwan took Group A. The Olympic bronze medallist doubled her opening triple loop but then hit a triple Lutz-double loop, a triple toeloop-triple toeloop combination, three more triples and a double Axel. Kwan earned marks up to 5.7 for technical merit and up to 5.9 for presentation for her "Sheherazade" program to pick up all first place ordinals. "I felt pretty good out there considering it's 10.30 in the morning. It's unusual to compete in the morning. I just had to take one thing at a time", Kwan told the press. "It's been only a few week since the Olympics, and you realize that things move on. It's like: that happened at the Olympics. I didn't have my best skate there, but you know that there are other performances. It's not like the Olympics is it. So, move on", she added.
Home-crowd favorite Fumie Suguri and Hungary's Julia Sebestyen came in second and third. Suguri put in a solid performance to "Moonlight Sonata" by Ludwig van Beethoven. The 2001 Four Continents Champion completed five clean triples and displayed good speed. She only stepped out of the triple flip. "I rather think about making the audience happy with my performance than getting a medal", Suguri said. "I will try to do my best in the short program." Sebestyen landed five clean triples but popped her second Lutz. The Hungarian had some trouble before her competition, but didn't let it get to her. "After practice early this morning (at the other rink), I went back to the hotel, and on the way here we were in a traffic jam. I was almost late for the competition, which made me a bit nervous", Sebestyen explained.
1999 World Champion Maria Butyrskaya finished sixth in the Qualifying Round.
Slutskaya's victory in Group B was not any less convincing than Kwan's. The Olympic silver medallist turned in a very dynamic performance that featured a triple Lutz-double loop combination, four more triple jumps and fast spins with difficult positions. Slutskaya only doubled her second Lutz, but scored marks up to 5.8 for technical merit and up to 5.9 for presentation to take, like Kwan, all first place ordinals. "I'm not thinking of a medal here, I just will try my best", Slutskaya stated following her performance. "I was very busy after the Olympics, there were so many things (activities), I saw the (Russian) president (Vladimir Putin), the mayor (of Moscow, Juri Luzhkov). So I didn't have much time to prepare for Worlds. I still tried to focus on my practice."
Sasha Cohen of the USA placed second in the group in what was her debut at World Championships. Cohen went for a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination, but the second jump was under rotated. The 17-year-old produced four more triple jumps and impressive spiral sequences in her "Carmen" routine. "I was very nervous today. I have never been so nervous before", Cohen admitted. "I was also a little bit disappointed with myself for turning the last Lutz into a single. I was a little bit tired. I didn't put everything out there today so hopefully I will do that on Saturday (in the Free Program)", Cohen said.
Japan's Yoshie Onda finished third. She risked a triple Axel, but landed it on two feet and forward. The 19-year-old then fell on the following triple Lutz, but recovered to hit six triple jumps, including a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination and a sequence consisting of two triple toeloops. "I am very surprised about my result", Onda revealed. "Before competing, I was very nervous and was worried about my performance, but it came out very good, so I am very happy with it and also very relieved."
Paris, Free Program
The Pairs event concluded with the Free Skating that brought a historical result.
Overnight leaders Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao of China won the Free Skating to become the first Chinese Pair skaters in history to be crowned World Champions. Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin (RUS) claimed the silver medal, while Kyoko Ina/John Zimmerman (USA) captured the bronze. It was the first medal at World Championships for these two teams.
Skating second in the final flight, Shen/Zhao opened their dramatic "Turandot" program with a spectacular triple throw Salchow, but then Shen fell hard on the side by side triple toeloop. The team went on to land a triple twist and a huge triple throw loop, but Zhao singled the side by side double Axel. The couple received marks ranging from 5.6 to 5.8 for technical merit and from 5.7 to 5.8 for presentation, but they were disappointed with their performance. "Winning the World Championships is a big dream", Shen said. "Our performance was not bad but not our best. It's an easy jump for us, but I fell. I don't know what happened," she commented on missing the toeloop. "I tried not to think about the fall." Her partner added: "We are very proud to be the first Chinese pairs team to win Worlds."
Totmianina/Marinin started off well with a side by side triple Salchow, a triple twist and a beautiful triple throw loop. Suddenly the European Champions ran into trouble, as Marinin tumbled to the ice on the triple toeloop and seconds later the sleeve of his costume got caught on a hook of Totmianina's skating boot. It took them a few seconds to get the sleeve free, but they continued their performance to "West Side Story" without further errors. "This never has happened to us before, and we were not prepared for this. But I think we solved the problem pretty quickly", Marinin said. "To win the silver medal is a big success for us, of course. However, it is disappointing that we had such a big technical mistake."
Ina/Zimmerman skated last and had to overcome a shaky start as he stepped out of the side by side triple toeloop. The US Champions produced a side by side double Axel, a triple throw loop and impressive lifts, yet there were a few more glitches in the performance. Ina touched down with her hand on the second double Axel and fell on the triple throw Salchow. With marks up to 5.5 for technical merit and up to 5.8 for presentation, Ina/Zimmerman stayed ahead of Russia's Maria Petrova/Alexei Tikhonov by a five to four split on the panel of Judges.
Another Chinese Pair team also made history tonight. The 2001 World Junior Champions Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang landed a quadruple twist. It was the first quadruple twist to be landed at World Championships. The couple performed the spectacular element already twice at Junior World Championships in 2000 and 2001. They finished in ninth place.
Results Ladies FPl. Name Nat. Points QA QB SP FS 1 Michelle KWAN USA 0.4 1 1 Irina SLUTSKAYA RUS 0.4 1 3 Sasha COHEN USA 0.8 2 3 Fumie SUGURI JPN 0.8 2 5 Yoshie ONDA JPN 1.2 3 5 Julia SEBESTYEN HUN 1.2 3 7 Jennifer KIRK USA 1.6 4 7 Elena LIASHENKO UKR 1.6 4 9 Tatiana MALININA UZB 2.0 5 9 Jennifer ROBINSON CAN 2.0 5 11 Maria BUTYRSKAYA RUS 2.4 6 11 Susanna POYKIO FIN 2.4 6 13 Silvia FONTANA ITA 2.8 7 13 Julia SOLDATOVA BLR 2.8 7 15 Laetitia HUBERT FRA 3.2 8 15 Lucie KRAUSOVA CZE 3.2 8 17 Julia LAUTOWA AUT 3.6 9 17 Viktoria VOLCHKOVA RUS 3.6 9 19 Idora HEGEL CRO 4.0 10 19 Galina MANIACHENKO UKR 4.0 10 21 Zuzana BABIAKOVA SVK 4.4 11 21 Asa PERSSON SWE 4.4 11 23 Marta ANDRADE ESP 4.8 12 23 Dan FANG CHN 4.8 12 25 Miriam MANZANO AUS 5.2 13 25 Gintare VOSTRECOVAITE LTU 5.2 13 27 Vanessa GIUNCHI ITA 5.6 14 27 Georgina PAPAVASILIOU GRE 5.6 14 29 Natalie HOSTE BEL 6.0 15 29 Sabina WOJTALA POL 6.0 15 31 Anne Sophie CALVEZ FRA 16 31 Yea-Ji SHIN KOR 16 33 Roxana LUCA ROM 17 33 Daria ZURAVICKI ISR 17 35 Shirene HUMAN RSA 18 35 Hristina VASSILEVA BUL 18 37 Christine LEE HKG 19 37 Gladys OROZCO MEX 19 39 Diana Y. CHEN TPE 20 39 Ksenija JASTSENSKI YUG 20 Pairs FPl. Name Nat. Points SP FS 1 Xue SHEN / Hongbo ZHAO CHN 1.5 1 1 2 Tatiana TOTMIANINA / Maxim MARININ RUS 3.0 2 2 3 Kyoko INA / John ZIMMERMAN USA 4.5 3 3 4 Maria PETROVA / Alexei TIKHONOV RUS 6.0 4 4 5 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN 7.5 5 5 6 Dorota ZAGORSKA / Mariusz SIUDEK POL 9.0 6 6 7 Tiffany SCOTT / Philip DULEBOHN USA 10.5 7 7 8 Jacinthe LARIVIERE / Lenny FAUSTINO CAN 12.0 8 8 9 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN 14.0 10 9 10 Anabelle LANGLOIS / Patrice ARCHETTO CAN 15.5 11 10 11 Katerina BERANKOVA / Otto DLABOLA CZE 16.5 9 12 12 Valerie MARCOUX / Bruno MARCOTTE CAN 17.0 12 11 13 Yuko KAWAGUCHI / Alexander MARKUNTSOV JPN 19.5 13 13 14 Mariana KAUTZ / Norman JESCHKE GER 21.0 14 14 15 Viktoria BORZENKOVA / Andrei CHUVILYAEV RUS 23.0 16 15 16 Tatiana CHUVAEVA / Dmitri PALAMARCHUK UKR 23.5 15 16 17 Viktoria SHKLOVER / Valdis MINTALS EST 25.5 17 17 18 Maria KRASILTSEVA / Artem ZNACHKOV ARM 27.5 19 18 19 Jelena SIROKHVATOVA / Jurijs SALMANOVS LAT 28.0 18 19 20 Marina AGANINA / Artem KNYAZEV UZB 30.0 20 20 For further information please contact: 2002 World Figure Skating Championships Aline Bussat Ingweresen, Hiroshi Kobayashi, ISU Media Coordinator Press Officer Tel: + 81 (0) 90 55 78 76 56 Tel: +81 (0) 90 52 18 20 64 E-mail: bussat@isu.ch E-mail: 2002worlds_press@rio.odn.ne.jp