Wednesday, February 20, 2002
Kwan, Slutskaya spin excellent short programs
By STEVE BUFFERY -- Toronto Sun
SALT LAKE CITY -- The last time an American and a Russian were this close in anything, Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky were giving each other the evil eye across a table in Reykjavik.
Figure skating arch-rivals Michelle Kwan and Irina Slutskaya laid down wonderful short programs last night at the Salt Lake Ice Center, with Kwan earning a 5-4 judges split. The long program in the women's singles is tomorrow.
Kwan, 21, is a four-time world champion but lost the coveted gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Games to teammate Tara Lipinski, who is now a pro.
Kwan, a native of Torrance, Calif., has become the undisputed darling of the U.S. team at these Games, but she obviously didn't let the pressure get to her last night in the short, which is worth one-third of the total mark.
Skating to the elegant Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor by Rachmaninoff, Kwan struck the fans with her exquisite layback and spirals and managed to land all the required elements, including a triple lutz/double toe combination, a double axel and triple flip.
The program earned her scores ranging from 5.5 to 5.9 for technical merit and 5.9s across the board for presentation -- always Kwan's strength on the ice. Interestingly, her lowest technical mark, a 5.6, came from the American judge, Joseph Inman.
"I'm well prepared. I'm in good shape. I'm healthy," said Kwan, who caused a stir last year when she dropped both her choreographer, Lori Nichol, and coach, Frank Carroll. "I've done this a million times. It was just another practice."
A lot of skating fans are pulling for the Russian in this battle. The athletic Slutskaya is arguably the best female skater in the world from a technical standpoint but has never won the gold and finished second at the worlds in 1998, 2000 and 2001.
The Moscow native, skating to the moving Serenade by Franz Schubert, nailed her triple lutz/double loop combo, double axel and triple flip, earning technical marks ranging from 5.6-5.8 and presentation scores from 5.6-5.9.
"I really love competition with skaters like Michelle and Sarah (Hughes)," Slutskaya, 23, said. "It's so nice. You feel here a war on ice. "
Sitting in third is the precocious American, Sasha Cohen, 17, of Laguna Nigel, Calif. Cohen, who skated the waltz from the soundtrack My Sweet and Tender, stunned the crowd with her incredible spirals. Her jumps weren't bad either, landing a triple lutz-double toe combo, the triple flip and double axel.
Yet another American skated strongly -- Sarah Hughes, 16, of Great Neck, N.Y., who finished third at last year's worlds in Vancouver.
Hughes, whose dad, John, is from Toronto and played at Cornell University with Hall of Fame goaltender Ken Dryden, put together a strong short, with a double axel, triple lutz-double loop combo and a triple flip, and sits fourth. Maria Butyrskaya, the 1999 world champion, is fifth. Canada's Jennifer Robinson skated well and is eighth.
2002 Games Figure Skating Coverage
