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Russian kid's gold rush
And in winning the men's singles gold medal, Alexei Yagudin, 18, of Russia, became the youngest champion in the event since Canada's Donald McPherson won the 1963 crown in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. McPherson was six days younger than Yagudin is now.
Second place went to American Todd Eldredge, the 1996 world champion, who stole the show with his brilliant long program. Sitting in fourth after the short on Wednesday, Eldredge skated a performance worthy of gold, delighting the fans in the process, but just couldn't move up three spots for the win.
Taking third was another young Russian sensation, Evgeni Plushenko, 15, who dropped from second after the short. The St. Petersburg native is technically too young to compete at the senior worlds, but was allowed in as a substitute for Olympic champion Ilya Kulik, who was forced out with a back injury.
It was a bittersweet night for Canada. Jeff Langdon of Smiths Falls, Ont., skated a commendable long program, landing five clean triples including a triple-flip, triple-toe combination, but fell attempting a triple loop and later a triple axel.
Langdon, 22, did manage to hold on to eighth place, but that finish means that Canada will have only one entry in the men's singles event at next year's worlds in Helsinki.
And with 1997 champion Elvis Stojko likely to remain an eligible skater for at least another year, it appears as though Langdon's next appearance at a worlds will have to wait a while. The same could be said for Richmond Hill's Emanuel Sandhu, 17. While an exceptionally promising skater, Sandhu, who finished 29th in Wednesday's short, will have his work cut out for him if he hopes to beat Stojko at next year's nationals.
As for yesterday's long program, the event could have used a dose of Stojko's technical brilliance. Despite reports that no fewer than 11 skaters entered in the event had been attempting different quads in practice this week, only one skater actually landed one last night, and that was Chinese wunderkind Guo Zhengxin, 18, who nailed a quad-triple combination.
Yagudin, also a native of St. Petersburg, skated a clean, if unspectacular long, nailing seven triples, including a triple-Axel, triple-toe combination. There have been reports that the teenager has been practising the quad Axel in practice and judging by the height of his triple Axel yesterday, it likely won't be far off before he becomes the first person to nail it. Plushensko started off his program in rather bizarre fashion, trying, but failing, to land two quad toes.
Eldredge, 26, also fell attempting a quad toe but skated well, landing seven triples, and received a standing ovation.