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A lot on the line for Robinson
Canadian in position to qualify two spots for next year
Toronto Sun
NICE, France -- Jennifer Robinson has no chance of winning a medal today, but does have a chance to prove her mettle.
Robinson sits in 11th place heading into this afternoon's freeskate at the world figure skating championships. If the Windsor skater can move up one spot, Canada will qualify two women for next year's world championships, which will be held at GM Place in Vancouver. The previous time two Canadian women qualified for the worlds was in 1995 in Birmingham, England (Robinson and Toronto's Netty Kim).
That would be a huge boost for the besieged women's program in Canada. For Robinson, being in position to secure two qualifying spots shows she has put it all together at this competition, her fourth worlds.
She finished sixth in her qualifying group with her freeskate on Wednesday and put together a solid short program yesterday to take 11th. Her only major flub was two-footing a triple lutz. At the past three worlds, the Mariposa School of Skating student finished 18th, 21st and 19th.
"This is a great spot to be in," said the graceful skater, who performed her short to The Summer Knows by Michel Legrand. "I don't have a whole lot of ground to make up and, with the performance that I laid down for qualifying, I know I have it in me."
Standing in her way is Sabina Wojtala of Poland, who finished 22nd at last year's worlds in Helsinki.
Robinson, 23, also is out to prove that the women's program isn't dead in Canada. Much has been made about the fact that no Canadian has captured a medal in the women's singles competition at the worlds since Elizabeth Manley's silver in 1988 in Budapest. The previous Canadian to win a worlds was Karen Magnussen in 1973 in Bratislava.
At the Canadian championships this year, the media was falling over itself in praise of promising junior champion Marianne Dubuc and 14-year-old Nicole Watt, who placed fourth in the senior event. The fact that Robinson won her third title largely was ignored.
She admitted that bothered her a bit.
"I do want to show everybody that I'm capable of finishing the job here," Robinson said.
"When you're the person leading all you hear is about all the other people behind you," coach Michelle Leigh said, adding that the challenge of moving up one spot has inspired Robinson. "Probably four years ago, when she was a little weaker mentally, that would have been the end of her," Leigh said.
Robinson certainly is not letting the pressure get to her. When asked what she was doing different this time around in preparation for the competition, she said jokingly, "Vodka. You know, the usual."
Defending world champion Maria Butyrskaya, 27, wants to prove that her win at last year's worlds was no fluke. And she's off to a good start, winning the short program easily over teammate Irina Slutskaya, 21, (seven firsts to Slutskaya's two) and American Michelle Kwan, 19, who is third.
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