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Kwan wins world pro title
Although she's still an Olympic-eligible skater, Kwan took advantage of a rules change by the International Skating Union that sanctioned 10 open competitions this year. On Saturday, she easily won the most prestigious of those events, becoming at 18 the youngest world pro champion.
"It was one of my best performances," said Kwan, who has had so many already at her tender age. "When I skated, it was magical."
Skating majestically and maturely to "East of Eden," Kwan was greeted with a warm, loud ovation after nailing every element of her artistic program. The judges were just as impressed as the crowd at the MCI Center, particularly Germany's Sissy Krick, who gave Kwan 6.0s for skating technique and for presentation.
She also received 6.0s from the American and Australian judges for presentation and one from the Italian for technique.
"I didn't expect much from this competition coming in," said Kwan, the two-time national and world champion on the eligible level. "Tonight, I felt really on. I enjoyed myself. I felt very confident when I stepped on the ice."
While Saturday's program wasn't as significant for Kwan -- her routine for the technical program on Friday night, to "Lamento d'Ariane," will serve as a free skate for the U.S. championships in February and the ISU's world championships in March -- it was particularly noteworthy for its unpretentious beauty.
Even Kwan sensed that she was sharing something special with the crowd.
"I felt really connected to the audience," she said. "This time they were with me and it felt different than any other performances."
Japan's Yuka Sato, winner of this event in 1996, finished second, followed by Nicole Bobek, who has steadied herself after an horrendous performance at the Nagano Olympics, where she was 17th.
Sato had the misfortune of skating directly after Kwan.
"It really wasn't easy for me tonight going right out after Michelle's performance," she admitted. "The whole atmosphere, and the crowd going crazy and, on top of that to hear the 6.0s. I put myself right back in the (Olympic-eligible) world championships in the last group and I was not really used to it. I was shaking."
But she shook it off to move up from third, even though Bobek was scintillating while skating to "I Will Survive," "Natural Woman" and "R-E-S-P-E-C-T."
"I've done that program a million times, on tour for three months," she said. "It was just attack. I would rather go for it and pop a jump."
Olympic champions Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev won the pairs, sweeping the judges with their playful "Sad Waltz."
Later Saturday were the men's and the dance artistic programs.