Day Three Press Report

Skate America International continued in Colorado Springs on Saturday night with the conclusions of the Ice Dance and Ladies' competitions.

Ice Dance

Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio (ITA) used a dramatic and theatrical performance to music from the motion picture "Romeo and Juliet" to win the Free Dance and defend their Skate America title. The Italians won all three phases of the competition with first place marks across the board. Fusar-Poli said after the competition that it was not the altitude that gave them the most trouble. "Of course you are nervous because it's a new program," said Fusar-Poli. "I think for everybody the program is not ready. You have to show your best but you're not ready. I think this is the most difficult thing you have to do. Altitude is important, but it doesn't matter. You have to skate good."

Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas (LTU) held on to second place with a tango-themed program, despite feeling the effect of the altitude. Vanagas said that although the couple trained for a short time over the summer at an altitude of 5,000 feet, they felt nothing like they did trying to get through their free dance Saturday night. "Here, with the first competition and first event, and this height, it takes probably all our power away," said Vanagas. "It was never so hard to skate as it was today in the free dance." We're ready to fly when we go to the zero level.

"Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz (CAN) held on for the bronze medal over Israel's Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky. Bourne and Kraatz's creative and entertaining dance to marching music received a standing ovation from the large crowd in Colorado Springs. Kraatz compared the theme of the team's program to their career in ice dancing. "I think it really reflects in a way what we've been going through," said Kraatz. "The title 'March with Me' - it's basically that in order to have success you need to struggle. There's never an easy way out if you want to be successful. It somewhat reflects our career because we started off with a bang and kept on improving and all of a sudden we've leveled off. We disappeared from the scene and now we're back. So it's really our life story if you want to put it that way."

Isreal's Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky's fast, upbeat dance earned them fourth-place ahead of Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev (USA) in fifth.

Ladies

World champion Michelle Kwan overcame a shaky start to her free program to win her fifth Skate America title Saturday night. Kwan is the only woman to have won the Skate America title more than two times, and her five titles ties her with Todd Eldredge for the most titles won by anyone at Skate America. She also won a silver at the event in 1994. Kwan's victory means that three of the four 1999 Skate America champions have defended their titles (Kwan in Ladies; Jamie Sale and David Pelletier in Pairs; Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio, Ice Dance). Kwan won despite stepping out of her opening triple loop and doubling a triple flip. She added a triple toe late in the program to finish with five clean triples, but turned her planned triple toe-triple toe combination into a triple toe-double toe. She received marks ranging from 5.5-5.9 for technical merit and 5.8-5.9 for presentation for a delicate program to "Song of the Black Swan." "It was a tough and cautious beginning of the program," said Kwan. "

But as the program progressed I got a little stronger and a little stronger." Kwan added that although she was "pretty happy" with the program, she has "so many expectations" that she wants to get better. Kwan again addressed the issue of triple-triples in the post-event press conference, saying she expects to add more, but she just has to be patient (but "not too patient," she added).

Saturday night, she had to fight off a serious challenge from fellow American Sarah Hughes, who skated a technically impressive program to "Don Quixote" earlier in the evening. Hughes hit all six of her triples, including a flawless triple Salchow-triple loop combination. She was the only skater of the night to complete all her planned elements. Her scores ranged from 5.4-5.8 for both technical merit and presentation, and she won her first silver medal in a Grand Prix event and her first medal at Skate America. She won a bronze at Trophee Lalique last year. Hughes said it was one of her best performances. "It might have been (the best)," she said. "If not, it was definitely one of the best. We're (she and coach Robin Wagner) both happy with the start of the season."

Elena Sokolova (RUS) landed four triples to grab the bronze for the second consecutive year. She has now won a medal at Skate America the last four years - bronze in 2000 and 1999; silver in 1998 and bronze in 1997. Viktoria Volchkova (RUS) was fourth.

Skate America continues on Sunday with the Men's Free Program.

For further information please contact:

Grand Prix of Figure Skating & Final		Skate America International
Aline Bussat, ISU Media Coordinator		Bob Dunlop, USFSA Director of Media Relations
Tel:	+41 21 612 66 66				+1 719 635 5200
Fax:	+41 21 612 66 62				+1 719 635 9548
E-mai:	 bussat@isu.ch				bobdunlop@aol.com 

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