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2000 World Figure Skating Championships March 26 - April 2, 2000 Nice, France Day 4 Summary

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The 2000 ISU World Figure Skating Championships continued in Nice (FRA) Thursday with the Original Dance and the conclusion of the Men's competition.

Dance

The stage is set for fascinating climax to the Dance competition Friday after European silver medallists Barbara Fusar-Poli & Maurizio Margaglio (ITA) won the Original Dance to overtake European champions and Grand Prix winners Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat (FRA). Irina Lobacheva & Ilia Averbukh (RUS) held on to third place ahead of Margarita Drobiazko & Povilas Vanagas (LTU) in fourth.

For this year's Original Dance rhythm, the Latin Combination, skaters could choose two or three rhythms from the Cha Cha, Mambo, Merengue, Rhumba or Samba.

Lobacheva & Averbukh, in third after the Compulsory Dances, were the first of the top couples to skate. Their fast and flamboyant Rhumba/Samba routine earned one 5.9 and five 5.8s for presentation and another 5.8 for composition. Drobiazko & Vanagas were third to skate in the final group. Their expressive, sultry Rhumba/Samba received one 5.9 and two 5.8s for presentation and they stayed in fourth behind the Russians in a split decision.

"We gave everything we had today," said Lobacheva. "It doesn't matter that we are in fourth now," said Drobiazko. "We still have a shot at the bronze tomorrow. The Free Dance is our strongest point."

Next on the ice were Fusar-Poli & Margaglio. Their program featured their favorite Cha Cha, Rhumba and Samba rhythms and they gave a magnificent performance: fast, flamboyant with high speed complex choreography. Their marks included one 5.9 for composition and eight 5.9s for presentation. Anissina & Peizerat followed them onto the ice. Their dance, altered slightly since the Europeans, was full of their characteristic dramatic intensity with fast twizzles, lifts and dance spins. But Peizerat stumbled going into the required side by side step sequence and, although the couple recovered quickly to finish the program in style, they knew they would pay the price. Their marks ranged from 5.7 - 5.9 for composition and 5.8 - 5.9 for presentation. The judges divided and the Italians won the Original Dance by five judges to four. "I think we did more than 100% today," said Margaglio.

"We knew we needed a really big Original Dance because we're fighting a really big couple skating in their own nation."

"This time I can't say that we skated very, very well. I made a slight mistake," said Peizerat. "Tomorrow it will be another competition," said Anissina. "We have a strong free dance."

Men

The Men's competition concluded with an enthralling contest between the top four skaters.

First to skate in the top group was three time former world champion Elvis Stojko (CAN), fourth after the Short Program and Qualifying Rounds. He fell on his opening attempt at a quadruple toeloop and could only manage a double toeloop in combination with a triple axel. But the Canadian champion proved again what a great fighter he is, regrouping to land seven more triples (including two triple/triple combinations) in his program set to the soundtrack from "The Mummy". His spins were fast and well-centred and he included complex step sequences. His marks for technical merit ranged from 5.5 to 5.7 and he received two 5.8s for presentation. Stojko then had to wait it out to see what would happen. And it was a result that no-one would have predicted Michael Weiss (USA), third overall overnight, was next of the top four on the ice. He stepped out of his opening quadruple toeloop and, like Stojko, could only manage a triple axel/double toeloop combination. But he, too, regrouped magnificently and produced a powerful performance of his Carmen program with five more clean triples (including one triple/triple combination), excellent spins and high quality artistic skating, but put his hand down on his second attempt at the triple axel. He received four 5.8s for presentation but his marks for technical merit were lower than Stojko's (5.5 - 5.6) and the Canadian overtook Weiss in the Free skating by a six to three majority vote from the nine judges.

He was followed by defending champion Alexei Yagudin (RUS), the leader coming into the Free Program. Skating his new Tosca program (created since the European Championships six weeks ago), Yagudin opened with a huge quadruple toeloop/triple toeloop combination but touched down on the landing of the triple toeloop. A second big clean quadruple toeloop followed but he put a hand down on his first attempt at the triple axel. He gave his all in the program, following the two quads, with fast steps, dramatic expression, quality spins and four more triples but fell on his final jump, the lutz. His marks included five 5.8s for technical merit and seven 5.9s for presentation and he stayed ahead of Stojko and Weiss.

European champion Evgeny Plushenko (RUS), the last to skate, came on to the ice knowing exactly what he had to do. In second place going in to the Free, the gold medal and the chance to become the youngest world champion in history was there. But the pressure was too much for the 17 year old. He doubled his opening attempt at the quadruple toeloop in the opening moments of his Russian folk music program. Seconds later, he tried again but could only manage a triple toeloop and then stuttered on his triple axel. He made a third attempt at the quad and this time fell. But despite the nightmare start, the Russian champion and 1999 world silver medallist held himself together to land five clean triples including a triple axel/double toeloop/single loop combination and his unique spin and spiral sequences. His marks for technical merit ranged from 5.3 - 5.7 and, even with one 5.9 for presentation, Plushenko dropped to fourth place in the Free and there was to be no place for him on the podium at these Championships. So Yagudin became the first man since 1991 to win three successive world titles. Stojko took the silver, his first World Championships medal since 1997, and Weiss his second successive world bronze medal. Plushenko finished fourth.

"I didn't do my best but it was enough to win," said Yagudin. "I wanted to do two quads and it worked well. Compared to last year, there were so many more skaters who tried a quad so it was much harder to defend my two titles."

"It's been very difficult this year," said Stojko. "But what's been happening is if I keep that not give up attitude - it's weird - I always end up near the top." "It's been a very long year for me," said Weiss. "As everybody knows, I had a stress fracture in my ankle earlier in the season. At that point, I never thought I would be back on the podium. For me to take time off and to be able to get back on this podium was a big deal."

Other skaters to land clean quadruples in the Free Program were Takeshi Honda (JPN), Zhengxin Guo (CHN), Vincent Restencourt (FRA) - all quad toeloops. Timothy Goebel (USA) was the only other skater to land two quads (a quadruple salchow/triple toeloop and a quadruple toeloop). Chengjiang Li (CHN) stepped out of the landing of the triple toeloop in a quadruple toeloop/triple toeloop combination but the quad was clean. That brought the total of clean quads during the Men's competition at these Championships to 20 (five in the Qualifying Rounds, seven in the Short Program and eight in the Free). That exceeds the previous record total of 14 in one competition, from the 1999 ISU World Championships in Helsinki.

The Championships continue Friday with the Ladies' Short Program and the Free Dance.

Results

Ice Dance

1st Compulsory Dance Viennese Waltz
2nd Compulsory Dance Argentine Tango
Original Dance Latin Combination Dance

Fi Name 					Nation 	TFP 	C1	C2 	OD FD

1 Barbara FUSAR-POLI / Maurizio MARGAGLIO 	ITA 	1,4	2	2	1
2 Marina ANISSINA / Gwendal PEIZERAT 		FRA 	1,6 	1 	1 	2
3 Irina LOBACHEVA / Ilia AVERBUKH 		RUS 	3,0 	3 	3 	3
4 Margarita DROBIAZKO / Povilas VANAGAS 	LTU 	4,0 	4 	4 	4
5 Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI 		ISR 	5,4 	6 	6	5
6 Kati WINKLER / Rene LOHSE 			GER 	5,6 	5 	5 	6
7 Elena GRUSHINA / Ruslan GONCHAROV 		UKR 	7,0 	7	7 	7
8 Naomi LANG / Peter TCHERNYSHEV 		USA	8,8	8 	9 	9
9 Albena DENKOVA / Maxim STAVISKI 		BUL 	9,0 	11 	10 	8
10 Sylwia NOWAK / Sebastian KOLASINSKI 		POL 	9,4	9 	8 	10
11 Marie-France DUBREUIL / Patrice LAUZON 	CAN 	10,8 	10 	11 	11
12 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER 	FRA 	12,0 	12 	12 	12
13 Jamie SILVERSTEIN / Justin PEKAREK 		USA 	13,4 	14 	14 	13
14 Anna SEMENOVICH / Roman KOSTOMAROV 		RUS 	13,6 	13 	13 	14
15 Eliane HUGENTOBLER / Daniel HUGENTOBLER 	SUI 	15,2 	15 	16 	15
16 Megan WING / Aaron LOWE 			CAN 	16,0 	17 	15	16
17 Federica FAIELLA / Luciano MILO 		ITA 	17,0 	16 	18 	17
18 Natalia ROMANIUTA / Danil BARANTSEV 		RUS 	17,8 	18 	17 	18
19 Alexandra KAUC / Filip BERNADOWSKI 		POL 	19,0 	19 	19 	19
20 Nakako TSUZUKI / Rinat FARKHOUTDINOV 	JPN 	20,2 	21 	20 	20
21 Stephanie RAUER / Thomas RAUER 		GER 	20,8 	20 	21 	21
22 Zita GEBORA / Andras VISONTAI 		HUN 	23,0 	25 	24 	22
23 Julie KEEBLE / Lukasz ZALEWSKI 		GBR 	23,2 	24 	23 	23
24 Weina ZHANG / Xianming CAO 			CHN 	23,4 	23 	22 	24
25 Angelika FÜHRING / Bruno ELLINGER 		AUT 	25,0 	22 	25 	26
26 Katarina KOVALOVA / David SZURMAN 		CZE 	25,4 	26 	26 	25
27 Alissa de CARBONNEL / Alexander MALKOV 	BLR 	27,4 	28 	28 	27
28 Zuzana DURKOVSKA / Marian MESAROS 		SVK 	27,6 	27 	27 	28
29 Anna MOSENKOVA / Sergei SYCHOV 		EST 	29,4 	30 	30 	29
30 Tiffany HYDEN / Vazgen AZROJAN 		ARM	29,6 	29 	29 	30


Men

Fi Name 			Nation	TFP 	QB 	QA 	SP 	FS

1 Alexei YAGUDIN		RUS 	2,0 		1	1 	1
2 Elvis STOJKO 			CAN 	5,4 	1		5 	2
3 Michael WEISS 		USA 	5,6 		2	3 	3
4 Evgeni PLUSHENKO 		RUS 	6,0 	2		2 	4
5 Chengjiang LI 		CHN 	12,0 		3 	8 	6
6 Alexander ABT 		RUS 	15,6 	3 		4 	12
7 Stanick JEANNETTE 		FRA 	16,0 	5 		10 	8
8 Zhengxin GUO 			CHN 	16,0 	4 		9 	9
9 Vincent RESTENCOURT 		FRA 	16,4 		7 	11 	7
10 Takeshi HONDA 		JPN 	17,2 		5 	17 	5
11 Timothy GOEBEL 		USA 	17,4 	8		7 	10
12 Anthony LIU 			AUS 	20,4 	7 		6 	14
13 Vitali DANILCHENKO 		UKR 	20,6 	6 		12 	11
14 Stefan LINDEMANN 		GER 	22,		4 	13 	13
15 Dmitri DMITRENKO 		UKR 	27,2 		8 	15 	15
16 Andrejs VLASCENKO 		GER 	28,0 		6 	16 	16
17 Roman SKORNIAKOV 		UZB 	31,8 	10 		18 	17
18 Ivan DINEV 			BUL 	32,0 	9 		14 	20
19 Ben FERREIRA 		CAN 	34,4 	11		20 	18
20 Michael TYLLESEN 		DEN 	34,4 		10 	19 	19
21 Markus LEMINEN 		FIN 	40,0 		12 	22 	22
22 Patrick MEIER 		SUI 	40,2 		9 	21 	24
23 Sergei RYLOV 		AZE	40,6 	13 		24 	21
24 Konstantin KOSTIN 		LAT 	41,6 	12 		23	23


Final not reached

25 Vakhtang MURVANIDZE 		GEO 			13 	25
26 Szabolcs VIDRAI 		HUN 			11 	27
27 Yamato TAMURA 		JPN 		14 		26
28 Cornel GHEORGHE 		ROM 			14 	28
29 Matthew DAVIES 		GBR 		15 		29
30 Yuri LITVINOV 		KAZ 			15 	30

Not qualified

31 Robert GRZEGORCZYK		POL 		16
31 Kevin van der PERREN 	BEL 			16
33 Robert KAZIMIR 		SVK 			17
33 Kyu-Hyun LEE 		KOR 		17
35 Patrick SCHMIT 		LUX 			18
35 Michael SHMERKIN 		ISR 		18
37 Angelo DOLFINI 		ITA 			19
37 Bradley SANTER 		AUS 		19
39 Jan CEJVAN 			SLO 		20
39 Ricky COCKERILL 		NZL			20
41 Clemens JONAS 		AUT 			21
41 Lukas RAKOWSKI 		CZE 		21
43 Margus HERNITS 		EST		22
43 Jordi PEDRO 			ESP 			22
45 Panagiotis MARKOUIZOS 	GRE 			23
45 Filip STILLER 		SWE 		23
47 Ricardo OLAVARRIETA 		MEX 		24


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