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2000 World Figure Skating Championships March 26 - April 2, 2000 Nice, France Day 6 Summary

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The 2000 ISU World Figure Skating Championships concluded in Nice (FRA) Saturday with the Ladies' Free Skating.

Ladies

The stage was set for a fascinating conclusion to the Ladies' competition. Michelle Kwan (USA), in third place after the Qualifying Round and Short Program, was the first of the top group to skate. She knew that if the gold medal was to be hers that she would have to win the Free and another skater would also have to finish ahead of the overnight leader and defending champion Maria Butyrskaya (RUS). Kwan opened her Red Violin program with a fine triple loop. In the next minute of her program, she landed a triple lutz/double toeloop combination and the triple toeloop/triple toeloop combination that had proved so elusive all season. Four more clean triples (including a second lutz) followed in a performance packed with fine spins and the trademark spectacular Kwan spiral sequences. Her marks included four 5.8s for technical merit and four 5.9s and five 5.8s for presentation.

Butyrskaya was next of the top three to skate. She began her Swan Lake program with a fine triple lutz followed by a triple flip. But the jump sequence of triple toeloop, half-loop, triple salchow stuttered at the end when she had to step out of the landing. She completed the triple loop but then doubled her next attempt at the salchow before finishing strongly with a final triple toeloop. Her performance featured her characteristic fluid skating, good spins and intricate choreography but she knew the two small errors would cost her dearly. Her marks for technical merit ranged from 5.4 - 5.7 but her presentation marks included one 5.9 and three 5.8s.

Irina Slutskaya (RUS), in second place coming into the Free, knew if she won the Free the gold would be hers. She started well with a triplelutz/double loop combination but then doubled her first attempt at the salchow. She tried again and landed a triple salchow/double loop combination and four more clean triples in her Carmen program. It also featured fine spins, expressive artistic skating and good steps but no triple/triple combination. Her marks included one 5.9 and three 5.8s for technical merit and three more 5.9s and three 5.8s for presentation.

The judges divided seven to two in favour of Kwan and the US champion won her third world title at her seventh World Championships. Slutskaya took the silver to add to the silver she won in Minneapolis two years ago. Butyrskaya took the bronze. To the delight of the capacity crowd, Vanessa Gusmeroli (FRA) placed fourth in the Free to move up to fourth overall.

"I just felt really, really strong out there," said Kwan. "I felt very confident and really ready to do it. I think this is the most satisfying Championships for me because there was a lot of pressure. After I skated, I knew the possibility of me not winning because my marks were fairly low. I went back to the warm up area. There was a TV but I didn't watch. I was thinking - Michelle, you just skated your best performance in your life, so no matter what the outcome is, be happy. It was a long 30 minutes."

"I didn't skate really well or really bad," said Slutskaya. It's a shame that I didn't do all the combinations I had planned. But I came back and I didn't finish last. Michelle skated very well and deserved to win tonight. I'm happy to be second and I'm a bit angry at myself that I'm not first. But I showed everyone that I can skate and can compete with everybody.

"I'm quite pleased," said Butyrskaya. "I was confident. I showed nice skating and good jumps. I had trouble with the triple salchow, that's a bit upsetting because it's normally an easy jump for me. I've been world champion already so I fulfilled my dream. But everything is repeating itself. Michelle has been first, then second and first again - that's sport and that's a normal thing. Since I won the bronze medal in 1998, I always was up there -first, second or third in major competitions."

The Gala Exhibition closes the Championships Sunday

Results

Ladies

Fi Name 			Nation 		TFP 	QB 	QA 	SP 	FS

1 Michelle KWAN 		USA 		3,6 	2 		3 	1
2 Irina SLUTSKAYA 		RUS 		3,6 	1 		2 	2
3 Maria BUTYRSKAYA 		RUS 		4,0 		1 	1	3
4 Vanessa GUSMEROLI 		FRA 		9,2 	7 		4 	4
5 Sarah HUGHES 			USA 		9,2 	3 		5 	5
6 Viktoria VOLCHKOVA 		RUS 		13,4 	4 		8 	7
7 Julia SEBESTYEN 		HUN 		14,4 		3 	7 	9
8 Jennifer ROBINSON 		CAN 		15,0 	6 		11 	6
9 Angela NIKODINOV 		USA 		16,6 	5 		6 	11
10 Elena LIASHENKO 		UKR 		17,6 		4 	10 	10
11 Mikkeline KIERKGAARD 	DEN 		17,8 		2 	15 	8
12 Yoshie ONDA 			JPN 		22,4 	8 		12 	12
13 Sabina WOJTALA 		POL 		24,0 	9 		9 	15
14 Diana POTH 			HUN 		25,2 		11 	13 	13
15 Alisa DREI 			FIN 		27,2 		7 	14 	16
16 Anna RECHNIO 		POL 		27,8 		9 	17 	14
17 Zoya DOUCHINE 		GER 		32,4 		6 	20 	18
18 Tatiana MALININA 		UZB 		32,4 		5 	19 	19
19 Silvia FONTANA 		ITA 		33,6 	10 		21 	17
20 Anna LUNDSTRÖM 		SWE 		34,0 		8 	18 	20
21 Galina MANIACHENKO 		UKR 		34,2 		9 	16 	21
22 Siyin SUN 			CHN		40,4 	13 		22 	22
23 Ivana JAKUPCEVIC 		CRO 		42,8 	12 		25 	23
24 Shirene HUMAN 		RSA 		43,0 		13 	23 	24

Final not reached

25 Kaja HANEVOLD 		NOR 				15 	24
26 Roxana LUCA 			ROM 				12 	26
27 Julia LEBEDEVA 		ARM 			14 		27
28 Anastasia GIMAZETDINOVA 	UZB 			11 		29
29 Valeria TRIFANCOVA 		LAT 				14 	28
30 Marion KRIJGSMAN		NED 			15 		30

Not qualified

31 Mojca KOPAC 			SLO 			16
31 Julia VOROBIEVA 		AZE 				16
33 Ellen MAREELS 		BEL 				17
33 Olga VASSILIEVA 		EST 			17
35 Lucia STAROVICOVA 		SVK 				18
35 Anna WENZEL 			AUT 			18
37 Sarah-Yvonne PRYTULA 	AUS 				19
37 Tamsin SEAR 			GBR 			19
39 Diane CHEN 			TPE 				20
39 Nicole SKODA 		SUI 			20
41 Marta ANDRADE 		ESP 			21
41 Liza MENAGIA 		GRE 				21
43 Young-Eun CHOI 		KOR			 22
43 Rocio SALAS VISUET		MEX 				22
45 Helena PAJOVIC 		YUG 			23

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