| 2002 World Figure Skating Championships: Day 5 |
The 2002 World Figure Skating Championships continued today with the Ladies Short Program and the Free Dance.
Ladies, Short Program
The Ladies continued their competition with the Short Program.
Irina Slutskaya of Russia took the lead following the second phase of the competition. To the delight of the home crowd, Fumie Suguri (JPN) moved into second place while Michelle Kwan of the USA finished third in the Short Program.
Skating last, Slutskaya opened her program to Franz Schubert's Serenade "Leise flehen meine Lieder" with a triple Lutz-double loop combination immediately followed by a double Axel. The Olympic silver medallist also produced a triple flip out of footwork and excellent spins to take all first place ordinals. Two Judges awarded her a 6.0 for presentation - Slutskaya's first 6.0 in a World Championship. "I'm really happy about the 6.0s", Slutskaya said at the post-event press conference. "I was waiting long for this moment. I'm working hard for my artistic mark, and I'm happy that the judges can see it."
Suguri was a surprising second. The Japanese Champion delivered a flowing program to "Ave Maria" that contained a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, a triple flip and nice spirals. Her marks ranged from 5.3 to 5.7 for required elements and from 5.5 to 5.8 for presentation. "I was a little bit nervous, but I tried to focus on my performance as much as possible", Suguri commented. "I had a lot of pressure at our Nationals, so I was used to it and didn't feel it too much today. Lori (Nichol, her choreographer) told me to show my heart when I'm skating. I did 80 percent today, but I think it will go down to 70 when I watch the video tape! I had a little mistake on the deathdrop, it could have been higher."
Kwan, who stood in joint first place with Slutskaya after the Qualifying Round, had to overcome a shaky start as she stepped out of the triple Lutz in her combination right at the beginning of her performance. The four-time World Champion pulled herself together to land all the other elements, including a triple flip and solid spins. The mistake still cost her a lot. Her technical scores went from 5.2 to 5.4, but her presentation marks were as high as 5.9. "I'm a little disappointed in my combination. Going into the combination, I felt I was a little too fast. I think I leaned back a little bit too much", Kwan explained. "It's hard, there are eight elements, and each element counts so much."
Suguri's teammate Yoshie Onda put in a clean performance to finish in fourth place. Sasha Cohen of the USA, who was second in Qualifying Group B is in fifth after stepping out of her double Axel, but has stayed in contention for a medal.
1999 World Champion Maria Butyrskaya withdrew prior to the Short Program citing physical and emotional fatigue.
Ice Dance, Free Dance
The Ice Dancers finished their competition with the Free Dance.
Overnight leaders Irina Lobacheva/Ilia Averbukh of Russia defended their lead to win their first gold medal at an international Championship. Canada's Shae-Lynn Bourne/Victor Kraatz took their first World silver medal after winning four bronze medals. Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovski (ISR) moved up from fourth to capture the bronze medal. It was the first medal for Israel in an ISU Championship.
Lobacheva/Averbukh had to skate first and produced an emotional program dedicated to the events of September 11th and the loss of loved ones. Their routine featured intricate footwork, spectacular lifts and moves. As they had finished, the husband and wife team hugged each other tightly. The Russians waited anxiously for their marks in the Kiss and Cry area, but their faces lit up as the presentation scores - all 5.8s and 5.9s - came up. The technical marks ranged from 5.6 to 5.9. "It feels wonderful", Averbukh commented on winning the gold. "Eight years ago we competed in our first World Championships and we finished 14th. Now, eight years later we win the World Championships. It was a long trip, and we are happy to win the gold." He added that it was difficult to skate as they felt the pressure of being in the lead.
Bourne/Kraatz were the last couple to take on to the ice. The Canadians entertained the crowd with their lively routine to popular hits by Michael Jackson and produced impressively fast footwork and difficult lifts. Their marks went up to 5.8 for technical merit and up to 5.9 for presentation, and they even picked up two first place ordinals. "I'm just happy with how our performance went", Kraatz said. "There were some parts which I think were just really amazing. The crowd got into it, which really carried us through the program. For a few moments in the Kiss and Cry, I just had to sit back and take it all in. We were third like for four times, and then nothing the last two years. Finally now we're getting on to the podium. I think it's great for us."
The bronze medal winners were a surprise. Chait/Sakhnovski delivered a fast paced routine to Jewish Folk Music to move up one spot. They beat the Lithuanian couple Margarita Drobiazko/Povilas Vanagas by a five to four split on the panel of Judges. "For us, this is a dream come true", Sakhnovski told the press. "It's our first medal, we're on the podium (of a Championships) for the first time."
Drobiazko/Vanagas put in a very emotional program with innovative spins and moves set to "Quelques Cris" by Johnny Halliday. "We felt great on the ice. That performance was the best we ever had, but we were very disappointed when we saw the marks", Vanagas said.
Day Five Ladies FPl. Name Nat. Points QA QB SP FS 1 Irina SLUTSKAYA RUS 1.0 1 1 2 Fumie SUGURI JPN 2.0 2 2 3 Michelle KWAN USA 2.2 1 3 4 Yoshie ONDA JPN 3.6 3 4 5 Sasha COHEN USA 3.8 2 5 6 Elena LIASHENKO UKR 5.2 4 6 7 Julia SEBESTYEN HUN 5.4 3 7 8 Viktoria VOLCHKOVA RUS 8.4 9 8 9 Tatiana MALININA UZB 8.6 5 11 10 Silvia FONTANA ITA 8.8 7 10 11 Zuzana BABIAKOVA SVK 9.8 11 9 12 Susanna POYKIO FIN 10.2 6 13 13 Laetitia HUBERT FRA 10.4 8 12 14 Jennifer ROBINSON CAN 10.4 5 14 15 Jennifer KIRK USA 10.6 4 15 16 Idora HEGEL CRO 13.6 10 16 17 Marta ANDRADE ESP 15.0 12 17 18 Miriam MANZANO AUS 16.0 13 18 19 Julia SOLDATOVA BLR 16.0 7 22 20 Dan FANG CHN 16.2 12 19 21 Julia LAUTOWA AUT 16.2 9 21 22 Vanessa GIUNCHI ITA 17.6 14 20 23 Asa PERSSON SWE 18.2 11 23 24 Galina MANIACHENKO UKR 18.4 10 24 25 Lucie KRAUSOVA CZE 8 26 26 Gintare VOSTRECOVAITE LTU 13 25 27 Natalie HOSTE BEL 15 27 28 Sabina WOJTALA POL 15 28 29 Georgina PAPAVASILIOU GRE 14 29 R Maria BUTYRSKAYA RUS 6 31 Anne Sophie CALVEZ FRA 16 31 Yea-Ji SHIN KOR 16 33 Roxana LUCA ROM 17 33 Daria ZURAVICKI ISR 17 35 Hristina VASSILEVA BUL 18 35 Shirene HUMAN RSA 18 37 Christine LEE HKG 19 37 Gladys OROZCO MEX 19 39 Diana Y. CHEN TPE 20 39 Ksenija JASTSENSKI YUG 20 Ice Dance, Free Dance FPl. Name Nat. Points C1 C2 OD FD 1 Irina LOBACHEVA / Ilia AVERBUKH RUS 2.0 1 1 1 1 2 Shae-Lynn BOURNE / Victor KRAATZ CAN 4.0 2 2 2 2 3 Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI ISR 7.0 4 4 4 3 4 Margarita DROBIAZKO / Povilas VANAGAS LTU 7.0 3 3 3 4 5 Albena DENKOVA / Maxim STAVIYSKI BUL 10.0 5 5 5 5 6 Elena GRUSHINA / Ruslan GONCHAROV UKR 12.0 6 6 6 6 7 Kati WINKLER / Rene LOHSE GER 14.0 7 7 7 7 8 Tatiana NAVKA / Roman KOSTOMAROV RUS 16.0 8 8 8 8 9 Naomi LANG / Peter TCHERNYSHEV USA 18.0 9 9 9 9 10 Marie-France DUBREUIL / Patrice LAUZON CAN 20.2 11 10 10 10 11 Sylwia NOWAK / Sebastian KOLASINSKI POL 22.0 10 12 11 11 12 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 24.4 15 11 12 12 13 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 26.6 13 13 14 13 14 Marika HUMPHREYS / Vitali BARANOV GBR 27.0 12 14 13 14 15 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE 30.2 16 15 15 15 16 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 31.6 14 16 16 16 17 Alia OUABDELSSELAM / Benjamin DELMAS FRA 34.0 17 17 17 17 18 Veronika MORAVKOVA / Jiri PROCHAZKA CZE 36.2 19 18 18 18 19 Stephanie RAUER / Thomas RAUER GER 38.8 18 19 19 20 20 Weina ZHANG / Xianming CAO CHN 39.0 20 20 20 19 21 Zita GEBORA / Andras VISONTAI HUN 42.2 21 22 21 21 22 Valentina ANSELMI / Fabrizio PEDRAZZINI ITA 44.0 23 21 22 22 23 Tae-Hwa YANG / Chuen-Gun LEE KOR 46.6 23 23 24 23 24 Rie ARIKAWA / Kenji MIYAMOTO JPN 47.8 26 24 23 24 25 Alla BEKNAZAROVA / Yuri KOCHERZHENKO UKR 22 25 25 26 Jessica HUOT / Juha VALKAMA FIN 25 26 26 27 Anna MOSENKOVA / Sergei SYCHYOV EST 27 27 27 28 Natalie BUCK / Trent NELSON-BOND AUS 28 28 28 For further information please contact: 2002 World Figure Skating Championships Aline Bussat Ingweresen, Hiroshi Kobayashi, ISU Media Coordinator Press Officer Tel: + 81 (0) 90 55 78 76 56 Tel: +81 (0) 90 52 18 20 64 E-mail: bussat@isu.ch E-mail: 2002worlds_press@rio.odn.ne.jp