Ice delights
Plushenko, Liashenko win gold medals at Skate Canada
Posted: Sunday November 08, 1998 01:47 AM
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Liashenko: "I was hoping to win here. I really wanted to win this time." AP |
KAMLOOPS, British Columbia (AP) -- Evgney Plushenko, a 16-year-old Russian, and Elena Liashenko, a 22-year-old Ukrainian, won the men's and women's events at the Sun Life Skate Canada International on Saturday night.
Both Plushenko and Liashenko earned $30,000 for the gold medal performances.
Plushenko landed six triples and a perfect quad toe loop -- in combination with a triple toe loop -- and received seven 5.9s, a 5.8 and a 5.7 on the technical side, and five 5.9s and four 5.7s on the artistic side to finish ahead of three-time world champion Elvis Stojko of Canada, while Szabolcs Vidrai of Hungary was third.
Plushenko, who skated last, won the bronze medal at last March's world championships when Stojko didn't compete because of a groin injury. He proved with this win that he'll be a serious contender next spring at the world championships at Helsinki.
"Elvis has been an example of an athlete I should emulate," Plushenko said through his coach Alexei Mishkin, who also acted as his interpreter during the news conference. "I am working not only to beat world champions but Olympic champions. This is my goal."
Mishkin had some bad news for Plushenko's rivals.
"He's very far from his real possibilities," he said. "He can be better. This is an important period for him. He is growing so quickly now -- almost 4 1/2 inches in the last year.'
Stojko, 26, was fourth at Skate America in Detroit eight days ago. That was his first competition since winning the Olympic silver medal despite a painful groin injury.
All nine judges gave Stojko a 5.8 for technical content. For artistry, he got five 5.8s, three 5.7s and one 5.6.
"It felt great," Stojko said. "It's another step up."
Fumie Suguri of Japan was second and top-seeded Irina Slutskaya of Russia was third in the women's competition.
Liashenko was pegged by some as a future world champion after placing sixth in her first world championships in 1994. That was to be her best finish, however, as she was ninth in 1995, 12th in 1996, failed to qualify in 1997 and the finished a solid seventh this year.
Skate Canada is the second international win of her career.
"I was hoping to win here," Liashenko said through an interpreter. "I really wanted to win this time."
Suguri landed five triple jumps and stepped out of two others. Her technical marks ranged from 5.3 to 5.7 out of the possible 6.0, and her artistic marks were 5.5s and 5.6s.
Liashenko followed and also landed five triples, doubling out on two others. Six of the nine judges had Liashenko first and Suguri second.
"It was one of the best," she said when asked how she would rank Saturday's performance.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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