Strength, technique, grace
Against all comers, Kwan is the class of the field
Posted: Sunday December 13, 1998 04:54 PM
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Against the world's best, Kwan was the class of the field AP |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Michelle Kwan won with the jumps and she won without them. She beat the pros, she beat her fellow Olympians.
With confident technique and stunning grace, the U.S. figure skater dominated the field over the weekend at the World Professional Figure Skating Championships, capping a year in which she won everything she skated -- except, of course, the Nagano Olympics.
"I am very impressed by her, she is a true champion," said 1984 and 1988 Olympic champion Katarina Witt, who finished fifth after conceding there was no way she could beat Kwan. "What she went through at the Olympics and then to come back and to win. It was like after [the Olympics] she was saying, `This is me. I deserve to win.'
"It was a beautiful moment out there to watch."
Alexei Yagudin became the first Russian in the event's 26-year history to win the men's event, holding on to his lead even though three-time defending champion Kurt Browning won Saturday night's artistic skate.
Olympic champions Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev won the pairs, while new partners Maya Usova and Yevgeny Platov blossomed through a difficult and painful year to win the dance.
Kwan, meanwhile, even upstaged herself. Her big moment was supposed to be Friday night, when she used the technical program to unveil the "Lamento d'Ariane" piece that will serve as her free skate at the U.S. championships in February and the Olympic-level world championships in March.
Kwan landed seven triple jumps and got one perfect 6.0 for the routine, which will need some polish over the next few months. Saturday, however, she lifted the MCI Center with a beautiful, mature skate to "East of Eden," which included just three triples but earned five 6.0s.
"It was one of my best performances," said Kwan, the youngest world pro champion at 18. "When I skated, it was magical. ... I didn't expect much from this competition coming in. Tonight, I felt really on. I enjoyed myself. I felt very confident when I stepped on the ice."
Japan's Yuka Sato, winner of this event in 1996, finished second, followed by former U.S. champion Nicole Bobek and China's Lu Chen. Then came the only Olympic champions in the women's field, Witt and Oksana Baiul.
"If the roof came down, the whole history of figure skating would come down with it," Kwan said.
"I had the chills in the warmup today. I looked at Oksana and saw her '94 performance at the Olympics and Katarina and saw her at the Olympics, and Lulu at worlds ... It was like a flashback. I saw all their performances right before my eyes."
But Kwan was better than all of them in an event that was open to both pro and Olympic-level skaters for the first time. The opening of the competition also allowed Yagudin to finish a year similar to Kwan's -- no Olympic gold, but a pair of world championship titles on the sports' two different levels.
"This title I won is a nice end to this year, because it's my last championships this year," said Yagudin, also 18.
Browning, with a nearly insurmountable deficit to make up after a lackluster performance on Friday, had the crowd in an uproar with a hilarious clown routine that received four perfect marks. But it was only a moral victory for the Canadian, who usually takes the competition more seriously than his fellow pros.
"These pro titles mean a lot to me," Browning said. "When I became champion, it meant almost as much as the [Olympic-level] world championships. This is the one I hold in my heart every year."
Todd Eldredge was third, followed by Rudy Galindo.
Still, nothing held more intrigue than the dance, where Usova defeated both her ex-partner and ex-husband -- Alexander Zhulin -- and her ex-husband's former mistress -- Pasha Grischuk -- as she and Platov danced romantically to "Moonlight Sonata."
"It's a really, really difficult year for me," said Usova, who divorced Zhulin this summer. "I change all my life. I change where I live. I change coach. I change partner. I change ice rinks. I change everything. I even change my hair. It's just like everything changes. But it's a good change, and right now I'm so happy."
Grischuk and Zhulin finished third, behind Americans Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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