Polishing touches
Russian men dominate final free skate
Posted: Thursday January 28, 1999 04:17 PM
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Yagudin looked tired during the qualifying, but he's definitely one of the skaters to watch Matthew Stockman/Allsport |
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- At the last practice before the mens' final free program Thursday night, it's a sport in itself to keep up with all the jumps popping up from every corner of the rink.
At the far end of the ice, defending champion Alexei Yagudin hits an enormous triple axel, then another and another. Alexei Urmanov, the 1994 Olympic champion making a comeback from an two-year-old injury, polishes his triple-salchow, double-loop, followed a few turns later by a triple toe.
Then Yagudin's back, hits a quad-toe. On the next try, he doubles.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the rink, the Russian national champion, 16-year-old Yevgeny Plushenko, jumps one quad after another, then his tour-de-force: a quad-toe loop, triple-toe loop.
These are the skaters to watch. One will be the European champion, and it could be any of them.
Urmanov, at 25 the oldest and most experienced of the three, won the short program. The first man to hit a clean quad at Europeans, eight years ago now, he's the least consistent with the jump, but may not need it anyway. He's also the most elegant and polished of the three, and as the last to skate among them, can wait and see how well the others do.
During practice, Urmanov makes only a few quad attempts, but hits only a triple. By the end, Urmanov's no longer jumping, but skating the rink's perimeter before settling at one end swizzling around on his edges, watching the tracings. Two years ago, at worlds, he'd won the short and was warming up for the long when it became clear he couldn't skate with a fresh injury. He withdrew.
Yagudin's looking a little skated out. He fell on his opening triple axel during qualifying, and admits feeling the pressure of defending the title, and after winning the first competitions he competed in this season, lost the last three to Plushenko. He spends much of the practice time feeling the ice, playfully digging in with his edges, spinning around, digging in again. When French skater Vincent Restencourt hits a triple axel, Yagudin claps absently.
Plushenko, just 16, brims with confidence. He's the young upstart, and beat both of his Russian teammates at nationals earlier this month.
His quad is the most consistent, and he's the first off the practice ice, even before his music plays.
Russian claimed the first title of the championships Wednesday night when Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov won the final free skate. Three Russian women lead the field going into the short program Friday.
The Russian ice dance pair, Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov, secured their lead over French couple Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat during the original dance section Thursday.
The Russian pair skated an exuberant waltz to music from La Traviata sung by Luciano Pavarotti, earning one 6.0 for presentation and first-placings from six of the nine judges.
In second, Anissina and Peizerat dropped "Masquerade," used by too many other couples, for a classic waltz, taking two first places with marks ranging from 5.6-5.8. The final first-place mark went to No. 3 couple, Ilya Averbukh and Irina Lobacheva of Russia.
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