Unstoppable
Russians continue to dominate European Championships
Posted: Friday January 29, 1999 01:43 PM
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Butyrskaya scored all 5.8s and 5.9s from the nine judges in the presentation marks AP |
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- Russian women picked up where the men left off by moving into the top three positions of their event after today's short program at the European Figure Skating Championships.
Defending champion Maria Butyrskaya, Viktoria Volchkova and Julia Soldatova all did the eight required elements with ease.
Butyrskaya skated to a spirited version of "St. James Infirmary Blues" that enabled her to illustrate her maturity.
While Volchkova and Soldatova had slightly more difficult jumps, the 26-year-old Butyrskaya was far ahead in the presentation marks, scoring all 5.8s and 5.9s from the nine judges. Soldatova, 17, and the 16-year-old Volchkova each received just one 5.8.
Volchkova is making her international debut in senior competition.
Soldatova was seventh in last year's Europeans but that wasn't good enough to keep her on the Russian Olympic team.
Laetitia Hubert of France and Tanja Szewczenko of Germany, two outside contenders for women's medals, withdrew before the short program. Hubert had a stomach ailment and Szewczenko a hip injury.
Later today, the ice dance ended with Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov in front, seeking this year's third consecutive Russian victory -- and 11th straight since 1997 -- at the Europeans.
The men could have probably brought a few others to add to their 1-2-3 finish of Thursday when Alexei Yagudin used an emotionally-packed routine to defend his title.
He showed his feelings on the ice -- pumping his fists after he completed a quadruple jump and again when he finished his emotionally-charged program.
Then he did it again coming off the ice, falling to his knees in tribute to his coach, Tatiana Tarasova, gliding toward her with his arms outstretched.
In a winner-take-all free skating portion, Yagudin was secure while his Russian teammates and rivals for his title crumbled.
Yevgeny Plushenko, who beat him twice earlier this month, and Alexei Urmanov, making a comeback after an injury wiped out his chance to defend his 1997 European title, were second and third, giving the Russians a sweep of the men's medals.
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