Star-studded
Kwan, Yamaguchi to face each other in pro-am
Posted: Tuesday March 02, 1999 09:58 PM
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Michelle Kwan (left) and Kristi Yamaguchi will join several other champion figure skaters this April. Brian Bahr and Matthew Stockman/Allsport |
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) -- Michelle Kwan vs. Kristi Yamaguchi? Not a bad matchup, one that will highlight the Hershey's Kisses Figure Skating Challenge pro-am on April 13.
Kwan, who goes after her third world championship this month, is the top Olympic-eligible women's skater, a winner in her last 10 competitions since taking the silver medal at the Nagano Olympics. Yamaguchi, who turned professional soon after winning the 1992 Olympics, has dominated on her level for most of the 1990s, but rarely competes anymore. Yamaguchi will be competing in an ISU- judged event for the first time since 1996.
Joining Kwan, who won her third U.S. national championship in February, and Yamaguchi will be two-time Olympic champion Katarina Witt of Germany, 1998 world bronze medalist Maria Butyrskaya of Russia and three-time world silver medalist Surya Bonaly of France. Only Kwan and Butyrskaya still hold Olympic eligibility.
The men's field will feature five-time U.S. champion Todd Eldredge, two-time Olympic silver medalist Elvis Stojko of Canada and current world champion Alexei Yagudin of Russia. Stojko and Yagudin first will face each other at the world championships in Helsinki, Finland, in three weeks.
Also entered in the men's competition are current U.S. champ Michael Weiss, 1992 Olympic champion Viktor Petrenko of Ukraine and 1996 U.S. champion Rudy Galindo.
The pairs event will feature 1998 world champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze against their conquerors at Nagano, Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev. The Russian couples have not met since Nagano.
Challenging the Russians will be U.S. champions Danielle and Steve Hartsell, and American silver medalists Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman.
Ice dancing will feature 1998 world champions Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov of Russia and five-time U.S. champions Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow, who now are professionals.
The event will also feature an exhibition by 1999 U.S. silver medalist Naomi Nari Nam, a 13-year-old phenom from Costa Mesa, Calif.
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