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Out with the old New routine gives Yagudin early advantage
Posted: Monday March 27, 2000 04:39 PM
NICE, France (AP) -- Alexei Yagudin used a new routine to gain an advantage over rival Yevgeny Plushchenko in the men's qualifying Monday at the World Figure Skating Championships. Seeking his third consecutive world title, Yagudin was impressive in winning his group, hitting a quad and seven triple jumps. Plushchenko showed the effort of skating early and was beaten by Canadian Elvis Stojko in the other qualifying group. After losing his European title last month to Plushchenko, Yagudin changed his long program. He showed the new program for the first time in competition today in the round that counts for 20 percent of the final score. Before, he was skating to the music of the movie "Broken Arrow." Now, he has gone to a classical mode to the opera "Tosca" by Puccini. "After the Europeans, we decided to change," Yagudin said. "It is a good program, but it is hard for the public." His marks were between 5.7 and 5.9. Second to Yagudin was American Michael Weiss, who did nine triples -- one more than the maximum allowed because his first jump was an intended quad that was scaled down to a triple toe loop. "I would have liked to hit the quad, but you've got to save something for later in the week," Weiss said. Plushchenko skated hours earlier as the first skater of the morning group "It was very difficult for Yevgeny to skate so early in the morning," his coach, Alexei Mishin, said. It showed. He fell on his opening quad attempt. Then he scaled down a triple axel and put in two double jumps at the end of the routine as if seeking to just end the routine without making any more mistakes. In winning six competitions in a row since last October, he regularly did a quad in combination and at least six triples in his routines. Today, he did only four triples and lost to Stojko, a three-time world champion who failed in his quad attempt and faltered on a triple axel. "Right on the takeoff (of the quad) I was a little anxious," Stojko said. Still with six successful triples, he had four first-place votes, enough to beat Plushchenko but not near the quality of Yagudin's skating. The men come back for the short program Tuesday, with the free program, worth 50 percent, on Thursday.
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