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Notebook Hughes, Nikodinov taking advantage of situtation
Posted: Wednesday March 29, 2000 04:57 PM
NICE, France (AP) -- Sarah Hughes and Angela Nikodinov are in the same position on the American team. At first glance, neither should be competing in Nice at the World Figure Skating Championships. Yet they both are, and they easily qualified for the short program with top quality routines in Wednesday's opening round of the women's event. Hughes was third and Nikodinov fifth behind European champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia and American champion Michelle Kwan. Hughes, from Great Neck, N.Y., did four triple jumps cleanly. She was the only competitor to try a triple-triple combination -- a salchow to loop -- but had to step out of the landing of the second jump. Hughes, at 14, is still a year under the age limit, but was permitted into the senior event last year because she won a medal at the 1999 World Junior Championships. Once in, she made the most of her chance, coming in seventh. A major difference between this year and last for Hughes is her short hair. Hughes had previously worn her hair in either a ponytail or a bun. "It was very severe. And sometimes it got caught in my costume. This way I look more grown up," Hughes said. "We planned to cut it before last year's worlds, but when I walked into the shop I got cold feet and walked right out. I had it cut finally before coming here." Nikodinov, fourth in the American championships, was moved up from alternate to the team. National runner-up Sasha Cohen, who is also younger than permissible, failed to take advantage of the junior medal loophole. Cohen, of Laguna Niguel, Calif., finished only sixth in this season's world juniors. Nikodinov, 19, from Spartenburg, Calif., who trains in Detroit, was 12th last year in this event. Wednesday she presented three triples jumps, two less than planned. "I've been training great all week, so I'm obviously disappointed at doubling two jumps," Nikodinov said. H3>Where's Julia? Julia Soldatova of Russia, one of figure skating's brightest stars and last year's bronze medal winner, is missing from the 2000 worlds championships. The 18-year old from Moscow, wanted to be in Nice, but suffered the same fate that Irina Slutskaya did last year in the tough Russian nationals. Only the top three in Russia were selected for the world team, and Soldatova finished fourth in her national championships, which were held in Moscow at the end of December. Soldatova and coach Elena Tchaikovskaya wasted no time making alternate arrangements with the Belarus skating federation. The establishment in Minsk welcomed the talented skater, quickly gave Soldatova a passport and organized training facilities for her and Tchaikovskaya, one of the top coaches in the sport. However,the Russian federation and the International Skating Union opposed Soldatova's skating at worlds. According to Joyce Hisey, the Canadian who is the ISU's technical delegate to the world championships, skaters must establish a certain residency and cannot skate for another country within a year of representing someplace else internationally. Soldatova represented Russia at the Grand Prix meets this season, including the Grand Prix final in January, where she was one of four Russians in women's singles. Slutskaya, who won one of the two qualifying rounds Wednesday in beating Michelle Kwan, knows how Soldatova feels. Slutskaya did not make the Russian team last year, although she had been second in the 1998 world championships. At her national championships in December of that year she finished fourth and did not qualify for the Russian team at worlds. Instead of trying to find another country to support her, Slutskaya persevered and stayed in Russia, and became national champion this season.
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