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War of attrition Slutskaya beats Kwan in short, long skating programs
TOKYO (AP) -- In a competition that was more of an endurance contest than a skating meet, Irina Slutskaya beat Michelle Kwan on Saturday at the International Skating Union Grand Prix final. The women were required to skate competitive programs three times within 24 hours, including two long programs Saturday afternoon. With skaters still jet lagged after arriving from the United States and Europe barely three days earlier, most skaters made minor mistakes in their programs. "It was very hard to compete. This was so hard. You go to the rink, you compete, you go back to sleep. Back to the rink," Slutskaya said. "I had only two hours' sleep last night." "It is difficult, especially doing two different programs in one day," Kwan said. Still, Slutskaya beat Kwan in all three phases of the competition. She was more consistent throughout as Kwan made small glitches Saturday. In the men's event, two-time European champion Yevgeny Plushchenko beat three-time world champion Alexei Yagudin of Russia to continue their duel. They will meet Sunday for the men's title. Italians won the ice dance while Canadians were ahead in the pairs. After the short programs Friday night, all skaters did long programs early Saturday to determine placings for the final head-to-head duels. The women and ice dance finished Saturday afternoon while the men and pairs conclude on Sunday. Slutskaya beat Kwan in both long programs on Saturday to win the GP title for the second consecutive year and beat Kwan overall for the third time this season. Slutskaya said it's no advantage. "We are all competitors. Sometimes she wins. Sometimes I win," Slutskaya said. "That is life." In the first program Saturday afternoon, Slutskaya edged Kwan by a 4-3 judges' margin -- with even the American judge favoring Slutskaya. Then, in the "super final," it was a 6-1 decision for Slutskaya, with the American judge favoring Kwan. In the early programs, both skated their competitive routines from this year -- Slutskaya doing "Don Quixote" and Kwan performing "Song of the Black Swan." The Russian failed to complete a clean combination and Kwan scaled down two triple jumps to doubles. Kwan was a little ahead in presentation but not enough to offset Slutskaya's technical margin. Less than six hours later they skated against each other again. This time, Kwan used a completely new "Miraculous Mandarin" by Bartok. Slutskaya skated to her routine from last year, "Carmen." "It was difficult mentally with the new program. I had it for two weeks. I was not familiar with it and that made me a little nervous," Kwan said. Kwan missed even a double jump and did a single axle Slutskaya fell attempting her triple lutz-triple loop, and laughed, then went on to finish with six triple jumps. Kwan's scores were mostly 5.7s and 5.8 while Slutskaya's were mostly 5.8s and 5.9 with her lone 5.6 coming from the American judge. American Sarah Hughes, 15 and a veteran of two world championships, came in third. She completed a triple-triple combination in both programs and did not make any major errors. She didn't let the conditions affect her. "When I go out to skate, the judges and audience don't care if I'm tired or cold," Hughes said. "They are just judging what I do." In the men's event, Plushchenko and Yagudin each landed one quad and each had one step out on a triple. But Plushchenko's technical content was a bit better, illustrated by his quad-triple-double combination early in his program to Russian folk music. He had seven triples in all. He had a string of 5.9s in technical elements and even one 6.0 for presentation. Yagudin, skating in an old routine to "Lawrence of Arabia," missed the second part of his quad combination but still had all 5.8s and 5.9s, taking first from two of the seven judges. In addition to jet lag, Yagudin was nursing an ankle twisted earlier this month. "That was a tough one. I am very tired," Yagudin said. "My ankle is somewhat worse today but it's not bothering me too much." Matt Savoie of the United States came in third, completing eight triples but not attempting a quad. "I got anxious on one jump, but overall I think it went pretty well," Savoie said. "So far I'm pleased how I've been doing." In the ice dance, Italians Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio won easily. Their early program earned them 6.0s from two judges. In the gold medal final they received another 6.0 from the Italian judge, using this year's routine to music from the movie "Romeo and Juliet" to beat Russians Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh, sweeping all seven judges. Lithuanians Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas took third. Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada edged Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia in the long program of the pairs event and they meet on Sunday to determine the gold medal. The GP final brings together the top point scorers from a six-meet series between October and December last year.
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