Aerial artist
Plushenko wins men's title at NHK Trophy figure skating
Posted: Sunday December 06, 1998 03:44 PM
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Plushenko received a 6.0 plus six 5.9s and two 5.8s for presentation AP |
SAPPORO, Japan (AP) -- Evgeny Plushenko, a 16-year-old Russian
figure skater, received his first perfect mark of 6.0 Sunday as he
took the men's singles title at the NHK trophy, his second career
Grand Prix victory.
"It was the first 6.0 I've ever received, and I know how
precious a 6.0 mark is," said a jubilant Plushenko. "A perfect 6.0 is an ultimate goal for all the competitors. Yet, you know,
only a few have had the honor."
Plushenko, fresh from winning in the Skate Canada four weeks
ago, started his free program with a rare quadruple toe loop-triple
toe loop combination, followed by a triple axel-triple toe loop
sequence and five more triple jumps, all in perfect execution and
style.
The crowd clapped along with the beat of the music midway
through his 4 1/2 minutes of performance.
Judges gave the rising star skater eight 5.9s and a 5.8 for
content and techniques, and a 6.0 plus six 5.9s and two 5.8s for
presentation.
"It was indeed the best performance I've ever put up,' said
Plushenko, the gold medalist in the 1996 world junior
championships.
For Plushenko, it wasn't his first quad-triple combination. The
world championships bronze medalist first did it in the Skate
Canada as he finished ahead of three-time world champion Elvis
Stojko of Canada, who won the silver there.
And the Russian skater wasn't the only one who landed a
quad-triple combination Sunday. Li Chengjiang of China did it and
placed third behind Japan's Takeshi Honda.
The 17-year-old Honda landed a quadruple toe loop himself, but
in a less impressive single jump. Still, he won the silver as Li
wobbled on a couple of jumps, at one point reducing an intended
triple axel-double combination to a single axel-double toe loop
sequence.
The quad-triple combination is so rare that only three skaters
have done it so far in international competition, according to NHK
Trophy organizers. Stojko became the first to do it at the 1997
Grand Prix Final, they said.
On Sunday, Hona landed a quadruple and then six perfect
triples, while Li did a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop
combination and then three clean triples.
"I'm glad I did it again," said Honda, referring to his first
perfect quadruple in a single jump in the preliminary for the world
championships in March. He qualified and placed 11th in the meet.
Li, the 19-year-old national champion of China, said he regrets
having made a few errors during his jumps.
"In practice, I've done the program clean and perfect on a
number of occasions," he said. "I'll have to try harder and
practice harder not to make easy mistakes."
In the compulsory program on Friday, Li was second to Plushenko,
and Honda was in third place.
On Saturday, Tatyana Malinina of Uzbekistan won the women's
singles title, her first victory in international competition.
World champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of
Russia won the pairs title, and Marina Anissina and Gwendal
Peizerat of France - second in the world championships - won in ice
dancing.
The NHK Trophy is the sixth and last event in the International
Skating Union's Grand Prix series. Under a points-scoring system,
the series lead to the Grand Prix Final in Russia in March, two
weeks before the world championships in Finland.
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