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Russians capture all titles at Cup of Russia
Posted: Saturday November 28, 1998 03:41 PM
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Urmanov won a silver medal at the Goodwill Games and finished third in Skate America, the first event of the Series Matthew Stockman/Allsport |
MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- Alexei Urmanov completed a Russian title
sweep at the Cup of Russia, capturing the men's event Saturday for
his first major international victory this season.
Matching the success of their women teammates, the Russian men
captured all three medals in their event too.
The Cup of Russia is the fifth event in the International
Skating Union's Grand Prix Series, which features Olympic-eligible
skaters, and was held in Moscow for the first time.
Urmanov landed a triple flip-triple toe loop jump at the
beginning of his tango routine, but fell on a subsequent triple
axel-triple toe loop combination and stumbled on the next triple
axel.
"I'm not satisfied with my skating today," Urmanov said,
lamenting his mistake.
"Judges favored me today."
He got mostly 5.7s for technical merit, and six judges gave him
the edge over Yevgeny Plushenko, who secured second place after the
short program.
Alexander Abt, skating a modern Egyptian theme, failed to land
three jumps and came in third.
Urmanov, the 1994 Olympic champion, missed all of last season -
including a chance to repeat as Olympic champion - but made his
return a rewarding one, winning a silver medal at the Goodwill
Games in New York. He finished third in Skate America, the first
event of the Series.
Russian pairs filled the ice dance podium steps as well.
World champions and Olympic silver medalists Angelika Krylova
and Oleg Ovsiannikov unveiled a controversial new program, a
routine with only drums and percussion instruments, at the Nations
Cup two weeks ago. It did not go over well.
Their reception in Moscow was better. They received one 5.9 for
technical merit and four more for presentation - enough for a
first-place finish.
Before the event, Krylova defended the routine, saying, "We're
world champions and we have a right to experiment."
Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh were second, followed by
Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostamarov. All three pairs are coached by
Natalia Linichuk and Gennady Karponosov.
Even without Olympic champions competing this season, the
Russians have won fourteen of 20 titles as the International Figure
Skating Grand Prix Series reaches its finals with only one event
remaining.
In Skate America and Skate Canada, the Russians won four of the
eight events. They swept the titles in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and
added two more at the Lalique trophy competition in France. Like
Gelsenkirchen, they swept all four in Moscow.
Men's gold medalist Ilia Kulik and pairs champion Oksana
Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev have bypassed the Grand Prix series
this year, preferring to enter pro-ams and do the show circuit
while staying eligible for future Olympic competition.
Pasha Grishuk and Yevgeny Platov have split and are no longer
eligible. Yet even without them, the Russians have proved capable
of dominating the sport.
Winners in the Grand Prix receive $30,000. Skaters can
accumulate points from two of the meets to qualify for the series
final in St. Petersburg, Russia, in March.
Urmanov and Abt have qualified for the finals as well as Russian
compatriots Yelena Sokolova and Maria Butyrskaya. Yelena Berezhnaya
and Anton Sikharulidze, who won the pairs event in Moscow on
Friday, also have qualified.
The last qualifying event is the NHK Trophy next week in
Sapporo, Japan.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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