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Great expectations Russian skaters lead at Russian Grand Prix
Posted: Thursday November 25, 1999 04:24 PM
ST. PETERSBURG, Russa (AP) -- Russian skaters Irina Slutskaya and Yevgeny Plushenko lived up to their billings and their countrymen's expectations on Thursday night by skating their way to first place positions after the first day of competition at the Cup of Russia Grand Prix event. Slutskaya started out with high drama, nailing a triple-double combination a mere 10 seconds into her short-program performance, only to follow up with another double and then a triple before even a minute had passed. Displaying a flair and exuberance clearly fueled by the energized crowd, she proceeded to reel off a variety of tight spins, with a speed and intensity that the other competitors couldn't match. Placing second in the women's short program was another Russian, Julia Soldatova, who edged American Angela Nikodinov into third. Soldatova grabbed the spot even though she stumbled both during a triple-double attempt and later in her program while attempting a double. Soldatova's superior presentation pushed her past Nikodinov, who showe exceptional power in cleanly landing all three of the required jumps. Plushenko, sporting a Cossack-style costume and skating to Khatchaturian's "Saber Dance," was the most exuberant of the men. He fell early in his routine, but managed landed a triple-double combo clean, and then slipped again while attempting another triple. Like Soldatova, his presentation marks were high enough to compensate for his technical faults. Russian Alexander Abt, while landing all of his jumps, attempted one fewer triple than Plushenko and lacked his compatriot's flair, leaving him in second position. China's Guo Zhengxin was third after a technically sound but rather colorless routine. The Chinese showing was stronger in the pairs event, where Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo stood first after the short programs. The duo landed triples in tandem, and then Shen was perfect in completing a triple from the throw of her partner. Despite Russian Maria Petrova's fall during a tandem triple attempt, she and Alexei Tikhonov finished second, with Ukraine's s Aljona Savchenko andStanislav Morozov placing third in a field that had been weakened earlier in the day by the withdrawal of Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. The co-leaders in the Grand Prix standings were forced to withdraw when Pelletier came down with a stomach ailment. The first day of competition also saw the compulsory dance segment of the ice dancing event, with all of the duos skating a basic program with little variance to a Viennese waltz. Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio of Italy placed first, followed by Shae-Lynne Bourne and Victor Kraatz of Canada and Poland's Silwia Nowak and Sebastian Kolasinski.
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