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Tension-wracked Irina Slutskaya wins Russian nationals
Posted: Saturday December 25, 1999 01:45 PM
MOSCOW (AP) -- Irina Slutskaya, in a free program set to melodies from "Carmen," showed the mettle of her musical alter ego on Saturday to win the tension-filled Russian Figure Skating Championships. Slutskaya landed five triple jumps including a clean triple-double combination to take the title from current world champion and six-time Russian champion Maria Butyrskaya who placed second. Viktoria Volchkova won the bronze. Russia's talent pool in women's skating is so deep this year that Julia Soldatova, the world championships' bronze medalist, placed only fourth in the event at Moscow's Sokolniki Arena. With competition at such a level, tension was high. "The girls came prepared for a strong battle," said Volchkova. Despite the preparations, most of them appeared to find their confidence draining. Four of the top six backed off in their programs, turning intended triple jumps into doubles, doubles into singles. Slutskaya and Butyrskaya were the only ones in the top group who appeared to try every moved they'd planned. Slutskaya tumbled once and Butyrskaya went down twice, but daring to fall got higher marks than upright hesitance. For Slutskaya, pushing herself through the tension was a victory in itself, given that last season, when she didn't make the Russian world team, was so unnerving that she started crying whenever she'd get on the ice. "I've started from scratch this year. I'm a new person," said Slutskaya, whose marks were 5.8s and 5.9s for technique and presentation. Along with the pressure of trying to defend her title, Butyrskaya was unnerved by a more acute problem -- the mysterious explosion of her car on Thursday, just before she was to leave for the arena. Media reports say witnesses saw two people running from the car shortly before the blast and Butyrskaya said she believes the explosion was set as a warning, "but I don't know as a warning of what." She was in first place after the short program on Friday, but on Saturday she was unable to project the emotional intensity in 'Swan Lake' that she usually shows on the ice. Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh won the ice dancing competition, followed by Anna Semenovich and Roman Kostomarov; and Oksana Potykova and Denis Petukhov. World champions Angela Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov had to withdraw because Krylova was suffering a flare-up of an old back injury.
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