Friday, November 9, 2001
Butyrskaya captures short program
Associated Press
GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany -- Former world champion Maria
Butyrskaya of Russia edged American Angela Nikodinov in the short
program of the women's event Friday at the Nations Cup, the third
event of the Grand Prix figure skating series.
The 29-year-old Butyrskaya hit all the required elements with
grace and held off a good routine by Nikodinov, who also didn't
miss anything.
Yoshie Onda of Japan was third.
Butyrskaya, the last person to beat Michelle Kwan at a world
championships when she won the world title in 1999, received marks
between 5.4 to 5.7 for the technical portion but excelled in the
presentation scores with mostly 5.8s and 5.9s.
Nikodinov, who skated to a piano piece, was a bit better in
technique, landing all her jumps solidly, However she was a bit
behind in presentation, in the 5.5 to 5.7 range with just one 5.8.
"It wasn't my best performance. I know I can do much better,"
Nikodinov said. "It's a new program so I didn't feel comfortable
yet. But as the season progresses I know I can get better."
Nikodinov is making her season debut after being forced to drop
out of the Goodwill Games at the beginning of September due to an
eye infection. "I tried to skate the short program. It wasn't
really that bad but I didn't want to risk an injury so I decided it
was best to withdraw," she said.
Jennifer Kirk, the former world junior champion from the United
States, was fourth, although she fell on a triple lutz, the first
part of her required combination.
China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo shook off recent injuries to
take the lead in the pairs event Friday at the Nations Cup.
Shen and Zhao, medalists at the last three World Championships,
are working on a quadruple throw salchow and hope to become the
first couple to do it in Saturday's final.
In Friday's short program, Zhao fell on the triple toe loop and
the pair wasn't always in unison skating to music from "Kismet."
They had to pull out of Skate Canada a week ago when small injuries
caught up with them.
"First, I had an ankle injury and then he had a fall in
practice and had a slight concussion," Shen said. "We lost
training time."
Still, they had the top scores with marks of mostly 5.4 and 5.5
for required elements and 5.7s and 5.8s for presentation.
Former world champions Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov of
Russia were second, and Americans Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman were
third. Zimmerman fell on the required jump.
In the ice dance, Italian world champions Barbara Fusar-Poli and
Maruizio Margaglio were solidly in front after two other top
couples had to withdraw.
Injuries sent Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh, world bronze
medalists of Russia, and Kati Winkler and Rene Lohse of Germany,
seventh at the worlds, out of the competition.
The men's event begins on Saturday with world champion Yevgeny
Plushchenko opening his Grand Prix season against U.S. champ Tim
Goebel, who won Skate America two weeks ago.
The Nations Cup is the third event of figure skating's Grand
Prix series, following Skate America and Skate Canada. The series
shifted to Europe for three events before it ends in Japan. The
Grand Prix final, an important tuneup for Feb. 8-24 Salt Lake City
Olympics, is scheduled for December in Kitchener, Canada.
