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 Thursday, September 6, 2001
Rivalries may drive Russians to the top
By Peter Carruthers
Special to ABC Sports.com
When we look at the level of skating on the European scene it is clear that
Russia holds an amazing advantage over the other countries.
The competition
and rivalry that we are seeing in Russia will elevate skating to a higher
standard this year. As we get closer to the world championships and the
Olympic games, everybody is gunning hard; they want to establish themselves
in their own territory.
Michelle Kwan, the defending U.S. national champion and world champion, received tough competition from Irina Slutskaya. As far
as the European landscape was concerned, Russian ladies occupied two-thirds
of the podium, so that tells you the strength of the Russian skaters. Russians
Maria Butyrskaya and Slutskaya will be factors throughout the season. They
enjoy the competition and seem to push each other to the limit. The competition between those two will help each to elevate their skating. There
is a good, healthy rivalry there.
| |  | | | Alexei Yagudin captured his third world championship in Nice, France. |
The same is true of Russians Evgeny Plushenko and Alexei Yagudin. When you
talk about Plushenko and Yagudin, those two men have a great competitive
spirit and they have some big skills to back them up. When you get both of
them into the arena, they both know they have to be on their best game. Last
year, Yagudin captured his third world title, the silver went to Elvis Stoyko
and Michael Weiss finished third. Plushenko was strong throughout the
season. It appeared that Yagudin was on a slow rise to the top, but when the
heat was on his experience definitely came through.
A lot of people discounted Yagudin early on, but he was really able to come
back and be strong. In the end, it was Plushenko who wasn't on the podium.
However, these two men push each other and to be two of the top four male
skaters in the world says a great deal. On the other hand there are two
North Americans that occupy silver and bronze in the world rankings right
now (Weiss and Stoyko). Since Weiss is injured with a stress fracture, this
gives Plushenko and Yagudin an added advantage.
It seems in skating that when we have a good rivalry within a specific country, it translates into good competition when we get to the World
Championships. This is the landscape unfolding in the men's and ladies
divisions with Russian domination. And to a certain degree this is also the
case in the Pairs division.
| |  | | | Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizeret will be tough to beat this season. |
The World Pairs Champions, Russian's Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov will be
in the running once again despite strong opposition from their Russian counterparts Elena
Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. Each team wants to be the Russian champion. When they start competing hard against each other during the year
in the Grand Prix, it pushes them to a higher standard. It is amazing to see
such great rivalry before some of these Russian skaters even leave their own
country and this is very strong for skating. Once you put in skaters from
other countries, it makes it that much more interesting.
Petrova and Tikhonov won the worlds last year with Berezhnaya and
Sikharulidze out. But now they are back. I was just with them during
their training in Hackensack, NJ and they look good. After that the Chinese
pairs team, Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, and Canadian team, Jamie Salé and David
Pelletier, make for great competition. The Europeans are strong throughout
all of the disciplines.
In ice dancing, France's Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat will get stiff competition from Italy's Barbara
Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio. The talk is all about these two teams.
In this event the European judges really reward theatrical flair and the
package of choreography and concept; the conceptualization that the
Europeans have is very deep and processed to win. They take a theme and they
really run hard with it. Whether it is a ballet scene or a dramatic
presentation, for Anissina and Peizerat, it is like watching a performance
within a beautiful theater. Sometimes you forget that you are actually in a
skating rink because there is so much drama in their skating.
Anissina and Peizerat back up their dramatic skating with some very unique
moves that we don't normally see. Innovation is everything in ice dancing.
Tovill and Dean proved that. Anissina and Peizerat, along with Fusar-Poli and
Margaglio are on the cutting edge of innovation. Everyone is curious to see what Canadians Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz will do. Can they reveal a style that will impress the Europeans to sit up and take notice? It all kicks off at Skate America.
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 Michelle Kwan gracefully lands a triple lutz then moves on to her trademark spiral.
avi: 2506 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Ryan Bradley executes a triple lutz followed by a triple toe loop.
avi: 1436 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Michelle Kwan is excited to win the first event of the season.
wav: 89 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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