| | BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Displaying her usual impressive mixture of technical prowess and artistic mastery, Michelle Kwan added an exclamation point to her season Tuesday night.
Kwan, the three-time world champion, earned a perfect 6.0 for presentation en route to a victory over world silver medalist Irina Slutskaya at the 2000 International Figure Skating Challenge. Kwan defeated Slutskaya in their first meeting since she won the gold medal over the Russian skater at worlds in Nice, France.
Despite Kwan's performance, Team USA couldn't overcome an exceptionally strong showing by the International Team in the final ISU-sanctioned open event of the 1999-2000 season. Skaters went head-to-head, but points were awarded in a team format.
Kwan proved her mettle with a new program set to the title song from the James Bond movie, "The World is Not Enough." Both she and Slutskaya received one 6.0 for presentation, but Kwan collected
straight 5.9s for technique to win the 1-on-1 battle.
"I was a little nervous out there; it was a brand new program," said Kwan. "This is definitely less stressful than worlds, but I still wanted to skate well. It's a fun format."
By the time she took the ice, however, the team title had already been decided.
Elvis Stojko's win over two-time U.S. champion Michael Weiss clinched the overall victory for the International Team. Stojko, a three-time world champ from Canada, skated a technically flawless program, hitting both a triple axel and a quadruple toe loop for the victory. He earned four 5.9s and a perfect 6.0 for skating technique.
That was enough to overtake Weiss, who skated a beautifully choreographed number to "The Lord's Prayer."
The only other U.S. victory was 1992 Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi over two-time Olympic gold medalist Katarina Witt of Germany. Despite less than stellar marks from the judges, Witt's program was well received by the audience at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, who jeered the judges' numbers.
"I always worry about how I skate; I never worry about the marks. Thank God that part of my life is over!" said Witt. "I skate for the audience.
"It's wonderful that they booed when the marks came up, though."
Another 1992 Olympic gold medalist, Victor Petrenko of the Ukraine, opened the event with a close victory over five-time U.S. champion Todd Eldredge. Petrenko skated his light-hearted program to "Mambo No. 5" with a female partner attached to his costume -- albeit a fake partner.
Surya Bonaly of France, a three-time world silver medalist, defeated current U.S. bronze medalist Sarah Hughes after Hughes slipped on some footwork late in her program.
Russian and European champion Yevgeny Pluschenko of Russia used a modified version of his long program to Russian folk music to defeat U.S. silver medalist Timothy Goebel in the third men's matchup. Goebel delighted the audience with a toe-tapping new number to the classic pop song, "American Pie," but couldn't compete with Pluschenko's technically stronger performance. | |
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