| | Associated Press
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Michelle Kwan finished at the top
in the women's short program at Skate America 2000 Thursday night
with a new routine that included a near-flawless triple flip.
Sarah Hughes was second.
Kwan, using a program choreographed by former pairs champion
Christopher Dean, earned five 5.8s for technique and five 5.9s for
presentation.
"It's hard because when you first do a new program, mentally you
think you'll forget something," Kwan said.
China's Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, runners-up in the past two
world championships, scored highest in the pairs short program.
Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, the 1999 Skate America
winners, were second, followed by Russia's Tatiana Totmianina and
Maxim Marinin, and Americans Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn.
"Our goal is to keep improving," Dulebohn said. "We don't
always have control of placements and results."
Scott added, "Yeah, numbers schmumbers."
U.S. champions Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman were fifth. Ina
slipped after the throw triple salchow.
Italy's Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio led the dance
event after the compulsory competition, which accounts for 20
percent of the overall score.
Canada's Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz, skating in their
first major competition in six months after Bourne injured a knee
last spring, were second. | |
ALSO SEE
Skate America 2000 participants
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