2004 World Championships

Ladies' Qualifying

by Maggie Doyle

This group skated second today with fifteen competitors to advance to the short program round. Westfalenhalle Dortmund had lots of empty seats again. This event had several moments of excitement today with trials and tribulations for some favorites and new triumphs for others on the world championship stage.

Shizuka Arakawa received the highest marks she ever had internationally with a range of 5.6 to 5.8 for technical merit and 5.5 to 5.9 for presentation. She skated after Kwan and took all first place ordinals with a mesmerizing performance to "Violin Fantasy" from Puccini’s "Turnadot" opera. "My first jump was a double Lutz but I wasn’t affected by this. I was very surprised about the 5.9; normally my second mark is lower than the first one. I didn’t expect this," she said.

Arakawa added a triple toe to that double Lutz and just floated through her program, grabbing the audience and drawing them into her performance today. She followed this with a triple Salchow – triple toe combination, and then a solo triple flip. Arakawa then included a triple loop – double loop and her last jump was a triple Lutz. She skated after Kwan and had straight first place ordinals across the board

Miki Ando was the final ladies competitor today and her marks went from 5.5 to 5.9 for technical merit and from 5.3 to 5.8 for presentation. Her "Firebird" by Igor Stravinsky included an unsuccessful quad Salchow but Ando said she will continue to try that jump.

Ando said, "I’m really pleased. I skated with joy today. I am very happy to finish second and be in the final flight for the short program." She landed a triple Lutz – triple loop combination, a triple toe loop – double toe loop combination, a triple flip, a triple loop with a stumble out, and two double Axels so she only had five clean triples.

Michelle Kwan’s skate was far from her best with two mistakes. Kwan now finds herself in third place in this qualifying group, but still in the final warm-up group. It is still possible she could win and medal, but Kwan placed herself in quite a hole at this stage.

"This is kind of a wake up call for me," she said.

She will skate 26^th in the thirty ladies field. Kwan landed only four clean triples. She singled her opening jump and did a very tiny triple Lutz – double toe loop combination. She also landed a triple flip, triple toe loop and triple Salchow. "I couldn’t feel the ice today, it was tough out there. I finally started to feel it a little bit but it was already too late," said Kwan. She two-footed all the jumps on her warm-up, which is very uncharacteristic of Kwan.

Irina Slutskaya also completed four clean triples and no combination for her program that utilizes the music selections of "Wonderland" by Tonci Huljic, ‘Whisper from the Mirror" by Kaiko Matsui, and Croatian Rhapsody" by Tonci Huljic. "I am the Queen of Hearts from the deck of cards," said Slutskaya explaining the red heart on the front of her black costume. She is thrilled to be back at Worlds after her recent health problems.

Slutskaya said, "I am excited to be here skating and it like I start a new life. I am not really happy with my skate but am happy that I am fighting my sick(ness). I am so happy to see everybody, my good friends."

Susanna Poykio of Finland competes at her second world championships and had a strong qualifying round to place 4^th for her "Concerto in F minor" by George Gershwin. She missed last year due to an ankle injury but competed in the 2002 World Championships. "I made two mistakes. I did a three turn out of the double Axel and doubled my second Lutz. I think my program was okay."

Fumie Segura struggled during her "Symphony no. 40" by W.A. Mozart qualifying program, not floating across the ice as she normally does and fighting for her triple Salchow this afternoon and falling on her triple loop. She landed four clean triples including her opening jump of triple Lutz – double toe loop but two-footed her second jump, a triple flip. She also doubled her final flip jump and finds herself in 8^th place

"The practice schedule was kind of hard the last few days. The one day it was really early and the next day late at night. It’s hard to keep a rhythm this way. I will have to improve for the next two parts of the competition and skate like I did for the Grand Prix Final," said Suguri.

Sasha Cohen’s gave a lovely clean interpretation of "Swan Lake" that included six triples. This year’s program scored higher with the judges than last year’s seven triple program. Cohen said, "I skated more aggressively today and I am very happy. My goal is to skate like I skate in practice."

Her marks ranged from 5.4 to 5.9 for technical merit and from 5.7 to 5.9 for presentation. She and her coach Robin Wagner opted to not include the triple loop in this free skating program. She did include a triple Lutz – double toe combination. "I am learning with Robin to get more out of myself. Things were always good in practice but I want to get that determination and fire and pull it out during competition," said Cohen.

Cohen’s costume was the same but her program had many changes since 2004 U.S. Nationals in Atlanta. "Robin and I listened to music from "Swan Lake" for days and days in the car while we chose new music cuts. There are a few things that are the same but changes were made to the beginning, middle and end of my free program. We wanted the opening to be powerful," explained Cohen.

Cohen prefers the code of points scoring system to this current international scoring system. "I prefer code of points scoring. If the ordinals are good I am still happy although you have to pray that the computer picks your good marks; it is a bit of a gamble and I don’t like that," she explained.

Her coach Robin Wagner said, "Getting clean programs is important to her mindset so this was important. She can then let herself open up and show the speed and emotion that I see her do in practices. I can’t wait to move on to training for next year, working on triple – triple combinations and her quad Salchow again, and get my hands in. You can’t get rid of all the scar tissue in a month or two."

Russia’s Elena Sokolova changed her home practice schedule to make herself more comfortable with morning competition times. "My training process was structured so that we also skate the programs in the morning. It’s already two hours later in Moscow, so I have an advantage," she said.

Her confidence grew with her successful qualifying program. "I felt not so confident at the beginning of the program, but then at the end, I felt good," she said. She opened her program with a triple Lutz – triple toe combination, followed by a triple flip. She next included a triple Salchow – double toe combination She did three additional triples, triple loop, triple Lutz and triple toe with two double Axels for her final jumps. This gave her seven triples.

Hungary’s Julia Sebestyen sits in third place at this point. "I am angry about the triple toe loop because it is the easiest jump, but overall my performance was okay. I did all the other triples and two triple Lutzes. Her preparation time was cut short after battling illness after Europeans. She fought successfully fought to hold on to her triple Lutz

The Ukraine’s Elena Liashenko was back skating only the past nine days after having a cyst removed from her left foot. "A week after Europeans, I had surgery. A cyst pressed on a nerve, and it was very painful, so I had to remove it. After the surgery the nerve was irritated, and it took quite long to recover, sometimes I still feel it," she said.

Cohen’s American teammate Jenny Kirk battled with her costume here, which held on literally by a thread at the halter neck at her program’s conclusion. She had problems with the snaps there breaking on her combination jump in warm-up but her choreographer sewed it together. This is a new Jeff Billings costume that had no problems at the practice this morning. Kirk finished in seventh place after falling on her triple Lutz. After completing her triple flip she had a turn out on the double toe of that combination, more than midway through her program.

This costume had had a snap problem at a practice at home prior to worlds but had been redone. Kirk felt the snaps start to go after she did her combination jump during her program today according to her coach Richard Callaghan so he felt it was a major distraction but the final score is Jenny 1 Costume 0 since it stayed in place.

Kirk finished in seventh place after falling on her triple Lutz. After completing her triple flip she had a turn out on the double toe of that combination, more than midway through her program. "Today there were good and bad parts in my program but I still have two more chances to improve. I am here to gain some more experience for years to come," said Kirk. Kirk felt it was a disadvantage that the competitors didn’t have the opportunity to practice their long programs on the competition ice beforehand.