Cup of Russia 2000

St. Petersburg, Russia

 

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Overview

The Cup of Russia in St. Petersburg, Russia, is the forth of the six qualifying events of the Grand Prix of Figure Skating.  While some of the seeded Skaters entered at the Cup of Russia have already qualified for the Final, to be held next February in Tokyo, Japan, others are just now entering the Grand Prix.

World Silver medalists Barbara Fusar Poli & Mauritzio Margaglio (ITA), currently leading the Grand Prix standings in Ice Dance, head the field in St. Petersburg and are qualified for the Final, having already scored 24 points by finishing first at Skate America and the Sparkassen Cup. They chose Cup of Russia as their additional event and hope to defend their title. Challenging them, however, are the Russian Champions Irina Lobacheva & Ilia Averbukh who also hope to win gold in front of their home crowd. The husband and wife team, who had to cancel their appearance at Skate Canada due to illness, is competing for the first time this season. Galit Chait & Sergei Sakhnovski of Israel enter their third competition.  After winning the silver medal at Skate Canada, the Israelis are eager to step onto the podium again, aiming to collect enough points to qualify for the Final. Also competing here are Albena Denkova & Maxim Staviski from Bulgaria, bronze medalists from Skate Canada, Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon (CAN) and the Russian team Tatiana Navka & roman Kostomarov.  Last season, Kostomarov skated with Anna Semenovitch.  He teamed up again with Navka this summer, after she gave birth to a daughter.

In the Ladies' event, the focus of the competition points towards three Russian and two American Skaters.  World silver medalist Irina Slutskaya (RUS), who upset World Champion Michelle Kwan (USA) at Skate Canada, although she was not skating for points, will be looking to score at the Cup of Russia. Her teammate and bronze medalist at Skate America Elena Sokolova, is aiming to secure a spot in the Final with a podium finish here. Slutskaya and Sokolova are also joined another teammate and two- time European bronze medalist, Viktoria Volchkova, who will be skating for points for the first time in this season's Grand Prix series. The three Russians will face tough competition from Sarah Hughes (USA).  The 15-year old won silver medals at Skate America and the Sparkassen Cup in Germany.  Cup of Russia is her second scoring event.  U.S. silver medalist Sasha Cohen, fifth at Sparkassen Cup last week, is hoping to improve during her second Grand Prix competition. Also aiming for a spot on the podium is Ukraine's Elena Liashenko, who was fourth at the Sparkassen Cup.

European champion Evgeni Plushenko of Russia and World bronze medalist, Michael Weiss (USA), head the list of the Men's event.  They can expect strong competition from Alexander Abt (RUS) and 1999 World Junior Champion Ilia Klimkin (RUS). Not to be counted out either from the field is Matthew Savoie of the USA, who captured the bronze medal at Skate Canada two weeks ago and who is hoping for another medal. Weiss, who was forced to withdraw from Skate America due to a stress fracture in his foot, is entering his first Grand Prix event of the season.  Plushenko, who took gold at the Sparkassen Cup, will also be competing for points here, which is his first scoring event.

The Pairs event features the current World silver medalists Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao from China and two-time World Champions Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikharulidze (RUS).   They will be joined by Tatiana Totmianina & Maxim Marinin of Russia, who are not skating for points here.  They have already won two bronze medals, one at Skate America and the other at Sparkassen Cup.  Additionally, Poland's European silver medalists, Dorota Zagorska & Mariusz Siudek, are hoping to improve on their fourth place finish at Skate Canada.  Also in the field are U.S. Champions Kyoko Ina & John Zimmerman, who are looking to win points, and Canada's Kristy Sargeant & Kris Wirtz, for whom this is a non-scoring event.

List of Competitors (as of November 16)
Ladies
Annie Bellemare (CAN)
Alisa Drei (FIN)
Andrea Diewald (GER)
Julia Sebestyen (HUN)
Silvia Fontana (ITA)
Shizuka Arakawa (JPN)
Irina Slutskaya (RUS)*
Elena Sokolova (RUS)
Viktoria Volchkova (RUS)*
Elena Liashenko (UKR)
Sarah Hughes (USA)*
Sasha Cohen (USA)
Men
Ivan Dinev (BUL)
Fedor Andreev(CAN)
Frederic Dambier (FRA)
David Jaschke (GER)
Yosuke Takeuchi (JPN)
Alexander Abt (RUS)* (A)
Ilia Klimkin (RUS)
Evgeni Plushenko (RUS)*
Vitali Danilchenko (UKR)
Michael Weiss (USA)*
Matthew Savoie (USA)
Pairs
Kristy Wirtz & Kris Wirtz (CAN) (A)
Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao (CHN)*
Katerina Berankova & Otto Dlabola (CZE)
Dorota Zagorska & Mariusz Siudek (POL)*
Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikhuralidze (RUS)
Julia Shapiro & Dmitri Khromin (RUS)
Tatiana Totmianina & Maxim nsrinin (RUS)*
Aliona Savchenko & Stanislav Morozov (UKR)
Kyoko Ina & John Zimmerman (USA)
Tiffany Scott & Philip Dulebohn (USA)
Dance
Albena Denkova & Maxim Staviski (BUL)
Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon (CAN)
Katerina Kovalova & David Szurman (CZE)
Alia Ouabdelsselam & Benjamin Delmas (FRA)
Zita Gebora & Andras Visontai (HUN)
Barbara Fusar Poli & M. Margaglio (ITA)*(A)
Galit Chait & Sergei Sakhnovski (ISR)*
Sylwia Nowak & Sebastian Kolasinksi (POL)
Svetlana Kulikova & Arseni Markov (RUS)
Irina Lobacheva & Ilia Averbukh (RUS)*
Tatiana Navka & roman Kostomarov (RUS)
*	Seeded Skaters
(A) 	Designated non-scoring

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