2001 Four Continents Championships

Ladies

Standings

Notes after the long program.

The quality of the ladies short program did not bode well for the free skating, but that fear was mistaken and the last two warmup groups provided quite the competition with several skaters making dramatic moves in the placements.

The competitors in the first two of the four warmup groups were mostly on novice and intermediate quality with no command of the jumps beyond triple toe loop or triple Salchow.  The only exception to this was Nicole Watt who managed five triple (though two were solo triple loops) and showed some potential.

Angela Nikodinov who buried herself in seventh place in the short program skated second in the third warmup group.  "Old" Angela from the short program was gone and the "new" Angela from U.S. Nationals was back.  She had a pretty good skate, but not as perfect as in Boston last month.  She stood up through the program and landed four triple jumps, but in the last section of the program doubled a Lutz and a toe loop (in what was to have been a triple toe loop - double toe loop combination).   She received marks of 5.3 through 5.7 in the first mark and 5.4 through 5.8 in the second mark to take the lead in the free skating.

For the skaters in the final warmup group the skater to beat was still Nikodinov.   The group started with Malinina who did a generally good job but made several errors.  She landed three triples (Lutz, flip and Salchow) but two footed a triple loop attempt and doubled a Salchow.  She ended with a furiously fast cross foot spin.   Two of the judges placed her first, but the remainder of the panel did not agree and she ended up fifth in the free skating and fourth overall.

Fumie Suguri skated next and turned in another god performance.  She opened with triple Lutz - double toe loop (though she had been practicing a triple triple) and then triple flip and double Axel.  She went on to land solo triple toe loop, Lutz and Salchow.  She made only two errors, singling an attempt at triple loop and a minor stumble in circular footwork.  She was placed ahead of Nikodinov on a six-three split to win the gold medal.

After Suguri skated three of the remaining four skaters had a reasonable chance of placing ahead of Nikodinov and winning a medal.  The first if these was Arakawa of Japan.  She had been third in the short program  but did not have the ammunition to hold up through the free skate.  She landed but three triples, two toe loops and a Salchow.  She was sloppy in places and her presentation was mediocre at best.   She dropped to seventh place in the free skate and out of the medals.

Next came Arakawa's teammate, Yoshie Onda, who is ranked behind Arakawa in Japan but who was clearly the stronger skater of the two here.  She executed some good elements, fairly strongly with only minor errors, with a reasonable quality presentation.   She landed seven triples spanning toe loop through Lutz.  Both her Lutzes, however, had distinct changes of edge and on the second of the two, a solo effort, she had to fight for the landing edge.  She placed third in the free skating matching Nikodinov in total factored placement, but with the higher free skating result Nikodinov won the silver and Onda the bronze.

Last to skate was Jennifer Kirk who had a chance to alter the medal result, but was not able to move up.  In fact, even though she placed fourth in both the short and the long programs she dropped a place to fifth overall due to all the movement that took place among the skaters who ended up above her.  Kirk landed seven triples, including a triple toe loop - triple toe loop combination and two triple Lutzes, though one of these was flutzed.  The presentation was well done, if a little gangly looking, and she skated with good speed.

Both Canadian ladies had mediocre skates in the long program.  Jennifer Robinson landed three triples and stayed in eighth place.  Annie Bellmare, who had made it into the last warmup group with a sixth place result in the short program landed two triples, both Salchows, and dropped like a rock to tenth place in the long and ninth overall. 

Notes after the short program.

The ladies short program was a two-fold struggle.  On the ice the ladies struggled to stand up while in the stands the spectators struggled to stay awake.  There were few clean programs and the marks barely made it into the fives.  Thanks to a schedule now driven by the needs of television, the people that showed up to watch the competition saw 84 minutes of skating stretched out over a 4 hour 15 minute period.

The first of the top skates in the event did not take the ice until the third of the six warmup groups.  Yoshie Onda, the Japanese National bronze medalist has a history of skating inconsistently, but here in the short program she completed one of the few clean programs landing triple Lutz - double toe loop, triple flip and double Axel.   Her connecting moves and the basic quality of her skating, however, were weaker than several of the other ladies and she was placed fifth, though one judge had her first and another third.

Also skating in the third warmup was the 1999 Four Continents Champions, Tatiana Malinina.  She skated an intense tango with good speed, but two footed her solo triple flip.  She landed the triple Lutz - double toe loop combination and also double Axel.  Four of the five judges placed her first but that was good enough to take the top spot since the remaining five judges could not agree on a first place, spreading their marks around to three other skaters.  Malinina received marks as low as 4.9 for technical merit and 5.3 for presentation, fairly undistinguished marks for an ISU championship event.

Jennifer Kirk led off the fourth group with her lively and spirited "Evita" routine.  She two footed the triple Lutz in her opening triple Lutz - double toe loop combination, but then went on to land triple flip and double Axel.  She received some nice second marks and one judge even had her first, but overall the panel placed her fourth.

In the fifth warmup group Angela Nikodinov, the 2000 Four Continents Champion was second to skate.  Nikodinov was in good position to win the short program had she skated as she did at U.S. Nationals, but the "new" Angela from last month was not here for the short program.  She skated a pretty looking program but made two deadly errors, doubling a triple flip and singling a double Axel.  She received placements of third through ninth and ended up in seventh place.

Next to skate was Fumie Suguri, the Japanese National Champion.  She opened with triple Lutz - double toe loop and also landed double Axel, but fell on triple flip.   It was a nicely skate program that received three first place marks, but the remainder of the panel had her lower and she ended up in second place behind Malinina.   Suguri was hampered by injury last season and doctors have recommended she have surgery to correct damaged ligaments in both ankles.  She has decided to forgo the surgery since the length recovery period would interfere with the upcoming Olympic season and instead tapes her ankles for additional support.

Third place in the short program was taken by Shizuka Arakawa of Japan.  She skated fourth in the last group of six and had one of the other few clean programs of the night.  She opened with triple Lutz - double toe loop and then landed triple flip.   On the flip she had a big reach for the ice but did not touch and avoided a deduction.  She also landed the double Axel cleanly. 

Free Skating

Short Program

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