1999 Four Continents Championships

Senior Ladies

Final Standings

        J1:  Mr. Frank Parsons,  AUS
        J2:  Mrs. Christiane Morth,  AUT
        J3:  Mrs. Noriko Shirota,  JPN
        J4:  Miss Susan Blatz,  CAN
        J5:  Mr. Jeroen A. Prins,  NED
        J6:  Mrs. Marie Therese Baseilhac,   FRA
        J7:  Mr. Charles Foster,  USA

Notes after the long program.

Tatyana Malinina had little difficulty outskating a relatively weak field of ladies.   She landed four triple jumps - Lutz, flip, toe loop, and Salchow.  On triple loop she came close catching the toe of her free leg on the check out.  A second triple Lutz attempt was doubled and in a double Axel - double Axel sequence she stepped out of the second jump.  At 26 she is one of the older women in international competition today, but is showing now signs of her age, an issue she is somewhat sensitive about.  Asked about the effects of age on her skating she said, "Age has no meaning whatsoever.  Some skaters become champions at fifteen, others achieve this later on.  I don't understand why everyone is always asking about my age.  There is no age limit for competitions and I can skate until I'm forty if I want to.  I don't have problems with my jumps and I'm winning against younger competitors, and of course I have more experience.  And by the way, I look like I'm sixteen and I'm skating this way."

Amber Corwin held second place in a slightly inconsistent performance with four triple jumps.  She landed an opening triple toe loop - triple toe loop, though the second jump was more of a toe Axel and had a loop on the landing edge.  She followed with a triple flip - double toe loop, but then in the mid-section of the program struggled stepping out of a double Salchow and doubling a loop.  She pulled it together near the end squeaking out a triple Lutz and landing a solid triple Salchow - double toe loop.   She described her program by saying, "I'm very excited because Nationals were a very few depressing days for me.  Tonight I started off strong but I got a little weak, but then I pulled it off in the end."

Angela Nikodinov eked out a third place finish in the long program for a third place finish with a lackadaisical program.  She landed three triple jumps, opening triple Lutz with steps into double toe loop, and followed with a triple flip.  For the middle third of the program, however, there was nothing - missing on triple loop, Salchow, and Lutz.  At the end of the program she managed a final triple toe loop.  Her third place finish was more a testament to the overall mediocre quality of the group than the quality of her own skating.  Said Angela of her program, "My program started off strong but in the middle I kind of let down, but finished strong with a triple toe."  Perhaps part of the problem is that Nikodinov is here without her coach Peter Oppegard with whom she has been on the outs off and on for the past two months.   In describing the situation with her coach she said, "We are having our differences right now so he is not here with me... we're just taking it day by day."

The third American lady, Erin Pearl, dropped from third in the short program to fourth in the long despite a lively program with four triple jumps.  Still, considering her awful wrap and that this is her first senior international competition it was a good starting effort in the senior ranks.  Now if she could fix the technique on her jumps and increase the difficulty of her spins something could develop here.

Notes after the short program.

As the highest ranked competitor here, Tatyana Malinina had no trouble winning the short program in a weak field of ladies.  She skated a clean program with triple Lutz - double toe loop, triple flip, and double Axel.  Her spins and steps were clean and precise and throughout the program she was light on her feet.  The second place marks were split between the next three places which were captured by the three American ladies.

Amber Corwin took second place with a clean program that included triple toe loop - triple toe loop, triple loop, and double Axel.  Her only error was a very small break on the landing of the double Axel.  She was followed close behind by Erin Pearl who skated a speedy, lively program with triple loop - double toe loop,. triple toe loop, and double Axel.  The elements were clean but her technique is limited by a horrendous wrap on all her edge jumps and a merely bad wrap on her toe jumps.  Under last year's majority principle of scoring, Pearl would have placed second over Corwin with a margin of one ordinal but under the new system she loses by one judge in a four-three split.

In fourth place was Angela Nikodinov who again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.  She landed the difficult opening triple Lutz - double toe loop but following the subsequent  layback spin she popped a triple flip to a double.   She gave a reasonable pleasant performance of her "Lark Ascending" program, but just as at U.S. Nationals two weeks ago there is no fire in her performances.   Apparently she is on the outs again with her coach Peter Oppagard because he is not here and she is being put on by her secondary choreographer.

Free Skating

Short Program

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