1998 Worlds Pairs FS in Minneapolis | A World Title Crowns Berezhnaya's Comeback

Australian/American coverage (commentator: Peter Carruthers)
Pairs free skate (FS) from the 1998 World Figure Skating Championships (Minneapolis, USA). Performances featured marked with (*) below. Some tape issues, superseded video in parts due to bad tape:
Rank Name Nation TFP SP FS*
1 Elena Berezhnaya / Anton Sikharulidze Russia 2.0 2 1* (Елена Бережная, Антон Сихарулидзе)
2 Jenni Meno / Todd Sand United States 2.5 1 2*
3 Peggy Schwarz / Mirko Müller Germany 4.5 3 3*
4 Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo China 7.0 6 4* (申雪, 赵宏博)
5 Dorota Zagórska / Mariusz Siudek Poland 8.0 4 6*
6 Marina Eltsova / Andrei Bushkov Russia 8.5 7 5* (Марина Ельцова, Андрей Бушков)
7 Kristy Sargeant / Kris Wirtz Canada 9.5 5 7* (tape issues bad here)
15 Danielle McGrath / Stephen Carr Australia 22.0 14 15*
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[NY TImes] FIGURE SKATING; A World Title Crowns Berezhnaya's Comeback
By J. Longman
April 2, 1998
Completing one of the great comeback stories in sports, Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia won the pairs title at the world figure skating championships tonight. Two years ago, Berezhnaya lay in a hospital, temporarily unable to speak, much less skate, after a severe head injury threatened her life as well as her career.
In tonight's long program, the Russian pair suffered a continuing case of stage fright, but the Nagano 1998 silver medalists easily defeated Jenni Meno and Todd Sand of the United States with a performance that was superior in speed and flow.
Sikharulidze, a temperamental skater frequently bothered by nerves, wobbled out of a side-by-side triple toe loop, and Berezhnaya singled a double axel. Skating cautiously, the pair also avoided a star lift, a maneuver that possibly cost them a gold medal in the Nagano [Games] when they fell in the final seconds of the long program. Still, they achieved great height on a triple twist tonight, and Sikharulidze threw Berezhnaya with the ease and lightness of a Frisbee. The pair won first place from all nine judges.
''She has been on the border of life and death,'' said Tamara Moskvina, who coaches Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. ''The pressure of competition does not compare to being on the border between life and death.''
Meno and Sand won Tuesday's short program, but crumbled in the long program, just as they had done in finishing eighth at the Winter Games. Because Sand is an unreliable jumper, they left out planned side-by-side triple toe loops to open their routine. Then Meno fell on a throw triple salchow.
Retiring from amateur competition to turn professional, the pair has now won a silver medal and two bronzes at the worlds. Their second-place finish tonight was the best by an American pair since Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner won the world championship in 1979. Finishing third were Peggy Schwarz and Mirko Muller of Germany.
The victory by Berezhnaya, 20, and Sikharulidze, 21, will carry an asterisk because their training partners, the Nagano 1998 champions, Artur Dmitriev and Oksana Kazakova, withdrew today after Dmitriev suffered food poisoning. But that does not diminish the magnitude of Berezhnaya's comeback.
On Jan. 9, 1996, she was training in Riga, Latvia, with her former partner, Oleg Sliakhov, when she was accidentally kicked in the head while rehearsing side-by-side camel spins. Sliakhov's toe pick penetrated Berezhnaya's skull, Moskvina said, and Berezhnaya required emergency surgery to clean out bone debris. She was hospitalized for a month.
Even though the injury was an accident, Berezhnaya said that the partnership had been abusive and that she had been afraid of Sliakhov. Moskvina said that she had seen Sliakhov hit and kick Berezhnaya. Asked about that by CBS during the recent Winter Games, Sliakhov said, ''That is between us.''
Sikharulidze, who was dating Berezhnaya at the time of her injury, brought her back to St. Petersburg, Russia, by train. After two months, she slowly returned to skating. Her speech was impaired, and she was scared to train at first, but gradually she worked back into form that led to a silver medal at the Games and a gold tonight.
''It's very important for me,'' Berezhnaya said. ''I'm really happy. After one year, I thought about this. Before one year, I didn't think I could do it. Tonight, we were ready to skate good, ready for gold.''
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thanks to Kim!