Nagano 1998 Women's SP | Kwan, Lipinski lead; Butyrskaya, Chen 3-4 [60']

HD format, Australian coverage (commentators: Sandy Roberts, Belinda Trussell (Noonan))
長野1998 Winter Games (White Ring, Nagano, Japan), ladies/women's short program - edited highlights, 60'. skaters shown here marked (^) below:
Rank Name Nation SP^ FS TFP
1 Tara Lipinski United States 2^ 1 2.0
2 Michelle Kwan United States 1^ 2 2.5
3 Chen Lu China 4^ 3 5.0
4 Maria Butyrskaya Russia 3^ 4 5.5
5 Irina Slutskaya Russia 5^ 5 7.5
6 Vanessa Gusmeroli France 8^ 6 10.0
7 Elena Sokolova Russia 10^ 7 12.0
8 Tatiana Malinina Uzbekistan 9^ 8 12.5
9 Elena Liashenko Ukraine 7^ 10 13.5
10 Surya Bonaly France 6^ 11 14.0
12 Joanne Carter Australia 11^ 12 17.5
17 Nicole Bobek United States 17^ 17 25.5
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[NY Times, words by J. Longman, excerpts] February 19, 1998 | NAGANO, Japan -- Tara Lipinski issued a challenge with the performance of her life Wednesday night and Michelle Kwan answered it with a short program that was deliberate and safe, but precise and refined under great pressure. The judges have shown that they favor elegance in the Winter Games, and Kwan is one of the most artistic skaters in history.
An inviting chance for an American sweep evaporated when Nicole Bobek fell on her triple lutz, reduced an intended triple toe loop to a double, stumbled out of a double axel and tumbled all the way to 17th place. European champion Maria Butyrskaya of Russia managed to retain third place despite skating first in front of a half-empty, emotionally somnolent audience at White Ring arena.
Wednesday night's winning performance by Kwan was not as arresting as her short program at the U.S. championships last month, when she received seven perfect marks of 6 for presentation. But the idea here is to win the gold medal, not to attain perfection. Kwan received marks of 5.9 across the board for presentation and eight of the nine judges placed her first.
Kwan, 17, the 1996 world champion from Lake Arrowhead, Calif., made a more sophisticated choice of music, costume and choreography than the 15-year-old Lipinski. While Lipinski skated to music from the movie, "Anastasia," Kwan chose a piano trio and concerto by Rachmaninoff that built to a dramatic crescendo into her triple toe loop.
Lipinski landed a more difficult triple lutz-double loop combination to Kwan's triple lutz-double toe loop, and Lipinski also performed a more challenging triple flip to Kwan's triple toe. But while Lipinski is a tight, quick jumper, Kwan seems to savor each jump, flowing out of her axel, lutz and toe loop with extended gracefulness.
"I saw the American flags, I heard the cheers and screams; there were billions of people watching," Kwan said. "I thought I was in heaven."
As she assumed her starting pose, Kwan told herself, "Ready or not, here I go."
"From then on, I was on," Kwan said. "I knew I had a job to do and I knew I had to do all the elements precise and cleanly."
It was only by a matter of degree that Kwan was better than Lipinski, who toured last summer and rehearsed in front of a mirror to significantly improve her artistry. Wednesday night, fulfilling her interpretation of "Anastasia," she skated as a young woman coming of age.
"Oh my God, it was the best performance I did ever," Lipinski said to her coach, Richard Callaghan, as she awaited her scores in the kiss-and-cry area.
Later, she said, "I wish it was the four-minute program so I could keep going and enjoy the moment."
She was fast and jubilant, smiling widely when she landed the triple flip that she had crash-landed at nationals and again when she landed her double axel. But it was the polish of her spirals and grace of her overall performance that defined her performance.
"Artistically and emotionally, that's the best I've ever seen her do," Callaghan said. "Technically she's good, but tonight the other shined more than the technical."
Lipinski was so elated with her performance that she watched the rest of the competition in the stands with Todd Eldredge, her training partner in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and with other American skaters. What she saw was the self-destruction of Bobek, who suffered a hip flexor injury at the national championships, missed five days of practice, then suffered a case of lingering bronchitis. Bobek had struggled in practice in recent days.
"She was more nervous than she has ever been," said Christa Fassi, who coaches Bobek. "She has been unable to train as well as she should have, but for the short program that should not matter."
So it was left to Butyrskaya to maintain third place, skating to "Fever".
"I've never drawn first before," Butyrskaya said. "It was very exciting, very stressful. I knew if I didn't skate well, no one would be able to see my name in the standings."
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#figureskating #フィギュアスケート #eiskunstlauf #фигурноекатание #pattinaggioartistico #patinageartistique