Cohen Notches a 6.0 En Route To Short Program Lead
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| Sasha Cohen Photo by Michelle Mojdyla |
Ladies Short Program Results
Ladies Short Program Photos
All Worlds Results/Photos
Cohen skated perhaps a personal best, sailing through her "Malaguena" program. She nailed all her jumps, including a triple Lutz-double toe combination, a triple flip, and double Axel. Her footwork sailed over the ice and her spins were well-centered and fast.
"I wanted it so bad today; that's why I skated so aggressively" Cohen said. "I pulled myself together and said to myself that I can do it. I'm much more confident than a year before. I have the feeling that I can make it, even though there are so many great and strong skaters out there. It's no longer between Michelle Kwan and me."
Her right ankle required an ice pack after she skated, but she seemed unconcerned that it would affect her tomorrow.
Arakawa has been sporting a wrapped left thigh, a precaution from an over-used strain. Nevertheless her jumps were high, with a triple Lutz-triple toe combination that was underrotated on both portions, a triple flip and double Axel. She brought back her techno "Swan Lake" program from last season, making some minor changes under new coach Tatiana Tarasova.
"My body was very tight today," Arakawa said. "During the warm-up I told myself, 'Relax, relax.' I told myself that I just have to do what I did in practice. The Lutz was a bit wobbly, but I really wanted to do a triple toe in the combination, not just a double, and therefore the toe loop was underrotated."
Japanese champion Ando skated first after the warm-up and opened her program with a triple Lutz-triple loop combination. Her triple flip and double Axel were clean, and her other required elements looked effortless.
"I really enjoyed skating today," Ando said. "It was very exciting to skate in the last warm-up with Michelle Kwan and the others. We'll decide tomorrow in the morning practice whether to include the quadruple Salchow in the free skating or not."
While Ando's marks — which were up to 5.9 for required elements — were being read, Kwan was on the ice preparing to skate last season's "The Feeling Begins." Kwan, wearing a new pale pinkish-gold dress, opened with a triple Lutz-double toe. Her double Axel and triple flip had good ripe landings that brought a smile to her face. Her energy level rose throughout the prorgram, and at the end Kwan looked very satisfied with her performance.
Shortly after the skate, the U.S. Figure Skating team leaders were informed by referee Jan Hoffmann that Kwan had received a mandatory one-tenth deduction in both marks because her program went two seconds over the allotted limit.
Kwan's coach, Rafael Arutunian, thought Kwan's performance was essentially wonderful, and he was also perplexed by the marks.
"She was good, or maybe I'm blind," Arutunian said. "I don't understand. She skated much better than nationals."
U.S. Figure Skating filed a protest on the timing deduction assessed to Kwan.
"All week long Michelle Kwan's music has been timed at 2:40," said U.S. Figure Skating President Chuck Foster. "Our question is, how then can the timing be off in the performance? That's the reason for the protest — to confirm that the timing of the performance was correct."
Kwan was very happy with her program, especially after her qualifying performance.
"It felt great," she said. "Each jump was solid."
Hungary's Julia Sebestyen also had a clean program and was sixth in the short to place fifth overall. Carolina Kostner of Italy pulled up to sixth overall with her clean skate that included a triple-triple combination that placed her fifth in the short program.
The Russian ladies did not fare as well, with Irina Slutskaya popping her triple flip, Viktoria Volchkova doubling her flip, and Elena Sokolova crashing into the boards on the triple flip and getting up holding her lower back. Sokolova also had trouble with her triple Lutz-double toe combination. The Russians placed seventh, 11th and 12th.
Jennifer Kirk started out her program with a wonderful triple toe-triple toe combination, but she later fell on the triple Lutz.
"I think from the artistic side I entertained the audience today," Kirk said of her "Chicago" program. "Technically I had difficulties getting the right take off on the triple Lutz. That's probably why I fell. I felt secure in the warm-up, but somehow I could not carry that on into the short program. I'm going to push hard in the long program tomorrow, to improve and move up in the ranking."
