Cohen and Kwan Bring Home Two Medals for the U.S.
by Laura Fawcett |
| Sasha Cohen won her first-ever World medal — a silver.
Photo by Michelle Wojdyla |
Ladies Free Skate Results
Ladies Free Skate Photos
All Worlds Results/Photos
(3/27/2004) — Backstage near the ABC interview area at the Westfalenhallen Arena in Dortmund, Germany, it was business as usual as officials and TV crews waited for the end of the event. Sasha Cohen had just skated a respectable program that had virtually assured her of her first World medal, and Michelle Kwan was just taking the ice for her free skate.
Then pandemonium erupted.
Someone shouted, "Did you see that? There was a streaker on the ice!"
Within seconds a door slammed and four security officers came running down the backstage hallway.
Yep, just another night at the World Figure Skating Championships.
The "streaker" proved that one never knows what to expect at a figure skating event. Japan won this year's World gold medal when Shizuka Arakawa became the surprise winner. Two skaters received 6.0s, but the skater with the most 6.0s only finished third.
What one can expect is the composure and emotional strength from Kwan, who put the streaking incident out of her mind to skate a solid program. It wasn't her best ever — she doubled her final Lutz — but it was still quite good. In fact, it was judged the second-best free skate of the night, allowing her to vault over Japan's Miki Ando for the bronze medal. She collected six 6.0s for presentation, the most of any ladies skater in the free skate.
Kwan's medal is her ninth straight — a record only surpassed by Sonja Henie, who won 11 straight medals in the 1920s and 1930s. She has five golds, three silvers, and now her first bronze medal. Moreover, the six 6.0s gave her 50 for her career in major competition — the most by any skater. It's only fitting that the "Queen of 6.0" might also be the last skater ever to receive the perfect mark. The ISU will vote on the new judging system in June at the ISU Congress, and if it passes, the era of the 6.0 will disappear.
"Yes, it's the last of the 6.0 perhaps," Kwan said. "I am very honored to get as many as I have in my skating career."
Kwan, who called this week "tumultuous," finished ahead of Cohen in the free skate, but Cohen's first-place finish in both her qualifying round and the short program helped Cohen to her first World medal ever — the silver. It's the first time the U.S. has claimed two medals in the ladies event since 2001, when Kwan was first and Sarah Hughes finished third.
After Japan's Arakawa skated a technically impressive program with two triple-triple combinations, Cohen could not afford to make any mistakes in order to win her first World title. Arakawa, who finished third at the Japanese national championships and has never won a major senior international title, had the best technical program of the night. She opened with a triple Lutz-triple toe-double loop combination and followed with a triple Salchow-triple toe. Both were just slightly underrotated. She added three more triples for seven in all — landing all seven before the three-minute mark of her program. A beautiful Ina Bauer with a great back bend was a highlight of her final minute. She received one 6.0 for technical merit.
"I always want to show my best, and today I did very well," Arakawa said. "I'm so happy that I could put every emotion and all the power into my free skating. I'm glad that all of my three programs at this Worlds worked."
Cohen needed to be clean. Her planned opening move was the triple Lutz-double toe, but she had a rough landing on the Lutz and was unable to tack on the double toe. She followed with a triple flip, loop, toe, double Axel, and then notched her first combination, a triple Salchow-double toe. She added the double toe on her second triple Lutz. Her last jump, however, might have sealed her fate, as she doubled an intended triple Salchow and landed forward on two feet.
Although Cohen's skate was not on par with her wonderful short program performance, it still had magical moments, especially in her spirals and spins.
"I had a really wacky takeoff (on the Salchow), and I wasn't able to rotate," Cohen said.
Her marks, which ranged from 5.6-5.9 for technical merit and 5.8-5.9 for presentation, put her in second behind Arakawa at the time.
"I was focused and ready to go for it, just like in qualifying and in the short," Cohen said. "But being on the podium for the first time at Worlds is the first step to bigger things.
"Overall I would say I was happy with my performances here. It could have been better — the last one," she said.
A Surprise Before Kwan's Performance
Kwan had just taken the ice after Cohen when the surprise of the night occurred — a man jumped on the ice in skates and began taking off his clothes in what was most likely a publicity stunt (he had a web address painted on his chest). Kwan, stroking around the ice waiting for Cohen's marks, at first didn't know what to think.
"I first thought it was a flower girl," Kwan said. "Then I knew he was a streaker as he was taking off his clothes. I thought he might have a gun."
Kwan said she thought about the gun after remembering there were no metal detectors for people entering the arena. After Kwan left the ice, she was given the option of having the ice resurfaced before she skated. She said she was more worried about what debris might have been left on the ice.
"I looked around and didn't see any dirt on the ice where he took his clothes off," Kwan said.
Instead of choosing the option to delay her skate, Kwan relaxed, had a nervous laugh about the incident and quickly refocused. She felt she was ready to skate.
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| Michelle Kwan won her ninth World medal and first bronze medal in 2004. Photo by Michelle Wojdyla |
"I took one thing at a time," she said.
Kwan went out and did her job on the ice — landing five triples before doubling her final Lutz. The full house in the arena went crazy — both for her good performance, and for the fact that she was able to perform it so well after being initially distracted. Once the performance was done, she was also able to take the entire incident in stride with her usual humor.
"I thought they were penalizing me for the two seconds over in the short program," she joked in the press conference, referring to the deduction she received in the short program.
The man was identified as 30-year-old Ron Bensimhon of Canada. According to organizers, he was released because a misdemeanor is not an arrestable offense.
The last skater who could have affected the standings was Japan's Miki Ando, but it wasn't her night to shine. She doubled her attempt at the quadruple Salchow and landed five clean triples, including a triple Lutz-triple loop combination. She badly underrotated the back end of a triple toe-triple toe combination.
"I didn't do my best, but I really enjoyed skating in the last group," Ando said. "It was great for me to take part in this big senior event."
So it remained Arakawa, Cohen and Kwan. An interesting day at the rink for sure, but with double the success for the U.S.
Kirk Fights Through Her Program
Jennifer Kirk, skating in her first full World Championships competition (she withdrew early on in 2002), finished 18th overall. Discarding the purple dress that caused her so many problems in the qualifying round, Kirk was back in light blue for the free skate.
She landed four triples, but she fell on the back end of her triple toe-triple toe combination and fell twice more.
"I'm upset that I fell three times," Kirk said. "But I'm happy I pushed through my entire program. You grow from every experience and I have learned something this whole week. The main thing I wanted to do was be aggressive, and even though I fell I got up and kept going."
