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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Kwan’s Victory Leads To Sweep By Amateurs Russian Skaters Follow With Triumphs In Men’s Individual, Ice Dancing Pairs

Associated Press

Amateurs outshone the professionals Sunday as Michelle Kwan of the United States won the women’s title and Ilia Kulik of Russia took the men’s crown at the Honda Prelude Cup open figure skating competition.

In Sunday’s interpretive free program before a capacity crowd of 10,000, Kwan and Kulik retained the leads they had established in the short program.

But the Russian amateur ice dancing pair of Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov climbed from second place to first, moving past Finnish pros Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko, who had led after the short program.

In the pairs event, in which only three amateur pairs competed, Americans Jenni Meno and Todd Sand won by moving ahead of short program leaders Marina Eltsova and Andrey Bushkov of Russia.

Kwan, the 16-year-old world and U.S. champion, started with a clean triple salchow and a double axel before stepping wide while landing on a double lutz in a planned triple jump.

It was the only flaw in a program of fascinating spins, spirals and combinations to music from “Pocahontas.”

In the free program of professional-amateur skating, greater emphasis is placed on the skaters’ interpretation of the music and artistry than on technical difficulty.

Kwan finished ahead of Japan’s Yuka Sato with two 5.9s and three 5.8s for presentation. A perfect mark would be 6.0.

Crowd favorite Sato, who turned pro after winning the 1994 world championship, was awarded three 5.8s and two 5.7s for presentation. She moved up to second place from third.

Russian Irina Slutskaya, who was second in the women’s short program, skated to loud clapping from spectators, who warmed up to her music from “Tico Tico.”

She displayed fancy footwork, but failed to land cleanly on a couple of jumps. The judges awarded her a 5.8, three 5.7s and a 5.5 for presentation for third place.

Kulik, the 1995 European men’s champion, fell on a triple flip but still handily won the title, finishing ahead of Philippe Candeloro of France and world champion Todd Eldredge of the United States.

The event requires three different triple jumps for women and four for men.

No one tried a quadruple jump, which only a few men have achieved in competition.