Kwiatkowski Takes a Surprise Lead : Figure skating: She is ahead of favorite Michelle Kwan after an excellent short program. Meno and Sand win the pairs title.
Maturity triumphed over youth Friday, when Tonia Kwiatkowski delayed Michelle Kwan’s coronation as the next U.S. women’s figure skating champion--at least for a day--and Jenni Meno and Todd Sand found perfection in winning their second consecutive pairs title.
Kwiatkowski was told a year ago she was too old, at 23, to beat teen-age sensations such as Kwan. Defying the calendar, she performed a vibrant short program that put her atop the 16-skater field for today’s free skate, which counts for two-thirds of the final score.
Kwan, second to Tonya Harding in 1994 and the favorite this year, wobbled on the landing of the first part of her combination jump. It was a tiny mistake, but enough to put the 14-year-old from Torrance in third place. Nicole Bobek two-footed the landing of her double axel--one of eight required moves in the 2-minute 40-second routine--but her program contained enough style and difficulty to draw first-place votes from two judges and land her in second.
“I didn’t feel any pressure,” Kwan said of the expectations put on her. “I felt the crowd applaud for me, and I felt wonderful.”
Meno and Sand, who train in Costa Mesa, earned six perfect 6.0s for presentation of their long program, an excerpt from Puccini’s opera “Turandot.” Skating with a trust and unison that reflects their off-ice romance, they created an elegant and memorable moment for the crowd of 6,277 at the Providence Civic Center.
“There’s a lot of pressure here, at an event like this, but knowing how much we care about each other, that helps us,” said Sand, 31, who is seven years older than Meno. “We’ve tried to show that this year, and show how much we love to skate.”
Each competed with others before those partnerships dissolved. Their friendship, begun with curious glances across the Ice Capades Chalet rink, evolved into romance at the 1992 Olympics and will lead to a July 22 wedding in her hometown of Westlake, Ohio. But first, there are the World Championships next month in Birmingham, England, where they hope to improve on their fifth-place finish of a year ago.
They’ll be accompanied by Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen, who finished second with a lively program that drew three 5.9s. Stephanie Stiegler of Manhattan Beach and Lance Travis were third. Stiegler and Travis train at Lake Arrowhead.
“I think we have a very good (short) program, and our long is even better,” Meno said. “I think we have a very good chance to get a medal if we skate as well as we do at home.”
Their coach, John Nicks, expects U.S. pairs to do well, even though none has won the title since he coached Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner to the 1979 championship.
“I would think we have a good shot,” Nicks said. “The pairs scene is very open at the world level. . . . I’d rank (Meno and Sand’s performance) with Tai and Randy. It gave me a great deal of pleasure. There haven’t been two programs put together like this that I’ve enjoyed more.”
Kwiatkowski enjoyed proving she’s not over the hill. Performing to “Firebird,” she hit every jump precisely and skated with verve.
“It all started after nationals last year. Everybody said, ‘She ought to quit. Let’s be honest. This is for young kids,’ ” said her coach, former U.S. and Olympic champion Carol Heiss-Jenkins. “I told her, ‘Do what you feel you should do. I don’t want you, when you’re 40 years old, to have any regrets.’ ”
Kwiatkowski, fifth at last year’s nationals, attributed her improvement to having finished school and no longer finding herself torn between studying and skating.
“As far as being older than everyone else, I just love to do it and as long as I keep doing it as well as the other girls, I’ll keep going,” said Kwiatkowski, who earned a degree in communications and psychology last spring from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.
Kwan can win if she wins the free skate or if she ranks one place ahead of Kwiatkowski in the four-minute exercise. Her seven planned triple jumps should gain points for difficulty, but she might need more flair than she exhibited Friday. Dressed in a bubble gum-pink outfit splashed with spangles, she looked like a child compared to Bobek, who is 17, and compared to Kwiatkowski.
“Overall, I skated very well. I just had a little bobble coming off the triple lutz,” Kwan said. “I’m in the top three and still able to be first. I’m just going to work hard on it.”
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Skating Notes
Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur won the free dance portion to sweep all three phases of the ice dance competition. They received one 6.0 score for artistic impression. Second was the duo of Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow, last year’s winners.
Michelle Kwan’s sister, Karen, is 10th. They’re the first sisters to compete against each other in a senior championship since Carol and Nancy Heiss finished 1-2 in 1959. . . . Kyoko Ina competed in the pairs only a few hours after skating the women’s short program. She’s fourth in the women’s standings. . . . Scott Davis will try to win his third consecutive men’s title today.
