Kwan Still Falling From Grace

Michelle Kwan’s fall from the throne of women’s figure skating continued Friday night, and and Tara Lipinski again showed that youth is no barrier in the sport.

Kwan, from Torrance, had fallen twice in the U.S. Nationals last month, and she showed in the Champions Series that her performance there was no aberration. Kwan came in third behind Lipinski and Russia’s Maria Butryskaya, falling hard on her opening triple lutz and never finishing the required combination jump.

Kwan, 16, rallied, but the damage was done. After Butryskaya, then Lipinski skated cleanly, Kwan stood third heading into tonight’s free skate.

“I was very surprised to be on the ice after the lutz,” Kwan said. “I knew I had to go for it from there and not make any more mistakes.”

Lipinski had no such troubles. She was as sharp against a field of three Russians and three Americans as she was when she became the youngest skater ever to win the U.S. Nationals.

“I was a little focused to do my job the best I can,” she said.

It was plenty good enough. Skating to, appropriately enough, music from “Little Women,” the 4-foot-8, 74-pounder from Sugar Land, Texas, got the first standing ovation of the evening for landing a triple lutz-double loop combo and a solid triple toe loop, after which a big smile lit her face.

She closed with a superb set of spins and wound up first with five of the seven judges.

Elvis Stojko skated to the music from “The Rocketeer” in finishing first in the men’s competition, followed by 1994 Olympic gold medalist Alexei Urmanov and U.S. and world champion Todd Eldredge.

Jenni Meno and Todd Sand were last in the field of four pairs after the short program. But their performance was far better than they had managed at the U.S. Nationals.

Leading the pairs were Germany’s Mandy Woetzel and Ingo Steuer, who were second at last year’s worlds.