Yagudin Won’t Surrender His Title Without a Fight

Alexei Yagudin needed four pain-killing injections Tuesday to skate on his inflamed, fluid-filled right ankle. He hates needles but couldn’t bear the prospect of handing his world figure skating title to fellow Russian Evgeni Plushenko.

“I wasn’t lucky to win three times the world championships,” Yagudin said. “I will fight really, really hard for the fourth.”

Uncomfortable but not in pain, Yagudin skated an exuberant short program to “Revolution Etude” by Chopin that featured a fine quad-triple combination jump and a quivering, fist-pumping ending. His effort drew a standing ovation from the crowd at GM Place and lifted him from fifth in his qualifying group to third overall.

“I was a little close twice to [withdrawing], but this is my life,” he said. “I love to compete. It was really hard. There was a lot of pressure.”

Facing stern pressure skating after Yagudin, Plushenko was unshakable. Skating to Ravel’s “Bolero,” he won the short program to take the overall lead. Todd Eldredge, a five-time U.S. champion and 1996 world champion, skated a program that was clean and technically sound, if not dazzling, to grab second place.

Eldredge, 29, took two years off from Olympic-eligible skating after he finished fourth at the Nagano Games. He was stunned to be in medal range but delighted he and reigning U.S. champion Timothy Goebel, who was fourth in the short program and fourth overall, are in position to win a third berth for U.S. men at the Salt Lake City Olympics. Their total placement must be not more than 13.

“I look at Mario Lemieux this year. He made a tremendous comeback and that’s inspiring to see,” said Eldredge, who did a triple flip-triple toe loop as his combination jump instead of a riskier quad-triple because he knew rivals Takeshi Honda of Japan and Elvis Stojko of Canada had crashed out of contention. Honda, who led qualifying group B, had a disastrous skate and is seventh; Stojko fell on his first two jumps and was 11th in the short program, which counts for 30% of the final score.

“I don’t care if Tim beats me or if I beat him, as long as we get that third spot,” Eldredge said. “This is an individual sport but we want to get as much representation for the U.S. as we can, especially having the Olympics in the U.S.”

Goebel, who skates at HealthSouth training center in El Segundo, landed a quadruple salchow-triple toe loop combination for the first time in a short program, with a wobble. Of greater significance was the narrow gap between his presentation and technical scores, a landmark because he has been known as a jumper rather than a skater. His marks ranged from 5.4 (out of 6.0) to 5.7 for presentation and 5.5 to 5.7 for required elements.

“I’ve been criticized so harshly for it but when the cards are on the table, I’m getting better marks,” Goebel said. “It’s a label that until I consistently prove myself, which I think I’ve done this year, it might take a while for the judges to reward me. . . . My work this year will pay off next year.”

The men’s event ends Thursday with the free skate. “[Today] will be a day to just calm down,” Eldredge said. “I’m building more confidence with each performance that I do.”

In ice dancing, defending world champions Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France led qualifying Group A after the compulsory dances, and 2000 silver medalists Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio of Italy led Group B.

U.S. champions Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev were fifth in Group B. The other U.S. duo, Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto, was eighth. The compulsories are worth 20% of the score. The original dance, worth 30%, will be performed Thursday.

Michelle Kwan will begin defense of her women’s title today in the qualifying round, and the pairs competition will end tonight with the free skate. Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia won the short program, with Xue Shen and Hongbao Zhao of China second, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada third and defending champions Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov of Russia fourth.

U.S. champions Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman are sixth, with U.S. runners-up Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn ninth.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

World Figure Skating Winners

The medal table for the top 15 countries, 1908-2000

*--*

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total Russia* 63 53 38 154 U.S. 47 48 64 160 Austria 36 46 34 117 Great Britain 28 30 25 82 Germany** 27 44 35 106 Canada 23 25 28 76 Sweden 15 7 11 33 Hungary 13 7 15 35 Czech Republic*** 10 5 5 20 Norway 10 2 5 17 France 9 14 13 36 Netherlands 4 1 3 8 Finland 2 4 2 8 Switzerland 2 2 1 5 Japan 2 1 2 5

*--*

*Includes former Soviet Union and Commonwealth of Independent States; **Includes West and East Germany; ***Includes Czechoslovakia.

Source--International Skating Union.