Hughes Is Golden as Kwan Slips

Michelle Kwan did two new combination jumps Saturday: the fall-and-gasp, and the triple lutz-double take.

And because the four-time world champion was so far below her usual high standard in her Skate Canada free skate program, not even a previously forgiving panel of judges could prop her up and gift wrap a victory.

Sarah Hughes, who has been nipping at Kwan’s white-booted heels the past two seasons, overtook her with a sure, graceful performance that proclaimed the women’s Olympic gold medal stakes to be a three-way race instead of a two-way battle between Kwan and Russia’s Irina Slutskaya. Although Slutskaya got higher marks for her long program than her American rivals, she was fourth after the short program and so had little chance of winning, even though the long program was worth two-thirds of the final score. Hughes’ program was ranked second, which propelled her to her first Grand Prix title and left Slutskaya and Kwan second and third.

“It must be shocking to the world,” Kwan said wryly, but the crowd of 8,543 at Saskatchewan Place collectively inhaled after she fell on the first part of her opening triple toe-triple toe combination and the second part of her triple lutz-triple loop combination. The 21-year-old Torrance native hadn’t finished lower than second in an Olympic-style competition since she was third in the 1996 Centennial on Ice pro-am competition. It was also her worst result in a major event since she finished fourth at the 1995 world championships at the age of 14.

“It’s disappointing,” Kwan said after her second successive subpar performance in two competitions since she parted with longtime coach Frank Carroll. “I guess this is the placement I deserve. Just as long as I keep my head high, I’ll be OK.

“There are points when I’m worried, but there’s one good thing I learned from this is that I’m gutsy. Even though I missed my first triple-triple, I tried the second one.... I feel that I can do this and that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter what other people say. It will just take time.”

Hughes’ time came Saturday, a week after her charming performance at Skate America was ranked second by the judges and sparked a heated debate. Although the 16-year-old from Great Neck, N.Y., did a double toe loop instead of a planned triple-triple combination, she improvised a triple toe loop late in the program that gave her six triples in her routine to Ravel and Rachmaninov. Kwan did five triples and Slutskaya did six clean triples and two-footed the middle part of a triple-triple-double combination.

“It’s really great because I’ve been working really hard for a long time,” said Hughes, who was third behind Kwan and Slutskaya at this year’s world championships. “My main goal is still to make the Olympic team and just focusing on my skating and working hard and getting better.”

Said Slutskaya: “We’re sitting here, the three girls [who held] the three top places in the world. We’re always competing together, me and Michelle, and Sarah is a great skater. In sports, sometimes me win, then Michelle and now Sarah.”

The men’s competition was equally dramatic. Elvis returned from the dead--the ranks of the competitively dead, anyway--and when the ice chips cleared, Russia’s Alexei Yagudin had won despite a fall on a fairly routine triple axel. Sentimental favorite Elvis Stojko of Canada was second and Todd Eldredge ended up third, thanks largely to a meltdown by Emanuel Sandhu, who was second after the short program.

Eldredge opened up on a planned quad in his performance to the soundtrack from the movie “1492” and did as many double jumps (three) as triple jumps.

“I wasn’t very good at all,” said Eldredge, a five-time U.S. champion who has landed only one quad in competition, at the Masters pro-am last year. “What else can I say?

“I don’t care about the quad question. I answered it last year at the Masters and I don’t have to hear about it anymore.”

He might have ignored the ovation when Yagudin landed a quad toe-triple toe combination in his well-acted “Man in the Iron Mask” routine, or the applause when Yagudin landed a rare quad toe-triple salchow. And if he wanted to pretend Stojko hadn’t landed a quad for the first time in two years--the three-time world champion pulled off a quad toe-double toe combination--he’s deluding himself. No quad, no Todd when the men’s Olympic standings are sorted out, if Yagudin continues to skate well and the much-injured Stojko stays fit.

“The last couple of years, since ‘98, I didn’t feel alive on the ice competing,” said Stojko, who on Saturday revived an old program from the movie biography of Bruce Lee. “I actually felt dead. I picked up all the pieces and put them back stronger than I’ve been since ’98.”

Yagudin’s marks for technical merit ranged from 5.7 (out of 6.0) to one 5.9, and his performance marks were three 5.9s and four 5.8s.

“I’m really happy this competition is over,” said the 21-year-old Russian, whose three-year reign as world champion was ended in March by compatriot Evgeni Plushenko. “I feel I passed the lowest point of my life and I’m back up the hill.”

Hughes’ triumph could be worth more than the $30,000 first prize. “The most important thing was the psychological boost she got,” said her coach, Robin Wagner. “Not that we’re resting on our laurels, but it was important for her to see she earned the respect of the judges.”

Kwan has had that respect for many years, but she can no longer rely on that or her artistry if her rivals are technically superior. She said she will take some time off to “understand where I am at this point,” but stopped short of saying she will reconsider her decision to go it alone during the intense final months leading up to the Olympics.

“The perspective I have right now at this point is I have to believe in myself,” Kwan said.

“That’s the key to success.... I’ve got to keep a positive attitude.”

The competition ends today with the ice dance finale, the original dance.