Cohen Has All the Right Moves and Wins Grand Prix Final

Finishing her demanding free skate with a triple-double combination, Sasha Cohen of Laguna Niguel vaulted past first-day leader Irina Slutskaya of Russia to win the Grand Prix figure skating final Saturday.

It was Cohen’s first major international figure skating title. The free skate was the second of the competition, and worth 50% of the final score.

Cohen and Slutskaya both missed or cut down planned jump combinations, but Cohen ended her program with a triple salchow-double toe combination, drawing cheers from the packed arena.

Slutskaya managed only five triple jumps in a flawed program.

She said the grueling, two-day schedule and a personal problem, which she did not explain, contributed to her poor showing.

Evgeny Plushenko of Russia landed a quad toe-triple toe-triple loop combination to easily win the men’s event.