| | NICE, France -- Alexei Yagudin used a new routine to gain an
advantage over rival Evgeny Plushchenko in the men's qualifying
Monday at the World Figure Skating Championships.
Seeking his third consecutive world title, Yagudin was
impressive in winning his group, hitting a quad and seven triple
jumps. Plushchenko showed the effort of skating early and was
beaten by Canadian Elvis Stojko in the other qualifying group.
| |  | | | Alexei Yagudin is looking for his third World Championship. |
After losing his European title last month to Plushchenko,
Yagudin changed his long program. He showed the new program for the
first time in competition today in the round that counts for 20
percent of the final score.
Before, he was skating to the music of the movie "Broken
Arrow." Now, he has gone to a classical mode to the opera
"Tosca" by Puccini.
"After the Europeans, we decided to change," Yagudin said.
"It is a good program, but it is hard for the public."
His marks were between 5.7 and 5.9.
Second to Yagudin was American Michael Weiss, who did nine
triples - one more than the maximum allowed because his first jump
was an intended quad that was scaled down to a triple toe loop.
"I would have liked to hit the quad, but you've got to save
something for later in the week," Weiss said.
Plushchenko skated hours earlier as the first skater of the
morning group
"It was very difficult for Evgeny to skate so early in the
morning," his coach, Alexei Mishin, said.
It showed.
He fell on his opening quad attempt. Then he scaled down a
triple axel and put in two double jumps at the end of the routine
as if seeking to just end the routine without making any more
mistakes.
In winning six competitions in a row since last October, he
regularly did a quad in combination and at least six triples in his
routines.
Today, he did only four triples and lost to Stojko, a three-time
world champion who failed in his quad attempt and faltered on a
triple axel.
"Right on the takeoff (of the quad) I was a little anxious,"
Stojko said.
Still with six successful triples, he had four first-place
votes, enough to beat Plushchenko but not near the quality of
Yagudin's skating.
The men come back for the short program Tuesday, with the free
program, worth 50 percent, on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Chinese pairs skaters Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo took
advantage of the absence of the two-time champions to grab the
lead.
Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze dropped out Sunday
after being informed that Berezhnaya had tested positive for a
banned substance.
The Chinese finished second to the Russians last year. This
time, Xue and Zhao were nearly perfect with a high-flying routine
that included a huge delayed double twist lift and a throw triple
loop.
In both elements, she remained airborne for a long time during
"Firebird" by Stravinsky.
They were the first-place choices of seven of the nine judges.
Second were the other Russians, Maria Petrova and Alexei
Tikhonov, who won the 1999 Europeans after Berezhnaya and
Sikharulidze withdrew because of her flu.
Third were Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. The
Canadians and Russians got one first-place vote each.
The pairs final is Wednesday and counts for the remaining
two-thirds of the score. | |
ALSO SEE
Russian pairs champs banned from world championships
 |
