| | NICE, France -- Sarah Hughes and Angela Nikodinov are in the
same position on the American team. At first glance, neither should
be competing in Nice at the World Figure Skating Championships.
Yet they both are, and they easily qualified for the short
program with top quality routines in Wednesday's opening round of
the women's event.
Hughes was third and Nikodinov fifth behind European champion
Irina Slutskaya of Russia and American champion Michelle Kwan.
| |  | | | Angela Nikodinov won her first career victory at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Japan. |
Hughes, from Great Neck, N.Y., did four triple jumps cleanly.
She was the only competitor to try a triple-triple combination - a
salchow to loop - but had to step out of the landing of the second
jump.
Hughes, at 14, is still a year under the age limit, but was
permitted into the senior event last year because she won a medal
at the 1999 World Junior Championships. Once in, she made the most
of her chance, coming in seventh.
A major difference between this year and last for Hughes is her
short hair. Hughes had previously worn her hair in either a
ponytail or a bun.
"It was very severe. And sometimes it got caught in my costume.
This way I look more grown up," Hughes said. "We planned to cut
it before last year's worlds, but when I walked into the shop I got
cold feet and walked right out. I had it cut finally before coming
here."
Nikodinov, fourth in the American championships, was moved up
from alternate to the team. National runner-up Sasha Cohen, who is
also younger than permissible, failed to take advantage of the
junior medal loophole. Cohen, of Laguna Niguel, Calif., finished
only sixth in this season's world juniors.
Nikodinov, 19, from Spartenburg, Calif., who trains in Detroit,
was 12th last year in this event. Wednesday she presented three
triples jumps, two less than planned.
"I've been training great all week, so I'm obviously
disappointed at doubling two jumps," Nikodinov said.
Where's Julia:
Julia Soldatova of Russia, one of figure
skating's brightest stars and last year's bronze medal winner, is
missing from the 2000 worlds championships.
The 18-year old from Moscow, wanted to be in Nice, but suffered
the same fate that Irina Slutskaya did last year in the tough
Russian nationals.
Only the top three in Russia were selected for the world team,
and Soldatova finished fourth in her national championships, which
were held in Moscow at the end of December.
Soldatova and coach Elena Tchaikovskaya wasted no time making
alternate arrangements with the Belarus skating federation. The
establishment in Minsk welcomed the talented skater, quickly gave
Soldatova a passport and organized training facilities for her and
Tchaikovskaya, one of the top coaches in the sport.
However,the Russian federation and the International Skating
Union opposed Soldatova's skating at worlds.
According to Joyce Hisey, the Canadian who is the ISU's
technical delegate to the world championships, skaters must
establish a certain residency and cannot skate for another country
within a year of representing someplace else internationally.
Soldatova represented Russia at the Grand Prix meets this
season, including the Grand Prix final in January, where she was
one of four Russians in women's singles.
Slutskaya, who won one of the two qualifying rounds Wednesday in
beating Michelle Kwan, knows how Soldatova feels.
Slutskaya did not make the Russian team last year, although she
had been second in the 1998 world championships. At her national
championships in December of that year she finished fourth and did
not qualify for the Russian team at worlds.
Instead of trying to find another country to support her,
Slutskaya persevered and stayed in Russia, and became national
champion this season. | |
ALSO SEE
Slutskaya beats Kwan in qualifying
Police to question Bernadis
 |
