Meissner and Taylor Still Inseparable at the Top
by Sal Zanca, Special to U.S. Figure Skating Online |
| Katy Taylor and Kimmie Meissner with their World Junior medals |
(3/6/2004) - It is getting to be a repetitive story, but a nice one for Kimmie Meissner and Katy Taylor.
Meissner and Taylor were again inseparable on the ice, but this time it was for the silver and bronze medals Saturday in the ladies final at the World Junior Championships.
And they got marks up to 5.7 for the first time ever.
"The 5.7 is something that you see for the seniors," Taylor said. "So when it pops up it is like really, really cool. It makes you feel like a senior."
Not bad for two 14-year-olds for their first time at the World Junior Championships, and they were just hoping to be in the top 10.
"When I came here I was just looking to be in the top 10, and I ended up standing on the podium," Meissner said.
"My goal also was to place in the top 10," Taylor said. "So to have the bronze medal to take home is very cool."
Cool indeed.
Miki Ando of Japan won the title to complete her set of World Junior medals. She was third two years ago and second last year.
This season Ando has a World Junior title, a Junior Grand Prix title, and a Japanese national title over senior Grand Prix winner Fumie Suguri. Now she heads to Dortmund for the World Championships after a quick trip back to Japan.
Meissner and Taylor have gone 1-2 the last two years in the U.S. Championships - novice last year and junior this year. They went 2-3 in the Triglav Trophy in Croatia last year with Taylor ahead.
And now the two have medals from the World Junior Championships. Both have more than a few years left in the junior ranks.
Meissner had an outstanding routine to "Pines of Rome" until she singled a Salchow.
"I kind of lost my focus because I was so happy after doing my second triple Lutz," Meissner said.
Before that she hit a triple flip, triple Lutz-triple toe, triple Salchow and triple loop - all in the first two minutes of the program.
Ando did five triples in all although she landed forward on a quadruple Salchow attempt. Still she did a clean triple Lutz-triple loop and had better presentation marks in her "Firebird" program. She decided to risk the quadruple Salchow.
"It may not have been very important for this competition but for the future, and I will continue to try it," Ando said.
She said she has landed it three times in Japanese competition this season. She scored 5.4 to 5.8 for both technical and presentation. Meissner had 5.2 to 5.7 for technical and 5.1 to 5.7 for presentation.
"The highest I got before was 5.5 so when I saw 5.7 I was so happy," Meissner said.
Meissner was the last of the major contenders to skate. She captured six second-place ordinals to nab the silver medal away from Taylor, who skated right before her.
Taylor made a few small errors in her routine to a medley of American patriotic music. She started off well with a fine triple flip but went sprawling on a double Axel.
"My double Axel was a little scary, but I put it out of my mind and I went on to the very end. I was happy with it," Taylor said.
She stepped out of a triple toe loop - a relatively new jump for her. She came back to do a triple Lutz in sequence with a triple loop. She stepped out of a triple Salchow, but after another triple loop she ended with the triple Lutz-double toe loop. It still is almost unbelievable to see the speed she had in her routine. She had marks between 5.1 to 5.7.
Mai Asada and Aki Sawada of Japan finished fourth and fifth. Sawada tried a triple Axel but tumbled out of it. She also had some underrotated jumps that cost her.
American Danielle Kahle finished 11th. She popped her entry into her planned triple-triple and fell on a triple Lutz. She scored between 4.4 to 5.2 for technical merit and 4.7 to 5.2 for presentation.
The championships ended with Team USA capturing five medals in all - two ladies, two men and one in ice dancing, matching the total in 2000 and 2001. Next year's championships are scheduled to be in Kitchener, Canada.
