The Road to Moscow, Part 1
by Sal Zanca, Special to U.S. Figure Skating Online |
| Irina Slutskaya Photo by Michelle Wojdyla |
(2/8/05) — The road to this year's World Championships has taken a long and historical route back to the country where it all began – Russia.
In 1896, the first World Championships were held in St. Petersburg, Russia, and just seven years later, in 1903, the event returned to St. Petersburg. No one could have anticipated at the time that the 1903 World Championships would be the last held in Russia in the 20th century.
In 1917 Russia experienced a revolution that eventually led to the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In the early days of the republic, figure skating was derided as aristocratic and lost favor with the new government. It wasn't until the 1950s that the Soviet Union returned to international figure skating competition and became a powerhouse in the sport.
When the Soviet Union broke up in 1991 many predicted it might be the end of a second outstanding era of Russian figure skating.
Needless to say, those predictions have proven false.
Since 1993, when Russia (as its own country) once again entered skaters into the World Championships, its athletes have dominated the event. In that time, 12 World Championships have been contested and 48 singles, pairs and ice dancing champions have been crowned, 24 of which have gone to Russian skaters.
This year the World Championships return to Russia (though Moscow, not St. Petersburg, will act as the host) after a 102-year absence, and it will mark the first time the event has been held under the new ISU judging system. And with Russian skaters sweeping the events at the European Championships in January, all indications point to a continued good showing by the home team at the World Championships.
“Some skaters skate for 10 years and never have the chance to perform in their hometown,” said Irina Slutskaya, who was born and raised in Moscow. “But it will be a big pressure for all the Russian girls.”
Slutskaya is unbeaten this year and will be looking to continue a marvelous comeback after missing virtually all of last season due to illness. The 2002 World champion finished ninth in Dortmund last year, but since then she has beaten everyone who placed ahead of her. Still, Slutskaya knows that if she hopes to win a second World title she will have to perform better than she did in Torino, site of the European Championships.
“This season was hard for me,” said Slutskaya, who has had four competitions since December. “Sometimes I don't feel comfortable.”
With three World Championships under his belt, Evgeny Plushenko planned to take it easy this year leading up to the event. But he encountered a detour when U.S. champion Johnny Weir was forced to drop out of the Grand Prix Final due to injury and Plushenko, as the first alternate, was strongly encouraged to take his place.
“I am tired this year because I have had a lot of competitions,” Plushenko said during the European Championships. “For 10 years I have skated in a lot of competitions. I need a little bit of rest actually, a little bit of a pause.”
Though tired, he still produced a quad and six triples in the free skate to win European gold. And now Plushenko, who hails from St. Petersburg, can't wait to compete in his home country.
“I look forward for sure [to] the World Championships in Moscow,” Plushenko said.
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| Russia's Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin Photo by Michelle Wojdyla |
At the European Championships the pairs event was all Russia. The country won its 10th straight title at the event when Tatiana Totmianina, from Perm, and Maxim Marinin, from Volgograd, made a stirring comeback from their fall at Smart Ones Skate America last October to best the competition.
They had only one rough landing throughout the competition and were clearly the best, soaring through three different one arm-lifts.
Meanwhile, Russia's Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov are favored in ice dancing.
Though the team did not look spectacular at the European Championships (their original dance and free dance were plagued by minor mistakes) they nevertheless cruised to the title.
Still, that lack of perfection, along with the uneven seasons from many of the other top ice dancing teams in the world, might just leave the door open for Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto to give the U.S. its first ice dancing medal since 1985.
The last time the Russians swept the World titles was in 1999 when the competition was held in Helsinki, Finland – the closest the event had been to Russia in a century.
Is another sweep possible?
The Road to Moscow series will take a look at some of the international competition U.S. skaters will face at the 2005 World Championships.
Next stop: Irina Slutskaya didn't look outstanding at the European Championships but, as she has done all season, she won. Not bad for someone who was in and out of the hospital last season with a heart condition for which she still takes medication.
