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| | Monday, March 27 | |||||
| Maria Butyrskaya of Russia dethroned Michelle Kwan for the women's title at the World Figure Skating Championships today with a magnificent performance in the free skating.
Butyrskaya was an artist on ice as she executed dynamic jumps, including seven triple jumps, exquisite footwork and powerful spins.
Butyrskaya, after winning the short program a day earlier, needed to finish at least second today to be sure of the title, no matter what Kwan did. And 26-year old Russian left no doubt about the outcome. She earned marks of 5.7 and 5.9 from the judges.
Kwan became a longshot to repeat after she slipped to fourth place when she fell Friday on the relatively simple double axel in the short program.
An error-free routine, combined with her qualifying group victory Wednesday, left Butyrskaya in position to complete a Russian sweep of the titles. And that's what happened as Russia became the first ever to skate off with all four titles in the world championships. It has won all four titles at the Europeans the last three years. Butyrskaya became the first Russian woman of the post-Soviet era to win a world singles title. Oksana Baiul of Ukraine won the world title in 1993. After Butyrskaya's strong performance today, Kwan was clearly out of the running when she took the ice. The 18-year old had heard the cheering backstage after Butyrskaya skated but did not know her marks yet. "It's the same old thing.... I just had to focus on my own thing," Kwan said. A chance to win the free skating evaporated when she stepped out of her opening triple lutz. Later she only had a single axel, worrying about the jump that she missed in the short program. Kwan said she had recovered from the cold that had bothered her earlier in the week, but that her earlier weakness "played a little game with my head." Sitting with her coach Frank Carroll, before she received her marks, Kwan said she had been thinking of what not to do rather thinking positively. "It was all negative," she said. Julia Soldatova of Russia finished third. American Sarah Hughes, 13, was seventh in her first world championships. In the ice dance, Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov kept Russia's title streak alive with a close victory. They performed a routine entirely to the rhythm of drums with no melody. However their technique and variety of rhythms was enough for them to gain a 5-4 decision in a head-to-head match against France's Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat. Anissina, born in Russia, and Peizerat skated a more conventional routine to "Man in the Iron Mask" that was highlighted by unique lifts, including one where she holds him off the ice. Canada's Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz finished third. Russia's Alexei Yagudin won the men's title, and compatriots Yelena Berzhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze took the pairs championship. | ALSO SEE ABC Sports looks back at the last three Women's World Championships Alexei Yagudin retains men's crown Maria Butyraskaya spotlight AUDIO/VIDEO  Maria Butyrskaya wins the 1999 World Championship (Courtesy: ABC Sports)RealVideo: 56.6 | |||||