X-DoNotUse-Sports

Kwan, U.S. Excel At Worlds

March 25, 2001 / 3:37 PM EST / AP

For seven long minutes, Michelle Kwan looked everywhere but at that little black monitor not 30 feet from her.

She leaned against the wall, staring at the ground or straight ahead. She sat in a chair, her head down. She sneaked an occasional peak at her coach, who was watching Irina Slutskaya on the monitor, but never, ever at that screen.

"It's so hard because you don't want to sit there in front of the monitor and say, `Fall, fall, fall,"' Kwan said as Slutskaya, her friend and rival, laughed and playfully shook the box containing her silver medal at Kwan.

"You don't want to wish anyone bad," Kwan insisted. "It's like karma. It will get back to you."

Now, nobody's saying there were little evil spirits chasing the Russians around the World Figure Skating Championships. But while the Americans did as well as they possibly could at this all-important last worlds before the Olympics, the Russians struggled.

Oh, sure, Yevgeny Plushchenko and Alexei Yagudin were 1-2 in the men's competition and the Russians won three other medals. But they weren't nearly as pretty a color as the ones they usually carry home.

For the first time since 1997, the Russians have only one gold medal, Plushchenko's. Former world champions Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the silver in pairs, finishing behind Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

In ice dance, Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio won Italy's first world title while Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France were second and Russia's Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh took the bronze.

"I have to take my heart into my hands and encourage myself," said Slutskaya, who finished behind Kwan for the second straight year after beating her twice during the season.

As for the Americans, this week gives them plenty of encouragement heading into the Salt Lake City Olympics, only 11 months away. Not only did Kwan become the first woman since Katarina Witt to win a fourth world title, but history says she'll have the edge in Salt Lake, too.

The last four women who won the world title the year before the games went on to win Olympic gold, too.

"I thought about that," she said. "You can't go by what happens in the history books. Next year is something different."

But in beating Slutskaya this week, Kwan rediscovered the confidence she'd lost during what has been one of the toughest seasons of her career. She answered questions about whether she could keep up technically with a beautiful triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination, and did five other triple jumps.

Her artistic marks, all 5.8s and 5.9s, were far superior to Slutskaya's.

"I didn't believe in myself," Kwan admitted. "I was sort of lost and didn't know what I was doing. The last month I understood this was my goal.

"I've had a roller-coaster year and to end like this, it's truly mazing."

And the Americans weren't done. Sarah Hughes won the bronze medal and Angela Nikodinov finished fifth, giving the U.S. women their best showing since a 1-2-3 sweep in 1991.

At just 15, Hughes established herself this season as a serious medal contender. She was in the top three in every competition she entered, often finishing right behind Kwan, Slutskaya or former world champion Maria Butyrskaya.

"The last two years, I've watched and thought, `Wouldn't it be great if I could get up there?' " Hughes said of medaling at worlds. "It's shocking, because I didn't expect it. That's the best part, when you don't expect it and it comes."

Todd Eldredge knows how that feels. After taking the past two years off from Olympic-level skating, the 1996 world champion came here just hoping to get the Americans a third spot for Salt Lake.

Instead, he's going home with the bronze medal.

"It's amazing. And a lot more than I thought I would achieve this year," said the 29-year-old Eldredge, who became the oldest man to win a world medal since 1931. "Not bad for 10 years after my first medal."

U.S. champion Timothy Goebel just missed the medals podium, but his fourth-place finish is a huge improvement from being 11th last year.

"My goal this year was only to come in and get as close to the top as I could," Goebel said. "To be up this high in this class of skaters, I am very happy."

Eldredge and Goebel easily earned the third Olympic spot, but the Americans are going to have to do a lot more if they hope to knock off Plushchenko and Yagudin in Salt Lake.

Plushchenko has won all but one competition the past two years. His superb jumps are incredibly difficult and his showmanship is worthy of a world and maybe an Olympic champion.

"This is my year," Plushchenko said. "I win everything."

Yagudin won the silver medal despite being hobbled by a foot injury. He's already vowed to change his training habits so he can make a run at the gold medal in Salt Lake, the only big title he has yet to win.

"I will work for the future," he said. "I will fight next year for the worlds and the Olympics."