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Show 010 TheSalt Lake Tribune oO > oO MT Piatle FIGURE SKATING — WOMEN:Short Program Artistic marks in short program put U.S. skater in lead for gold medal BY KATHY STEPHENSON THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Attack! That wasthe code word for U.S. figure skaters Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen before Tuesday night's short-program performances. The gameplan worked as the two teammates came infirst and third, rey, in thefirst half of the petition Irina Slutskaya, whois attempting to bethefirst Russian womanto win an individual Olympic gold medal, is in second. Any oneof the top three women have a chance at gold when the competition continues Thursday 1 ned hard andjust letit all go, because it’s not worth holding back, because I've seen what can happen,” said Kwan, referring to a tentative performance at the 1998 Nagano Olympics that cost her the gold. “I just have to think the samething in the long program.” Kwan, whoperformed her 1998 short program to music by Rachmaninoff, won a split 5-4 vote from the judges. all of whom gave hera scoreof 5.9 for presentation. Kwanwasinitially disappointed by marks, which ranged But then whentheararks came up it just made up .” shesaid. A crowd of morethan 15,000 was on handat the Delta Center to watch the 's competition. Slutskaya had thetechnical edge in the competition with high, powerful jumps that included atriple Jutz, doubletoe loop combination and a tri. ple flip. Even though this is her second Olympics, Slutskaya admitted to be ing a bit nervous before the perfor- mance,set to the music “Serenade” by mynerves today,” Next to to measure up. It was those marks that caused the year-old from Moscow to losethe 2001 worldtitle to Kwan. Since then, she has focused on im proving her grace andsophistication by working with a ballet instructor and a new choreographer. Andthe battle between the two for gold is far from over. This season, Kwan is 0-4 against Slutskaya, having last beaten the Russian at the 2001 world championships. The most exquisite display of ele gancecame, perhaps, from Cohen. Her program, to the soundtrack from “My Sweei and Tender Beast,” cluded a se a andspins that showed off the 17 year- old's amazingflexibility. “I just went out there to attack,” said Cohen, of Laguna Niguel, Calif. “Everything is on track so far. | just wanttokeepit together on Thursday.” Cohen’s warm reception by the judges surprised Slutskaya, who was first with four judges, but finished third, behind Cohen,on three score cards. het Photos by Steve Griffin Sai Lake Tribune “My program is harder [than Cowith] harder jumps, harder Michelle Kwan received high presentation marks for her short program in the women's Competition on Tuesday,putting her in good Sarah Hughes, the third skater on Hew ihe Judges Scored Them the U.S. team, also will haveto keepit togetherif she wants a shotat a medal. The16-year-old from Great Neck, N.Y., is in fourth place after receiving tech. nical marks that included lows of 5.2 and 5.3. 5. Hughes had trouble landing her triple lutz jump, turning it into a “flutz” by taking off on the inside, rather than outside, back edge of her skate. Hughes’ program to “Ave Mar. ia” alsolacked thespeed shown by the top three contenders. Russian Maria Butyrskay the weakest performance night with a program that ie ked spark. “She skated beautifully,” her coach Elena Tchaikovskaya said “andthejudges’ games continue.” SKATERS Michelle Kwan Tatiana | Mana | ingoise Pao ‘nna Pekka Sissy Knick Danlenko | Hrachoveoval Blangsted Pizzocari Absaiamova Leskinen Germany| RUSSIA SLOVAKIA |DENMARK| ITALY | 2;|;2 1 trina 3] 4) | 2/2/)3)] 4/4) 4 2/4/3/4!12/4/3/]3] 3 2 wnsues| 6 | 10)| 4) Maria 1 1 5/5) 2 STATES 1 Sarah Hi 1 Deborah Joseph inman isiam UNITED BULGARIA FINLAND [CANADA| UNITED STATES Slutska wa” wiosacs| 2| position for a gold medal. 5/5/4| 4 | USS Butyrska"ls|3i/6|/sie6e|3|ele 6 ‘TheSalt LakeTribune SHORT-TRACK SPEEDSKATING — WOMEN’S 3,000m RELAY: Final, Today, 8 p.m., Delta Center Can Koreans Steal Another Gold Away From China? Theyhaveslipped past rival in past two Olympic Games BY MICHAELC, LEWIS ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Few Americans have ever heard of Wang Chunlu. Mention Choi Eun--kyung, and nobodyis likely to turn their heads. But in the women’s short-track speed. skating 3,000-meter relay final tonight at the Delta Center, fans will immediately recognize the skaters from China and Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune core ener left, and Wang Chuniu celebrate after placing first and third respectively in the 500-meter final on Saturday. South Korea,respectively Wang is Ali. Choiis Frazier. Andtheir battle for the Olympic — medal in the wild 27-lap race figures to be everybit as intense as any of the boxers’ epic matches. The Chinese and the Koreans have ~ fiercest rivalry in short-track ing, and their relay teams are far oon than anyothers. Oneor the other of the world champion and 500-meter gold medalist Yang Yang (A), is not hard to understand: Beat Korea. ia Yang said. “But we will try ee teams almost always wins the major competitions, although the dynamic has be comecuriouslyfrustrating for the Chinese recently China holds the world record in the event of 4 minutes, 13.541 seconds.It has dominated the World Cupcircuit over the past three years and won the past four world champicnships. When it comes to ‘They have won the past two gold medals, including edging the Chinese by 0.123 seconds at the Nagano Games. So the rallying ry forWane.andber Chinese teammates, inclurling five- So ould beinthelineup tonight. while China use the same lineup it had ghant eo argwon Yi sunrisearma are fre ene and Sena |