Event Reviews and Reports | 1998 Worlds Reports

There's a lot of great articles about yesterday already linked to this page so I won't repeat all of that. I was very disappointed that Kazakova & Dmitriev withdrew!

This morning at practice I got to see Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze which was exciting. They didn't do a complete run-through but were fantastic anyway! They landed side by side 3t's after a few tries. Oksana K was there warming up for about 10 minutes alone and then finally Artur showed up and we cheered. We later learned that he was sick! She was mostly working on spins and the 3t. Eltsova & Bushkov looked fine but I've never been a big fan of theirs.

I've included some results from compulsories in the next paragraph!

Compulsory dance is pretty boring after a few skaters. We saw all of our favorites do at least one of the dances. K & O, B & K, A & P and the Americans. Joseph & Butler did great and were in 26th place (out of 30). Some people started singing "Happy Birthday" to Jessica. She must be 16 now. Bourne & Kraatz actualy beat Anissina & Piezerat in the first dance but not in the second. The Canadian fans were crazy for B & K as were the American fans (including myself). K & O actually stumbled a little in the 2nd dance but are still in first. During this time I was able to get Robin Cousins & Tracy Wilson's autographs! After the 2nd dance J & B moved up to 25th! Good for them!

During this time we went to see Michelle's SP practice. She again was perfect in her run-through and landed several 3z 2t's and a 3l 2l combo just for fun! I saw Michael Wiess and snuck down to get his autograph. He seemed not to mind at all. Now my US team collection is complete!! YEAH!

We then returned to Target Center for more dancing and to catch another glimpse of Michelle signing autographs at the Ice Plaza. She looked beautiful and was wearing a dark brown velvet (I think) jacket and her hair was down. She looked like she was having lots of fun! Much more than Katia did on Monday! Bourne & Kraatz got lower marks than the crowd wanted for their 2nd dance and the crowd booed extremely loudly! It was funny! They just shrugged and smiled at us crazy fans!

They made us leave the Target Center while they set up for the Opening Ceremonies and the Pairs SP. We hung out at the mall and saw a few skaters walking around. We saw Punsalan & Swallow in the photo shop when we were there. They looked great and were nicely dressed. We told them they did awesome that morning (5th place is excellent).

The opening ceremonies were short and nice. They started with a very good twin cities group called "Sounds of Blackness" standing on a cool podium in the middle of the ice singing a song called "You Can Make it if you Try" to a highlights video of sorts on the screens and projected on the ice! Cool! It was very exciting and ended with Michelle's ending pose from her LP. People were cheering loudly for their favorites. Then the governor of MN and the Mayor of Mpls gave short greetings welcoming the people to MN and then "Sounds of Blackness" sang the National Anthem. It was so moving to feel like I was part of a really important event finally, not just practices!

The pairs competitions started and I was impressed by how few falls there were on the side by side jumps. Most of the skating was very fun to watch. During the competition my friend spotted Isabelle Brasseur talking to Barb Underhill. I rushed over to meet her and got her autograph. She was very nice and said she'll be here all week. Her husband, Rocky Marvel was here as well as Calla Urbanski. I also saw Jill Trenary, the Minnesota skating hero, later in the competition. I had her sign the wedding picture in the Torvill & Dean Autobiography. She showed her mom who was sitting close by! She was also very kind and gracious. She said that Chris had to leave so I won't be able to meet him, bummer!

Results below line, read at your own risk!

Schwartz & Mueller did a great job and were in first until the Americans skated. They have excellent spins and their jumps were almost perfectly clean. Xue & Hongbo landed the 3t's as usual (except he stepped out of his) and have a huge 2 twist! They are very fast but had a few unison problems on the spins. They were in second for a while.

Meno & Sand skated pretty early and did great. They were perfect (including the 3t's) except for one little side by side spin problem. They stayed in first the whole rest of the night! GO USA!!!! They got a standing O and we cheered our heads off. Lyons & Wells who probably got into town less than 24 hours ago did great. She landed the 3s and he doubled his but they were together and clean. Everything else was very good but a little slow. Tenth place is excellent for them under the circumstances I think. Eltsova/Bushkov missed the end of their music horribly, Oops! Khalturina & Kroukov (KZK) seem to be a crowd favorite. They have a really hard one hand lift which is behind her back, cool!

Later B & S skated and they both had serious problems on the 3t's. She fell and he put a hand down. The crowd gasped in disbelief! They still were so far superior on all the other elements that they stayed in 2nd place. Their marks were 5.1-5.5/5.6-5.9. The Germans are in 3rd, the Poles in 4th and the Canadians in 5th (Xue & Hongbo dropped to 6th). It was very fun to finally get nervous for the skaters and see a real competition!!

We'll have a new World Champion when tonight is over! I am so excited! GO USA!