By opening up, event is skating closer to Olympics

It's not the Olympics, but the Northwestern Mutual Life World Team Figure Skating Challenge is closer now to Olympic-style competition than it has been in past years.

That's because the fifth annual World Team Challenge, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Bradley Center, is one of 10 open competitions that have been sanctioned by the International Skating Union, the world governing body of figure skating.

Open competitions include competitors who are eligible for Olympic and world competition and ineligible skaters who have chose the professional track.

So Todd Eldredge and Nicole Bobek, who skated in the Nagano Olympics in February, can compete in the World Team Challenge and maintain their eligibility for future Olympic and world competitions.

Both are members of the U.S. team that will compete for $265,000 in prize money here, along with defending champion Canada, Europe and Russia.

"The competition level of these new events is great," Eldredge said in a telephone interview from Detroit, where he trains. "You've got skaters in there who are former Olympic and world champions."

That also was the case in the "professional" events. The difference is, events such as the World Team Challenge now are judged by ISU officials, who use the 6.0 system similar to the one used in Olympic competition.

Although skaters are limited to four jumps, ISU rules and judging would seem to give the eligible skaters an advantage.

"I think so," Bobek agreed. "In a way, I think it's unfair. I think the professionals have been used to the other way, so this puts more pressure on them."

However, Eldredge pointed out that Canadian Kurt Browning, a three-time World Professional champion, won the men's singles discipline in the most recent open competition in San Jose.

"Kurt's an ineligible, but he wound up winning," Eldredge said. "He and I tied, but he won the artistic portion, so he won. It's good competition. It's close between both sides. That makes it interesting."

Eldredge said the programs Thursday would not be as difficult as those required in the Olympics or World Championships, but would be more difficult than the ones seen here in the past.

"The programs are scaled down from what we've done in the Olympics," he said. "They're kind of halfway between eligible and ineligible skating. You are limited as far as the jumps you can do. In some ways, that's harder, because you've got to hit all four."

The World Team Challenge will feature competition in three disciplines men's singles, ladies singles and pairs. The judges will award scores for each team member, and the team with the highest score at the conclusion of the competition will be declared the winner.

Pairs team Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman, who will be competing together for the first time in Milwaukee, round out the U.S. team.

All four of the U.S. team members are eligible skaters.

"Because they did keep these open events available to keep your eligibility, it's very attractive to me in case some time down the road I feel like competing in the worlds or Olympics," Eldredge said. "It worked out great."

Canada is led by Browning and three-time Canadian ladies champion Josee Chouinard. Two-time Olympic gold medal-winner Katarina Witt leads the European team. The Russian team includes Ekaterina Gordeeva and 1998 Olympic pairs champions Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev.