FIGURE SKATING: Kulik win men's event; Kazakova, Dmitriev win with 'Matrix'
| Source: |
AP News |
| Date: |
December 8, 2001 |
| Author: |
Joseph White |
WASHINGTON (December 8, 2001 10:36 PM EST) - The Average
White Band was anything but average for Ilia Kulik, and a
winning routine based on "The Matrix" was almost an innovative
as the movie.
Kulik won the men's title Saturday night at the professional
Skaters' Championship, scoring five perfect 10.0s to a lively
routine to the AWB's "Pick Up the Pieces."
Kulik did his standard repertoire of textbook triple jumps,
but his footwork, showmanship and rapport with the crowd
have improved markedly since he won the gold medal at the
1998 Olympics in Nagano.
"I try to connect more after three years of Stars on Ice,"
Kulik said. "Three years watching guys do that, I try finally
to get a kick out of it. It's so fun and so much more energy.
Sixty-shows on the road - you've got to try to get some energy
back and keep going."
Kulik edged Kurt Browning, who got three 10.0s and dazzled
the crowd again with his amazing footwork, much of it after
the music had stopped. Browning is one of the few professional
skaters that still takes winning and losing seriously, and
he mocked banging his head into the wall talking about his
second-place finish.
"I'm sitting there going, 'loser.' I don't how you beat Ilia
on a night like this," Browning said. "But at the same time,
I didn't give my best."
Brian Orser was third, followed by Steven Cousins and Philippe
Candeloro, who performed the American debut of a routine
to "George of the Jungle," using a man in the monkey suit
as a prop. Candeloro said the man was his agent.
"He's gets paid every time I do a competition or an exhibition,"
Candeloro said, "so I let him do this work."
The pairs title went to Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev,
who dressed as a puppet and its master while skating to "The
Matrix" soundtrack.
Dmitriev carried Kazakova onto the ice on his shoulder, then
used the puppet string apparatus to sling her around the
ice in several breathtaking moves. The routine was created
this summer, and this was its debut in a competitive event.
"It's something new for us. It's an unusual way for us,"
Dmitriev said. "It's fun."
Yuka Sato and Jason Dungjen were second, followed by Jenni
Meno and Todd Sand.
Later Saturday, the women's competition was decided, with
Sato and Kristi Yamaguchi separated by less than one-tenth
of a point after Friday's technical program. Sato won the
event last year, when it was called the World Professional
Figure Skating Championship.
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