Ukraine's skaters figure in top 10 at World Championships in Canada (03/31/96)

Ukraine's skaters figure in top 10 at World Championships in Canada

by Andrij Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

TORONTO - Ukraine's competitors maintained their presence in the top 10 in three out of four categories, as the 1996 competitive figure skating season culminated at the World Championships held in Edmonton on March 17-24, but none won a medal.

The highest ranked Ukrainian skaters as of the Worlds are ice dancers Irina Romanova and Ihor Yaroshenko, who finished fifth in their event.

They share a coach (Natalia Linnichuk), with this year's champions, Oksana Grishchuk and Yevgeny Platov of Russia and train at the University of Delaware. They had the best shot at the podium of Team Ukraine's entries after the free dance, thanks to a spirited number done to music from "Zorba the Greek," but were bounced out of third down to their final position by a strong performance from Canada's ShaeLynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz.

Romanova and Yaroshenko had also placed fifth consistently throughout the competition - in the two dance compulsories, the original dance, and the free event.

At the end of the championships, the next highest ranked Ukrainian competitor was Viacheslav Zahorodniuk, sixth in the men's standings. Both favorites, defending World Champion Elvis Stojko of Canada and current Olympic Champion Aleksei Urmanov of Russia, fell while attempting jumps, which dropped them out of the medals.

Nevertheless, they still placed ahead of Mr. Zahorodniuk, who came in for criticism by TV commentators for a technically strong, but artistically listless and emotionless program, skated to Chopin's "Polonaise Militaire" and "Fantasie Impromptu."

The direct opposite plagued Dmytro Dmytrenko, the 1993 European Champion, who according to Canadian figure skating columnist Steve Milton, "works too slowly, without enough power, and exits and enters his jumps with poor quality."

On the other hand, Mr. Milton remarked on Mr. Dmytrenko's "understanding of music." The Ukrainian skated a Plaza del Toros short program to a score he'd adapted himself from a composition by contemporary Ukrainian composer Ihor Stasiuk. This put him in ninth position, just behind Mr. Zahorodniuk, but then a brutal outing in the free skate (rated 19th over all by the judges) plunged him down to 16th.

Olena Belousovska and Serhiy Potalov finished ninth in the pairs event, completing an adequate season in which they placed sixth at the World Centennial competition in St. Petersburg in mid-February, but failed to qualify for the Grand Prix in Paris a week later.

Finishing just out of the top 10 in Edmonton was Olena Liashenko, who was 12th in the ladies' competition. Ms. Liashenko was consistently punished by marks from the U.S. judge who refused to rate her above 4.7, while others gave her 4.9s, 5.0s and 5.1s.

As usual, judging was the focus of controversy during the championship. Another U.S. judge, Joan Gruber, made an impression on the Worlds by pounding on Frenchman Phillipe Candeloro - rating him 19th over all for artistic impression in the free skate, even as the others rated him at sixth or seventh. There was speculation that Ms. Gerber had seen one too many Westerns as Mr. Candeloro wore a cowboy outfit for that routine.

On the other hand, Mr. Dmytrenko benefited from the largesse of Austrian judge Helmut Sieber in the men's free skate. Mr. Sieber placed him 11th instead of 19th as did the majority. It seemed that Mr. Sieber compensated by rating Mr. Zahorodniuk slightly lower than others.

Ukraine's other entries included Yulia Lavrenchuk, who placed 17th in the ladies' competition, and Olena Grushina and Ruslan Honcharov, who finished 19th in the ice dance event.

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