SPORTSLINE (01/25/98)

SPORTSLINE

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj

FIGURE SKATING

This year's European figure skating championships, held in Milan, Italy, on January 11-18 showed once again that Ukraine has a full complement of top-10 competitors in all events. However with one exception, Olena Liashenko, nobody got close to the winner's podium.

The tourney's main drama derived from the comeback story of Germany's Tanja Szewczenko, who fought off a rare combination of viruses that had sidelined her for a year. Leading after the short program, she touched a hand to the ice during the free skate, dropping her down to the bronze platform on the podium. While her performances border on the miraculous given the circumstances, unless Ms. Szewczenko can shake the fatigue that seemed to grip her again, she is unlikely to challenge either the powerful U.S. trio of Michelle Kwan, Nicole Bobek and Tara Lipinski or the Russians Maria Butyrskaia (the European champion) and Irina Slutskaia at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Nagano.

Olena Liashenko vaulted up from seventh after the short program to her best finish of fourth, making good on the favorable starting order (17th, just before the really big guns) she secured. (The later you skate, the better the chance of getting top marks.) However, few saw it, as ABC chose not to cover her efforts.

Veteran Yulia Lavrenchuk had a credible turn, and was sixth after the short program, but fell back to 12th in the free skate.

Men

1996 European Champion Viacheslav Zahorodniuk, last year's bronze medalist, still skates with the elite, but has slipped out of medal range. He was sixth after the short program and finished seventh overall.

1993 European Champion Dmytro Dmytrenko was right behind him, finishing eighth, after rising to fifth in the short program. Both guys were given great starting order placement. Mr. Zahorodniuk was 22nd, or third from last, Dmytrenko was 19th (third after the flashy Frenchman with the D'Artagnan routine, Phillipe Candeloro), but they didn't capitalize.

Mr. Dmytrenko's fans should visit "Dima's Demented Dormitory" at http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Metro/2573/dmitrifan.html, an excellent website dedicated to "one of the most creative and original skaters of all time," set up by a very thorough Eda Tseinyev. It's also a model of a well-organized, comprehensive and quick-loading site. A joy to visit.

Pairs and ice dance

Irina Romanova and Ihor Yaroshenko, Ukraine's perennials in ice dancing, showed their characteristic consistency in placing eighth throughout the two compulsory dances (Quickstep and Argentine tango), the original dance (Rhythm Jive) and the free dance.

In the pairs, two tandems cracked the top 10. The appropriately named Yulia Obertas is coupled with Dmytro Palamarchuk, and they finished seventh overall, while Yevgenia Filonenko and Ihor Marchenko took sixth.

HOCKEY

At this year's World Junior Championships, Team Ukraine showed strong signs of resurgence in Pool B competition. Relegated to the Bs in 1996, the squad faltered badly last year, slipping to fifth as many talented players left the squad.

Things were different at the 1998 tournament, held in Tychy and Sosnowiec, Poland. Led by phenom Oleksander Zinevych, who tallied 15 points over the championship, the team was roaring in its first game, blasting Norway 8-1 on December 28.

The next day, a penalty-filled 7-3 loss to the hosts, Poland, put Team Ukraine in second in Group A after round-robin play, ahead of tournament sleeper Belarus, whom Ukraine tied 2-2 on New Year's Eve.

The team exploded once again against France, bombarding it 9-1, with Mr. Zinevych checking for three goals and two assists. A 4-1 victory over Hungary on January 3 put the team within striking distance of promotion back to Pool A and a trip to Canada for 1999.

Mr. Zinevych's heroics continued the next day in a match against Latvia. He scored three unassisted goals, two of them short-handed, and added two assists to figure in all of the blue-and-yellow's scoring in a 5-1 victory.

However, Belarus held its own by downing France 5-4, thus winning the tournament and advancing to Pool A.

MISCELLANY

Ukrainian Canadian Olympian

Number 21 on the Canadian women's national hockey team is eight-year veteran Judy Diduck of Sherwood Park, Alberta. The dependable defensewoman was named to her country's Olympic squad for inaugural competitions in women's hockey at Nagano, Japan.

Ms. Diduck has been part of four gold-medal-winning teams at the world level, in 1990, 1992, 1994 and 1997. Her brother, Gerald, played in the National Hockey League. (UWC Sports Commission)

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