ICE SKATING: European Championships Preview: Women's Event

European Championships Preview Women's Event Monday, January 22, 2001 - Sunday, January 28, 2001 Bratislava, Slovakia

The women's event at the European Championships will be between Irina Slutskaya, the reigning European Champion, and Maria Butyrskaya, the 1999 European Champion. Based on competitions so far this season, the edge would have to go to Irina Slutskaya, who seems to be on a winning streak.

While Irina Slutskaya has not been having the performances of her life all season long, she has been winning. Her first major victory was at Skate Canada, when she upset three-time World Champion Michelle Kwan. What was shocking is that both Slutskaya and Kwan had mistakes in their programs - Kwan doubled some of her jumps and lacked speed and energy overall, and Slutskaya fell on one of her combinations. In the past, beating Michelle Kwan was a difficult task, and most people predicted that Slutskaya would win at Skate Canada ONLY if she skated perfectly, did a triple-triple combination, AND Michelle Kwan fell or made other mistakes. When both of them made mistakes, it seemed that the judges would once again hand it to Kwan…but they didn’t! Slutskaya pulled off her first upset victory of the season.

Slutskaya went on to defeat Kwan again at the Hershey's Kisses Figure Skating Challenge, which took place in Detroit, Michigan. Hershey's Kisses was a pro-am competition, and it was taking place in the U.S., so it seemed that Kwan was basically guaranteed the win. Both Kwan and Slutskaya skated cleanly, but, surprisingly, again the win went to Slutskaya.

Irina Slutskaya also defeated Maria Butyrskaya in their first face-off at the NHK Trophy in Japan. Slutskaya won, despite having made some mistakes and landing awkwardly on some jumps. Butyrskaya was flawless and lyrical. She gave her best performance of the season, but, again, Slutskaya won! Slutskaya had landed one more jump than Butyrskaya, and her spins were stronger than Butyrskaya's. However, Butyrskaya's flow over the ice and lighter jump technique were superior to Slutskaya's. It could have gone either way, but Butyrskaya did deserve the win with such a great performance.

Slutskaya won the Russian Nationals this year, without a lot of trouble. Butyrskaya had a disastrous short program and was fourth going into the long program. She managed to climb back up to third, but without Butyrskaya nipping at her heels, Slutskaya came away as National Champion rather easily.

Then, Butyrskaya got her revenge when she won the Japan Open, a pro-am competition, which was right after the Russian Nationals. She defeated Slutskaya because of her artistry and innovative choreography.

If Maria Butyrskaya can hold her nerves together, she can challenge for the European title (although she did lose to Slutskaya in both of their amateur face-offs). If Butyrskaya's nerves get to her, she could have another unfortunate performance like she did at Russian Nationals.

The reigning European bronze medalist, Viktoria Volchkova, will have to fight off the fourth place finisher last year, Vanessa Gusmerroli, to hold onto her spot. Both have a history of inconsistency, so it is basically a toss up between the two for third place.

Having won all but one competition this season, Slutskaya is on fire. Even though some of her wins have been controversial, she has managed to defeat Maria Butyrskaya twice. She does have wonderful jumps (although they can land heavily at times), fast and centered spins, and great speed across the ice. Slutskaya combines her technique with a sparkling presence on the ice, always smiling, always with her face to the audience. This, plus her confidence and competitive record this season, will give her a great advantage at Europeans.