MOSCOW, 20 March 2005 — Local favorite Irina Slutskaya of Russia won the women’s gold medal at the world championships yesterday after a near-perfect free skate.

Slutskaya’s accurate jumps and flowing movements earned her a personal best from the judges and with a final score of 222.71 she finished a comfortable eight points clear of her nearest rival.

“I’m really overwhelmed, my hands are still shaking and tears are still running down my cheeks,” Slutskaya told reporters.

“It will be the most precious (medal) in my collection — you can hardly find an athlete here who has suffered and withstood so much,” she added, referring to the last couple of years in which she has been plagued by injury and illness.

Last year’s silver medalist, US skater Sasha Cohen, secured another silver despite a couple of stumbles during her artistic routine to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.

“I feel like I could have skated a little bit better,” said Cohen. “It would have been nice to move up to gold this year after silver last year.”

A delicate performance gave a delighted Carolina Kostner of Italy the bronze.

“I will never forget the feeling I felt when I was standing on the ice,” said the Italian.

Kostner’s skate ensured five-time world champion Michelle Kwan would not be appearing on the podium.

Kwan, whose performances this week have been lackluster, fell during her routine to Ravel’s Bolero and although she still made up some ground on her earlier efforts she still finished only fourth.

“You cannot always be perfect,” said Kwan. “I guess the only thing I can do is go home and work harder.”

Greeted on to the ice as though she had already won the title, Slutskaya looked relaxed and made her complex jumps look easy, even adding an extra loop for good measure.

Her Wonderland and Whisper from the Mirror music was barely audible by the end of her performance over the audience’s clapping and cheering. Flags waved and what looked like the entire contents of a soft toy and flower shop rained onto the ice in celebration. Luckily, Slutskaya loves toys and she promised to put them to good use.

“When I have some time I will donate some to an orphanage,” she said.

Slutskaya had said earlier in the week that she was feeling the pressure of being the home favorite but her slick movements belied any tension she may have been feeling.

Watched by former International Olympic Committee chief, Juan Antonio Samaranch, Slutskaya’s performance nailed a third gold medal for Russians this week.

Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov won the ice dance gold on Friday, while Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin were victorious in the pairs.

Russian hopes of a clean sweep of all four titles were dashed when a groin injury forced Yevgeny Plushenko to withdraw from the men’s competition.