DORTMUND, Germany, 24 March 2004 — Yevgeny Plushenko opened the defense of his title with sparkling free skating in men’s qualifying at the world championships on Monday.
The other favorites in action on the first day of the Dortmund festival, holders Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, suffered in the first part of the pairs competition, the short program.
The Chinese couple had to be content with fourth place after Zhao fell on a triple toeloop and now face a struggle to catch the leaders, Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia.
Totmianina and Marinin, the European champions, impressed the judges with a fluent performance, earning great marks including a perfect 6.0 for presentation.
Shen and Zhao collected marks ranging from 5.1 to 5.6 for the requested elements, a bitter disappointment for a pair who had received four 6.0s while winning the title last year in Washington. Plushenko had no such worries and suggested he could recover from his shock defeat by France’s Brian Joubert at the European championships last month in Budapest. The elegant Russian earned marks from 5.8 to 5.9 for both presentation and technical merit to comfortably top his group.
Skating to an orchestral piece composed for St. Petersburg’s 300th anniversary last year, the 21-year-old delighted the few fans who had bothered to turn up with a near-flawless display.
Plushenko, who has struggled with knee problems and faces surgery at the end of the season, mastered most technical difficulties in his program and added some dazzling footwork and a touch of grace.
Gifted Canadian Emanuel Sandhu, who upset Plushenko to win the grand prix final, confirmed he would be a threat to the Russian by topping the other qualifying group. Sandhu, who has a reputation as an inconsistent performer, started in poor fashion by stumbling on a triple axel but made amends by finishing with two fine triple-triple combinations.
Joubert, who offered France their first continental title in 40 years by beating Plushenko into second place in Budapest, convinced some judges but not all, earning marks from 5.1 to 5.8 to take second place in Sandhu’s group.
