DORTMUND, Germany, 28 March 2004 — Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov extended Russia’s dominance at the world championships with the ice dance title on a bad day for Michelle Kwan on Friday.
Navka and Kostomarov, the European champions, gave Russia their third gold medal after three events with a joyful display to a Pink Panther and Austin Powers medley that earned them a handful of perfect 6.0s for presentation. Russia’s traditional rivals, the United States, have only one chance left in final of the women’s free skating.
Kwan, who was dreaming of a sixth women’s title, virtually ruined her hopes by slipping to fourth after the short program.
Her American teammate Sasha Cohen was leading courtesy of top marks for a dazzling performance including four 6.0s for presentation. The 23-year-old Kwan, who had started her quest with a fall in qualifying in Wednesday, had a clean program but exceeded the time limit, an offence punished with a 0.1 deduction in each mark. The judges were advised by the timekeepers that Kwan had skated two minutes and 42 seconds, two seconds too long. Kwan, who received marks from 5.1 to 5.8 for required elements and 5.6 to 5.9 for presentation, promised to do her best the next day but gold is out of her reach.
The American team protested over the sanction and asked for a review of the timing of Kwan’s routine but were unlikely to obtain a revision of her marks.Navka and Kostomarov had no such worries, emulating compatriots Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, the pairs champions here, and Yevgeny Plushenko, who won the men’s title in style on Thursday. Bulgarians Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviyski came second in the ice dance competition and Kati Winkler and Rene Lohse thrilled the home fans with Germany’s second bronze medal of the competition after Stefan Lindemann’s in the men’s event.
Cohen, who came second to Kwan at the US nationals in January, now faces a challenge from the Japanese pair of Shizuka Arakawa and Miki Ando.
