Nice, FRANCE - 2000 World Figure Skating Championships, Pairs' Free Skate - Commentators were Terry Gannon, Dick Button and Peggy Fleming. All the drama seemed to have been from the Pairs' Event. Aside from the disqualification of Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikharulidze (RUS) due to Elena having tested positive for a banned substance (from cough medication prescribed to her by a local doctor in Hackensack, NJ, where they train) at Europeans a month ago, and the slashing of Stephane Bernadis of France by an assailant who knocked on Stephane's hotel room door the day before. The last major incident here was the worst fall that took place during a competition by Ukraine's Yulia Obertas & Dmitri Palamarchuk. During an overhead lift, he caught the back heel of his left skate in a rut and fell backwards with Yulia landing on his head and chest, causing Dmitri to slam the back of his head on the ice. He suffered a concussion and was probably unconscious for a few seconds. It took a couple more minutes before he can move. The first aid team seemed to be ill-prepared to handle such an accident and helped Dmitri walk off the ice to the Kiss & Cry area. The pair would end their partnership after this season. For the full clip of their fall and the minutes thereafter: [ Ссылка ]
Kristy Wirtz & Kris Wirtz (CAN) skated after Obertas & Palamarchuk, but they weren't able to skate well due to the shock they experienced witnessing the accident while they were warming by the Kiss & Cry area. They were given a few extra minutes to prepare for the start of their program, but Kris was way too shaken to focus properly.
SKATING ORDER:
Piece on the Accident Suffered by Yulia Obertas / Dmitri Palmarchuk (UKR) 1:52
Tiffany Scott / Phillip Dulebohn (USA) 3:03
Kyoko Ina / John Zimmerman (USA) 10:45
Sarah Abitbol / Stéphane Bernadis (FRA) 21:32
Interview with Tamara Moskvina, Coach of Berezhnaya / Sikharulidze (RUS) 30:00
Maria Petrova / Alexei Tikhonov (RUS) 31:22
The Development of Chinese Figure Skating 39:29
Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo (CHN) 42:50
Jamie Salé / David Pelletier (CAN) 50:43
Interview with Sarah Abitbol / Stéphane Bernadis (FRA) 58:03
RESULTS:
Rank Name Nation TFP SP FS
1 Maria Petrova / Alexei Tikhonov Russia 2.0 2 1
2 Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo China 2.5 1 2
3 Sarah Abitbol / Stéphane Bernadis France 5.0 4 3
4 Jamie Salé / David Pelletier Canada 5.5 3 4
5 Dorota Zagórska / Mariusz Siudek Poland 8.5 7 5
6 Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin Russia 10.0 8 6
7 Kyoko Ina / John Zimmerman United States 10.0 6 7
8 Peggy Schwarz / Mirko Müller Germany 11.5 5 9
9 Tiffany Scott / Phillip Dulebohn United States 12.5 9 8
10 Kristy Sargeant / Kris Wirtz Canada 15.5 11 10
11 Mariana Kautz / Norman Jeschke Germany 18.0 12 12
12 Marina Khalturina / Valeri Artyuchov Kazakhstan 19.0 16 11
13 Kateřina Beránková / Otto Dlabola Czech Republic 19.5 13 13
14 Inga Rodionova / Andrei Krukov Azerbaijan 21.0 14 14
15 Pang Qing / Tong Jian China 22.5 15 15
16 Evgenia Filonenko / Alexander Chestnikh Georgia 25.0 18 16
17 Viktoria Shklover / Valdis Mintals Estonia 25.5 17 17
18 Oľga Beständigová / Jozef Beständig Slovakia 27.5 19 18
19 Ekaterina Danko / Gennadi Emelienenko Belarus 29.0 20 19
WD Julia Obertas / Dmitri Palamarchuk Ukraine DNF 10
Free skating not reached
21 Catherine Huc / Vivien Rolland France 21
22 Tatjana Zaharjeva / Jurijs Salmanovs Latvia 22
JUDGING PANEL:
Referee:
Alexander Lakernik
Assistant Referee:
Rita Zonnekeyn
Judges:
Marina Sanaya Russia
Evgenia Bogdanova Azerbaijan
Marie Reine Le Gougne France
Joseph L. Inman United States
Susan Blatz Canada
Alexei Shirshov Belarus
Anna Sierocka Poland
Adriana Domanska Slovakia
Jarmila Portova Czech Republic
Substitute judge:
Jiasheng Yang China
