Irina Slutskaya

Breathing heavily and weakened by a heart ailment, Irina Slutskaya delivered an impassioned and athletic performance before a home crowd Friday to take the lead after the short program at the figure skating world championships. She was narrowly ahead of Sasha Cohen. Michelle Kwan stayed within reach of winning her sixth world title after rallying to fifth place following a disappointing qualifying round.

A woman amid a sea of little girls, Irina Slutskaya skated calmly around the ice at the Palavela on Monday, practicing one of the routines that could launch her into figure skating history. No female Russian singles skater has won an Olympic gold medal, but the 27-year-old Muscovite is poised to change that, starting today, when she performs her short program. With longtime rival Michelle Kwan knocked out of the competition by an injury, this is Slutskaya's moment.

This was not the same Irina Slutskaya who beat Michelle Kwan twice this season. The Russian champion needed three attempts to hit a routine triple lutz and she skipped her signature triple-triple combination. Still, she hit five strong triple jumps, skating with diligence Saturday to win her fourth European figure skating title. The Russians swept the women's competition, though not with the level of excellence that typifies the country's skating.

Being a slacker seemed mighty tempting to Irina Slutskaya back in 2002. The Russian skater had won the silver medal at the Salt Lake City Olympics, then followed a month later with her first title at the world championships. She'd been training and competing for most of her 23 years and, quite frankly, was getting a little weary of it. "After I was second in the Olympics and won the worlds, I used to think, 'Do I need to skate more? Do I need to work hard? Because I'm just tired,' " she said.

Russia's Irina Slutskaya landed six triple jumps in the women's free skate competition to beat American Michelle Kwan in Skate Canada International on Saturday night at Mississauga, Canada. Slutskaya, who skated last, entered the free skate in first place. But when she fell in the first minute of her four-minute routine, she had to recover quickly to maintain her position in the standings.

At the risk of being drowned out by 15,600 cheers, pelted by dozens of floral arrangements, suffocated with a flag and knocked cold by a teddy bear, I offer these two thoughts. Michelle Kwan doesn't deserve to be in first place today. If her approach doesn't change, she might not deserve the Olympic gold medal on Thursday. She could get punked by Sasha Cohen, just as she was punked four years ago by Tara Lipinski in Nagano. She could get flattened by Irina Slutskaya, who has covered her in ice chips three times in three big events this season.

Her embrace of the English language strengthens every day, but Irina Slutskaya couldn't find the words to express her appreciation of her husband of two years. Sergei Mikheev teaches sports to elementary school kids in Moscow and stays home while his wife travels and trains and evolves into one of the most technically skilled figure skaters in the world.

Buy stock in asterisks. Every record book that includes figure skating results in the future is going to be filled with them. Peggy Fleming's gold medal in 1968? Dorothy Hamill's gold medal in 1976? The Torvill & Dean gold medal in 1984? Brian Boitano's gold medal in 1988? The pairs gold medal in Salt Lake City? . The gold medal about to be won here in women's figure skating by Michelle Kwan, Irina Slutskaya, Sasha Cohen or someone else? Yes, still another . I'm not saying that skaters winning medals in the last 120 years--the first figure skating competition on record occurred in 1882--didn't deserve them.

Russia's Irina Slutskaya, who became the first woman to land a triple-triple-double combination jump at last year's world figure skating championships and barely missed pulling that feat off twice, might try something even tougher this week in the women's competition. Practicing at the Salt Lake Ice Center Sunday for the first time, Slutskaya toyed with a triple salchow-triple loop-half loop-triple salchow combination.

Irina Slutskaya was hesitant in her still-developing free program but assured enough to win the Cup of Russia Grand Prix on Saturday at St. Petersburg as Russians dominated. Yevgeny Plushchenko failed to complete a new quad lutz and fell on a quad toe loop, yet still won the men's competition, while Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the pairs by performing an old free program with precision and verve. Slutskaya's presentation earned her scores of 5.8 and 5.

Breathing heavily and weakened by a heart ailment, Irina Slutskaya delivered an impassioned and athletic performance before a home crowd Friday to take the lead after the short program at the figure skating world championships. She was narrowly ahead of Sasha Cohen. Michelle Kwan stayed within reach of winning her sixth world title after rallying to fifth place following a disappointing qualifying round.

Michelle Kwan won't forget the first time she met Irina Slutskaya, at the 1994 world junior figure skating championships in Colorado Springs. "I remember her outfit," Kwan said, laughing. "It was like a tutu. It stuck out a little more than just a skating skirt, more like a ballerina's skirt. And she used to kiss a stuffed animal and set it on the ice when she skated. I was thinking, 'Who is she?' "Then I saw her jump. And I was thinking, 'Who is she?' " Slutskaya's recollection is different.

At the risk of being drowned out by 15,600 cheers, pelted by dozens of floral arrangements, suffocated with a flag and knocked cold by a teddy bear, I offer these two thoughts. Michelle Kwan doesn't deserve to be in first place today. If her approach doesn't change, she might not deserve the Olympic gold medal on Thursday. She could get punked by Sasha Cohen, just as she was punked four years ago by Tara Lipinski in Nagano. She could get flattened by Irina Slutskaya, who has covered her in ice chips three times in three big events this season.

Buy stock in asterisks. Every record book that includes figure skating results in the future is going to be filled with them. Peggy Fleming's gold medal in 1968? Dorothy Hamill's gold medal in 1976? The Torvill & Dean gold medal in 1984? Brian Boitano's gold medal in 1988? The pairs gold medal in Salt Lake City? . The gold medal about to be won here in women's figure skating by Michelle Kwan, Irina Slutskaya, Sasha Cohen or someone else? Yes, still another . I'm not saying that skaters winning medals in the last 120 years--the first figure skating competition on record occurred in 1882--didn't deserve them.

Russia's Irina Slutskaya, who became the first woman to land a triple-triple-double combination jump at last year's world figure skating championships and barely missed pulling that feat off twice, might try something even tougher this week in the women's competition. Practicing at the Salt Lake Ice Center Sunday for the first time, Slutskaya toyed with a triple salchow-triple loop-half loop-triple salchow combination.

Irina Slutskaya was hesitant in her still-developing free program but assured enough to win the Cup of Russia Grand Prix on Saturday at St. Petersburg as Russians dominated. Yevgeny Plushchenko failed to complete a new quad lutz and fell on a quad toe loop, yet still won the men's competition, while Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the pairs by performing an old free program with precision and verve. Slutskaya's presentation earned her scores of 5.8 and 5.

Michelle Kwan won't forget the first time she met Irina Slutskaya, at the 1994 world junior figure skating championships in Colorado Springs. "I remember her outfit," Kwan said, laughing. "It was like a tutu. It stuck out a little more than just a skating skirt, more like a ballerina's skirt. And she used to kiss a stuffed animal and set it on the ice when she skated. I was thinking, 'Who is she?' "Then I saw her jump. And I was thinking, 'Who is she?' " Slutskaya's recollection is different.

A woman amid a sea of little girls, Irina Slutskaya skated calmly around the ice at the Palavela on Monday, practicing one of the routines that could launch her into figure skating history. No female Russian singles skater has won an Olympic gold medal, but the 27-year-old Muscovite is poised to change that, starting today, when she performs her short program. With longtime rival Michelle Kwan knocked out of the competition by an injury, this is Slutskaya's moment.

Her embrace of the English language strengthens every day, but Irina Slutskaya couldn't find the words to express her appreciation of her husband of two years. Sergei Mikheev teaches sports to elementary school kids in Moscow and stays home while his wife travels and trains and evolves into one of the most technically skilled figure skaters in the world.

This was not the same Irina Slutskaya who beat Michelle Kwan twice this season. The Russian champion needed three attempts to hit a routine triple lutz and she skipped her signature triple-triple combination. Still, she hit five strong triple jumps, skating with diligence Saturday to win her fourth European figure skating title. The Russians swept the women's competition, though not with the level of excellence that typifies the country's skating.