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PARIS, Nov 17: Russia’s former world champions Alexei Yagudin and Maria Butyrskaya held the lead in their respective individual short programs on Friday at the Lalique Trophy, which is part of the Grand Prix series.
Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze led the pairs, while former world champions Marina Anissina — once of Russia — and Gwendal Peizerat of France led the ice dance.
All the final free programs are Saturday.
Yagudin, who won the men’s world championships between 1998 and 2000, had an inventive program displaying the varying facets of winter, with music by a women’s instrumentalist group.
He hopes to win the gold medal at the Salt Lake City Olympics next February.
His opening quadruple-triple toe loop combination was good but then he faltered slightly on a triple lutz, losing his balance and being forced to put his hand down.
Friday’s results:
Men’s event standings after short program
1. Alexei Yagudin (Russia) 0.5 points; 2. Todd Eldredge (U.S.) 1.0; 3. Andrejs Vlascenko (Germany) 1.5; 4. Zhang Min (China) 2.0; 5. Johnny Weir (U.S.) 2.5; 6. Emmanuel Sandhu (Canada) 3.0; 7. Stephane Lambiel (Switzerland) 3.5; 8. Vincent Restencourt (France) 4.0; 9. Li Yunfei (China) 4.5; 10. Yamato Tamura (Japan) 5.0; 11. Frederic Dambier (France) 5.5; 12. Sergei Rylov (Azerbaijan) 6.0;
Women’s event standings after short program
1. Maria Butyrskaya (Russia) 0.5 points; 2. Victoria Volchkova (Russia) 1.0; 3. Sasha Cohen (U.S.) 1.5; 4. Sarah Hughes (U.S.) 2.0; 5. Laetitia Hubert (France) 2.5; 6. Silvia Fontana (Italy) 3.0; 7. Vanessa Gusmeroili (France) 3.5; 8. Anne-Sophie Calvez (France) 4.0; 9. Shizuka Arakawa (Japan) 4.5; 10. Aalisa Drei (Finland) 5.0; 11. Nicole Watt (Canada) 5.5;
Pair’s event standings after short program
1. Elena Berzhnaya/ Anton Sikharulidaze (Russia) 0.5 points; 2. Kyoko Ina/John Zimmerman (U.S.) 1.0; 3. Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin (Russia) 1.5; 4. Sarah Abitbol/Stephane Bernadis (France) 2.0; 5. Dorota Zagorska/Marius Siudek (Poland) 2.5; 6. Jacinthe Larviere/Lednny Faustino (Canada) 3.0; 7. Yuko Kawaguchi/Alexander Markuntsov (Japan) 3.5; 8. Marie-Pierre Leray/Nicholas Osseland (France) 4.0.—Reuters
