Lipinski becomes youngest Olympic figure skating champ

February 20, 1998

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Lipinski becomes youngest Olympic figure skating champ

Tara Lipinski

(White-Ring, Nagano City)
19:00- Start

Reigning world champion Tara Lipinski regained the edge over fellow American teenage figure skater Michelle Kwan on Friday with a spectacular come-from-behind victory for the gold medal at the Nagano Olympics.

Lipinski became the youngest-ever women's Olympic champion at 15 years and eight months -- two months younger than Sonja Henie of Norway when she won the women's title at the 1928 Winter Games in St. Moritz.

The Philadelphia native, in second place behind Kwan after Wednesday's short program, used all 35 kilograms of her tiny frame right down to the tips of her fingers and toes to pull off an expressive, emotional program featuring her original triple loop-triple loop combination jump.

Kwan, the 1996 world titlist, was again relegated to a silver medal finish by Lipinski, just as she was at the world championships last March, despite a near flawless performance at the White Ring ice rink that earned 5.9s from all nine judges for presentation.

Former world champion Chen Lu of China, also the bronze medalist at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, who sat out most of last season due to an injury-induced slump, had some minor landing problems but pulled through for a second consecutive bronze.

European champion Maria Butyrskaya of Russia, who started from third in the short program, dropped to fourth place, followed by compatriot Irina Slutskaya, the world bronze medalist in 1996.

France's Surya Bonaly, following a fall and several awkward landings, capped her program with her trademark back flip -- a move that is not allowed in competition but one that she frequently performs in exhibition -- to tumble to 10th place.

Shizuka Arakawa of Japan omitted her planned opening triple lutz-triple toe loop combination jump and took a spill in the last jump of her 4-minute program but still stepped up a notch to finish in 13th place.

''I'm disappointed that I couldn't give everything I have. I made many mistakes in the jumps and ran out of steam toward the end,'' said Arakawa, who was able to land only three triple jumps.

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, who earlier in the day visited the ski resort of Hakuba to watch the Nordic combined team event, arrived at the ice arena in southern Nagano just in time for Arakawa's performance.

An exhibition by the top four finishers of the men's and women's singles, pairs and ice dancing contests will be held Saturday, the penultimate day of the 16-day winter Olympics. (Kyodo News)

Final results of the figure skating women's singles after the free program Friday in the 18th Olympic Winter Games at White Ring, Nagano:

1. Tara Lipinski, U.S. 2.0 points (short program 1.0, free 1.0)

2. Michelle Kwan, U.S. 2.5 (0.5, 2.0)

3. Chen Lu, China 5.0 (2.0, 3.0)

4. Maria Butyrskaya, Russia 5.5 (1.5, 4.0)

5. Irina Slutskaya, Russia 7.5 (2.5, 5.0)

6. Vanessa Gusmeroli, France 10.0 (4.0, 6.0)

7. Elena Sokolova, Russia 12.0 (5.0, 7.0)

8. Tatyana Malinina, Uzbekistan 12.5 (4.5, 8.0)

9. Elena Liashenko, Ukraine 13.5 (3.5, 10.0)

10. Surya Bonaly, France 14.0 (3.0, 11.0)

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13. Shizuka Arakawa, Japan 21.0 (7.0, 14.0)

16. Yulia Vorobieva, Azerbaijan 25.0 (9.0, 16.0)

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