Russia's Evgeni Plushenko won his second World Figure Skating Championships title on Thursday, sweeping the judges to edge American Tim Goebel.
Japan's Takeshi Honda was third, repeating his standing of a year ago, as did Goebel.
PHOTO: AFP
Plushenko has chased countryman Alexei Yagudin since the 1998 Olympics, almost always losing out in the major events. Only in 2001, when Yagudin was skating injured, did Plushenko beat him at the world championships.
But Olympic champion Yagudin, who was in the stands at the MCI Center, is not competing this season because of a hip problem. Plushenko seized the opportunity, hitting two quadruple jumps and six triples -- he did a quad-triple-double combination as an opener.
``I'm not missing Yagudin,'' Plushenko said. ``He's a great guy also. He is a good skater and if he comes back, I'll skate with him. Why not?''
Not that Plushenko thinks he isn't being pushed by American Tim Goebel and Japan's Takeshi Honda. For the second straight year, they finished two-three.
``C'mon guys, look at this,'' he said, pointing to Goebel and Honda. ``There's two guys, Tim Goebel and Takeshi Honda, they skate today awesome. They did two quads. They were great.''
Plushenko's achievement was made all the greater by the fact he performed with a sore left knee, although he didn't take a pain-killing injection as he predicted he might.
``It's nicer to win the second time,'' he said. ``There was a lot of pressure. Tim skated very well, he made two quads.
``It was hard. I am very tired right now.''
But he also under-rotated a triple flip and had some shaky landings. His surpassing artistry, however, made a huge difference, and he received nothing but 5.9s for presentation.
Goebel stuck with his An American in Paris routine that won him bronze at the Olympics and silver at worlds last year. The program fits him so snugly now that if he never abandoned it, that would be understandable.
He hit two quads, one in combination, two triple axels and seven triples in all. Goebel lingered longer than usual before leaving the ice, waving a pair of beanie babies to the crowd as he departed.
``It's been such a hard year for me,'' he said. ``Last year, I had so much success, and this year started off injured and then I had a disastrous nationals.''
His marks ranged from 5.7 to 5.8, and Goebel was thrilled with another silver to conclude a distressing year marked by injury and a flop in the free skate at nationals that dropped him behind Michael Weiss.
Honda, skating first in the final group, had a sensational flash of footwork to finish off his routine to Riverdance.'' But he also stepped out of a quad toe loop that would have led off a combination jump, and several spins were short.
The Japanese star stood shaking his head when his music was over, and his marks of 5.4 through 5.8 reflected those errors.
Still, he was third again.
Earlier, Russia's Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh, the defending champions, edged Canada's Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz, in the original dance.
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