Their Story
Page 3
Following the 1998 Olympic season, the two pairs that had challenged Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze the most, Kazakova/Dmitriev of Russia and Wötzel/Steuer of Germany, both retired from Olympic-eligible competition. Elena and Anton were left alone at the top of the pairs skating world and were expected to win every competition they entered. In addition to the pressure of these expectations, they were also training in a new country. Throughout the fall of 1998, Elena and Anton called the Stamford Twin Rinks in Connecticut home. Anton seemed happy with the move, "We have great condition in the United States and you know it's really easy for training and you know, I like the United States. I like the people around me in the United States and everybody happy and everybody try to help us and we're so happy skating there."
Changes were made to pairs skating requirements as well. The International Skating Union added a required throw jump to the short program, an element which Anton readily accepted but Elena was a little apprehensive about. "All girls don't like it, for girls it's so hard," she said and preferred that a footwork sequence be added instead. Still, she easily landed the throw jump during the debut of their new Happy Valley short program at the first competition of the season, Skate America. They also performed their new long program skated to Reinhold Gliere's Concerto for Coloratura for the first time. This performances wasn't quite as steady but B&S easily won the event.
Following a win at the Masters of Figure Stating, one of the ISU's new open competitions for professional skaters and the Olympic-eligibles, Elena and Anton returned to the Grand Prix circuit to compete at the Cup of Russia in Moscow in late November. They easily won the short program, but the free skate wasn't as successful. Their skating was sloppy and became out of synchronization as the routine progressed. Although they won, this would be the first of three competitions held in Russia during the season at which Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze would not perform up to their capabilities. Anton reasoned their poor showing by saying, "We did not have much time for practice and training. We will work hard now and hope to skate better the next time."
With wins at their two assigned Grand Prix events and a guarantee to compete in the Grand Prix Final (formerly the Champions Series Final), Elena and Anton competed at the NHK Trophy in Japan just one week after the Cup of Russia. Perhaps feeling less pressure, they performed two near-flawless routines and easily won the competition, earning straight first place ordinals from all the judges in both the short and long programs. The two other pairs standing beside them on the podium would soon become their chief rivals: China's Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, and Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada.
Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze began the year 1999 with another sub-par performance in Russia. Although they won their first National Championship, their routines were far from being flawless. Anton fell on the triple toe loop in the short program while Elena made errors on two jumps in the long program. Then, just as they had the previous month after an off performance at the Cup of Russia, the pair won the Japan Open a week after the Nationals with much stronger performances.
In late January, Elena and Anton arrived in Prague, Czech Republic for the European Championships and the first of their three major titles they would defend from the previous season and attempt to retain. Their short program was magnificent, nearly flawless, and finally achieved the magic fans had fallen in love with during the previous season. While they had received one perfect 6.0 in the short program at Europeans the previous year, no such mark appeared in 1999. Anton reasoned, "We didn't expect a 6.0 for our short program. We are going into a new direction and have a new style." They were still easily placed first by all nine judges. Yet, just as they reached another high, a low moment was quick to come. Elena came down with the flu before the free skate and the pair was forced to withdraw from the event.
After over a month-long break from competition, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze traveled back home to St. Petersburg to compete at the Grand Prix Final in early March. Again, they attempted to defend another title, but they would not be triumphant. Mistakes in the short program placed them second and a more disastrous free skate sealed a silver medal, second to Shen and Zhao. For the first time since the Nagano over one year earlier, Elena and Anton did not win the gold medal at a competition they completed. Tamara Moskvina described the past two months with the withdrawal from Europeans ad extremely poor performances at the Grand Prix Final as the "darkest moment" of their skating life.
For the next three weeks, Elena and Anton remained in St. Petersburg to prepare for the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland instead of returning to their training base in Connecticut. For the first time all year, they were not the overwhelming favorites in a competition. Few knew what to expect when the reigning World Champions showed up in Helsinki. They were able to silence many skeptics with a flawless short program that easily put them into the lead. However, with two exceptions, they had skated near-flawless short programs all season. The free skate would be the real test.
The World Championship long program was technically not the cleanest of the season, but emotionally and artistically, Elena and Anton proved why they were the reigning World Champions. Aside from a fall by Elena on a double axel, the easiest jump in their routine, their presentation and technique on the remaining elements were better than they had delivered all season. They performed as a unified pair with emotion and feeling. They did not win the competition unanimously (two judges opted for the clean performance by Shen and Zhao), nor did they seem win most of the audience, but Elena and Anton presented true pairs skating to finally succeed in retaining their first title of the season.
"In pair skating, judges and spectators must really see two people as a real pair, skating as one unit with excellent unison. This feeling of 'oneness' may be the border between good and great pairs," assistant referee Alexander Lakernik stated in response to the somewhat controversial gold medal.
In International Figure Skating's report on the event, Lois Elfman wrote, "Regarding the judging of the pair event at Worlds, it was a question for the judges whom to prefer: A unique pair with perfect body lines and unison, Berezhnaya-Sikharulidze, which still made one serious mistake, or technically a very strong pair with no mistakes, Shen-Zhao, which certainly improved a lot in presentation but still create it mainly with the help of the elements?"
Though the win was somewhat controversial, Elena and Anton's defenders
were plenty and the pair became the first repeat World Champions since 1991
and 1992 champions Natalia Mishkutionok and Artur Dmitriev won their second
gold medal seven years earlier.
The past two skating seasons unfolded quite differently for Berezhnaya and
Sikharulidze. But, by the end of both, they proved they were the best pair
team in the world.
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