From Kim Yu-na’s record-setting performance to Evan Lysacek’s powerful free skate, it was a great Saturday night at Lake Placid, N.Y., for world champions at Skate America.
A couple hours after South Korea’s Yu-na did just about everything to land a world-record 76.28 points in the women’s short program, Lysacek won his first crown at this event.
He was not nearly as brilliant as in his short program the previous night, but he didn’t need to be in besting Canada’s Shawn Sawyer. Lysacek hit seven triple jumps and finished with some fancy footwork and an impressive combination spin that got the crowd onto its feet.
His 237.72 points were nearly 29 better than Sawyer.
“This was a very big step forward since Cup of China,” Lysacek said, referring to finishing second to Japan’s Nobunari Oda in Beijing two weeks ago. “I had no technical deductions. I’ll work on my program at home and my concentration and strength for the Grand Prix final.”
His victory qualified him for that competition next month in Tokyo — and put Lysacek in a strong mindset for January’s nationals and that little event in Vancouver in February.
“I’m trying to do a clean program every time,” Kim said after blowing away the field, grabbing a 17.48-point lead over American Rachael Flatt. “It’s not about the score. I don’t want to think about the score.”
Two-time Olympic bronze medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China were winners in the pairs competition, another big step toward Vancouver in their comeback.
Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto stretched their lead in ice dance. The 2006 Olympic silver medalists and runners-up at last year’s world championships head into today’s free dance with nearly a 14-point lead over Russians Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski, who struggled in the original dance.
GOLF: Wie, Kerr share lead after 3rd round
Michelle Wie moved into position for her first LPGA Tour victory, shooting a 2-under 70 on Saturday in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational for a share of the third-round lead with Cristie Kerr.
Kerr had a 67 to match Wie at 10 under on the Guadalajara Country Club course.
Second-round leader Jiyai Shin (74) was a stroke back along with Paula Creamer (71) and first-round leader Song-Hee Kim (70). The top-ranked Ochoa (72) was six strokes behind at 4 under.
n George McNeill closed with a double-bogey and shared the lead with three others entering the final round of the Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. McNeill overcame a five-shot deficit and made two eagles on a cool day at Disney World that made greens fast but easy to reach. He shot a 3-under 69 that left him tied at 203 with Justin Leonard (71), Justin Rose (69) and Mathias Gronberg (66) after three rounds.
n Tiger Woods looked to be in control at the Australian Masters in Melbourne with a three-shot lead until stumbling to an even-par 72 in the third round to fall into a three-way tie with the Australian duo of Greg Chalmers and James Nitties.
Riesch edges Vonn in World Cup slalom
Maria Riesch of Germany won the opening women’s World Cup slalom Saturday at Levi, Finland, edging Lindsey Vonn of the United States by 0.08 seconds.
Riesch, the defending world slalom champion, finished with a two-run time of 1 minute, 48.71 seconds on the Black Course at the World Cup circuit’s northernmost venue above the Arctic Circle.
“I think I had a pretty solid first run, but in the second run I had some small mistakes,” Vonn said. “Maria definitely had a great run today and I’m happy that she won. I’m happy with my second place. It was a solid result for me.”
Phelps finishes fifth in 200 fly final
Michael Phelps finished fifth in the 200-meter butterfly Saturday at a short-course World Cup meet in Berlin that featured six world records.
Nikolay Skvortsov of Russia, who had the fastest qualifying time, won the final in 1:50.58. Phelps squeezed in as the eighth and last qualifier in the heats. He finished in 1:52.26.
Paul Biedermann bounced back from an injury to shatter the 400-meter freestyle world record. Biedermann won in 3:32.77 to slash nearly 2 seconds off the old mark of 3:34:58 set by Grant Hackett of Australia on July 18, 2002, in Sydney.
Shiho Sakai of Japan broke the women’s 200 backstroke by finishing in 2:00.18. Also, Steffen Deibler improved his own 50 butterfly mark to 21.80; Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa improved the 50 breaststroke record to 25.25; and Leisel Jones of Australia broke her own 100 breaststroke mark with a time of 1:03.30.
Djokovic, Monfils in Paris Master final
Novak Djokovic overpowered Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-3 Saturday to reach the Paris Masters final for the first time.
The Serb will face Gael Monfils of France today. He advanced to the final with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over Radek Stepanek.
“He is one of the players who is very unpredictable,” Djokovic said. “He can play really, really fast. And with a big serve, he can do a lot of damage to opponents.”
Henderson fourth at NWAACC meet
Clark College’s Brittany Henderson placed fourth Saturday at the Northwest Association of Community Colleges cross country championships Saturday at Lewisville Park at Battle Ground.
Henderson, a Prairie High grad, came in with a time of 18 minutes, 58 seconds.
No other Clark individual results were reported.
The race was won by Shawn Schooley of Everett in 18:23, the third-fastest in NWAACC history and fastest for an NWAACC championship meet.
Everett also won the team title with 23 points. Clark was fifth with 133.
Spokane won the men’s team title with 24 points, with Clark placing fifth with 131.
Cesar Perez of Lane won the men’s individual title with a time of 25:25. No Clark runner was among the top 10 and the team’s individual results were not reported.
Winterhawks edge Kelowna, 3-2
The Portland Winterhawks overcame an early two-goal deficit and scored the game’s final three goals to earn a 3-2 Western Hockey League victory over the visiting Kelowna Rockets on Saturday night at the Memorial Coliseum.
Offense was tough to come by in the second period, but late in the frame Portland’s Luke Walker goal evened the game at 2-2.
Early in the third, Ty Rattie carried the puck into the Kelowna zone on a two-on-one with Riley Boychuk. Rattie slid the puck to his left and found Boychuk, who scored what proved to be the game-winner.
