Kwan, Eldredge Chasing Redemption

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Michelle Kwan and Todd Eldredge arrived here as scheduled to begin qualifying for the 1997 World Figure Skating Championships but both ran into snags at the accreditation table.

The trouble was with the official designation.

Reigning world champions?

Or yesterday’s news?

Kwan and Eldredge are here ostensibly to defend the individual world titles they won in Edmonton, Canada, last year, yet neither currently ranks as the talk of the American traveling party.

Kwan, for reasons attributed to nerves, growth or both, has had trouble staying on her feet in major competition lately, and her U.S. title and once considerable thunder have been stolen away by Tara Lipinski, a tiny 14-year-old gymnast who does her twisting and tumbling on blades.

Eldredge won his fourth consecutive U.S. championship last month in Nashville, but he was uninspiring and overshadowed by Michael Weiss, who nearly became the first American to cleanly land a quadruple jump.

The quad has become the rage of men’s figure skating and the top three challengers here--Elvis Stojko of Canada, Ilia Kulik and Alexei Urmanov of Russia--all feature it. Eldredge says he has done the maneuver in practice but not lately because of a sprained ankle.

So if a quad is required to keep pace with the high-jumping Europeans, the lone American hope could be Weiss, who tried the quad in Nashville but failed, barely, to land the jump on one foot.

Eldredge, with his right ankle tightly wrapped, is hoping that this competition won’t be decided on a single jump.

“I don’t think [the quad] is a must,” he said. “I don’t think you have to do it. If you do it, maybe it’ll give you an extra 10th [of a point] on your technical score. The competition is not just technical scores--it’s artistic too.”

Sunday, without a quad, Eldredge placed first in his qualifying group, edging out Stojko. Weiss finished fourth in the other group, behind Urmanov, Kulik and Eric Millot of France--but well ahead of fellow American Dan Hollander, who struggled to place 18th and failed to qualify.

In women’s qualifying on Monday, Americans swept both groups. Kwan, skating safely but cleanly, without a fall, won in Group A, and Lipinski and Nicole Bobek placed 1-2 in Group B.

Kwan hit five triple-jumps in her program but missed three others. Still, after falling twice at the nationals and once at the Champions Series Final in Hamilton, Canada, she was happy to complete a skate without sitting down on the job.

“I’m here to skate well and learn my lessons from other competitions,” she said.

Alluding to her recent troubles Kwan said: “I don’t know if it’s [because of] the changes of the body. I’m trying to adjust to what I am. . . . It’s all about confidence. Now, I’m trying to grab and hold it.”

Competition begins today with ice dancing compulsories and the pairs short program. The United States has two dance teams entered--Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow of Pontiac, Mich., and Eve Chalom and Mathew Gates of Beverly Hills, Mich.

The U.S. pairs team of Jenni and Todd Sand won World Championship bronze medals in 1995 and 1996 but lost the American championship last month to Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen. Also competing in pairs for the United States are Stephanie Steigler of Manhattan Beach and John Zimmerman of Birmingham, Ala.

Men’s short and long programs will be held Wednesday and Thursday, followed by women’s short and long programs Friday and Saturday.

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World Figure Skating Championships

Schedule for the World Figure Skating Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland:

* TODAY--Compulsory dances; pairs short program.

* WEDNESDAY--Men’s short program; pairs free skate (long program); pairs medals awarded.

* THURSDAY--Original dance; men’s free skate (long program); men’s medals awarded.

* FRIDAY--Women’s short program; dance free skate (long program); dance medals awarded.

* SATURDAY--Women’s free skate (long program); women’s medals awarded.