Grand Prix men finals could be divided into two parts from the very beginning: Evgeni Plushchenko vs Alexey Yagudin and all the rest contending for the third place. This intense and beautiful fight was won by Yagudin. He won notwithstanding some minor technical mistakes. His presentation was the best. It is first time that Plushchenko loses the first place in official amateur championships since spring, 2000: there he was the fourth in the world championship, and the first place got Yagudin. |
Technically Plushchenko was better. Nevertheless, "Man in iron mask" - Yagudin excelled him in free program, while Plushchenko's one differed from the previous one only in music and resembled it greatly. |
The present world champion was the last to perform. After hearing the marks he calmly said "the second", and the camera showed his tears of happiness. |
Grand Prix finals. Kitchener, Canada |