Irina Slutskaya
| Most Recent Results: | | Event | Points | Finish | Year |
| Olympic Winter Games | 181.44 | Bronze | 2006 |
| European Championships | 193.24 | Gold | 2006 |
| Grand Prix Finals | 181.48 | Silver | 2005-06 |
| World Championships | 222.71 | Gold | 2005 |
| National Championships | - | Gold | 2005 |
Irina Slutskaya (
ru:
Ирина Слуцкая), born
February 9,
1979 in
Moscow,
Russia is a Russian
figure skater. She is a two-time
World Champion, seven-time
European Champion, and two-time Olympic medalist. Slutskaya is known for her athletic ability and technical difficulty on the ice. She is one of the few skaters to do the double
Biellman position in her
combination spin.
Slutskaya started skating at the age of four and has been coached by
Zhanna Gromova since she was six. In her career, she has won a total of 40 gold medals, 21 silver medals and 18 bronze medals.
In 1996, Slutskaya became the first Russian woman to win the European title. She also won the title in 1997. She finished third at the 1996 World Championships and fourth in 1997, although she landed a
triple salchow-
triple loop combination and landed six triples in total during her free skate, many believed the reason why she finished 2nd was because Kwan also skated a perfect program but had 7 (one more than Slutskaya) triples (had a triple-triple combination too). Although Slutskaya may have edged Kwan ever so slightly in the technical merit portion, Kwan was a clear winner in the artistry section. Slutskaya lost by a 2-7 split.
At the
1998 Winter Olympics, she finished fifth in a very close free skate fight for the bronze. Maria Butyrskaya, Lu Chen, and Irina were all 3rd, 4th, 5th respectively after the short program. Although these 3 skaters each made 1 mistake, Chen and Butyrskaya's were step outs while Irina had a fall. Lu Chen ended up edging Butyrksaya 5-4 for the bronze. Chen also edged Slutskaya 6-3.The next month she took a silver medal at the 1998 World Championships. The 1998-1999 season was not a good season for her. She didn't win any competitions that season and missed both the European and the World Championships. She almost decided to stop skating and call it a career.
However, Slutskaya made a successful come back at the 1999
Grand Prix Final. She landed seven clean triples, including two triple-triple combinations and became the first woman to do a
triple lutz-triple loop combination. She later won her third European title and won a silver medal at the 2000 World Championships.
At the 2001 World Championships, she became the first woman to land a
triple salchow-triple loop-double toe loop combination and won the silver medal and lost very narrowly to Kwan who also skated a brilliant program, but in the end the artistry marks were the tiebreak and no one has the level of grace that Kwan had.
Slutskaya won silver at the
2002 Winter Olympics and became the second Russian ever to win a medal in the women's event. The competition had been billed in advance as a head-to-head battle between Slutskaya and
American Michelle Kwan. Unexpectedly, Kwan made mistakes in her free skate, but still led American
Sarah Hughes in the overall standings. Slutskaya had to win the free skate in order to win gold. After a nervous performance with a minor error, Slutskaya finished second in the free skate. She needed 5 judges to place her in 1st in order to win the free skate, but only 4 did. Hughes won the free skate, and because Kwan finished third behind Slutskaya, Hughes won the gold.
Russia, still somewhat aggrieved about the outcome of an earlier dispute over the pairs competition, filed a complaint against the result but it was rejected shortly. The next month she won the World title in Nagano. Going into the freeskate, Slutskaya had an advantage. She had finished 1st in both the qualifying and short program. Fumie Suguri was 2nd, and Kwan was only in 3rd after a shaky short program. Slutskaya could lose to Kwan in the free skate (e.g. finish 2nd to Kwan) and still win. Nonetheless she skated a gorgeous performance and a majority of the judges still labeled Slutskaya the winner of the free skate. She had finally won the eluding World Title after coming dangerously close, finishing 4th [1997], 3rd [1996], and 2nd [1998, 2000, 2001]. What was next? She wanted to win more World titles, and win the 2006 Olympics.
Slutskaya could not compete at the 2003 World Championships after receiving heartbreaking news that her mother was seriously ill. Ironically after her mother got better, Slutskaya got an illness that included fatigue and swelling in the legs. Doctors told her that she should stay away from the cold, but being a fighter, Slutskaya refused and finished and understandable 9th at the 2004 World Championships.
In 2005, Slutskaya made a powerful comeback after being the 9th at the previous World Figure Skating Championships in 2004 and a long stay at a hospital due to
vasculitis. She won both the European and World titles. Being the first World Championships to be held under the new CoP system [which favored more technical aspects e.g. Irina], Irina was the last to skate [1st after Short Program]. She made it her moment, and created magic as she skated a perfect program. Shedding tears while receiving her very high marks, the crowd chanted "Ira, Ira" (a
diminutive from Irina), she was overcome with emotion. In an interview, she said:
This is the question they ask: how could you get up after your fall last year? That's not right at all. You can't talk that way. When a person is ill, it's not a fall, it's a misfortune. And no one, unfortunately, is safe from that. I only want to say to those who don't believe in their [own capacity for] recovery: believe, fight...I got up"you can too.
To this day, she still recalls that the 2005 World Championships Free Skate was "the skate of her life". Although she has had perfect performances before (2002 Worlds Free Skate) and even harder to skate 1999 Grand Prix Final program, this was more special because "she was in front of her friends and family, and she was skating at home".
On January 19, 2006, Slutskaya won the European Championships. In 2005 she had already set the record for most European Championships (with 6), but she wasn't finished and added another to her collection. The previous record holders were France's
Surya Bonaly (1991-1995) and Germany's
Katarina Witt.
At the
2006 Winter Olympics in
Turin, Italy, Slutskaya was one of the heavy favorites to win the gold medal. She was in second place after the short program, behind
Sasha Cohen of the United States. She had a golden opportunity, but the circumstances were eerily similar to the 2002 Olympics. The leader after the short (
Sasha Cohen) had made 2 major mistakes (at the 2002 Olympics, the leader,
Michelle Kwan, had made 2 mistakes).
Sarah Hughes had skated a flawless performance (4th after SP) while this time
Shizuka Arakawa (3rd after SP) had skated a clean performance. Irina was 2nd again after SP (same as 2002) and was last to skate (same skating order in 2002). In the long program, Slutskaya doubled a triple flip, then fell on a triple loop jump. Another odd coincidence. In the 2002 Olympics, the triple flip was what perhaps cost her the gold (she had an awkward landing), and this time what may have been a silver medal for her was costly because not only did she fall on the triple loop, she doubled a triple flip (which meant she landed less triples [4] then Sasha [5]). She won the
bronze medal, behind gold medalist
Shizuka Arakawa of
Japan and silver medalist Cohen.
First Russian woman skater to win a silver medal at the Olympics (2002); first Russian woman to win European title (1996); invented the double Biellmann spin with foot change; first woman to land triple lutz-triple loop combination in competition (2000 Grand Prix Final); 1st at Japan Int. Challenge in 2005; 1st at Marshalls World Cup in 2004; four-time Russian Nationals champion; and first woman ever to win seven European titles (2006).
| Major Events (Senior) |
| ISU Grand Prix Finals | National Championships | European Championships | World Championships | Olympic Games |
|---|
| Seasons | SP | FS | Finish | SP | FS | Finish | QF | SP | FS | Finish | QF | SP | FS | Finish | SP | FS | Finish |
|---|
| 2005-06 | 2nd | 2nd | Silver | - | - | - | | 1st | 1st | Gold | W/D | 2nd | 3rd | Bronze |
|---|
| 2004-05 | 1st | 1st | Gold | 1st | 1st | Gold | | 1st | 1st | Gold | 1st | 1st | 1st | Gold | |
|---|
| 2003-04 | DNQ | W/D | W/D | 5th | 8th | 11th | 9th | - bgcolor="#ffffff" | 2002-03 | 1st | 2nd | Silver | 1st | 2nd | Silver | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | Gold | W/D | |
|---|
| 2001-02 | 1st | 1st | Gold | 1st | 1st | Gold | 1st | 3rd | 1st | Silver | 1st | 1st | 1st | Gold | 2nd | 2nd | Silver |
|---|
| 2000-01 | 1st | 1st | Gold | 1st | 1st | Gold | 1st | 1st | 1st | Gold | 1st | 1st | 2nd | Silver | |
|---|
| 1999-00 | 2nd | 1st | Gold | 3rd | 1st | Gold | 1st | 1st | 1st | Gold | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | Silver | |
|---|
| 1998-99 | 3rd | 3rd | Bronze | | | 4th | DNQ | DNQ | |
|---|
| 1997-98 | 4th | 3rd | 4th | 3rd | 5th | 4th | | 3rd | 2nd | Silver | | 4th | 2nd | Silver | 5th | 5th | 5th |
|---|
| 1996-97 | | 3rd | Bronze | | | Bronze | 2nd | 1st | 1st | Gold | 3rd | 6th | 3rd | 4th | |
|---|
| 1995-96 | 3rd | 2nd | Silver | | | Silver | | 2nd | 1st | Gold | | 3rd | 3rd | Bronze | - bgcolor="#ffffff" | 1994-95 | - | | | Bronze | | | | 5th | | | | 7th | - bgcolor="#ffffff" | 1993-94 | - | | | Bronze | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ |
|---|
*2005-2006
**GOLD at the Cup of Russia
**GOLD at the Cup of China
**GOLD at the Japan International Challenge
**BRONZE at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin
*2004-2005
**GOLD at the Marshalls World Cup of Figure Skating
**GOLD at the Cup of Russia - Gallina Blanca
**GOLD at the Cup of China
*2003-2004
**5th place at the Marshall's World Skating Challenge
*2002-2003
**5th place at the International Figure Skating Challenge
**SILVER at the Hallmark Skaters Championships
**BRONZE at the International Figure Skating Challenge
**SILVER at the NHK Trophy
**BRONZE at the Cup of Russia - Gallina Blanca
*2001-2002
**GOLD at the Cup of Russia
**SILVER at Skate Canada
**GOLD at the Masters of Figure Skating
**GOLD at the Goodwill Games
*2000-2001
**SILVER at the Japan Open
**SILVER at Hershey's Kisses(team event)
**GOLD at the NHK Trophy
**GOLD at the Cup of Russia
**GOLD at Skate Canada
**SILVER at the Masters of Figure Skating
**GOLD at the IFS Challenge(team event)
*1999-2000
**GOLD at the Cup of Russia
**BRONZE at the Sparkassen Cup
**GOLD at the Keri Lotion Classic(team)
*1998-1999
**SILVER at the Winter Universty Games
**BRONZE at the Japan Open
**SILVER at the NHK Trophy
**BRONZE at the Cup of Russia
**BRONZE at Skate Canada
**7th place at The Grand Slam
**5th place at the Goodwill Games
**BRONZE at The Ultimate Four
*1997-1998
**GOLD at the Cup of Russia
**SILVER at the Sparkassen Cup
**GOLD at the Finlandia Trophy
*1996-1997
**BRONZE at the Japan Open
**GOLD at the Cup of Russia
**GOLD at the Nations Cup
**GOLD at Skate Canada
**SILVER at The Continents Cup
*1995-1996
**GOLD at the Centennial on Ice
**4th place at the Trophee de France
**BRONZE at Skate America
*1994-1995
**JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION
**BRONZE at Skate America
**GOLD at the Nebelhorn Trophy
**6th place at the Goodwill Games
*1993-1994
**BRONZE at the World Junior Championships
**JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPION
**GOLD at the Nebelhorn Trophy
*1992-1993
**8th place at World Junior Championships
*
Figure skating*
Olympic medalists in figure skating*
World Figure Skating Championships*
European Figure Skating Championships*
Irina Slutskaya's official website*
Gold and tears*
ISU Biography Page*
icecalc.com Detailed info on 2002 Olympic Winter Games - Ladies Free Skate
