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Injury spoils Derochie's first world meet
MINNEAPOLIS (CP) -- Angela Derochie heard the arena announcer call her name and an expression of dread contorted her face.The Canadian champion had suffered a hip flexor injury last Monday during a practice for her world figure skating championships debut.
She fell heavily on the sore right hip during her short program Friday.
She went down on it again in the warmup for the free-skating final Saturday night.
The 24-year-old skater, Ottawa-region skater now had to try to get through her long program with a painful handicap.
"I told myself, 'You can fight through his. Do the best you can and it will be over in four minutes.'
"I fought through everything to try and make the best of the situation, but it was very hard."
She landed her double toe loop-triple toe loop jump combination, grimacing as she landed the triple.
A triple Lutz was next. Crash -- on the bad hip.
She singled out of a scheduled triple loop, then she battled back with a triple toe loop followed up a triple Salchow-double toe loop combo.
She appeared disoriented as she prepared for spirals yet managed them. She regained her concentration to do a triple loop. A flying spin, a split double Axel, and she was nearly finished. A triple Salchow was reduced to a double before a combination spin as the music ended.
"I put up with the pain and fought as hard as I could," she said. "I could have done so much more if I wasn't injured."
She finished 20th among 24.
"I wanted to come here to prove I can do the same stuff as the other women, but I couldn't because there was something wrong with me."
She put up a brave front, trying to joke about it, to keep from breaking down in front of reporters.
"I'm still walking so at least that's something to feel good about," she said. "I'll learn from this, and with the experiences I've had here, I'll be unbeatable next season."
Coach Peter Dunfield said the injury had improved slightly Saturday.
"If she hadn't fallen hard in the warmup . . . that's what blew the hip flexor," he said. "We couldn't afford that fall."
It will take six weeks for the injury to heal.
"It's not the result we would have liked but under the circumstances it was a hell of a lot better than one might have expected," Dunfield said.
World Figure Skating Results
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Results Saturday from the World Figure Skating Championships at the Target Center:
Women
Free Skate
1. Michelle Kwan, United States, 1.0 factored placements.
2. Irina Slutskaya, Russia, 2.0.
3. Maria Butyrskaya, Russia, 3.0.
4. Laetitia Hubert, France, 4.0.
5. Anna Rechnio, Poland, 5.0.
6. Tonia Kwiatkowski, United States, 6.0.
7. Elena Liashenko, Ukraine, 7.0.
8. Yelena Sokolova, Russia, 8.0.
9. Diana Poth, Hungary, 9.0.
10. Tanja Szewczenko, Germany, 10.0.
11. Yulia Vorobieva, Azerbaijan, 11.0.
12. Joanne Carter, Australia, 12.0.
13. Yulia Lavrenchuk, Ukraine, 13.0.
14. Lenka Kulovana, Czech Republic, 14.0.
15. Silvia Fontana, Italy, 15.0.
16. Marie-Pierre Leray, 16.0.
17. Julia Sebestyen, Hungary, 17.0.
18. Tatyana Malinina, Uzbekistan, 18.0.
19. Vanessa Gusmeroli, France, 19.0.
20. Angela Derochie, Canada, 20.0.
21. Shizuka Arakawa, Japan, 21.0.
22. Lucinda Ruh, Switzerland, 22.0.
23. Zuzana Paurova, Slovakia, 23.0.
24. Mojca Kopac, Slovenia, 24.0.
Final Standings
1. Kwan, 1.5.
2. Slutskaya, 4.0.
3. Butyrskaya, 5.5.
4. Hubert, 5.5.
5. Rechnio, 6.0.
6. Kwiatkowski, 10.0.
7. Liashenko, 10.0.
8. Sokolova, 14.5.
9. Szewczenko, 15.0.
10. Poth, 16.5.
11. Vorobieva, 16.5.
12. Lavrenchuk, 19.0.
13. Carter, 20.0.
14. Malinina, 21.5.
15. Kulovana, 22.5.
16. Gusmeroli, 23.5.
17. Leray 25.0.
18. Fontana, 25.5.
19. Sebestyen, 27.0.
20. Derochie, 29.5.
21. Paurova, 30.0.
22. Arakawa, 32.0.
23. Ruh, 34.0.
24. Kopac, 35.5.