Kwan on Her Own in Front of the Pack at U.S. Nationals

By LINDA K. HANDY SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE February 12, 1999 Publication: Salt Lake Tribune, The (UT) Page: E1 Word Count: 1106

Thursday's Ladies short program should motivate American skating officials to create a new level of competition. Michelle Kwan was skating out of her league in the 1999 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships, as she easily became the Ladies leader at the Delta Center.

Taking the ice after 14 poor-to-average performances, the defending champion came through with a first-place effort, ahead of Sarah Hughes and Amber Corwin in an event that counts for one-third of the final score.

Will Kwan Jump at Chance for the Title?

By LINDA K. HANDY SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE February 11, 1999 Publication: Salt Lake Tribune, The (UT) Page: C1 Word Count: 348

Olympic silver medalist Michelle Kwan says she will miss former opponent Tara Lipinski tonight at the Delta Center in the Ladies short program event of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

"Because we each were so close to winning when we skated together, it made us both work harder and be better skaters," she explained.

Ina-Zimmerman Trail Hartsells After the Short Program

By LINDA K. HANDY THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE February 11, 1999 Publication: Salt Lake Tribune, The (UT) Page: C5 Word Count: 709

Pairs skaters Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman have a little tradition
of asking each other, "Are you OK? Am I OK?"

After Wednesday night's short program performance in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the Delta Center, they're probably asking that question again. They stand second behind the brother-sister team of Danielle and Steve Hartsell, entering Friday's long program.

Brother-Sister Team Skate to Pairs Title

By LINDA K. HANDY SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE February 13, 1999 Publication: Salt Lake Tribune, The (UT) Page: B8 Word Count: 363

Brother and sister pairs teams are common in figure skating, but not wearing gold medals in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Until Michigan's Danielle and Steve Hartsell came along Friday night at the Delta Center, the last time a family won the Championship Pairs competition at Nationals was in Salt Lake City in 1984, with Kitty and Peter Carruthers.

Russian Skaters Figuring They'll Take Shot at SLC

By LINDA K. HANDY SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE November 4, 1997 Publication: Salt Lake Tribune, The (UT) Page: B1 Word Count: 919

Editor's Note: Linda K. Handy was a competitive pairs figure skater on the U.S. sectional level in the early 1980s, shortly after Oleg and Ludmilla Protopopov defected from Russia.

When two-time Olympic gold medal pair champions Oleg and Ludmila Protopopov -- now in their 60s -- made plans to return to Olympic competition, I was not surprised. It reminded me of the night we broke into the Bountiful Ice Arena.

`SKATE HUNGRY';
Slovak Olympian Hones His Blades in Utah

By LINDA K. HANDY SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE February 1, 1998 Publication: Salt Lake Tribune, The (UT) Page: C7 Word Count: 398

BOUNTIFUL -- Utah's figure skaters in the 2002 Olympics will likely be Europeans. That's the case in Nagano, where Utahn Stewart Sturgeon will march in the Opening Ceremonies with his star skater, Robert Kazimir.

The 19-year-old Kazimir will skate for the Slovak Republic after training in Bountiful. That's a common practice for European skaters. ``The opportunity to train in America is like going to Disneyland for these athletes,'' Sturgeon said. ``Conditions are so much better here.''