Kwan Wins 4th World Championship

Craig McCulloch, Voice of America
March 25, 2001

Michelle Kwan of the United States has delivered one of the best performances of her career to win her fourth World Figure Skating Championship. Performing a flawless program, 20 year-old Michelle Kwan beat Russian Irina Slutskaya to win the gold and the World Championship. American Sarah Hughes took the third place bronze.

Skating to the music "Song of the Black Swan", composed by Julian Lloyd Weber, Kwan was in second place headed into the final free skate.

Bursting into tears after winning, Kwan says that she felt good at the beginning of her skate. She says her goal was simply to do a perfect routine. "I felt really confident, really solid and I felt that I had a job to go do out there and to nail everything," Kwan said. "There's no backing up, no strategy of adding things or subtracting anything."

1999 World Champion Maria Butyrskaya finished out of the medals in fourth. American Angela Nikodinov finished in the fifth position, falling two spots from her short program.

Michelle Kwan becomes the first woman since Katarina Witt to win four World Championships.

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