Feeling the heat on ice

TURIN -- Last time in Salt Lake City, the pressure was so great that Irina Slutskaya said she wished that the ice would melt beneath her and swallow her up before the music started. Last year, when the world championships were on her Moscow home ice, she spent most of the day before the free skate in tears.

All of that was a gentle squeeze on the shoulder compared to what the 27-year-old world champion faces tonight, when she can become the first Russian to win the Olympic women's figure skating title and also complete an unprecedented sweep of all four events for the Motherland. ''This makes it more harder for Irina," observed Roman Kostomarov, after he and Tatiana Navka won the dance.

Until Sarah Hughes knocked off Michelle Kwan four years ago, the world champion had won every Olympic crown since 1984. So even though Slutskaya trails Sasha Cohen going into the free skate (by a negligible three-100ths of a point), history says the gold medal is Slutskaya's to lose. ''Everyone talks about it, but not me," says Slutskaya, who'd be the oldest women's victor since Madge Syers in 1908. ''I just want to do my best."

What everyone at the Palavela has been talking about this week is whether any of the top three -- Slutskaya, Cohen, or Japan's Shizuka Arakawa -- can shake off the wobblies for four minutes tonight and claim the gold. While their collective résumés are impressive (nine global medals among them), they've underachieved at Olympus.

Slutskaya would have won in 2002 with a clean skate, but had unhappy landings. Cohen had a bronze in hand, but fell down. Arakawa finished 13th in 1998 in her only other Games appearance. What all of them could use here is a one-night dose of amnesia. ''I read John Wooden's book," says Cohen. ''You can't live in the past and you can't live in the future, but the present can affect the future. So I'm living in the present."

The future -- most notably US teenagers Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes and Georgia's Elene Gedevanishvili -- already is nipping at the heels of the top three, who probably won't be around when the next Games are held in Vancouver. With the code of points scoring system forcing skaters to do more difficult jumps, spins, and footwork, the aging ladies are struggling to keep up as it is.

Slutskaya, who's taking medication for systemic vasculitis, jammed all of her jumps into the first minute of her short program on Tuesday. Cohen, who's been icing down a sore groin and taking daily physiotherapy, skipped both practices yesterday. ''She's got a few aches and a few pains, as we all do when we get older," said her coach, John A.W. Nicks.

So tonight's gold medalist likely will be the woman who can keep her feet under her for four minutes and land at least one triple-triple combination. Who that will be is anyone's guess.

Slutskaya may be world champion, but she's not the planet's best skater this season. That would be Japan's Mao Asada, the 15-year-old who beat the Russian for the Grand Prix title in December but is too young to compete here. And while Slutskaya has a tougher technical repertoire than her top rivals, it's still a bunch of jumps in search of a program.

Cohen may have the best artistry, but her jumps (no triple-triples) are strictly old school, which is why she received only the third-highest technical marks in the short. And while Arakawa may have the best total package, she's both inconsistent (ninth-first-eighth at the last three world championships) and risk-averse. If she hadn't scaled back her triple lutz-triple toe to a triple-double Tuesday, she'd be in the lead.

Since the top three are so close, with barely seven-10ths of a point separating first and third, being on top going into the long program means nothing. ''It's just like starting over," says Cohen. ''This [the short program] doesn't count. It's back to Square 1. It's just like the old system with the top three. Anyone can win."

Anyone can make the podium, too. Though the top three have more than 4 points on the rest of the field, a strong performance by either Japan's Fumie Suguri or the 16-year-old Meissner could put them in the medals. ''Anything's possible and I think I have a good shot," says Meissner, who's planning a pair of triple-triples (flip-toe and lutz-toe) in her free skate. ''I think everybody in the last group does."

Meissner and the 16-year-old Gedevanishvili should get another shot in 2010. ''I'm so sorry that the next Olympics will be in four years' time," said Gedevanishvili, who's the youngest skater here. For Slutskaya, this is the last chance.

''For me, these are the third Olympic Games," she says. ''The last four years changed my life. I've grown up. I understand that life is not only figure skating." Next winter, for the sport's grande dame, it won't be. Tonight, though, she's got to win one for Mother Russia.