Failure leaves Carter in spin
Nicole Jeffery, The Melbourne Age
Thursday, February 23, 2006

AUSTRALIA's best figure skater Joanne Carter saved her worst performance for the biggest occasion when she fell out of contention in the short program of the women's competition in Turin yesterday.

Carter, 25, mistimed her first triple jump on the Olympic ice, fell and never recovered. Her next two triple jumps were shaky and she was penalised heavily by the judges, who gave her 40.86 points.

That left her in 25th position, one place short of qualifying for the free program component of the event tonight. American Sasha Cohen (66.73) led narrowly from pre-Olympic favourite Irina Slutskaya (66.73) of Russia and Japan's Shizuka Arakawa (66.02).

Slutskaya, 27, is bidding to claim the Olympic title after having to settle for silver four years ago when Sarah Hughes claimed a surprise title at home in the United States.

She is also bidding to complete a Russian title sweep. Her compatriots have won the pairs, the men's and the ice dance and need her to complete what would be a historic matching set.

Carter, who recorded Australia's best result in women's figure skating when she finished 12th at the 1998 Games, had hoped to emulate that result eight years later.

But she said she had failed to "step up" in the Olympic arena. "It's my worst performance in three years - the first time I have ever missed the cut in international competition," Carter said.

"I'm very disappointed, but that's sport."

Carter was drawn to skate in a group that included Slutskaya and Arakawa and had the daunting task of following the two medal contenders on to the ice. But she refused to use that as an excuse for her performance.