Russia's Evgeni Plushenko performs his short program at the Cup of Russia ISU Grand Prix figure skating event in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Oct. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)
(AP)
Evgeni Plushenko began his comeback attempt with characteristic skill and boldness at the Rostelecom Cup, landing a clean quad-triple combination Friday.
But a few seconds later, Plushenko showed that he's still short of the discipline that made him the Olympic champion, losing focus and doubling a planned triple lutz.
"I got a little relaxed, I felt like I had done everything" after the opening jumps, Plushenko admitted.
The lapse hardly mattered. Plushenko won the short program, finishing well ahead of his challengers in his first international competition since winning the gold medal at the Turin Olympics.
Julia Sebestyen of Hungary prevailed in a tight women's field, where the top three finishers are separated by less than a point. In the pairs competition, former world champions Pang Qing and Tong Jian opened a solid lead over Russia's Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov and Americans Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker.
Plushenko finished with 82.25 points, almost seven ahead of Japan's Takahiko Kozuka going into Friday's free skate.
Kozuka didn't try a quad in his speedy, stylish and loud program to the feedback-drenched guitar music of Jimi Hendrix. But his landings were as precise as Plushenko's and the calculated audacity of his music choice underlined how the once-punky Plushenko has become, at 26, almost a sedate elder.
After finishing second at the Salt Lake City Games, Plushenko dominated figure skating for the next four years. He won two more world titles — he has three total — and claimed the top spot at every competition he entered in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.
With no more titles left to win after taking the gold in Turin, Plushenko stepped away from skating. He decided last year to return.
"Somebody had asked me why I was coming back because I already had everything. I have money, I am famous ... maybe I keep wanting to think I am very young," Plushenko said.
