 Reigning Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin withdrew with injury after the short program in what became the final competition of his amateur career.Brian Joubert went on to win the event for his first international title.Yukari Nakano and Ludmila Nelidina both landed a triple axel in their free skating, together becoming the first female skaters to perform the jump in international competition since Midori Ito landed it at the 1992 Winter Olympics.