WASHINGTON (AP) -- On Saturday, Denise Biellmann will turn 37. She can still pick up her foot and lift it over her head.
Yes, 30 years into a remarkable competitive skating career, she remains the master of the Biellmann spin, a move that forces her spine to bend almost into a semicircle. It's nearly too painful to watch, yet she'll be doing it again tonight and Saturday at the World Professional Figure Skating Championship."No, I don't have back problems," Biellmann said. "Maybe in '81, a long time ago."
Biellmann, from Switzerland, is the only former champion in the women's field of the most prestigious competition on the professional skating calendar. This year's favorite, 1998 Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski, was only eight years old when Biellmann beat Rosalyn Sumners and Debi Thomas to win the event in 1990.
Thomas, by the way, is a judge this year.
"It's funny," Biellmann said. "She's judging and I'm still skating."
Lipinski, Surya Bonaly and Tonia Kwiatkowski are all competing in this event for the first time. 1994 Olympic gold medalist Oksana Baiul returns for the third consecutive year, although she finished last in both her previous appearances.
The talent-laden men's field, led by six-time champion Brian Boitano, promises to be more competitive. To get a seventh title, Boitano will have to beat the last two Olympic champions -- Alexei Urmanov (1994) and Ilia Kulik (1988) -- two-time Olympic bronze medalist Philippe Candeloro and former U.S. champion Rudy Galindo.
In the pairs, Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev will defend their title against fellow Russians Elena Leonova and Andrei Khvalko and Germany's Mandy Woetzel and Ingo Steuer.
The dance has just two couples, defending champions Maya Usova and Evgeny Platov and five-time U.S. champions Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow.
Biellmann says exercise is the key to keep her back from aching after her famous spins, and she doesn't do the spins in practice anymore -- just in exhibitions and competitions. She had to ice down her back regularly when it was constantly sore back in 1981, but she's had little trouble since.
In fact, she hopes to keep on doing the Biellmann for a few more years.
"My goal would be maybe, 40?" she said when asked when she might retire.
Lipinski, 20 years younger than Biellmann, was amazed.
"I hope, if I'm skating in 20 years, I can do as well as she does," Lipinski said. "When you're skating, you don't realize you have to keep up the work, train hard every day to keep that consistency."
Michelle Kwan won this event last year when it was open to all skaters for the first time, but she can't defend her title because the competition has changed its rules again. Olympic-eligible skaters are excluded, and Kwan plans to skate in the 2002 Games.
That's a disappointment to fans who wanted the once-budding rivalry between Lipinski and Kwan to flourish for years. Kwan has been virtually unbeatable since finishing second to Lipinski at the 1998 Olympics, but that also was the last time the two skated against each other.
As a result, last year there was Kwan, but no Lipinski at this event. This year, there is Lipinski, but no Kwan.
Asked if the two will ever skate against each other again, Lipinski shrugged her shoulders.
"You never know," she said.