MINNEAPOLIS -- The Olympic gold medal didn't happen this year. The rematch with Tara Lipinski won't happen this week. So things aren't exactly going the way Michelle Kwan expected.

Oh well. There's ice, she's got her skates and the World Figure Skating Championships are still on. At this point, that's all that matters.

"With the

Michelle Kwan hopes to add a world championship gold to the U.S. gold and Olympic silver she won earlier this year. (AP)

top skaters out, some people can look at it and say, `What's the World Championships about?' But not to me," Kwan said. "I have to skate for myself. When I compete, it's only for me."

IF KWAN'S ONLY WORRY IS pleasing herself, she wasn't fretting after Monday's qualifying round. The Olympic silver medalist and two-time U.S. champion won her qualifying group, getting 5.7s and 5.8s for technical merit and all 5.9s for artistry.

Irina Slutskaya and Yelena Sokolova, both of Russia, finished second and third, respectively. Tonia Kwiatkowski, who was chosen to the U.S. world team after Lipinski withdrew because of a viral infection, was fourth.

Maria Butyrskaya of Russia, fourth at Nagano, won the second qualifying group. Anna Rechnio of Poland was second and Yelena Liashenko of Ukraine was third. The top 15 in each group advance to Friday's short program.

With Lipinski out, Kwan is favored to win her second world title. While she'd rather compete against a full field, a world title is still prestigious. And she won't look back and wonder what might have happened had Lipinski been here.

"As a competitor I like to have all the skaters here and see who's the best that night," she said. "Now it's just skating and me. It all boils down to how you skate, how you feel out there and going out there and showing you can do it."

IT WASN'T THAT KWAN DIDN'T do the job at Nagano, she just didn't do it as well as she normally does. After skating almost perfectly at the U.S. championships in January, earning 15 perfect 6.0s, she appeared hesitant, like she was skating not to lose instead of to win.

The breeziness and joy she had at the national championships was gone.

"I can pick out what went wrong and how I was feeling," she said. "Overall, I didn't think I had a bad experience. It could have been better."

Now Kwan is just trying to relax and have some fun. The crowd roared when her name was called for warmups, and Kwan skated onto the ice with a big smile.

She moved quickly through the beginning of the program, so smooth and fast she looked as if she was dancing across the ice. She did seven triple jumps, though the landing on her triple loop was a little shaky. The audience was standing as she finished, and Kwan skated off into the arms of coach Frank Carroll.

THOUGH SHE WAS A LITTLE SLOW midway through her program, this was only qualifying. The real competition starts Friday.

"I'm just trying to have a lot of fun and taking it easy," she said. "It's a long week."

But one she wouldn't have missed for anything. While Kwan was careful not to criticize those skipping the World Championships -- like Lipinski -- she was surprised so many withdrew.

"The World Championships is a big competition," she said. "I would think the skaters would just automatically go."

And if anyone stayed home because they didn't want to tarnish their Olympic medal?

"It's a competition, win or lose," she said. ``There's no guarantee you'll win. But if you don't participate, there's no chance to win at all."