NAGANO, Japan -- Michelle Kwan has a chance to duplicate what Ilia Kulik did last week -- win the Olympic gold medal while going first in the final group.

Kwan, who won the short program Wednesday, drew the opening spot in the premier group for Friday's program. Kulik also won the men's short, then went first and was superb in the free skate, worth two-thirds of the total score.

Tara Lipinski, second in the short program and Kwan's main rival for two years, will skate next-to-last of the 24 skaters. The only one who will go after Lipinski is third-place Maria Butyrskaya of Russia.

Following Kwan in the last group will be Russian Irina Slutskaya, who is fifth. Fourth-place Lu Chen of China, the bronze medalist four years ago and the 1995 world champion, goes next. Then comes France's Surya Bonaly, who is sixth.

Nicole Bobek, the other American, messed up all of her jumps in the short program and wound up 17th after the short program. She's in the second group for the free skate, skating 10th overall.