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FIGURE SKATING; Skaters Get a Jump On the Competition.(Sports Desk)
| Source: |
New York Times |
| Date: |
March 18, 1991 |
| Author: |
Michael Janofsky |
Kurt Browning of Canada had one quadruple jump and three combination
triple jumps in his free-skate program. Kristi Yamaguchi had seven
triples. They were the gold medalists at the 1991 world championships,
and their programs were not unlike others.
If there had been any question where the sport was going after the
International Skating Union voted last year to eliminate the
compulsory figures from singles competition, the evidence was more
than plentiful over the last five days. The joint was jumping, and the
more jumps, apparently, the better.
As 33 men and 37 women began the quest for medals, it was clear that
judges would look kindly upon those who landed the most triples and
the most in combination.
Pressure to Change
This is nothing new. What is new is the increasing number skaters are
trying, some as many as eight in the free skate, the longer of two
phases of the competition in its reconstructed form. The elimination
of the compulsories has given skaters that much more time to practice
the jumps.
Besides the higher risk of injury, the apparent need to do more has
put pressure on those with a thinner jump portfolio, like Yamaguchi,
who led a sweep by the American women.
While her victory on Saturday was forged largely on her ability to
land more triples (six) than her closest rivals, she has not yet
mastered triple axel, the most difficult of the six different triple
jumps. Tonya Harding, the silver medalist, and Midori Ito of Japan,
who finished fourth behind Nancy Kerrigan, are the only women to have
done them.
Harding landed her first triple axel last month, winning the national
championship in Minneapolis, and succeeded again Saturday. Ito, who
has been doing them since 1988, fell.
Yamguchi is training as if she better have one by next season, which
includes the 1992 Albertville Olympics in February.
"It's close," she said today, as the championships concluded with
exhibition performances by all the medalists. "But I still haven't
landed one in practice."
Harding said she was planning to add one in a combination in her
original program next year. Browning, who became the first skater to
land a quad in competition two years ago, said he expected his 1992
program to be more complicated.
Browning attempted the quad on Thursday but stepped out of it after
two rotations. Several others tried it, including Surya Bonaly of
France, who finished fifth among the women. But only Elvis Stojko of
Canada and Aleksei Urmanov of the Soviet Union landed it.
Over all, the championships were a major triumph for the United
States, which had not won so many medals (five) since 1959. Also, it
was the first time since 1968 that Americans won more medals than
Soviet skaters, who finished with four.
Besides the women, Todd Eldredge won the bronze behind Browning and
Viktor Petrenko of the Soviet Union in the men's, and Natasha Kuchiki
and Todd Sand were third in the pairs, behind Natalya Mishkuteniok and
Artur Dmitriev of the Soviet Union and Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd
Eisler of Canada.
Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay of France won the gold medal in dance,
followed by two Soviet couples, Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarneko
and Maia Usova and Aleksandr Zhulin.
Even today, the historic nature of their performance on Saturday had
barely caught up with Yamaguchi, Harding and Kerrigan. Women from the
same country had never swept the medals in singles at the world
championships. Men have done it six times, but not since 1956.
"We're all still floating on cloud nine," Yamaguchi said before the
exhibitions.
Each of them had a private mission -- Yamaguchi, to amend her mistakes
of the nationals, where she finished second to Harding; Harding, to
prove her national title was no fluke; and Kerrigan, to finish in the
top five.
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