Fancy Footwork From Browning

Copyright Globe Newspaper Company 1995

He described the euphoria a figure skater experiences from time to time on the ice as an addiction, a habit-forming high that brings a skater closer to the audience. And, as Kurt Browning observed, it sometimes can inspire a skater to perform his best even when he is not on top of his game.

Fighting flu that took hold of him yesterday afternoon before his final performance of the season, Browning was in dire need of a pick-me-up from his audience in last night's Ultimate Four figure skating competition at the FleetCenter. Browning, who took the lead in the men's singles category after winning Tuesday night's technical program, went head-to-head against Philippe Candeloro, the 1994 Olympic bronze medalist from France, in the free-skating program.

"He's a great showman. He's one of the better personalities on the amateur circuit, for sure," Browning said of Candeloro. "If anybody can step in at a professional competition and fit right in, it would be him. He's going to be a welcomed addition to this kind of competition and we've enjoyed having him around."

A last minute fill-in, Browning exhumed his old short program, a routine set to a thumping Led Zeppelin drum solo that helped him to wide acclaim as an amateur and four-time Canadian and world champion, and won the technical program when he nailed a triple axel followed by a double toe loop, the first and most difficult of his eight required elements.

"I used that as an amateur and it helped me win the worlds in '93," said Browning, a 29-year-old native of Caroline, Alberta. "When I got the quick call to do this competition, because I guess they couldn't get an extra amateur, I was like, 'Uh oh, I'd better go downstairs and dust off the tape with the old short program elements in it.' "

And it all came back to him?

"My footwork was a lot different than the one I did. Actually, I just made up the straight-line footwork that afternoon, and as it turned out I made up the ending, too," Browning said. "So I was skating on the edge of my feet.

"I hit that jump so clean and it was so great that I started thinking, 'OK, don't mess up the easy stuff now,' " he added. "I didn't want to ruin what I had done so well on the hard stuff. I was like, 'OK, doooon't make a mistake now.' I skated a bit (yesterday) and caught what everyone else caught. I was just kind of skating without any direction and, on that particular jump, I was 1 for 5 (yesterday morning)."

Browning's jump punctuated what turned out to be the best technical performance among the men's singles competitors. However, he did not have any worries about how it would play before a panel of judges who, as they say in the basketball vernacular, were calling a tight game.

"Not really, because I had already used that one as an amateur before," Browning said. "So I knew that it had already passed the amateur or ISU (International Skating Union) judges' book. When I used it as an amateur I was a little worried about it, but then people started talking about it and people liked the beat, so I already knew it would be OK."

Having overcome what he considered the hardest part of the competition, Browning went into last night's interpretative free skating program in the hopes of playing to his strengths: his engaging on-ice personality and showmanship.

"It's a better program than (Tuesday night), for sure," said Browning. "It really shows off my strengths, which is versatility and fun. You know that movie, 'That's Entertainment,' where they have all those interviews with Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor? In the beginning of the movie, they have this beautiful red velvet screen and with the word 'Overture' on it and they play a medley of show tunes, and that's my solo."

A year ago Browning had a shaky season in his first full-professional campaign on the Discover Card Stars on Ice, admitting he was not well prepared for the physical and mental grind of the 48-city tour. Last night, after completing a 55-city Stars on Ice tour, Browning was hoping to muster the strength to finish his season on an up note.

"I'd been fighting the flu and I thought, 'This is great. I'm going to come to the last competition of the year, and I'm feeling really good,' " Browning said. "And the last day I caught it.

"But it would be so great to go this far and walk away from the last competition with a win," he added. "I just have to try and see if I can sprint to the end of this marathon. I would really love to stand at the end of the program and feel good about myself. That would feel great."