Winning worlds at first attempt

Vash01 · Apr 1, 2006

Kimmie Meissner won the world championship in her first appearance at worlds. It is rare for a skater to do that. The only ones I know of are:

Valova-Vasiliev 82?
Gordeeva-Grinkov 86
Oksana Baiul 93

I am not sure if Debi Thomas did that in 1986. Was it her first appearance at worlds?

Are there any other skaters that achieved this rare feat?

BTW in Kimmie's case although this was her first WORLDS appearance, she competed at the Olympics prior to this. So this was not her biggest competition, still a very impressive feat.

Vash

R.D. · Apr 1, 2006

I think Kimmie's Olympic experience enabled her to be really relaxed for this competition. Olympics are like Worlds with four times the pressure and attention. So once you can deal with that, worlds should be a piece of cake. And it was for Kimmie :chorus:

Ogre Mage · Apr 1, 2006

Vash01 said:
Kimmie Meissner won the world championship in her first appearance at worlds. It is rare for a skater to do that. The only ones I know of are:

I am not sure if Debi Thomas did that in 1986. Was it her first appearance at worlds?

Debi Thomas's first apperance at Worlds was in 1985. The '86 Worlds she won were her second trip.

Vash01 · Apr 2, 2006

Thanks. In that case here is another tidbit:

Those who won the worlds in their first attempt won the Olympic gold medal later(V&V, G&G, Bauil).

Vash

R.D. · Apr 2, 2006

ALL of them?

That's a really tough act to follow. Pressure, Kimmie!

Joesitz (RIP) · Apr 2, 2006

Red Dog said:
ALL of them?

That's a really tough act to follow. Pressure, Kimmie!

RD - Pressure exists in all sports, but some players can handle it to their advantage. We know in figure skating those who can't, but we don't know about Kimmie. Tune in to the Marshalls and let's watch.

Joe

chuckm · Apr 4, 2006

People keep saying that Kimmie will be under pressure at Marshall's. What pressure could there possibly be in a skating show devoted to EXHIBITION programs?

What is the difference between Marshall's and the Worlds exhibition? If anything, there were even bigger stars at the Worlds show, and Kimmie seemed to be relaxed and not a bit overwhelmed.

MARSHALL'S IS NOT GOING TO BE A COMPETITION, FOLKS!

heyang · Apr 4, 2006

We won't know how Kimmie responds to pressure until Nationals and Worlds next year. If Michelle and Sasha don't return, she will be the favorite based upon Worlds only. At World's, she'll be defending her title for the 1st time.

If Sasha returns, Kimmie won't neccessarily be the absolute favorite at Nationals, but will be considered the #1 contender.

If Michelle returns and Sasha does not, Kimmie would still have favorite status, IMO.

chuckm · Apr 4, 2006

The first "test" for Kimmie might be the Japanese Open, which is billed as a Pro-Am where Japanese, European and North American teams compete.

The Ladies are:
Japan: Mao Asada and Miki Ando
Europe: Kiira Korpi and Sarah Meier
N. America: Kimmie Meissner and Joannie Rochette

Mao has said she is "looking forward" to beating Kimmie. I suppose she sees this cheesefest as an opportunity for her to beat the new World Champion and psych her out even before next year. I'd like to see Kimmie make that NOT happen.

Joesitz (RIP) · Apr 5, 2006

I'm sure Marshall's will be nothing more than a series of exhibitions to show Tom Collins how they will skate in COI, but even at that the skating could be a tell tale sign of how well these skaters are holding up and progressing. Look more for how well they skate rather than worry about the results.

Michelle - Is she really back? Does she look competitive?

Sasha - If its an LP, will she be faultless? Does she look competitive for 2007?

Kimmie - Does she look like she could surpass the above two in 2007?

Johnnie - Will he be serious and go for the quad? Why not?

Evan - Will he maintain his now solid place of being 3rd in the Worlds?

Savoie - Is he really going to be up there with the big boys?

IMO, the results don't say as much for the future as does the skating.

Joe

R.D. · Apr 5, 2006

I suppose she sees this cheesefest as an opportunity for her to beat the new World Champion and psych her out even before next year. I'd like to see Kimmie make that NOT happen.

SAME HERE

I'm not understanding, however, how an exhibition can show signs of what's to come. Especially at the end of a season like this...I still think it's going to be just dragging it out to the end. I don't expect anything spectacular.

attyfan · Apr 5, 2006

heyang said:
We won't know how Kimmie responds to pressure until Nationals and Worlds next year. ...

Why? All kinds of different things can happen between now and Nats or Worlds next year, that have nothing to do with pressure. For example, if Kimmie skates badly next season, it could be due to injury or a growth spurt, or just an "off year"; if she wins because the others either retire or they have the injury/growth spurt/"off year", it still won't say anything about her ability to handle pressure.

chuckm · Apr 5, 2006

Red Dog said:
SAME HERE

I'm not understanding, however, how an exhibition can show signs of what's to come. Especially at the end of a season like this...I still think it's going to be just dragging it out to the end. I don't expect anything spectacular.

The Japan Open is not an exhibition. I'm assuming it's a head to head team competition. Mao skates, Kimmie skates, Korpi skates, they each get points for their "area" (Japan, North America, Europe). My guess is Mao intends to beat Kimmie and get the lion's share of the ladies' points for Japan.

However it turns out, I agree it won't prove a darned thing.

Joesitz (RIP) · Apr 5, 2006

The Japan Open will be a special real competition.

While I think the Marshalls will be a rehearsal for COI, those skaters will skate their best in front of millions of viewers. They don't want to look blah. We will see something in that.

Joe

Winning worlds at first attempt

Vash01

R.D.

Ogre Mage

Vash01

R.D.

Joesitz (RIP)

chuckm

heyang

chuckm

Joesitz (RIP)

R.D.

attyfan

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chuckm

Joesitz (RIP)

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