Reliving a night in history - 2001 Nationals (Ladies LP)

I probably messed up the order, but here goes:

Michelle Kwan started things off...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPBFfuoganc

Then Jenny Kirk...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWjMCJNsIZs

Then Amber Corwin followed...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=the5aSRKW30

Sarah Hughes--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM5C1ecFCKE

Angela Nikodinov closed the night--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGsMDXLyXxs

What do you think? Do you agree with the finish? Which was your favourite that night?

Thanks for these links, Blue Dog. I had never seen the '01 competitions. These comps were after Tara and before Sasha.

Was this the last time Kwan attempted a 3x3?

I'll comeback to this later after I see some others.
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Well, I'm back. Watched Sara and Angela. Of the three I would have given the nod to Angela, but under the CoP, I think Sara would have gotten the nod. Michelle, well, was Michelle but she was beginning to lose out on tricks at this point. JMO

Thanks for the memories, Blue Dog. Outstanding competition.

I thought Nikodinov definitely should have been second ahead of Hughes, and maybe Amber Corwin fourth ahead of Kirk.

Michelle Kwan Without peer or rival. Even with that double toe / double toe the quality of her basic skating put her in a league of her own.

Angela Nikodinov Best performance of her career. Exquisite skating. Her little flub at the end merely served to bring the quality of the program as a whole into sharper focus.

Sarah Hughes To me, at fifteen Sarah lacked the maturity and grace of the older ladies. Wild swings (almost a leg wrap) on some of her jumps. Lots of attitude in her Don Quixote, though.

Interesting combo -- 3S/3Lo (although both jumps appeared to be underrotated to me.)

Amber Corwin Outstanding performance. Efforless jumps. The s-l-o-w music didn't help her, however. I think music with more pizzazz suited her style better.

Jenny Kirk Good job. She was a little bit coltish back then.

Joesitz said:

Was this the last time Kwan attempted a 3x3?

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No, she successfully landed her triple toe / triple toe at Worlds that same year, in both the qualifying round and the free skate. Her last triple/triple was at 2002 Worlds (Sheherazade, qualifying round).

In this performance (2001 Nationals) I had the feeling that Michelle's music was working against her. It just seemed to be droning away in the background.

But at Worlds she finally got the Black Swan to come alive as she delivered yet another performance for the ages.

One thing that the CoP has done (to the detriment of the sport, IMHO) is to take away the option of improvising during the program. Both Michelle and Jenny threw in an extra triple toe at the end of their programs to bring up their jump count after missing combinations. This would not be possible under the current rules because they had already filled all their jump boxes.

Likewise Angela completed her 3Lz/2T combo only after taking some steps in between. Under the IJS this would have been a disaster. It would have counted as two separate passes and negated a triple jump later in the program.

Nikodinov 2nd for sure.

One could argue that Hughes was better "jump" content, but all of Nikodinov moves were first rate.

But I think the real point is the presentation mark. Nikod8inov had the best choreography in the World that year. Great presentation and skating skills. The international judges recognize Nikodinov was slightly better in both technique and presentation than Hughes, which is evident that year at Words (SP). But the US Judges always seem to prefer Hughes over Nikodinov....

It's a pity, Angela had a World Medal within her grasp that year....

Joesitz said:

Watched Sara and Angela. Of the three I would have given the nod to Angela, but under the CoP, I think Sara would have gotten the nod. Michelle, well, was Michelle but she was beginning to lose out on tricks at this point. JMO

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An interesting question. Sarah would have had both jumps of her triple Salchow / triple loop combo downgraded to doubles, with at least a –1 GOE on top of that. She would have lost points for wrong edge calls on both of her Lutzes, and probably a –2 GOE on the second. Also maybe a –1 GOE on her triple toe. The only positive GOE might have been on the double Axel.

Her spins were fine. In those days they didn’t have features that count toward levels. But her layback in particular was much better than Michelle’s was.

I do think that the CoP would have been advantageous to Sarah on the PCSs. I thought she had excellent performance, interpretation and choreography – and for that matter, fine skating skills and transitions.

But to me, the parts were greater than the whole. As Peter Carruthers remarked, her “artistry” was not on the level with Michelle’s, in terms of the overall second mark. Michelle got (quite generously perhaps) all 5.9s and a couple of 6.0s for her whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts performance.

But I think the real point is the presentation mark. Nikod8inov had the best choreography in the World that year. Great presentation and skating skills. The international judges recognize Nikodinov was slightly better in both technique and presentation than Hughes, which is evident that year at Words (SP). But the US Judges always seem to prefer Hughes over Nikodinov....

Click to expand...

ITA. For some reason the U.S. judges never liked Nikodinov as well as the fans did.

so - I have only had time to watch one so far, and it was MK - I had totally forgotten about the missed combination jump, funny how memory works. And, listening to Peggy, sure - faster spins, more stretch in the layback....and from today's standpoint (which it totally unfair) maybe even more transitions....BUT, what a joy (for me, imo) to watch Kwan at nationals - her basics and command of the ice/audience always always always gives me huge goosebumps and chills. I am always surprised when the performance is over - it seems so quick.

(can't wait to watch the rest later)....