Flashback - 1991 World Championships

Flashback - 1991 World Championships

I've dusted off my videotapes from the 1991 Worlds, held in Munich, and thoroughly enjoyed reliving that memorable championship.

THE WOMEN:
Perhaps the strongest memory is the American women's sweep of the medals, the first time that all of the World medals were won in the women's event from skaters from the same country. Kristi Yamaguchi rebounded from her second-
place finish at Nationals (behind Tonya Harding) and skated two beautiful and powerful programs, and she convincingly won her first World title. The footage of her and coach Christy Ness viewing the gold-medal scores is priceless - tears, screaming, jumping up and down, etc.

Tonya Harding skated very strong programs as well. Her short was jazzy and featured some terrific spins and high jumps.
She landed her triple axel in the long program; however, she then skated to the opposite end of the rink and skated a single/double toe instead of a triple/triple toe. She rebounded and skated a strong triple flip, loop, and performed some great spins. Towards the end of her program, she doubled another planned triple, which left her with less triples than Kristi had performed. While she received good marks in the
5.7 and 5.8 range, they weren't good enough to challenge Kristi, who received mostly 5.8s and 5.9.s. Tonya's musical choices really showcased her talent -- "Batman", "Send in the Clowns", and "Wild Thing".

Nancy Kerrigan was in fifth place after the short program. She skated a strong long program to "Born on the Fourth of July" and won the bronze medal.

The medal ceremony was memorable, with three American flags raised. The Gulf War (I) had just concluded, and many of the newspapers of the day carried headlines proclaiming
"A new world order in women's figure skating - America leads the way".

Midori Ito came into the Worlds as the favorite, since this was the first time the competition was to be held without school figures, always the weakest part of her skating. During the warmup for her short program, Midori and Letitia Hubert of France collided, with both falling hard on the ice. Everybody in the rink gasped. While both skaters got up quickly, it was clear that Midori had taken the brunt of the collision, in her ribs, and with a blade that cut through her boot. She was taken to the trainer and returned to skate her short program.
Then -- she apparently misjudged the distance from her triple lutz/double toe combination takeoff, as she jumped right out of the rink and landed on top of the television camera! Ito sprang up immediately and completed her program. The judges gave her very generous marks that left her in third place after the short program.

Unfortunately, Miidori's injuries kicked in, bigtime, the next day and she skated the long program in pain. It was hard to watch her performance - a singled triple flip, a fall on a triple axel, and a doubled lutz. She managed to land a 3/3 toe combination towards the end of the program, but her marks kept her off the podium, in fourth place.

Jill Trenary had missed the 1991 Nationals, as she had undergone surgery for an injured ankle. She was interviewed from her home in Colorado Springs. While she was gracious as always, it was obvious that she wanted to be at Worlds, competing with the rest of the field.

THE MEN:
Kurt Browning won his third consecutive World title with a strong program, with Viktor Petrenko taking second place again. Clearly, Viktor had thought his program was deserving of first place, as he looked very upset during the medal ceremony. While always a gentleman, Viktor's displeasure was evident. Todd Eldredge of the US won the bronze medal that year - his first of many World medals. He was then a
19-year-old challenger who appeared to be well on the way to winning major titles.

Paul Wylie of the US finished 11th at this championship. Many people thought he should have retired after that disappointing finish, but he remained in the game and won the silver medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics. You go, Paul!

ICE DANCE:
Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay of France won the World ice dance title, to loud acclaim. Their "Missing" program was skated with precision and confidence. After they knew they had won the championship, Isabelle ran into the arms of her then-fiance and choregrapher, Christopher Dean.

Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomorenko lost their title and had to settle for the silver medal. Their long program, skated to selections from "My Fair Lady" was lovely, but it was not very exciting in comparison with the Duchesnay's fireworks on the ice.

Mai Usova and Alexander Zhulin won the bronze medal.

PAIRS:
Natalia Mishkutenok and Artur Dmitriev of the USSR won their first World pairs title, with Canadians Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler winning another silver medal. Natasha Kuchiki and Todd Sand of the US won the bronze medal. This pair was quite unusual, in that Natasha was 14 years old and Todd was 27.

Another memorable Worlds!!

Re: Flashback - 1991 World Championships

The trio of Yamaguchi-Harding-Kerrigan was absolutely fantastic. Each of these women were at the top of their game and each skated right from the heart. What a joy to see so much talent on the ice at the same time. And it was absolutely wonderful that all three of them represented The United States in that championship.

Womens worlds

Skatefan- The women's event was so incredible here. such great jumps (triple/triple by Nancy and Midori, Triple axel and a gorgeous triple lutz by Tonya, Kristi had a triple sequence and difficult entries into her jumps). Also is it just me or does it seem like the technical level isn't even close currently? The artistry has improved tremendously, but the "big jumpers" of this era (Neldina, the Japanese juniors, Kostner etc..) don't have anywhere near the same overall package of the early 90's skaters. Of course they still have time to improve so who knows.

Re: Flashback - 1991 World Championships

I just recently watched this competition and was blown away by all three of the top ladies, most notably Tonya Harding. I've always seen Kristi as a superb skater and her performance wasn't really surprising. It was artistic and athletic and blended the two beautifully. What did surprise me was Tonya Harding! She was so confident and smooth, and her technical program was brilliant. She had the best jumps of the entire competition and her spins were equally as impressive. I also found her to be quite musical and refreshing. The long wasn't as strong in my opinion, but still a great performance. The triple axel was so solid and she didn't give up even after botching some triples. So, I'll prefer to remember the Tonya of 91 from now on. Nancy was lovely to watch, but she seemed too tenative and inexperienced and I wasn't really moved. It seemed the 93 Worlds disaster really drove her to take more command of the ice and skate confidently (Piruetten & Olympics).

Re: Flashback - 1991 World Championships

Tonya did particularly well in the short, as I hope I am remembering correctly, especially as she skated very, very early in the event. I remember her as having an interesting costume for the short (for a change!) that looked rather like a desert landscape. I have been looking for a photo of her in that costume, but have been unable to find it. Her combination was particularly great and her spins.

Both Kristi and Tonya were great! And Ito's apology to the cameraman and then going on to complete the program was amazing.

And Nancy held things together to beat Ito-an amazing achievement too.

Was Jenny Meno skating with Scott Wendland at that Worlds?
Or didn't they qualify for it?

dpp

This is the Tonya that I prefer to remember, too.

Re: Flashback - 1991 World Championships

Thanks for another great review, SkateFan. I remember Natasha Kuchiki and Todd Sand, but I'd forgotten they won the bronze at '91 Worlds. That puts Todd Sand in that relatively small club of pairs skaters to have won a world medal with two different partners, though I would never think of Todd if someone asked me to list great male pairs skaters. Yet at 39, Todd is still at it and as of last year had a five-year contract with SOI. Ya just never know.

Thanks especially for reminding us that there once was a truly great skater named Tonya Harding. Her problems in the LP perhaps came as a result of erratic training habits--she always was a bucking bronc when coaches tried to reign her into a training schedule. But this is one thing I definitely agree with Christine Brennan on: Tonya Harding was one of the most talented ladies figure skaters the US has ever had. Worlds '91 was perhaps the last time we saw what Tonya Harding could have been, but you are so right that when she was skating to her kind of music, she had her own athletic style, was very musical, very smooth, and had jumps that made a lot of the men's look wimpy.

Also, everybody remembers Midori's jump into the camera pit but few remember the collision with Lataecia Hubert. IIRC, Midori didn't get any numbing injections so she had to be in enormous pain skating her LP. Midori was a class athlete in every respect, and unfortunately her very drive to always do her very best may have contributed to the development of her anorexia. I emphasize "may" because we really don't know what causes anorexia; it's just been observed that young women who have the personality characteristics of being exceptionally driven and tenacious tend to get it.

This also makes me remember that great cover of <em>Sports Illustrated</em> with Kristi, Tonya, and Nancy on the cover. A great time for US ladies skating, but how tough it must have been for Jill Trenary.

As for Paul Wylie's 11th place finish, and at the age of 26 no less, I think this gives some perspective to the different paths different skaters take to become champions, as well as the different paths they choose to remain champions (thinking of Todd). It's skaters like Paul and Todd who underscore why I think it's ridiculous for anyone to think Michelle should "go pro" or retire from competitive skating at 22, or that Sasha is too inconsistent to ever be a champion, or that Sarah couldn't come back. Of course there are limits to the human body and the margin for error on the technical side has really narrowed and the demand has significantly increased since '91. I think in a way we've gotten a bit spoiled by Michelle's amazing consistency and years of being on the World podium and forget that sometimes a given skater dominates for many years, while other times, like the '80s to the early-'90s, the US National title changes almost every year.

These reviews provide great perspective. Great job.
Rgirl

Re: Flashback - 1991 World Championships

:: _Nancy Kerrigan was in fifth place after the short program. She skated a strong long program to "Born on the Fourth of July" and won the bronze medal. ::

THAT'S what her music was?! I have wondered for years...this was back before ABC started so helpfully printing it on screen....

If you guys can verify it for me, I'm gonna order it off Amazon.

Re: Flashback - 1991 World Championships

Klimova & Ponomarenko skated to Lawrence of Arabia at 1991 Worlds. The My Fair Lady free dance was from 1990.

Harding's best performances, IMO, were at 1991 Skate America, later that year. Too bad she couldn't have maintained that level through the 92 Olympics.

Re: Flashback - 1991 World Championships

Thanks for the correction - Klimova and Ponomarenko skated to selections from "Lawrence of Arabia". Their performance was quite dramatic, I thought, and frankly, I thought it was a lot classier and better skated than the Dushesnay's long program. The French audience was so vocal in their support; perhaps this swayed a judges just enough to give them the winning scores? Perhaps not.

And yes, Tonya Harding was dynamic at the 1991 Worlds. She was in excellent shape, and, boy, did she ever light up the ice with her performances. Her short program costume was jazzy - different vivid colors, and her music really moved.
Her jumps were high, clean, and covered a lot of ice.

Nancy Kerrigan did skate to selections from "Born on the Fourth of July". It's a great soundtrack. She did look a bit tentative, but she pulled it together to win the bronze medal.

Midori Ito was the hard-luck skater of that Worlds, without a doubt. Had she not been injured, I'm sure she would have challenged for the gold medal, and at the very least she would have won the silver or bronze. When she exited the ice after her unfortunate long program, Sandra Bezic, who was one of the NBC commentators, said, "I hope Midori will just chalk up this championship to bad luck and move on."
Amen to that.

Jenni Meno and Scott Wendland competed at the 1991 Worlds.
Presumably, this was a year before Jenni and Todd Sand clicked and decided to skate together.

When the skaters performed their exhibitions, when Tonya took to the ice, the announcer said, "Tonya, will you skate your triple axel for us?" Perhaps Tonya had not planned a triple axel for her exhibition number, but she gamely tried the jump. She tried three times and missed each time. Oh well, she landed the triple axel when it counted.

Re: Flashback - 1991 World Championships

<strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">US Finishers at the 1991 World Championships:</span></strong>

MEN: Todd Eldredge, third
Christopher Bowman, fifth
Paul Wylie, eleventh

WOMEN: Kristi Yamaguchi, first
Tonya Harding, second
Nancy Kerrigan, third

PAIRS: Natasha Kuchiki/Todd Sand, third
Calla Urbanski/Rocky Marval, ninth
Jenni Meno/Scott Wendland, tenth

DANCE: April Sargent/Russ Witherby, ninth
Elizabeth Punsalan/Jerod Swallow, eleventh

Surya..

I also remembered Surya Bonaly attempted a quad toe here and ALMOST landed it in her LP. I think this was the closest a lady skater came close to landind the quad.

The pool of talent was so high.

Re: Surya...

and ITA about Tonya at 1991 SA. She landed triple axel double toe in the SP there. Amazing. I think Midori did that combo at a GP event as well in 1990 or 91.

Meno & Sands

I think Meno & Sands teamed up after the 92 Oly's. Did they get engaged after the 98 Oly's or was that the 94 Oly's?

1991 Worlds

I've only seen the women's portion of the compeition and agree that was incredibly memorable. Kristi had a breakthrough performance. Tonya blew the doors off with her jumps and showed her '91 Nats win was no fluke. Nancy landed a 3/3 and showcased what at that time was the best spiral in the world. I did feel bad for Midori, the skate gods were not kind to her in this event.

Tonya and Nancy's achievement are even more impressive when you consider that it was their first trip to Worlds. I loved that all three ladies had great skates which showed their different styles. This was a very strong period for the USA ladies. Besides the podium sweep in 1991, they took first, third and fourth at both 1990 Worlds (Trenary, Cook, Yamaguchi) and in Albertville (Yamaguchi, Kerrigan, Harding).

Re: Flashback - 1991 World Championships

Yes, without a doubt, it was amazing that Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan medaled at the 1991 Worlds in their first appearances.

But then, Holly Cook won the bronze medal at the 1990 Worlds in her first - and only - appearance at Worlds.

And, Oksana Baiul won the gold medal in her first Worlds!!!!!

Meno and Sand "connected" during the 1992 Winter Olympics, and they split with their respective partners - Wendland and Kuchini - during the summer of 1992.

Re: Flashback - 1991 World Championships

To reply to one of the posters, Meno and Sand got engaged during the 1994 Olympics. They were married in 1995.

Re: Flashback - 1991 World Championships

The Yamaguchi/Harding/Kerrigan sweep of the medals was truly amazing, and well deserved. However, they were helped in that the rest of the field wasn't exactly in their league. The strongest European woman was Surya Bonaly, who was woefully weak in presentation. The main rival for the gold medal, Midori Ito, suffered the unfortunate injury in the run-in with Letitia Hubert, and she wasn't able to skate the kind of long program that she was capable of.

It's much different today - while the American women are still very strong, so are the Japanese, Russians, and other skaters.

Re: Flashback - 1991 World Championships

I agree with a lot of what you guys said.

Tonya's SP costume was interesting and definately her best. It reminded me of a Joan Miro, even if it had enough sparklies to make AP jealous. Her LP was definatley her best as well, IMO, although it sounded like "Funky Colmadina" (sp?) to me and not "Wild Thing".

Sandra Bezac just does NOT like Surya. Maybe it was the hidious outfits. Peggy was more diplomatic, saying in 96 that "No matter what happens, Surya will always have a style all her own". Speaking of 96, Midori LP was very similar to 91 with all of the missed jumps in the first half.It was 'intersting' how she was marked.

I thought the men were interesting. I didn't care for Kurt's SP with all of the walk-like-an -Egyptian choreo. Viktor had the same 'Carmen' SP as Albertville. OT, but I never understood why the men always seem to portray the Matador when doing Carmen. The Guard was a much bigger part of the story to me.

LP. Todd did 'Les Mis' and was clean, including a 3x/3t. Bowman was good, IMO, even though he apeared to be wearing a Star Trek uniform at first. Fell on quad attempt. Viktor's LP was more traditonal for a guy. Kurt's was interesting: he did 3x/3t,4t(poped to 3) 3f/3t, 3x/2r, 3s/3r. 7 triples, but all in combination. I thought that there was a 3 combo max rule, but maybe that came later. The 3 3ts were a violation of Zayak, but I guess it doesn't count because one was a 4t that poped. No attempt at a 3z, I guess he can't do one. Interesting for someone who can crank out 3 3/3s in one LP. Peter Barna did a good job to 'R&J' but also had some problems: doubled his 3x. All of the costumes were kinda weird and kinda efeminate to me.

My favorite memory...

Though the skating was wonderful and memerable, my favorite image of that competition was watching Nancy Kerrigan's mom. She is leagaly blind and had to stand inches from a large TV monitor to even see her daughter's skate. At the end when it was obvious that she had nailed the program, her reaction was priceless. Pure joy and excitement was over her and it was worth the entire competition just to see that moment.

Re: My favorite memory...

Yes - it was lovely to see Nancy Kerrigan's parents share in their daughter's triumph at the 1991 Worlds. As one of the posters wrote, Mrs. Kerrigan is legally blind and must watch the skating competitions while looking very close to a large-screen television monitor. Nancy's bronze medal was a glorious surprise, since she had been the third-ranked US member of the team, she was competing in the Worlds for the first time, and Midori Ito was the favorite going into the competition.

I thought Nancy's long program dress was stunning! The European press dubbed her "The Irish Katarina", due to her very attractive appearance on the ice.

I liked Kurt Browning's "Egyptian" short program and the music.
It was innovative, and his costume was certainly gypsy-like.

It was a memorable Worlds!