watching old tapes:) today: 1998 worlds ladies free skate

[David21]

The most beautiful program of this event was (and the German TV commentator said the same in his commentary :P) Butryskaya's LP...until the fall on the footwork :wall: But until that moment, it was stunning...there was a maturity, sophistication and aura in that program that to me, until this day, remains unmatched. I'm so glad that Maria resurrected herself next year to win the title by the skating the same program perfectly. :)




In summary, Rechnio was robbed....and then again in 1999! :drama:


Sorry, poths, but I don't agree with you. I'm giving you 1999 but in 1998, Rechnio was not robbed :P She deserved to be behind Hubert, Butyrskaya and Slutskaya in the LP anyway.

[judgejudy27]

I think if Irina or Maria had not had their one major fall one of them might have won the LP phase over Kwan with Kwan's performance that night. Their scores were very close to hers as they were even though she had all 1st place votes. Both had slightly higher tech. marks in the LP but lower presentation scores. Maria's fall was the worst since I think it hurt her presentation scores alot as well as her tech. scores. It killed a good chunk of the finale section of the program.

[ks1227]

I remember being surprised how much less explosive and fast than usual Hubert was in the 98 Worlds LP. I was wondering how it would be watching Rechnio and Hubert flying across the ice back to back and trying to compare, but Hubert did not look like her usual self that night.
I was at those Worlds and both Rechnio and Hubert were very fast in both the SP and the LP. However, Hubert didn't carry her attack all the way through in the LP, and seemed to run out of steam a couple of times. This was most noticeable to me during and just after some of the spins, which weren't her strength anyway (although I really liked some of her unusual spins that year); and a couple of times it almost looked like a "stop-and-start" performance. Nevertheless, for most of the program it was fast speeding as usual from Laetitia, even if she seemed a bit tentative here and there (for example when she doubled her salchow). She was also quite fast in the SP, even though the music was more laid-back. I loved that short program! :swoon:

Rechnio was however also very fast. Her SP was spectacular, I was a little less impressed by her LP. I think she was mostly judged fairly in 98, it was in 99 that she got badly marked down IMO. :angryfire

I always thought Hubert would have made the podium had she just stayed up on the triple/triple at the end of the program. That was a gutsy move.
And it was a HUGE combination jump, as were some of her other jumps. If she had landed it, I'm almost certain Laetitia would have carried home the bronze medal.

But it was good, close skating for both of them that year. I think Hubert might have gotten a medal anyway if Butyrskaya hadn't been held up in the SP.

[Marco]

Hubert was hurt by having absolutely god-awful spins, even by 1998 standards. Rechnio's were a bit better, but the speed still pales in comparison to her skating speed.

Bute and Slute deserved to make the final group but I would have Liashenko ahead in 4th place, her Le Grand medley program was amazing.

I think overall Kwan's title was uncontested, and I would have given the silver to Rechnio and the bronze to Butyrskaya (2nd in the lp but too behind in the sp for the silver). Just not a fan of either of Slutskaya's programs or her style that year. No matter how close she was in both years, I don't ever think Hubert deserved a medal in either 1992 or 1998 Worlds.

[gkelly]

Just not a fan of either of Slutskaya's programs or her style that year.

Really? Those 1998 programs were my favorites of Slutskaya's. And different from each other.

And she did almost-land two triple-triples in that LP, even if they would have been downgraded by today's standards.


BTW, I would say that the fastest skaters at 98 Worlds were Lavrenchuk, Carter, Hubert, Rechnio, and Slutskaya. Not necessarily in that order, but those five were a step above anyone else, e.g., Butyrskaya and Liashenko being part of the next tier.

Of those, Slutskaya had the most skating content between the jumps (back inside spiral, three turn to forward outside spiral, covering almost the full rink, followed immediately by a step to the other forward edge up into double axel!) and the third best spins of the field (after Ruh and Vorobieva).

Biggest problem was that her body line sucked. And she made some jump mistakes.

[Marco]

I love the spiral into 2axel part and the layback but otherwise was just not thrilled with how sloppy everything was presented. She ofcourse improved in presentation subsequently but to me she was still sloppy in 2006.

Nearly 2 3/3s yes but both were muscled through and the sal/loop was quite visibly cheated. All jumps but the 2axel were stalked. She had the power but not the flow in her skating.

Ofcourse Lavrenchuk was fast when stroking was all she ever did. EVER. And she didn't even care about pumping, or the music, or have any sort of variation to her spins. Everything was basic.

Carter and Rechnio's speed was much more impressive because they maintained the speed even though they didn't stroke as much and actually also took time to interpret the music. I loved the tension in Carter's tango.

[briancoogaert]

I loved this Long program. Not just the fact that Michelle won, but IIRC, the whole Ladies SP was a disaster...And the LP was very interesting, with tension and suspens with the podium.
Michelle was far from her best in term of jump, but I've always loved this version of Lyra Angelica, lighter than usual. Light and beautiful, as a Debussy's piece of music.

I just think that the rankings after the SP were weird considering how bad everybody skated.