Quote Originally Posted by Maximillian View Post
I would argue that the ladies field at the '80 Olympics was a stronger freeskating field with far more depth. Beyond Ito, Yamaguchi, Trenary (Harding did not compete at Worlds that year), there were no other strong freeskaters unless you want to count a radically inconsistent Evelyn Grossman and the dubious skills of a young Bonaly, the rest of the field was pretty dismal and their horrendous skating skills made a Trenary 5th place SP without a triple spot on.

I think Biellman, Watanabe, Allen, Lenz, along with Poetzch and Fratianne with the more dubious abilities of the likes of Kristofics-Binder, Wegellius, Ivanova, and Dubrovic far more competetive and made Poetzch's placement in the SP far more questionable.
The skater who came 5th in the short program in Lake Placid behind Lenz was Dagmar Lurz who is a poor free skater with very weak "skating skills". She did a harder combo than Poetzsch but she also didnt do a triple combo. Sandy Lenz is the only one who came lower who probably should have been placed higher, but she was the 3rd American and nobody had ever heard of her, so it wasnt ever going to happen realistically. Watanabe had a major error in her program.