Retrospective: The 1987 World Championships

[Maofan7]

Retrospective moves onto the 1987 World Championships

The key facts in relation to these championships are:-

• After finishing 2nd at the 1984 Olympics and in 3 successive world championships between 1984-86, Brian Orser finally wins a world title. In doing so, he became the first skater to land 2 triple axels in the same free program, and 3 overall in one competition. This set up the contest that would become known as "the battle of the Brians" at the 1988 Olympics, which Boitano won. Boitano also regained his World title at the 1988 World Championships. Hence, the 1987 World title would be Orser's only one.
• Katarina Witt regains the World title she lost to Debi Thomas the year before. It was Witt's third World title, having won it in 1984 and 1985. Nevertheless, at these championships, a poor 5th placed finish in the compulsories by Witt, had meant that Thomas only needed to finish 2nd in the short and long programs to retain her World title. However, a disastrous 7th place finish in the short program by Thomas, meant that a win in the free skate would give Witt the title. Katarina then produced the best long program performance of her life, landing 5 triples, to win both the free skate and the World title.
• Debi Thomas had actually been beaten by Jill Trenary at U.S.Nationals a few weeks prior to the 1987 World Championships. Trenary finished 7th at these championships and would go on to win the 1990 World title. Her compatriot, Caryn Kadavy, won the Bronze, which would ultimately be her only medal at a World or Olympics competition. Kadavy had to pull out of the 1988 Olympic FS due to illness, and she retired at the end of the 1987/88 season. Many tried to persuade Kadavy not to retire when she did, as she would have almost certainly challenged Ito and Trenary for the World title during the next quadrennium. Instead, she went on to have a very distinguished professional career.
• Gordeeva & Grinkov retain their World title, which they had won for the first time the year before. In winning the title, they landed a quadruple twist lift. Although, the quadruple twist life had first been performed by Marina Cherkasova and Sergei Shakrai in the late 1970's, G&G remain one of the few pairs to have successfully executed it, which they did with ease in these championships. However, going into the World Championships, G&G had actually been disqualified at the European Championships for failing to stop during their LP after the referee had blown his whistle and stopped their music (G&G thought the cassette playing their music had simply broken and had not heard the whistle. Hence, they did not stop). The referee had done that as a strap holding down Grinkov's pant leg had come undone and there was a fear that it could trip them up and cause serious injury.
• Bestemianova & Bukin win the World title for the 3rd consecutive time. Their free dance, Cabaret, marked a change of direction for them, as summed by this article which says: In 1987 the duo went in a completely different direction with a comedic routine to music from “Cabaret.” Bestemianova recalled it was a fun year and gave them a different perspective. “It made training a lot easier especially leading up to the 1988 Games,” she said.

Here are the videos for the medal winning performances:-

MEN'S

Gold: Brian Orser (Canada)

Short Program, Free Skate, Exhibition, Medal Ceremony, Profile

Silver: Brian Boitano (USA)

Free Skate

Bronze: Alexander Fadeev (USSR)

Free Skate, Exhibition

4th: Vladimir Kotin (USSR)

Exhibition

6th: Viktor Petrenko (USSR)

Short Program

7th: Christopher Bowman (USA)

Short Program, Free Skate

LADIES

Gold: Katarina Witt (East Germany)

Short Program, Free Skate, Exhibition, Medal Ceremony

Silver: Debi Thomas (USA)

Short Program, Free Skate, Exhibition

Bronze: Caryn Kadavy (USA)

Short Program, Free Skate

4th: Elizabeth Manley (Canada)

Short Program, Free Skate

5th: Kira Ivanova (USSR)

Free Skate

6th: Claudia Leistner (West Germany)

Free Skate

7th: Jill Trenary (USA)

Short Program, Free Skate, Profile

8th: Midori Ito (Japan)

Short Program, Free Skate

9th: Anna Kondrashova (USSR)

Free Skate

10th: Joanne Conway (Great Britain)

Free Skate

PAIRS

Gold: Ekaterina Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov (USSR)

Short Program, Long Program

Silver: Elena Valova & Oleg Vasiliev (USSR)

Long Program

Bronze: Jill Watson & Peter Oppegard (USA)

Short Program, Long Program

ICE DANCE

Gold: Natalia Bestemianova & Andrei Bukin (USSR)

Free Dance

Silver: Marina Klimova & Sergei Ponomarenko (USSR)

Original Set Pattern, Free Dance, Exhibition

Bronze: Tracy Wilson & Robert McCall (Canada)

Free Dance

4th: Natalia Annenko & Genrikh Sretenski (USSR)

Free Dance

5th: Suzanne Semanick & Scott Gregory (USA)

Free Dance

[orbitz]

Were the judges too hard on Debi in the SP? The hand touch-down on the 2A didn't look that bad. Maybe they were punishing her for the music and outfit choice. Debi looked great in the unitard, and she had better body lines than Kat.

[Coco]

But who should she have been ahead of? It's a shame she was 7th, because everything else looked great.

[essence_of_soy]

But who should she have been ahead of? It's a shame she was 7th, because everything else looked great.

I believe Witt, Manley, Ito, Trenary, Kadavy and Ivanova all skated clean short programs.

Also, Debi lost the US Title to Trenary, so she may not have had the political clout coming into this event she should have, even as the defending World champion.

[The Accordion]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I had been a long time fan of Brian Orser's but forgot to watch that night because I was on a trip to Russia with my school! I woke up to a newspaper at my hotel door the next morning with a huge photo of Brian Orser and Gold! I was kicking myself! On another note - I ended up watching the freedance in my hotel with a bunch of the hotel staff in Moscow - me cheering for Wilson and McCall and them cheering for B and B! It was fun!

[bardtoob]

Retrospective moves onto the 1987 World Championships



6th: Viktor Petrenko (USSR)

Short Program

Wow! Look at that program construction . . . decent foot work content, decent field moves . . . and the judges rewarded it. If Johnny Weir would just mimic this program construction with some minor CoP tweeks, he would be competitive. I'm actually a little shocked that this type of program could have even come out of the Galina/Viktor camp . . . they must have been young and still had heart.

Despite my admiration, this will always be Midori's music.

[Alex Forrest]

But who should she have been ahead of? It's a shame she was 7th, because everything else looked great.

The top six were Witt, Manley, Ito (!!!!), Trenary, Kadavy, and Ivanova in the OP. I guess there can be an argument that even a clean Ivanova should not beat a faltering Thomas, but back then the OP was the kiss of death, well, usually. Thomas was repeating the Frankie Goes to Hollywood program, and I wasn't much of a fan of it.

Was this the competition that Boitano said he couldn't even walk until two days before the event? I can't remember if he used that as an excuse for his loss or if he had used that for his 86 win to enhance his own sense of self-mythology.

[skateboy]

Was this the competition that Boitano said he couldn't even walk until two days before the event? I can't remember if he used that as an excuse for his loss or if he had used that for his 86 win to enhance his own sense of self-mythology.

ROTFLMAO!!! I've always felt that way about him but never could have expressed it this perfectly!!

[judgejudy27]

I did not see the marks of Manley, Ivanova and Leistner (saw the performances of Manley and Ivanova). Wow the ordinals between Witt (1st), Ito (3rd), Trenary (4th), Kadavy (5th), and Thomas (7th) were all over the map. It would be great to see the ordinals for the whole short program event. It wouldnt surprise me if atleast 1 judge even had Witt lower than Leistner who came 8th in the short, lol! In that tight competition Thomas`s mistake would have hurt her alot. I dont agree on her beating Ivanova in the short, I thought Ivanova`s short was great and underplaced. I would have put Trenary down in 7th in the short (or 8th depending how Leistners clean skate looked). So probably 6th for Thomas, 1st without her mistake though. Witt did not deserve to win the short, it was one of her worst short programs ever IMO. Manley, Ito, Kadavy, should have all placed above, heck I might have had Ivanova higher than Witt in the short.

[briancoogaert]

I've watched the Ladies SP. What an impressive competition.
I think rankings could have been all different. I don't knowwhich rankings I would have had. Maybe not Witt in 1st, but I'm not fond of her skating. Well, the elements were good.

[Marco]

Looking back, I like Kadavy the most. Such elegance. Wonderful 3loop. Too bad she is obligated to pop at least one jump in every one of her long programs and compromising her results.

I definitely think she is better than Trenary as a free skater. Too bad she didn't stay an extra quad. If she had, perhaps Yamaguchi wouldn't focus on singles and Kerrigan wouldn't have risen so quickly.

[briancoogaert]

Looking back, I like Kadavy the most. Such elegance. Wonderful 3loop. Too bad she is obligated to pop at least one jump in every one of her long programs and compromising her results.

I definitely think she is better than Trenary as a free skater. Too bad she didn't stay an extra quad. If she had, perhaps Yamaguchi wouldn't focus on singles and Kerrigan wouldn't have risen so quickly.

I agree that Kadavy is a better overall skater than Trenary (and I like Trenary). But I'm not sur that in the next quad, she would have been that successful. Her 3Loop was gorgeous, but she didn't have more.

[orbitz]

Trenary's outfits and choreography (and hair ) look so dated, particularly in the SP.

Witt's SP choreography was a jumbled mess. Someone with extensive dance background might have been abled to pull off than frenetic choreography, but Witt didn't.

I've forgotten how charismatic and what a good skater Chris Bowman can be out on the ice. Sigh.

[floskate]

I have all the ladies SP's on tape somewhere. Pity this thread didn't come up last week which was my half term break and I was sick. A little maths with the marks would have whiled away a lovely afternoon reminiscing. Maybe I'll get round to it one day, but this was one of my favourite Worlds and very well skated right down the ranks. Because there is access to every performance by every skater in the competition - minus figures, you can really appreciate the depth that appeared here. There were some terrific men's performances lower down the ranks from the likes of a young Petr Barna and Grzegorz Filipowski.

[gkelly]

I think I have all the men's long programs on tape from various sources. When I got hold of the ones that weren't broadcast in the US, mostly skaters I'd never seen or even heard of before, I sat down and tried to judge them as I understood 1980s judging from a 1990s fan perspective.

The first skater was one of the Japanese guys, I think Makato Kano, and IIRC he skated a clean LP with one of each triple including triple axel, and he seemed to have good speed and flow. Based on what I expected for 1980s jump content, my first thought for scores was 5.6/5.4, which is not leaving much room with 23 skaters yet to go. Yes, I was a little high, but I think one judge did go there, or at least one to 5.4/5.4.

That performance was actually a highlight (although some of the others were more artistic) until Barna, who didn't have the axel.

[BmcC102]

Man, I am SUCH a fan of Debi's SP from this year! Up until the 2 axel, I thought it was awesome.
I love that she started with her combination spin; talk about nice camel and sit spin positions, and the variations she added were appropriate to the music, not RANDOM point getters. IMO, skaters should have to do the 'basic' positions first before adding variations, especially in the SP.

I also miss footwork sequences that had definite patterns, with the serpentine being my favorite.

I think we need to go back to the 80s style of SPs with different elements being required each year. I know they do this on the junior level, but I think it's a great idea for Senior level too. I would LOVE to see forward flying sit spins, flying reverse change sits, etc..

[judgejudy27]

Looking back, I like Kadavy the most. Such elegance. Wonderful 3loop. Too bad she is obligated to pop at least one jump in every one of her long programs and compromising her results.

I definitely think she is better than Trenary as a free skater. Too bad she didn't stay an extra quad. If she had, perhaps Yamaguchi wouldn't focus on singles and Kerrigan wouldn't have risen so quickly.

Kadavy would have never stopped Kristi long term. Kristi had a full arsenal of triples and Kadavy never would have, plus Kadavy was far too fragile a competitor, and was never a big name to the USFSA, even Trenary (rightly or wrongly) always had more support.

[Marco]

I agree that Kadavy is a better overall skater than Trenary (and I like Trenary). But I'm not sur that in the next quad, she would have been that successful. Her 3Loop was gorgeous, but she didn't have more.

She probably could get harder triples given her relatively good technique. By the time she retired from competitive skating she had only competed for a few years internationally and was still quite young. If Trenary could win a World title in that quad so could she.

[Marco]

I've forgotten how charismatic and what a good skater Chris Bowman can be out on the ice. Sigh.

THIS. He was wonderful.

As a skater I think he was even better than Boitano.

[zilam98]

i just wish g/g skated to "giselle" for their lp--the way the steiglers did in 1998--instead of that jazzy piece. not a big fan of the latter piece of music. tiffany steigler in that lp was about the same age as katia was in 87, so katia would've been more than capable of pulling off such a program. and katia wouldve been so cute in a giselle costume!