Retrospective: The 1988 World Championships

[Maofan7]

Retrospective moves on to the 1988 World Championships.

The key facts in relation to these championships are:-

• As is usually the case at the end of each quadrennium, these championships would be the final competition for many of the participants, including in this case, Boitano, Orser, Witt, Manley, Thomas, Valova & Vasiliev, and Bestemianova & Bukin
  
  
• Kurt Browning lands the first ever ratified 4T in his LP
  
  
• Brian Boitano followed up his 1988 Olympic win, by winning his 2nd and final world title. Brian Orser was the defending world champion coming into this competition. However, he finished 5th in the compulsories and 2nd in the short program, thereby leaving himself with far too much to do to catch Boitano (who led entering the free skate). Hence, despite winning the free skate section with an excellent long program, which earned him three 6.0's, Orser finished 2nd overall again. Boitano attempted a 4T in his FS, but had a step out on a 2 footed landing.
  
  
• Katerina witt ended her amateur career at these championships by winning her 4th world title (to add to her 2 Olympic titles). Her nemesis throughout her career had been the compulsories, and low finishes in that section had cost her both the 1982 and 1983 world titles (that is, her scores in the SP & FS were such that she would have won those world titles had there been no compulsories). However, unusually, in these championships, she actually won the compulsories, and a 2nd placed finish in the SP (won by Thomas), meant that she led going into the LP. She then won the FS section with her Carmen LP, to take the title.
  
  
• Ekaterina Gordeeva was ill with a head cold during these championships. However, Gordeeva & Grinkov managed to lead entering the LP. Nevertheless, during the FS, Ekaterina fell on a throw triple salchow, which allowed Valova & Vasiliev to overtake them and take the title
  
  
• Bestemianova & Bukin win their 4th consecutive world title, to add to their 1988 Olympic title.

Here are the videos in relation to the medal winning performances:-

MEN'S

Gold: Brian Boitano (USA)

Short Program, Free Skate

Silver: Brian Orser (Canada)

Short Program, Free Skate, Exhibition, Interview

Bronze: Viktor Petrenko (USSR)

Short Program, Free Skate

4th: Grzegorz Filipowski (Poland)

Short Program, Free Skate

5th: Christopher Bowman (USA)

Short Program, Free Skate

6th: Kurt Browning (Canada)

Short Program, Free Skate, Interview

7th: Heiko Fischer (West Germany)

Short Program



LADIES

Gold: Katarina Witt (East Germany)

Short Program, Free Skate, Medal Ceremony, Interview

Silver: Elizabeth Manley (Canada)

Short Program, Free Skate, Interview

Bronze: Debi Thomas (USA)

Short Program, Free Skate, Exhibition, Profile

4th: Claudia Leistner (West Germany)

Free Skate

5th: Jill Trenary (USA)

Short Program, Free Skate

6th: Midori Ito (Japan)

Short Program, Free Skate, Exhibition

7th: Caryn Kadavy (USA)

Short Program, Free Skate



PAIRS

Gold: Elena Valova & Oleg Vasiliev (USSR)

Short Program, Long Program

Silver: Ekaterina Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov (USSR)

Short Program, Long Program

Bronze: Larisa Selezneva & Oleg Makarov (USSR)

Short Program, Long Program

4th: Gillian Wachsman & Todd Waggoner (USA)

Long Program

5th: Denise Benning & Lyndon Johnston (Canada)

Short Program, Long Program

6th: Jill Watson & Peter Oppegard (USA)

Long Program

7th: Isabelle Brasseur & Lloyd Eisler (Canada)

Short Program, Long Program

9th: Christine Hough & Doug Ladret (Canada)

Short Program, Long Program



ICE DANCE

Gold: Natalia Bestemianova & Andrei Bukin (USSR)

Original Set Pattern, Free Dance

Silver: Marina Klimova & Sergei Ponomarenko (USSR)

Original Set Pattern, Free Dance

Bronze: Tracy Wilson & Robert McCall (Canada)

Original Set Pattern, Free Dance, Exhibition, Interview

4th: Natalia Annenko & Genrikh Sretenski (USSR)

Free Dance

5th: Kathrin Beck & Christoff Beck (Austria)

Free Dance

6th: Isabelle Duchesnay & Paul Duchesnay (France)

Original Set Pattern, Free Dance

[Vash01]

Kurt Browning skated a clean LP to the Grand Canyon suite rest of the way, thus establishing himself as a skater to watch in the next quadrennium. He won the next 3 world championships (89,90,91) and one more (in 93).

IIRC Browning landed the first quad (toe loop) in a competition. He had a turnout on the landing but the judges ratified it. Does anyone have a yt of Josef Sabovcek's quad landed in 1984 or 85 or 86? It was not ratified.

By the time Boitano took the ice, Browning had already landed a quad, so Boitano could not be the first one to land it, but he really wanted to land a quad in a competition, so he went for it but underrotated and 2-footed it. It did not affect the rest of his program though. It wasn't as great as in Calgary, but still good enough to place 2nd in the LP, which was enough to win him the gold.

Christopher Bowman had a fanstastic free skate to Hangarian Rhapsody. He established himself as the next one, after Boitano's retirement. He won the silver at the next worlds (89)

Valova-Vasiliev's LP performance was perhaps their best ever. I really liked it. I was happy that they regained their world title in their last eligible appearance.

Brian Orser's LP was one for the ages. It was nice to see him finish on a high note. If not for the compulsories, Orser would have won the 1984 OGM and the 1988 world championship.

Oddly Midori was not as perfect as in the Olympics, but still better than most of the ladies. She was the future of ladies skating -and the next world champion- and we could see why, in 1988.

Rest of the results were almost a repeat of the 1988 Olympics. Those days Olympic medal winners did compete in world championships just one month later.

[bardtoob]

By the time Boitano took the ice, Browning had already landed a quad, so Boitano could not be the first one to land it, but he really wanted to land a quad in a competition . . .

I think, at that time, the ISU granted recognition to multiple skaters if they performed in the same portion of the same competition because multiple skaters can not share the ice at the same time and the higher ranked skaters would be at a disadvantage for entering the record books because they skate at the end of competitions . . . I think it might still be this way.

ETA Ever time I look at the footage of Boitano's attempt, I see a fully rotated 4T/1Lp. I don't think the 1Lp was intentional, but the jump pass does look like it has single-footed landings with no step out.

[briancoogaert]

I think, at that time, the ISU granted recognition to multiple skaters if they performed in the same portion of the same competition because multiple skaters can not share the ice at the same time and the higher ranked skaters would be at a disadvantage for entering the record books because they skate at the end of competitions . . . I think it might still be this way.

ETA Ever time I look at the footage of Boitano's attempt, I see a fully rotated 4T/1Lp. I don't think the 1Lp was intentional, but the jump pass does look like it has single-footed landings with no step out.

I see a 2-footed quad and it seems Brian didn't know what to do wth his free leg, so, he did this 1Loop after that. Very minded ! But to me, the quad is 2-footed.
Anyway, it's not as if Kurt Browning's quad was perfectly clean !

[Vash01]

Boitano definitely underrotated the quad by 1/2 turn.

[Maofan7]

Does anyone have a yt of Josef Sabovcek's quad landed in 1984 or 85 or 86? It was not ratified.

Sabovcik attempted the 4T in his LP at the 1986 European Championships. Here is a YT link to it. It was recognised as a 4T at the championships, but declared invalid 3 weeks later due to a touchdown with his free foot

[Vash01]

Sabovcik attempted the 4T in his LP at the 1986 European Championships. Here is a YT link to it. It was recognised as a 4T at the championships, but declared invalid 3 weeks later due to a touchdown with his free foot

Thanks for the link! I think the ISU is correct. He two-footed the jump- but it was only a slight scrape-, so it could not be ratified. However, Kurt's quad should not have been ratified either because he had a turnout on the landing. He did complete the 4 rotations and landed on one foot. May be that was good enough, according to the rules. Since then we have seen wonderful quads. If not for these pioneers and another one (Stojko who even did it in combination), we might not have seen the quads as part of FS. Kudos to them for being the first ones.

[Lainerb]

I guess I mostly just notice the mullets.

[olympic]

Didn't Boitano have a big flip out on the landing of his Quad? I'm sorry. I'm at work and can't watch the video.

I thought ladies were generally less exciting than Calgary - Ivanova didn't compete, right? Debi had almost the same mistakes in the LP as at Calgary. Liz had a wild landing on her 3z (I thought she was going to splat), and had a 2-foot on another triple. Kat doubled 2 triples (loop and sal) and a pop on an axel I think. Trenary splatted on her opening 3flip but was otherwise OK. Kadavy bombed. Ito was really hot and cold, too. Leistner did pretty well for herself, though!

[alfongsucks]

wow I never knew that Kadvey competed in those worlds. I thought she had an ovarian cyst after having been sick at the Olympics.

[Alex Forrest]

Well, this was a typical post-Olympics Worlds. For the men, only Orser gave a championship performance IMO. For the women, Manley and Thomas had gold in their hands and threw it away (and WHAT was up with Witt winning compulsories???). Trenary wasn't so bad, and Ito was below perfect but was still strong. The pairs, well, good for V/V for ending their career on a high note, and good for Wachsman and Waggoner for a surprisingly good performance.

As for Boitano's quad, well, it looked OKAY. A two foot, plus that TADA on the single loop landing, which he always seemed to do if he flubbed a jump, just TADA a single loop or 2sal. uggh. Plus for a 24 y/o man, his presentation was quite pedestrian and stiff.

[Maofan7]

Well, this was a typical post-Olympics Worlds. For the men, only Orser gave a championship performance IMO. For the women, Manley and Thomas had gold in their hands and threw it away (and WHAT was up with Witt winning compulsories???). Trenary wasn't so bad, and Ito was below perfect but was still strong. The pairs, well, good for V/V for ending their career on a high note, and good for Wachsman and Waggoner for a surprisingly good performance.

As for Boitano's quad, well, it looked OKAY. A two foot, plus that TADA on the single loop landing, which he always seemed to do if he flubbed a jump, just TADA a single loop or 2sal. uggh. Plus for a 24 y/o man, his presentation was quite pedestrian and stiff.

Whilst it was pretty typical of a post Olympic worlds in that almost everybody was down on their Olympic form, one of the things I liked about these Worlds was that at least, unlikely many post Olympic world championships since, all of the Olympic champions attended.

[briancoogaert]

Whilst it was pretty typical of a post Olympic worlds in that almost everybody was down on their Olympic form, one of the things I liked about these Worlds was that at least, unlikely many post Olympic world championships since, all of the Olympic champions attended.

And almost the exact same podium. lol

[bardtoob]

I see a 2-footed quad and it seems Brian didn't know what to do wth his free leg, so, he did this 1Loop after that. Very minded ! But to me, the quad is 2-footed.
Anyway, it's not as if Kurt Browning's quad was perfectly clean !

The ISU really did not like two-footed jumps back then. Such a difference from now with the IJS!

Kurt's was not perfectly clean, but it was about as clean as Vern Taylor's 3A at 1978 Worlds.

[Maofan7]

wow I never knew that Kadvey competed in those worlds. I thought she had an ovarian cyst after having been sick at the Olympics.

She was forced to withdraw from the Olympic LP due to flu. The problem with the ovarian cyst did not come until well after the 1988 World Championships, with the cyst being removed in December 1988. A stress fracture to her right ankle a few weeks later, then forced her to pull out of 1989 U.S. Nationals. She then retired and turned professional

[Vash01]

Caryn Kadavy really blossomed as a pro skater. She was always a lovely, graceful skater. The pro scene did not have the pressure of doing many triple jumps and Caryn really brought the beauty of her skating to the scene. I think touring with Brian Boitano also helped her a lot in terms of building her confidence. She is one of my all time favorite skaters.

[Maofan7]

One additional fact that I have just remembered is that Katarina Witt's parents were able to attend a world championships for the very first time at these championships. The East German government had refused to allow her parents to leave the country to attend a World Championships that were held in the west, fearing their defection. However, as these championships were held in Hungary, they were permitted to attend.

[Vash01]

One additional fact that I have just remembered is that Katarina Witt's parents were able to attend a world championships for the very first time at these championships. The East German government had refused to allow her parents to leave the country to attend a World Championships that were held in the west, fearing their defection. However, as these championships were held in Hungary, they were permitted to attend.

I remember the commentator mentioning that, and the camera even caught their faces. How nice for them to finally watch their daughter compete!

[Maofan7]

Sports Illustrated Article

[Maofan7]

And almost the exact same podium. lol

If Ekaterina Gordeeva had not come down with a cold/flu, G&G would probably have won and then it would have been the exact same winners in all 4 disciplines.