Retrospective: The 1990 World Championships

[Maofan7]

Retrospective moves onto the 1990 World Championships

The Key facts in relation to these championships were:-

• Kurt Browning retains the world title he won for the first time the previous season. Petrenko actually won the short program (known as the 'original program' back then), with Browning 2nd. This left Petrenko in 1st place overall entering the free program, with Browning back in 2nd. However, a good long program (which contained some errors) from Browning meant that he won both the free skate and the title. He was scheduled to do a 4T in his FS, but went for a 3T+2T combination instead. Other highlights from the program included a 3A+2R combination. Bowman was in 5th place overall after the short program, but a good free skate moved him up to 3rd to take the bronze.
  
  
• Jill Trenary wins the world title. Midori Ito was the reigning world champion going into the championships, but effectively lost her title during the compulsories, in which she finished 10th. Despite Ito winning the short and free program segments, it was not quite enough, and she finished 2nd overall. Nevertheless, Trenary almost clutched defeat from the jaws of victory with a very poor short program (she finished 5th in that segment), but unlike during the previous world championships, she held her nerve during the long program (finishing 2nd in that segment) to take the world title. Trenary missed most of the 1990/91 season due to a serious ankle injury, and therefore missed the 1991 world championships. Unfortunately, the injury took a long time to mend and prevented her from regaining her previous form in time for 1992 nationals, where she needed to be competitive to qualify for the 1992 Olympics. This, in combination with the elimination of compulsory figures (which were key to her winning the 1990 World Championships), led her to make the decision to retire in December 1991.
  
  
• The 1989/90 season was the last season in which compulsory figures featured
  
  
  
• Ekaterina Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov win their 4th world title. Gordeeva had been having problems with her jumps throughout the season due to body changes (they had been 3rd entering the free skate at Europeans due to a poor SP, but a better LP enabled them to take the European title), and although their Romeo & Juliet (Tchaikovsky) LP was not clean, they did enough to retain their world title. It was their last competition before retiring for the first time. They would make a successful comeback during the 1993/94 season, in which they would win a 2nd Olympic title and a 5th world title.
  
  
• Natalia Mishkutenok & Artur Dmitriev take part at worlds for the first time, winning the bronze medal. Following Gordeeva & Grinkov's retirement, they would go on to win the world title for the next 2 seasons and win the Olympic title at the 1992 Olympics.
  
  
• Marina Klimova & Sergei Ponomarenko retain the world title which they had won for the first time the previous season. Their My Fair Lady FD was quite simply brilliant. They had a large lead going into the FD, but they finished 2nd to the Duchesnay's in the FD phase of the competition (the Duchesnay's were given five 6.0's for their FD). Nevertheless, their lead going into that segment was enough to enable them to win overall.

Here are the videos for the medal winning performances:-

MEN'S

Gold: Kurt Browning (Canada)

Short Program, Free Skate, Exhibition 1, Exhibition 2, Interview

Silver: Viktor Petrenko (USSR)

Short Program, Free Skate, Exhibition, Interview

Bronze: Christopher Bowman (USA)

Short Program, Free Skate, Exhibition, Profile, Interview

4th: Grzegorz Filipowski (Poland)

Free Skate, Exhibition

5th: Todd Eldredge (USA)

Short Program, Free Skate, Exhibition

6th: Petr Barna (Czechoslovakia)

Short Program, Free Skate

7th: Richard Zander (West Germany)

Short Program, Free Skate

8th: Viacheslav Zagorodniuk (USSR)

Short Program, Free Skate

9th: Elvis Stojko (Canada)

Short Program, Free Skate

10th: Paul Wylie (USA)

Free Skate

11th: Michael Slipchuk (Canada)

Short Program, Free Skate

12th: Cameron Medhurst (Australia)

Free Skate

13th: Oliver Höner (Switzerland)

Free Skate

14th: Philippe Candeloro (France)

Free Skate

15th: Jung Sung-Il (South Korea)

Free Skate

16th: Alessandro Riccitelli (Italy)

Free Skate

17th: András Száraz (Hungary)

Free Skate

18th: Steven Cousins (Great Britain)

Free Skate

19th: Ralph Burghart (Austria)

Free Skate

20th: Oula Jääskeläinen (Finland)

Free Skate



LADIES

Gold: Jill Trenary (USA)

Compulsory Figures, Short Program, Free Skate, Profile, Preview

Silver: Midori Ito (Japan)

Short Program, Free Skate, Exhibition, Profile

Bronze: Holly Cook (USA)

Short Program, Free Skate, Exhibition

4th: Kristi Yamaguchi (USA)

Free Skate, Exhibition, Profile

5th: Natalia Lebedeva (USSR)

Short Program, Free Skate

6th: Lisa Sargeant (Canada)

Short Program, Free Skate

7th: Patricia Neske (West Germany)

Short Program, Free Skate

8th: Evelyn Grossmann (East Germany)

Short Program, Free Skate

9th: Surya Bonaly (France)

Short Program, Free Skate

10th: Marina Kielmann (West Germany)

Short Program, Free Skate

11th: Tamara Téglássy (Hungary)

Short Program, Free Skate

13th: Beatrice Gelmini (Italy)

Short Program

14th: Yuka Sato (Japan)

Free Skate

15th: Tanja Krienke (East Germany)

Free Skate

16th: Sabine Contini (Italy)

Free Skate

18th: Zeljka Cizmesija (Yugoslavia)

Short Program

19th: Helene Persson (Sweden)

Free Skate

20th: Anisette Torp-Lind (Denmark)

Free Skate



PAIRS

Gold: Ekaterina Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov (USSR)

Short Program, Long Program, Exhibition, Medal Ceremony, Profile

Silver: Isabelle Brasseur & Lloyd Eisler (Canada)

Short Program, Long Program, Interview

Bronze: Natalia Mishkutenok & Artur Dmitriev (USSR)

Short Program, Long Program, Exhibition

4th: Larisa Selezneva & Oleg Makarov (USSR)

Short Program, Long Program

5th: Kristi Yamaguchi & Rudy Galindo (USA)

Short Program, Long Program

6th: Christine Hough & Doug Ladret (Canada)

Short Program, Long Program

7th: Mandy Wötzel & Axel Rauschenbach (East Germany)

Long Program

8th: Radka Kovaříková & René Novotný (Czechoslovakia)

Short Program, Long Program

9th: Cindy Landry & Lyndon Johnston (Canada)

Short Program, Long Program

10th: Peggy Schwarz & Alexander König (East Germany)

Short Program, Long Program

11th: Natasha Kuchiki & Todd Sand (USA)

Short Program, Free Skate

12th: Anuschka Gläser & Stefan Pfrengle (West Germany)

Short Program

13th: Sharon Carz & Doug Williams (USA)

Short Program, Long Program

15th: Catherine Barker & Michael Aldred (Great Britain)

Short Program



ICE DANCE

Gold: Marina Klimova & Sergei Ponomarenko (USSR)

OSP, Free Dance, Medal Ceremony

Silver: Isabelle Duchesnay & Paul Duchesnay (France)

OSP, Free Dance

Bronze: Maya Usova & Alexander Zhulin (USSR)

OSP, Free Dance, Exhibition

4th: Susan Wynne & Joseph Druar (USA)

Free Dance

5th: Oksana Grishuk & Evgeni Platov (USSR)

Free Dance

6th: Susanna Rahkamo & Petri Kokko (Finland)

Free Dance

7th: Jo Anne Borlase & Martin Smith (Canada)

OSP, Free Dance

9th: Michelle McDonald & Mark Mitchell (Canada)

OSP, Free Dance

10th: Stefania Calegari & Pasquale Camerlengo (Italy)

Free Dance

11th: Ivana Strondalova & Milan Brzy (Czechoslovakia)

Free Dance

12th: Isabelle Sarech & Xavier Debernis (France)

Free Dance

14th: Anna Croci & Luca Mantovani (Italy)

Free Dance

16th: Regina Woodward & Csaba Szentpéteri (Hungary)

Free Dance

17th: Lynn Burton & Andrew Place (Great Britain)

OSP, Free Dance

19th: Kaoru Takino & Kenji Takino (Japan)

Free Dance

[DORISPULASKI]

This brings back memories of singing Oh canada with a group of Canadians when Kurt won, and the Canadians singing the Star Spangled Banner with us when Kurt won.

Jill's SP was had a strange combo of music cuts, My Old Kentucky Home & the theme they played for the Olympics?

Something we didn't know at the event shows up in the video, the famous firing of Chris Bowman by Frank; that rechoreographed LP was the last straw. Chris went to Toller Cranston the following year, and it wasn't good for either of them.

Re the FD: No one who was at that event really was going to remember My Fair Lady; the stunning performance was without doubt, the Duchesnay's Missing I. In fact, for audience impact, Wynne & Druar's tap dance was a more entertaining musical theater piece. Usova & Zhulin had a similar problem; Rahkamo & Kokko's was a much more dangerous and memorable Street Apache tangoy sort of dance.

I think this was the event that pushed K&P to rethink what they were skating to. Their 1991 & 1992 programs were not just technically excellent, they were beautiful & memorable in every way. My Fair Lady IMO was totally forgettable, and at the time, felt distinctly old fashioned, and not in a retro good way.

Re the OSP, the Duchesnays was not very good at all; Klimova's was much better. And the Duchesnay's CD's were always rather lacking, so the right couple won, but I would hardly call the K&P FD routine stunning, just very well done.

[Dave of the North]

Toller Cranston did an (in)famous commentary before the event where he slagged Kurt for being under-trained, not skating well, wasn't going to win etc. Hyperbole as only Toller can do hyperbole.

At that time men could do two TA's in the short, and Kurt's second jump was supposed to be a TA, but he only did a double. But then he did a TA at the very end of the program, which was pretty amazing then (would still be amazing now).

Maritime Tel&Tel, the phone company, to promote the event put a picture of a skating pair on the cover of the phone book. There was a controversy because some people thought the lady's skirt was too short, so they revamped the cover to have a longer skirt on the lady.

[skatesindreams]

I think this was the event that pushed K&P to rethink what they were skating to. Their 1991 & 1992 programs were not just technically excellent, they were beautiful & memorable in every way. My Fair Lady IMO was totally forgettable, and at the time, felt distinctly old fashioned, and not in a retro good way.

At the time, I remember thinking/feeling that "My Fair Lady" was unworthy of their ability.
The years haven't changed that.

[manhn]

My Fair Lady is K&P's masterpiece, IMO.

[robinhood]

I loved My Fair Lady too. I think after their Bach program and their Latin medley (85, 86?) it's my favorite free dance of theirs. Missing was a masterpiece. But because of the music, and the artistic impact. The actual skating content was nowhere near the other russian couples

It was probably Midori's best performance of all time. She was such a trooper, a pioneer in all the senses and the best Sheherezade of all time, imho.

Pairs and men were not as exciting for me, although both shorts program of Viktor and Kurt were definite highlights.
One of the best world championships for sure, and the canadian audience was great

In context, I dunno if the removal of figures was beneficial for the skaters. It led to many top flight skaters with very questionable skating skills and/or jumping technique over the course of the years

[Vash01]

The pairs result was controversial. G&G won, despite a couple of mistakes- one of them a major one. M&D should probably have won, but artistically they had not yet come into their own, and the LP music did not suit them. B&E had a good skate too. G&G's superior skating skills and perfect pair elements may have convinced the judges to place them higher than the other two pairs that skated clean. However, there was a strong disagreement about the results and G&G turned pro after these wolds.

Todd Eldredge, as an 18 year old had a very good competition, with a 3A3t combination which was the hardest jump combination those days.

K&P skated a wonderful FD to My Fair Lady but the commentators were luke warm toward them while praising Dushenays' 'Missing' FD. Actually 'Missing' is one of my favorite FDs because of its emotional appeal, but it's not fair to completely downplay the technical perfection of K&P.

The performance that impressed me the most was Midori's LP skate.

[TheIronLady]

Todd Eldredge, as an 18 year old had a very good competition, with a 3A3t combination which was the hardest jump combination those days.

It would be great if more men today could achieve the quality of 3A of men from that era.

[Maofan7]

The performance that impressed me the most was Midori's LP skate.

The final ever world championships with compulsory figures certainly had a sting in the tail for Midori and the school figures were certainly her nemesis, effectively costing her any real chance of successfully defending her title. She almost fell part way through one of the figures and Sports Illustrated stated that: "Ito's tracings resembled the Santa Fe railroad." Hence, the reason why she only finished 10th in that phase of the competition.

[judgejudy27]

Ito was probably held up to even be 10th in figures but thank goodness she was as her winning any less than silver at those Championships with her historic free skates would have caused an even bigger uproar. That event definitely proved why figures had to go, and couldnt stay around as even a small part of the scoring at World competition anymore. It was just too big an audience sport. I do wish they would still have them required more often for testing purposes and perhaps at competitions of the Nationals level or below or something, although not in World or Olympic competition anymore. There are still some drawbacks to the current sport from not having skaters grown up training figures IMO.

[judgejudy27]

The Duchenays hit their peak in 1990 IMO. Each of their programs from 88 onwards grew in creative and artistic brilliance and their 1990 FD was their ultimate high. I actually was fine with them winning the FD portion of those Worlds over the technically superior Klimova & Ponomarenko, although K&P definitely deserved their overall win. The Duchensays went downhill after that IMO, and their 91 and 92 programs (both OD and FD) did not live up to their 88-90 artistic standards and in fact were mostly generic, while still being behind the Russians technically to boot, and IMO they rode their reputation built up from previous years to their undeserved 91 and 92 level of success. K&P meanwhile used the loss in the FD at the 1990 Worlds as a catalyst and led to their innovative 91 routines, and their Masterpieces of 92.

[Vash01]

The Duchenays hit their peak in 1990 IMO. Each of their programs from 88 onwards grew in creative and artistic brilliance and their 1990 FD was their ultimate high. I actually was fine with them winning the FD portion of those Worlds over the technically superior Klimova & Ponomarenko, although K&P definitely deserved their overall win. The Duchensays went downhill after that IMO, and their 91 and 92 programs (both OD and FD) did not live up to their 88-90 artistic standards and in fact were mostly generic, while still being behind the Russians technically to boot, and IMO they rode their reputation built up from previous years to their undeserved 91 and 92 level of success. K&P meanwhile used the loss in the FD at the 1990 Worlds as a catalyst and led to their innovative 91 routines, and their Masterpieces of 92.

K&P did not lose 1990 worlds. They won with their My Fair Lady FD. They lost the 91 world title due to Marina's failed drug test (but she passed the second drug test) and the time lost due to it, plus whatever mental anguish they must have endured at that time, but that was in 1991.

I don't totally agree that the Dushenays went downhill after 1990. They were still very good artistically in 1991, but they skated the same FD (Missing) and won with it. It was in 1992 that they compromised their creativity and selected more traditional music (Sound of music for OD and West side story for FD) and lost their only advantage (creativity) over K&P. OTOH K&P -as you correctly said- became more innovative and artistic, and their routines became even more challenging technically. In 1990 they were perfect technically, but more traditional artistically.

[pollyanna]

The Duchenays hit their peak in 1990 IMO. Each of their programs from 88 onwards grew in creative and artistic brilliance and their 1990 FD was their ultimate high. I actually was fine with them winning the FD portion of those Worlds over the technically superior Klimova & Ponomarenko, although K&P definitely deserved their overall win. The Duchensays went downhill after that IMO, and their 91 and 92 programs (both OD and FD) did not live up to their 88-90 artistic standards and in fact were mostly generic, while still being behind the Russians technically to boot, and IMO they rode their reputation built up from previous years to their undeserved 91 and 92 level of success. K&P meanwhile used the loss in the FD at the 1990 Worlds as a catalyst and led to their innovative 91 routines, and their Masterpieces of 92.

I actually quite liked their original Free Dance in 1991, the one performed at Europeans called Reflections (despite the fall on the ending move after the music ended). For whatever reason, perhaps as Robin Cousins says, the judges found it too avant garde, and they scrapped it and threw together Missing II. I agree with you that Missing II was inferior - too bad they won their one World title with a rip-off program.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

K&P did not lose 1990 worlds. They won with their My Fair Lady FD. They lost the 91 world title due to Marina's failed drug test (but she passed the second drug test) and the time lost due to it, plus whatever mental anguish they must have endured at that time, but that was in 1991.

Judgejudy27 meant that K&P lost the FD portion to the Duschenays in 1990 while still winning the title overall. That part is true.

Pollyanna,

I think the issue with Reflection wasn't only the judge's feedback, but the lukewarm (for them) audience reception to Reflection. The Duschenays knew that the only chance they had to beat the technically superior Russian teams was to have extreme audience support behind them like they did in 1990 when Missing was undeniable.

I really liked Reflections a lot and it was an excellent concept. However, it was more subdued than what the audiences were used to most likely after their Savage Rites FD of 1988 and their Eleanor Rigby FD in 1990, and they didn't seem as enthusiastic. It made sense for them to go back to a proven routine in which the audience and judges supported, albeit a re-choreographed version with a few of the new moves from Reflections thrown in.

I always thought their World title in 1991 was sort of a make-up in order to reward them for 1990. Once K&P opened the door after the CD, the judges seemed to take advantage and placed them in third after a clean OD. I know U&Z's Summertime OD was a brilliant showcase of the Blues and the Duschenay's Blues was popular and angsty, but I still don't get why K&P were underscored in the OD as I thought their Blues was both difficult and an excellent interpretation. Maybe it was Klimova's Madonna costume they marked down.

Also, was Bowman's LP really THAT improvised or different choreographically from what was planned?

[DORISPULASKI]

I believe the the second last jump became a combination and he threw in the final 3t entirely. I don't know whether anything else was just thrown in.

But I will say that for the SP Frank gave Chris the most gawdawful SP to Indian Love Cal or some such music with every stereotypical kid's cowboys & Indians move in the bookl; if that was an example of Frank's choreo, it might be a good thing if Chris changed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf_NkIRbyJ0

Apparently Frank had skated to this music when he was an amateur.

[TheIronLady]

Was Frank in the Village People?

[VIETgrlTerifa]

I believe the the second last jump became a combination and he threw in the final 3t entirely. I don't know whether anything else was just thrown in.

But I will say that for the SP Frank gave Chris the most gawdawful SP to Indian Love Cal or some such music with every stereotypical kid's cowboys & Indians move in the bookl; if that was an example of Frank's choreo, it might be a good thing if Chris changed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf_NkIRbyJ0

Apparently Frank had skated to this music when he was an amateur.

That whole routine is just so inappropriate on different levels that I can't help but just laugh at it now. It should be included in the Hooker on Smack thread.

[TheIronLady]

It was method acting if hooker on smack was the theme.

[olympic]

Did Chris Bowman ever land a clean 3x?

[Tak]

The most memorable skate for me, at 90 Worlds was a rarely mentioned skate by fourth place finisher.
After OP, uninformed Midori fans like me, were certain Midori will win, since there was NO way Jill could beat Kristi in free skate.
Kristi was strong toe jumper as well as being outstanding artistic free skater.

Imagine my surprise and dismay when Kristi fell on TWO toe jumps (one of them was a toe loop!), and then even had a near fall exiting a spin.

This performance exemplify what I have since called "Low beam" skating. IMHO, Kristi could not skate up to her immense potential since that would have meant a fellow USA team member losing the Championship. A skater performing below her skill level is the essence of "Low beam" skating. Kristi shows how to do it gracefully in her free skate, IMHO.

The next year, as I joined full standing ovation for Kristi's "Samson and Delilah" at Munich, I could not help muttering "Where the heck were you last year!"