Here are some examples that come to mind for me:
1995 worlds pairs Woetzel Steuer- They had just won the Europeans in a controversial 5-4 split over Kovarikova/Novotny, and were 2nd coming into the long here. Kovarikova/Novotny who were leading had mistakes, while Shishkova/Naumov the defending World Champions had skated cleanly but their marks werent that high and they were 2nd. They had a great shot of winning especialy as they had just beaten K/N at Europeans where they skated much better than they just had here. They had an epic meltdown, and yet were still in contention for bronze after their skate only due to Meno/Sand being 5th after the short, but Eltsova/Bushkov slotted between them after their skate, dropping them to 5th place. I count 6 obvious mistakes in this program- stepping out of the triple toe, bad fall on the double axel, two footed throw double axel, her stumbling on the little jumps into the double loops, badly messed up double loop by her, then stumbling badly in the last footwork sequence. Mandy look petrified with utter fear and terror the entire skate for some reason. She was always a nervy and erratic competitor, but this is the biggest collapse under pressure of her whole career I believe. Here are two different networks showing the performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrYiDrEfGfw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ue6UJNTK0
And LOL at some of those marks, 5.6s for technical merit. Just imagine if this were an unknown team or even a mid pack team instead of the reigning European Champions.
2. Kerrigan at the 1993 worlds- She was the leader after the short, and while there was probably already some question if she could win as she had never done a decent long program in competition her whole career really. I had never seen her do one with more than 4 triples up to that point (although she did numerous ones in her final season of 93-94 when she finally got her act together) and already Bauil had done a perfect skate with 5, Bonaly had done a clean skate with 7, and Lu Chen had done a clean skate with 6 and 2 lutzes. She still was considered the favorite. She had such an epic meltdown, probably her worst long program ever with only 2 triple toes, that she came a lowly 9th in the long (would be 10th if Josee didnt bomb right after) and only came a very lucky 5th due to winning the short and how the cummulative points barely kept her ahead of several others. It is kind of ridiculous due to an ordinal flip from one ridiculous 6th place ordinal for a dumb judge to Josee and her 2 triple skate right after, someone like Karen Preston who landed 6 triples to Nancy's and who had passed her into 5th place even from 7th after the short, dropped from 5th to 8th, gifting Nancy the rise back up to 5th
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Sk7yBYl8c
This was the start of the wake up call that helped Nancy for the Olympics. The whack being the other. It also probably cost her the Olympic Gold as her reputation sank like a stone after her showing her, and Baiul now suddenly became the clear favorite for the Olympic Gold giving her a strong advantage over Nancy. Like Mandy Woetzel at the 95 worlds she looks absolutely paralyzed with fear, even her opening position she looks like she wants to die and it is almost clear she finds the pressure unbearable and wont be able to cope.
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71j523P23Ig Alexander Fadeev 1986 Worlds. Fadeev was the defending World Champion and leader going into the long program. After winning figures and finishing 1st or 2nd in the short program (I forget which) he had such a big lead over the other contenders- Jozef Sabovcik, Brian Orser, and Brian Boitano, he could afford a 3rd or 4th place finish in the long and still win the gold. Which given the skating that night even a poor skate would have successfully managed for him. As it is he had a dramatic meltdown with 2 hard falls and 5 major mistakes, and came only 5th in the long, dropping to bronze overall. This was the start of his decline, eventually leading to a 4th place finish in Calgary. Notice the 5.9 for technical merit from the Soviet judge and even the 5.8 from the Australian judge though. The Soviet judge did atleast place him only 2nd in the long as she gave Orser (who also had a fall and major mistakes) 5.9, 5.9 to Fadeev's 5.9, 5.8. This is Tatiana Dalinenko who mysteriously had a long career in the sport even after proving here what a corrupt and unworthy judge she is. As a fan of Russian skaters I hate judges like this, who are a large part of some of the exagerrated controversies (eg- Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze, Sotnikova) and unfair reputation Russian skaters and judges have due to a few really bad apples like this one. She should have been barred from judging for life for that one mark alone which brings disservice to the sport, her country, and the other judges.
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW4LqC33TiU Debi Thomas 1988 Olympics. Maybe grouping this as a meltdown with the others is somewhat unfair, as it isnt quite the horrible skate the others are. Still she had a dream situation when she took the ice. Witt had skated so so and had very low technical marks. Manley had skated great but could not win the gold due to her figures and short program placings (unless Ito or Trenary had been 2nd in the long, and Ito and Trenary were already behind Witt, and Kadvavy had already WD) and the judges had lots of room for Thomas to win the long program anyway, although I am sure she would have almost been happier to be 2nd and take the gold and push bitter rival Witt to a mere bronze medal overall now. After missing the back part of her triple toe-triple toe beating Manley in the long program and perhaps beating Witt to win the gold were in question, and after missing the triple loop midway through it was all over. She had a 3rd major miss late, but it was already a foregone conclusion she would drop to the bronze, only getting that since Ito and Trenary were too far back to be in contention for it despite skating much better this night. The sad thing for Debi is had she done either her Skate or U.S Nationals performance she probably atleast beats Witt in the long and wins the gold medal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bgiMdbiPHk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVRy31nVpFA
The good thing for Debi is she had so much more to look forward to in life, that the loss the Olympic Gold while dissapointing didnt seem to be the huge deal it is for others. Or so it seemed...fast forward almost 30 years and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYlmjvR48zo Not that I think winning the Olympic Gold would have changed squat about her current situation mind you, which came about through things entirely different altogether. It would just given her something to pawn off for big money to temporarily give her better housing and food which a bronze medal cant do, that is about it.
1995 worlds pairs Woetzel Steuer- They had just won the Europeans in a controversial 5-4 split over Kovarikova/Novotny, and were 2nd coming into the long here. Kovarikova/Novotny who were leading had mistakes, while Shishkova/Naumov the defending World Champions had skated cleanly but their marks werent that high and they were 2nd. They had a great shot of winning especialy as they had just beaten K/N at Europeans where they skated much better than they just had here. They had an epic meltdown, and yet were still in contention for bronze after their skate only due to Meno/Sand being 5th after the short, but Eltsova/Bushkov slotted between them after their skate, dropping them to 5th place. I count 6 obvious mistakes in this program- stepping out of the triple toe, bad fall on the double axel, two footed throw double axel, her stumbling on the little jumps into the double loops, badly messed up double loop by her, then stumbling badly in the last footwork sequence. Mandy look petrified with utter fear and terror the entire skate for some reason. She was always a nervy and erratic competitor, but this is the biggest collapse under pressure of her whole career I believe. Here are two different networks showing the performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrYiDrEfGfw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ue6UJNTK0
And LOL at some of those marks, 5.6s for technical merit. Just imagine if this were an unknown team or even a mid pack team instead of the reigning European Champions.
2. Kerrigan at the 1993 worlds- She was the leader after the short, and while there was probably already some question if she could win as she had never done a decent long program in competition her whole career really. I had never seen her do one with more than 4 triples up to that point (although she did numerous ones in her final season of 93-94 when she finally got her act together) and already Bauil had done a perfect skate with 5, Bonaly had done a clean skate with 7, and Lu Chen had done a clean skate with 6 and 2 lutzes. She still was considered the favorite. She had such an epic meltdown, probably her worst long program ever with only 2 triple toes, that she came a lowly 9th in the long (would be 10th if Josee didnt bomb right after) and only came a very lucky 5th due to winning the short and how the cummulative points barely kept her ahead of several others. It is kind of ridiculous due to an ordinal flip from one ridiculous 6th place ordinal for a dumb judge to Josee and her 2 triple skate right after, someone like Karen Preston who landed 6 triples to Nancy's and who had passed her into 5th place even from 7th after the short, dropped from 5th to 8th, gifting Nancy the rise back up to 5th
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Sk7yBYl8c
This was the start of the wake up call that helped Nancy for the Olympics. The whack being the other. It also probably cost her the Olympic Gold as her reputation sank like a stone after her showing her, and Baiul now suddenly became the clear favorite for the Olympic Gold giving her a strong advantage over Nancy. Like Mandy Woetzel at the 95 worlds she looks absolutely paralyzed with fear, even her opening position she looks like she wants to die and it is almost clear she finds the pressure unbearable and wont be able to cope.
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71j523P23Ig Alexander Fadeev 1986 Worlds. Fadeev was the defending World Champion and leader going into the long program. After winning figures and finishing 1st or 2nd in the short program (I forget which) he had such a big lead over the other contenders- Jozef Sabovcik, Brian Orser, and Brian Boitano, he could afford a 3rd or 4th place finish in the long and still win the gold. Which given the skating that night even a poor skate would have successfully managed for him. As it is he had a dramatic meltdown with 2 hard falls and 5 major mistakes, and came only 5th in the long, dropping to bronze overall. This was the start of his decline, eventually leading to a 4th place finish in Calgary. Notice the 5.9 for technical merit from the Soviet judge and even the 5.8 from the Australian judge though. The Soviet judge did atleast place him only 2nd in the long as she gave Orser (who also had a fall and major mistakes) 5.9, 5.9 to Fadeev's 5.9, 5.8. This is Tatiana Dalinenko who mysteriously had a long career in the sport even after proving here what a corrupt and unworthy judge she is. As a fan of Russian skaters I hate judges like this, who are a large part of some of the exagerrated controversies (eg- Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze, Sotnikova) and unfair reputation Russian skaters and judges have due to a few really bad apples like this one. She should have been barred from judging for life for that one mark alone which brings disservice to the sport, her country, and the other judges.
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW4LqC33TiU Debi Thomas 1988 Olympics. Maybe grouping this as a meltdown with the others is somewhat unfair, as it isnt quite the horrible skate the others are. Still she had a dream situation when she took the ice. Witt had skated so so and had very low technical marks. Manley had skated great but could not win the gold due to her figures and short program placings (unless Ito or Trenary had been 2nd in the long, and Ito and Trenary were already behind Witt, and Kadvavy had already WD) and the judges had lots of room for Thomas to win the long program anyway, although I am sure she would have almost been happier to be 2nd and take the gold and push bitter rival Witt to a mere bronze medal overall now. After missing the back part of her triple toe-triple toe beating Manley in the long program and perhaps beating Witt to win the gold were in question, and after missing the triple loop midway through it was all over. She had a 3rd major miss late, but it was already a foregone conclusion she would drop to the bronze, only getting that since Ito and Trenary were too far back to be in contention for it despite skating much better this night. The sad thing for Debi is had she done either her Skate or U.S Nationals performance she probably atleast beats Witt in the long and wins the gold medal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bgiMdbiPHk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVRy31nVpFA
The good thing for Debi is she had so much more to look forward to in life, that the loss the Olympic Gold while dissapointing didnt seem to be the huge deal it is for others. Or so it seemed...fast forward almost 30 years and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYlmjvR48zo Not that I think winning the Olympic Gold would have changed squat about her current situation mind you, which came about through things entirely different altogether. It would just given her something to pawn off for big money to temporarily give her better housing and food which a bronze medal cant do, that is about it.
Yeah. Great post!
. . . 
. . . OMG TURN THE SOUND UP ON THE TONYA CLIP TO HER THE LAUGHING IN THE BACKGROUND AS SHE RAISES HER LEG . . . 
