1995 Worlds (Pairs)

[Aki]

I watched my 1995 worlds tape recently and many years later, I still don't understand how the CZE team beat the Russians, Shishkova and Naumov.

Looking back at their freeskates, the Russians were absolutely perfect in every element; while the CZE team (forgot their names) made several minor errors, including: a step-out (hers) and doubling (his) or their sbs triple toes, a wild landing on their throw 3salchow, and various awkward/shaky exits out of their lifts. Not to mention their program was extremely front-loaded, performing all of their difficult elements one after the other in the first minute and a half.

So, did I miss something here? Neither team was particularly exciting, but the Russians had skated clean, with a well-executed and crisp program, containing harder lifts and a more evenly distributed lay-out of elements.

Maybe the CZE team had more challenging choreography or better presentation? Their free program didn't seem more challenging than the Russians. In fact, it looked much easier, especially considering how front-loaded it was.

For those with more skating knowledge, would you mind explaining what the CZE team did so much better than the Russians that night to warrant them the world title, despite a seemingly lackluster performance?

[jeb]

I can't comment on the placements as I would have to try to dig out the tapes first, but I can tell you that the Czech team was Radka Kovarikova/Rene Novotny.

[Trillian]

Did Shishkova & Naumov skate cleanly? My biggest memory of the event is that all of the top pairs skated lackluster performances except for Meno & Sand (who skated extremely well but didn't have the technical content to win). I suspect my tape is a few hundred miles away in a box in my mom's house right now, so I can't compare, but I do seem to recall that S&N had some weakness in their long that year. If it wasn't obvious mistakes, it was something else. They were a favorite pair of mine at the time, so I would have been inclined to lean in their favor, but I'm pretty positive I've always thought the Czechs deserved the win. Anyone else have a tape?

[Aki]

Originally posted by Trillian
Did Shishkova & Naumov skate cleanly?

I just checked my tape again, and yes, they did skate clean.

...but I do seem to recall that S&N had some weakness in their long that year. If it wasn't obvious mistakes, it was something else.

Yes, that's what I figured, that maybe the Czechs had more subtle advantages over the Russians -- perhaps a better program, or speed, or choreography; but for the life of me, having watched both performances again, I still can't understand how they were placed over a clean skate by the Russians. If the Czechs had also skated clean, then I could understand the 1st placement, but not with that lackluster skate.

Speaking of which, watching the tape again, I noticed the Czechs also had a shaky landing on their sbs double flips, I believe. The unison of the sbs spins were not exactly great either.

Hmm, here's hoping someone could shed some light on this.

[Louis]

At the time, the prevailing theory was that the Czechs' victory in Birmingham was payback for their controversial loss to Woetzel/Steuer at Europeans in Dortmund.

Personally, I think the Czechs were faster, had a lot more complex and balletic choreography, and had higher quality elements in the air. Shiskova/Naumov had very shallow basic stroking, and their elements were low and lacking power. That said, the Czechs botched their triple toes and had weak landings on many, many elements. There was really only one mistake but several quality errors (a la B&S in SLC).

Was this decision political? Probably. Was it justifiable on merit? I think yes. I would have ranked that free skate Meno/Sand, Kovarikova/Novotny, Shishkova/Naumov, I think. In any case, I was happy to see K/N win a world title because I thought they were gypped of an Olympic medal in 1992 and deserved some kind of "top-notch" achievement to add to their resumes. And their short program that year to Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" really was a masterpiece.

[PAskate]

I'd have to watch them both again. I seem to remember that Kovarikova/Novotny had difficult holds going in and out of their pairs moves. This is not always easy to see and was also one of the things that made Eltsova and Bushkov stand out as well.

[catija]

i quite agree w/ what louis said. i remeber the german team had a slight flaw at the euros yet still managed to win (was it held in germany that yr?) while the czechs were perfect that time. i remember seeing her land one of the best triple sals ever...OR maybe it was the toe.

in any case, i felt a little bad for the russians, but ttheir program lacked emotion and it was simply boring imho.

poor mandy and ingo though they were second in the short, but faltered badly and ended in 5th overall. czechs were 1st after SP, S&N 3rd, E&B 4th, M&S 5th after SP

[Trillian]

Originally posted by catija
i remember seeing her land one of the best triple sals ever...OR maybe it was the toe.

One thing I do remember about the Czechs is that they had a very nice throw 3toe, so I'd guess it was that. :)