Canadian First -- Browning Retains Skating Title
| Source: |
San Francisco Chronicle, Ed: Final, Sec: Sports, P. D3 |
| Date: |
March 9, 1990 |
Copyright 1990 The San Francisco Chronicle
Halifax, Nova Scotia -
One world championship is great. Two means greatness.
Kurt Browning last night became the first Canadian ever to defend a
title in the World Figure Skating Championships. He did it with style,
negotiating seven triple jumps and getting stronger throughout his routine.
Browning, 23, didn't even need the quad, a four-revolution jump that
only he has completed in competition, to move past Viktor Petrenko of the
Soviet Union.
"This one is definitely better," Browning said. "The feeling is way more
personal. I feel really happy inside.
"I really worked for it. This is the best it's ever been."
Petrenko, who led entering the free skate, worth 50 percent of the total
score, cut one triple jump into a double and two-footed another. He held on
for the silver, despite a late surge ad-libbed by Chris Bowman.
Bowman, 1989 world silver medalist, completed a
triple-salchow/double-toe combination and a triple toe loop in the final
minute. That powerful conclusion moved Bowman, of Los Angeles, up to third
place. U.S. champion Todd Eldredge of South Chatham, Mass., fell twice and
dropped to fifth.
Earlier, Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay, daring ice dancers from France,
continued stretching the boundaries of their sport.
They used Paul Simon's "Late in the Evening," -- not exactly a song
associated with the samba -- to perfection in the original set pattern.
But the French-Canadian couple competing for France still did not win the
original set pattern, even with a pair of perfect, 6.0 marks for artistic
impression.
Defending champions Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko of the Soviet
Union added a victory in the original set pattern to their victory in the
compulsories. They even received a 6.0 for artistic impression.
The Duchesnays did, however, advance to second, after finishing third in
the compulsories. They did it with a samba packed with the unusual.
"You try to live the music," said Paul, who did much of the spinning and
footwork often handled by the female.
"But you live it a little different each time you skate it," added
Isabelle.
"Samba is as plain as can be. It's the happy dance."
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