"Next Stop, Albertville"
1992 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Author: E.M. Swift

Source: Sports Illustrated v76 n2 p32(3).
Date: Jan 20, 1992

[Note: Krist-related excerpts only! NOT the entire article. ]

Text COPYRIGHT Time Inc. 1992

There were lots of good reasons that the folks who won titles at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships last week should not have done so. One champion was supposedly too ill. Another was reputedly too old. A third was too untrained and too incorrigible. And a fourth, the eventual star of the competition, women's champion Kristi Yamaguchi, was said to be too unathletic, for pity's sake, too artistic for a world gone mad for jumping.

You could have fooled the 13,396 fans at sold-out Orlando Arena last Saturday night who witnessed Yamaguchi at her finest when she fashioned one of the most complete figure skating performances ever seen on American ice, one of grace, athleticism and style. Not only did Yamaguchi put a gulf between herself and the rest of the U.S. women, but she also would have whipped the cream of American male skaters had she been entered in that soporific scrabble of alleged titans.

She (Tonya Harding) missed her triple Axel again in Saturday's free-skating program and landed only two of five other planned triples. "I'm just happy to be on the Olympic team," said a relieved Harding after limping off the ice and winding up third. Second place went to stylish Nancy Kerrigan, 22, of Stoneham, Mass., who, like Yamaguchi, is known for her artistic skating. So much for the theory that artless little jumpers are taking over the sport.

Not that it really mattered how anyone else skated, for no one was going to beat Yamaguchi. The reigning world champion, Yamaguchi seems to have come to grips with the fact that she is never going to get a triple Axel into her repertoire, so she is making the most of the weapons she has: five different triple jumps, a dazzling assortment of spins, a nifty Russian split, natural grace and the ability to feel the music while skating -- a seemingly lost art. It is a potent arsenal.

Yamaguchi's Achilles' heel is the dread triple Salchow, which she had missed, even mangled, in four consecutive competitions before Saturday's, dating back to last year's nationals. A mental block, they call it, one that requires harsh medicine. Yamaguchi's mother, Carole, could think of only one thing that might work -- a bribe. She offered her daughter $100 if she landed the triple Sal.

Never underestimate the power cold cash has over a financially strapped 20-year-old. Skating to Spanish-style music, at times imagining herself strong-willed and dramatic, at other times soft and romantic, Yamaguchi was pure enchantment on Saturday night. Adding to the drama, Yamaguchi lost her red hairband during a triple toe loop midway through the free-skating program -- one of seven flawless triples she landed -- in the exact center of the ice, so that each time she skated past it, the spectators' hearts rose to their throats, so fearful was everyone that Yamaguchi might slip on the red ribbon and ruin the performance.

And when Yamaguchi nailed her triple Sal -- during the awards ceremony she raised her winner's tray toward her mother and mouthed "triple Sal" to remind her of the $100 -- her considerable following erupted. That charge gave the final minute of the performance the momentum to crackle to conclusion, with Yamaguchi receiving the most heartfelt standing ovation of the week and a perfect 6.0 from one judge for artistic impression. A month from now, such a performance surely would be golden. As it was, it served notice that at least one American skater is in her prime and at her peak.

caption: Yamaguchi won a bet and lost a hairband during her dazzling performance last Saturday.

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