Stojko Stumbles at 1996 Worlds

Stojko Stumbles at 1996 Worlds

It was arguably one of the most electric nights of men's figure skating ever - superb performances combined with human drama in the final long program at last week's World Figure Skating Championships. The capacity crowd at Edmonton Coliseum not only forgave Elvis Stojko his stumble in the earlier short program, it seemed positively touched by the poignancy of the moment. The fans waved hundreds of Canadian flags and screamed themselves hoarse as he took to the ice; they clapped in unison, 15,000-strong, to the beat of his fancy cross-ice footwork, applauding almost without interruption from quadruple toe-loop to triple-Axel. And they were on their feet by the time Stojko entered his final spin. Stojko later called it "magical, inspiring, energetic," and "one of my best skates - the crowd was unreal, the whole thing was unreal." But his seventh-place finish in the short program had put him in too deep a hole - and he finished fourth overall. The podium, meanwhile, was claimed by three superb skaters who each earned standing ovations from the Edmonton crowd. Americans Todd Eldredge, 24, and Rudy Galindo, 26, took gold and bronze respectively, while Russia's 18-year-old Ilia Kulik captured silver. As Canada's Kurt Browning, a former world champion, observed: "That was the best skating by the most people I have ever seen."

For the local crowd, the excellent performances were compensation for the absence of a medal in an event that a Canadian man has won in seven of the past 10 years. That record clearly put tremendous pressure on Stojko - who captured the last two of those championships himself. After the competition, he expressed no bitterness, offered no excuses. "I took everything positive out of it that I could," said Stojko, adding "that everything happens for a reason for me." With Stojko out of the picture, Canada's medal hopes came to rest on Shae-Lynn Bourne of Chatham, Ont., and Victor Kraatz of Vancouver. And the dance team delivered, capturing a bronze medal on Friday night behind two Russian couples - the seemingly invincible Oksana Grishuk and Evgeny Platov, who took gold, and Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov, who captured silver. It was Canada's first ice-dancing medal since Tracy Wilson and the late Rob McCall took both world and Olympic bronzes in 1988. "The skate in itself felt wonderful," enthused Bourne after the medal presentation, "and how the crowd reacted, and how it all just ended with a medal on top of it was so overwhelming. It's hard to put words to it."

In the pairs event, won by Russia's Marina Eltsova and Andrey Bushkov, both Canadian teams finished in the top 10 - Canadian champions Michelle Menzies of Cambridge, Ont., and Jean-Michel Bombardier of Laval, Que., finished eighth, while Canada's second team of Kristy Sargeant of Alix, Alta., with Kris Wirtz of Marathon, Ont., came in seventh. Wirtz said afterward that he and Sargeant hoped to work their way into medal contention in time for the next Olympic Winter Games, in 1998 in Nagano, Japan. And, with the teams finishing so close together, he said, "It's really a nice feeling to know that we're all sort of at the same level and we're all going up the ladder together - it makes it a lot easier to push and pull people." Dancers Chantal Lefebvre of LaSalle, Que., and Michel Brunet of Gatineau, Que., finished 15th, while in the men's event, Sébastien Britten of Brossard, Que., came back from a below-par short program to perform a powerful free skate, missing only the difficult triple Axel, for a final placing of 17th among the 24 competitors in the long program.

Throughout the event, the crowds were exceptionally enthusiastic in what was likely the best-attended world championships ever. Even practices in Edmonton drew thousands of fans; in an unprecedented show of support, Stojko was showered with flowers at one practice session and given a standing ovation at another. "The people here have been amazing," said Stojko's coach, Doug Leigh. "Who could ask for more support?"

As for the pressure on Stojko and his fellow competitors, much of it is inherent in the sport itself - a lifetime of training put to the test in a few minutes of performance time, or often, in the seconds it takes to execute a jump. "What other sport is like that?" asks former ice dancer Wilson, who was in Edmonton last week as a commentator for host broadcaster CTV. "In tennis, you've got another set. In football, there's another pass."

Stojko, in fact, is known for his remarkable focus and consistency - which made his tumble during a jump combination all the more surprising. And yet the pressure this year was obviously exceptional. Stojko went into the 1994 world championships as the underdog to Olympic gold medallist Alexei Urmanov. And although he had to defend his title last year in Birmingham, England, he did it just two months after suffering a painful ankle injury that diminished expectations going into the worlds, even as his success there proved his true grit.

Stojko himself did not attribute his fall to the pressure to perform. "I felt great, I went into the jump, it felt good going up," he recalled in an interview late last week. "But as I came down, I was on the ice before I could even react. You can't explain it. It just happens." In fact, Stojko insisted that he put more pressure on himself in the long program than he had faced in the short. He expressed relief, as well as satisfaction with the way he handled the fall and came back to skate well. As a skater setting his sights on Nagano in 1998, Stojko's tumble could prove advantageous in the long run. It would be difficult to win four consecutive world titles and then to try to win an Olympic gold on top of all that. "This relieves a bit of the pressure," he said last week. "I'm just looking forward to training. I've always been hungry, I've always been a competitor - but even more so now."

Stojko's predecessor as world champion was in Edmonton for the opening ceremonies, but Browning was on tour again with the Stars on Ice show by the time the men competed last Wednesday and Thursday. After watching the event on TV, he talked about what it was like to skate in Canada as a defending world champion - how the intense pressure helped him at the 1990 worlds in Halifax, but hurt him at the Canadian championships in Edmonton in 1994. "When I skated out onto the ice," he recalled, "the ovation caught me off-guard. The music started before they had stopped clapping and I wasn't ready for it." Still, Browning said it might be wrong to blame pressure for Stojko's fall - Stojko had handled tough situations before. "A jump takes eight-tenths of a second to complete, so the slightest thing can screw you up," Browning said. "After all, it was his only slip in the entire competition."

And that, ultimately, speaks to the quality of the skaters who beat Stojko last week - to the magic that they were able to spin on ice. Bronze medallist Galindo had never finished higher than fifth at U.S. nationals - until he won earlier this year. Along the way, he has also overcome personal tragedy: the deaths of his father and his brother. His compatriot Eldredge, who came in second at the U.S. nationals, called his victory last week "a little overwhelming." Eldredge was third at the worlds in 1991 - but did not reach the podium again until a silver-medal performance at the worlds last year. Last week, he nailed eight triple jumps in his long program, including two triple-triple combinations, in a superb, seamless skate. With Russia's Kulik right behind him, even Eldredge conceded that the quality of men at the top of the sport will make it tough for anyone to hang on to the gold year after year. "So I just hope that I can keep up what I'm doing, just keep up consistent performances," Eldredge said. Others are hoping for similar things. "We've had some great skating in the men's event," said Stojko, "and I'm looking for a good rumble next year again."

Maclean's April 1, 1996