1986 Worlds Ladies | Debi Thomas wins, beats defending champion Katarina Witt

Highlights from the women's/ladies free skate at the 1986 World Figure Skating Championships (Geneva, Switzerland) as shown on Australian television (originating British coverage, commentator: Alan Weeks) and marked with (*) below:
Rank Name Nation CP SP FS* SP+FS Points Total
1 Debi Thomas United States 2 1 2* 1 3.6 (with exhibition excerpt)
2 Katarina Witt East Germany 3 4 1* 2 4.4(with exhibition excerpt)
3 Tiffany Chin United States 4 2 4* 3 7.2 (partial only)
4 Kira Ivanova Soviet Union 1 6 8* 8 11.0
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8 Caryn Kadavy United States 7 9 7* 9 14.8 (partial only)
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11 Midori Ito Japan 19 8 5* 6 19.6 (partial only)
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no Liz Manley of Canada here unfortunately, who was 3rd in the free and 5th overall.
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[L.A. Times excerpt] Debi Thomas Wins World Skating Title; Chin Takes Third
March 22, 1986 12 AM PT
Associated Press
GENEVA — American Debi Thomas won the women’s world figure-skating championship Friday night, using an elegant program in the finale to beat defending champion Katarina Witt of East Germany.
The 18-year-old Thomas, of San Jose, was edged in the long program by Witt, who staged the night’s most dramatic skating to the score from “West Side Story.”
But Thomas’ exciting performance was good enough for second in the long program. And that, coupled with her first-place showing in Wednesday night’s short program, gave the United States winners in both men’s and women’s categories. Thomas, a premed student at Stanford University, also became the first black skater to win a world title.
American Tiffany Chin won the bronze medal.
“I don’t believe it,” a tearful, ecstatic Thomas said as she sat with her coach, Alex McGowan, her arms filled with flowers. “I even landed that double axel.”
Wearing a sleek sequined black, silver and purple dress with a fringed skirt, Thomas came out skating hard to a combination of Duke Ellington and ballet music. She landed four triple jumps, including a tricky triple-double toe-loop combination. Then came a beautiful double axel in which she seemed to float on air.
But Thomas, who knew that a first- or second-place showing Friday would give her the championship, fell just shy of the finesse and panache that made Witt the star of the long program.
Thomas had the crowd’s roaring approval, but Witt also brought the fans to their feet by unfolding the hopes and sorrows of a young woman to the Leonard Bernstein score.
With her skating displaying a wide range of emotions, Witt launched into the strains of “I Feel Pretty” with a big smile and a sparkling triple-double toe-loop combination. She then played the tough street woman with some brash and electric footwork, followed by a dramatic flourish of despair, draping her body and black flowing dress down toward the ice.
The performance earned her the night’s only two perfect scores of 6--from the West German and Soviet judges--along with six 5.9s and a 5.8 for composition and style.
Thomas finished with an overall factored placement total of 3.6, followed by Witt at 4.4 and Chin, the 1985 U.S. champion, at 7.2. Thomas was fifth in the world championships last year, while Chin was third.
The last American skaters to win at the world championships were four-time champion Scott Hamilton in 1984 and Rosalyn Sumners in 1983. The United States won both singles titles in ‘83, with Sumners and Hamilton.
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[Sports Illustrated] 'Cashing In On The Collywobbles' by E M Swift: In the long program Witt earned her first two 6.0s in international competition, marks that reached Thomas's ears through the dressing-room wall. Much to her chagrin. "Even if you're trying not to listen, it's pretty hard to ignore the first six-zero you've heard all week. I've never had to go out after 6.0s before," Debi said later. "I've never skated against anyone in my career that had 6.0s. With so much at stake, I didn't know how I'd handle it."
With grace, as usual. Starting slowly—her first two triples were a bit jolting—Thomas relaxed as she landed her third and her fourth while her teammates screamed encouragement. "I wrung my hands so hard I got calluses," said Boitano.
McGowan had convinced Thomas to remove a fifth triple from her program—it was too risky. But, with the guts of a burglar, she suddenly and spontaneously improvised a triple-double combination in place of one of the four triples. "I didn't think about it beforehand," she said later. "All of a sudden I was just doing it. I guess I thought I might need it."
She was having fun, right up until the double axel at the end—the same one that troubled her at the U.S. nationals last month—and when she nailed that cleanly it became clear to everyone that they were applauding the gold medal winner. Only Chin remained to skate. Slipping once, Chin skated the fourth-best long program, winning the bronze medal for the second year in a row.
#figureskating #フィギュアスケート #eiskunstlauf #фигурноекатание #pattinaggioartistico #patinageartistique
thanks to Kim!