Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 16, 1991 TAG: 9102160236
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MINNEAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium
Mugging to the crowd in the midst of a superb original program Friday night, Bowman, the 1989 American champion, took the lead in the men's competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
Clad in black velvet and carrying an ultraserious demeanor onto the ice, Bowman soon displayed his theatrics and ability to control an audience.
Bowman quickly hit a triple lutz-triple toe loop combination, followed with a huge triple flip and, almost immediately, he winked at the folks in the front row. The histrionics continued through a terrific routine to music by Rachmaninoff, and he pumped his arms, then spread hugs to the fans when he was finished.
The judges, meanwhile, spread high marks across the board for the 23-year-old, whose career crashed at the Goodwill Games last summer. He finished sixth there, then dropped long-time coach Frank Carroll for Canadians Toller Cranston and Ellen Burka and set about straightening out his life.
"I tried not to focus on the emotional content which surrounded me," said Bowman, who couldn't do that Thursday, when he broke down several times during a news conference. "I concentrated more on myself and my skating and said, `This is where you stand, be positive and go out there and get what belongs to you.' "
That attitude paid off as Bowman wound up first with eight judges. Defending champion Todd Eldredge got the other first-place vote but barely held off Mark Mitchell for second place.
"Chris was great, flawless," Eldredge said. "I'm sure he knows he can skate well, and he went out and did."
Paul Wylie, who normally has trouble in the original program, worth one-third of the overall score, also performed well and was fourth. That set up a tight race going into Sunday's free skate.
The top three finishers will go to the world championships next month in Munich, Germany.
Bowman called Friday's performance "a big victory for me."
Cranston warned it was just one step, albeit a significant one.
"I'm pleased with the way he fought for it," said Cranston, known for his showmanship as a skater. "That has a lot to do with his international competition experience.
"But the short program is only one hurdle. It isn't the competition. I have a very cautious optimism."
Later Friday, the pairs finished with the free skate. Natasha Kuchiki, 14, and Todd Sand, 27, won the original program and were heavily favored to take their first national title.
Also Friday, the junior men's gold went to Damon Allen, 17, of Rockford, Ill. Allen had been a junior for three years without making it to nationals. In his debut, he won.
"I didn't expect to win, I was just shooting for the top half," Allen said. "I don't know how it happened."
In the junior women's original program, 12-year-old Joanna Ng of Woodland Hills, Calif., overcame some technical difficulties with a sparkling routine to place first.
by CNB