Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 14, 1993 TAG: 9303140187
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC LENGTH: Medium
DISMAL PERFORMANCE BY AMERICANS
With no medals and just three finishes in the top five, the United States had its worst showing at the World Championships in almost 30 years.And with the Olympics just a year away, the best hopes for the Americans may lie with two skaters who did not compete at the worlds - former gold medalists Brian Boitano and Kristi Yamaguchi.
A dismal ninth-ranked performance by Nancy Kerrigan in her free skating routine left her in fifth place in the women's event Saturday. That capped the first medal shutout for the Americans at a World Championship since 1964.
"We can't expect a bingo every time," said Claire Ferguson, the president of the U.S. Figure Skating Association. "We came here with a strong team but we're very disappointed, for sure."
Ferguson said International Skating Union rule changes over the past few years may have hindered the development of top skaters. She said the decision to allow more commercial opportunities to help skaters support their amateur careers did not come in time to keep athletes like Boitano in competition.
This year's results mean only two women, two men, three pairs and a dance team will go to the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway. Countries are allowed a maximum of three entries in each discipline based on World Championship results.
In the men's event, Mark Mitchell started strong but ended up fourth, with U.S. champion Scott Davis sixth. The two likely will battle Boitano for the two men's Olympic slots.
In ice dancing, Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur, a Russian emigre seeking U.S. citizenship, finished 11th while the Susan Wynne-Russ Witherby team was 15th. That gave the U.S. team only one slot for the Olympic event and all four athletes said they were going home to "reevaluate" their plans.
The new pairs team of Jenni Meno and Todd Sand finished an unexpectedly strong fifth, giving the United States three berths at the Games.
Ferguson hopes a U.S.-backed rule to allow professionals to regain their eligibility will help bring the return of Boitano, the 1988 men's winner, and possibly Yamaguchi, the 1992 gold medalist.
American skaters must first apply through the USFSA, which will relay the requests to the ISU for a meeting in Germany in June.
"The skaters are continuing to evaluate their situation and April 1 is our deadline," Ferguson said.
Boitano was not in the first batch of reinstated pros last February but it is assumed he will apply in time. Yamaguchi has made no indication that she will return.
In this year's ice dance, three of the four Americans were former professionals, including Roca and Sur. This was expected to be the country's strongest entry in years, but they were never in the judges' favor.
"We thought our experience as professionals would help us create something different," Sur said. "But it didn't seem to work out this time."