This is my favorite program in the more than 20 years I've been watching figure skating... it combines technical skill, jumping ability and extraordinary artistry...
He is a legend, and pure genius. He won four world titles (1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993, had a rough year in 1992). Only thing he never got was an Olympic medal, he struggled at the Olympics. He's pure genius. At 46, he' still got the tricks and stamina now. He was the first skater to land a quad, which he did in 1988. Even as a competitor his artistry and creativity was amazing.
OMG The artistry, choreography, performance, musicality everything.....one of my favorites men’s long programs of all time. I wished he skated like that at the olimpics in 1994, it was heartbreaking. Yes it is a masterpiece!!!!
I know Kurt Browning more as a show skater than a competitor. I'm so glad I watched this. What a fantastic performance! He deserved 6.0 across the board on the second mark, IMO.
One of the most memorable performances ever. Browning is one of the all time greats. Of the best male skaters of all time, I'd rank him fourth after Yuzu, Plushenko and Orser. The 5.7 on the technical mark was low, and the artistic mark should have been 6.0 across the board for this skate. What was the U.S. judge thinking by throwing down a 5.8 on the artistic score? He was the best skater on the ice at the Albertville Olympics by far, but was the victim of Olympic nerves and couldn't make up for a disastrous short program. Had he turned in a clean short program and this performance at the Olympics, he would have been the gold medalist, and it wouldn't even have been close. Petrenko is good, but he was never in Kurt Browning's league.
DONT forget, the Olympics, he was suffering a bad back injury…I’ve heard a few interviews where he talks about the total frustration of being flat on his back for 6 weeks prior to Olympics. He only went to physio during this time. He mentioned that they were trying to keep it quiet, so it didn’t give competetors extra confidence, and he told of how he drove a standard car, and only a few days before Olympics, he couldn’t manage to even press the clutch in all the way. I’ve felt extra bad for him, as I’ve suffered exact same injury in ‘88 and never recovered. I give him great credit for even stepping on the ice!…….so he mentioned, when he’d land his jumps, his foot couldn’t feel that it had touched the ice. I’ve appreciated so much going back to the Albertville performances now and re-watching…keeping in mind that he couldn’t feel with his left leg/foot. That’s what an L4-5 slipped disc does…….he was just going to leave to go home after original performance, when it was clear he couldn’t win a medal, plus he was so depressed, and frustrated that he’d been unable to train, but overnight, Canadians sent fax after fax just asking him to skate for them!………you should see the medal the Canadians made for him!…..I believe it was 22k gold, a big maple leaf. It’s here on you tube….but now rewatch albertsville and see his foot couldn’t feel landings. I think with that knowledge, for what he accomplished, should have been a platinum medal!!
@@jojosbigsis I wasn't aware of the extent of his injuries! The fact that he was able to skate at all under those circumstances is just unbelievable. I always admired him as a skater for his precision and artistry, especially his footwork, which IMO is second to none. Now I can also add his tenacity and courage as reasons to love him!
@@lawyergirlinct16 ……..I think because everything was hush hush, few did know. I’m Canadian, and I think we got way more information in our news feeds regarding it. I’ve noticed, that before his injury, his jumps were pretty consistent, but since injury, not so much, which makes me hold my breath when he competes…lol….but to this day, he’s still doing physio every day. At the time of injury, the Drs all agreed that he was in his early twenties, but his back was twice that age from the constant pounding. I wasn’t aware that when landing, they have to land the jump on the inner or outer edge of the blade. I was stunned, and wondered how they don’t have sprained ankles and knees all the time. He recently said he’d had knee surgery. I just bought tickets to Stars On Ice, for October in Toronto. I want to see him perform live while he is still there. I’m so excited, I can’t calm down!! Scott Hamilton said in an interview I watched, that professional skaters rarely do triple jumps. He said to do them, you have to jump higher, and it puts the lights right into their eyes, so he was saying then if they enter a competition, they’re not used to doing triples, and are rusty….and trying to do it with spotlights, you could get seriously injured. I just try to keep up with him, because his feet are out of this world!….I don’t think there will ever be another skater like him.
Canadian skaters not only jump well, but they are very good at doing out of the ordinary footwork and miscellaneous moves. I like that Walley reverse sal. Brian Orser also did that. I see some Brian Orser styling in Browning.
Interestingly enough, Jeff Buttle, Patrick Chan and Brian Orser all tried to do the footwork and transitions from this program, at different times, playing around at TFC and couldn't, despite their talent. The only skater who was able to complete it (badly, but without falling) was Victor Kraatz.
I never liked or appreciated his skating. If this program was skated by someone like Paul Wylie or even a Mark Mitchell it WOULD be a masterpiece. Browning to me is just a hack who was Canada's only hope, and got the marks. Realistically, comparing jumps, spins, overall technique, Browning was just not a strong skater. He landed hard jumps, but to call this slow moving, SLOPPY, contrived program a masterpiece is absurd.
Mark Mitchell had puny jumps and if Paul Wylie could perform this better then who was stopping him from doing such a program or coming to this competition?
Agree! He planned two triple triple combos, neither completed. He came in too low on the first triple axel and could not add a triple toe. The skate lacked speed, the “slow” section was even slower and hardly covered any ice. It was also not a clean performance. It wasn’t just the badly two footed triple lutz. He also two footed AND swung out of the triple flip. I would love to see a slow replay of the triple Salchow, double loop as it wasn’t clean either.
