Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA - 1998 United States Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Free Skate - Tara Lipinski placed 2nd in the Free Skate and ended moving up from 4th to 2nd Place overall.
The second triple loop was under-rotated and landed on an inside edge, hence the jerkiness of the landing. I would have placed Nicole Bobek in front of Tara. Also, Nicole had better spins and bigger jumps, as well as an exquisite spiral and more maturity in her overall artistic expression.
Kwan is a legend, this girl just has a place in history but no legend. The world was better off that Kwan lost the Olympics to become the legend. This girl went off to surgery and a sup par pro career. I know its rude but she would never have survived this sport as an adult.
All the haters are criticizing Tara. Nationals ?! Who cares ! ? Let it for kwan. It was just a rehearsal for Tara : the next step was Olympic and she obtained gold medal because she was the best this night, taking huge risks, enjoy her Olympic experience ! She belongs to the figure skating history now.
I am not a Tara hater by any means at all but it doesn't take away anything from Tara's legacy to admit she was probably not happy about losing nationals.
I wish people would please stop with the term “HATER.” It’s just different opinions and preferences. Both Tara and Michelle were gorgeous skaters. One was just more artistic while the other was more technical.
@@debsam77 eh some people in the comments are an absurd amount of rude about it. Having an opinion that differs and trashing someone aren’t the same. Like you have an opinion. That is completely normal. But someone tearing her down for sport is a hater. Sorry
@@debsam77 Michelle kept top for more than 10 years, her longevity was unreal and great. Tara was a kid , she had a short life on ice and never had chance to be a truly woman style like Michelle.
Always a Kwan fan - and will always wish that Kwan won gold following this. BUT - she and Frank should have assessed the technical merits of Lipinski early on an and pivoted. I never saw Michelle attempt a triple, half-loop, triple (something that I do think she could have managed) and really worked on a triple triple combo. Even one of those things in her Olympic skates would have gotten her the gold. Overall, Kwan was always more polished but you can't argue with the content even if it was sloppy.
@@dbulc5171 Yeah - she had landed triple combos and she did have something wrong with her foot but when on the big stage, you have to have it in your arsenal. It seems like a triple, 1/2 look, triple is 'easier' as you see it done so often and without issue these days. The problem is that people come read y with their best for the Olympics and something is technically going to shine. Kwan just sparkled technically which can complete with technical superiority. such a shame, really.
@@thomasszymanski1107 I don't know if triple, half loop, triple is necessarily easier. But it would've worked better for Kwan this season, since she had the injured foot. I don't know if I ever saw her do this combo in competition but I know she used to do it in practice... I think triple toe, half loop, triple salcow.
Even with the "technical" disparity, they were also not toe-to-toe when it comes to choreography and artistry. There is no way Tara should have even been close to Michelle's artistic marks; here or in Nagano. Even with the absence of a triple-triple, the quality of Michelle's jumps, entry (except the lutz; Tara had a worse flutz tho), and exits were far superior than Tara. They both should have been penalized for their flutzes and even under rotations can be penalized in the old scoring system reducing a .1-.2 from their original scores, but the judges at the time turned a blind eye on those. Had they been judged correctly both technically and artistically, Michelle should have been the winner.
Tara was good and cute, but she should go to the kid's Olympics. How possible that Tara's Disney Cartoon program won the Olympics ? And her technique was unstable.
She did five--five--of her triples in the second half of the performance. Sheesh. And two triple-triple combinations! Under this scoring system she probably wouldn't have gotten credit for that second triple loop. It was badly underrotated. But she would have cleaned up on the rest of her jumps being in the second half of the program. She has stamina, this one.
@intldawn I didnt think this was a good performance. Her jumps all had leans or poor landings. Her spins werent as good either, and she slower. The Olympic LP she did was miles better. I would have had Bobek second but her jump content was far behind.
On her 3Lo-3Lo her second jump is both underrotated and badly prerotated, and the first is also badly prerotated. for all the praise her 3Lo-3Lo gets, it was much closer to a 2Lo-2Lo than even a 3Lo-2Lo
@@thomassutherland7032 LOL - You people who say prerotated are talking rubbish. It's physics - every jump has prerotation due to phsyics. You can't just launch into the air and then start rotating, you have to start rotating while launching into the air. Phsyics.
@@aspenrobinson8797 Michelle had triple triple combo since 1995 ~ 2005 ( not every time ) , which means her technique was stable and better than the other skaters like Tara had triple triple combo just for 2~ 3 years. （∩▽∩）
@@aspenrobinson8797 Unfortunately, Michelle got hurt ( her toes ) before the Olympics, so that she couldn't make triple triple combo.......Lucky Tara. （∩▽∩）
