I remember being devastated as a kid when - toward the very end of the SP broadcast - they stated Nicole had pulled out of the 99 Nationals. She looked much better that year and I adored her "Mask of Zorro" SP. I only recently (~5 yrs) saw footage of her from the 98-99 Grand Prix and I've always been so confused by why such a musical skater constantly recycled programs. Her "Kalinka" SP (used at 95 and 97 Worlds, and other seasons) was at least a great program, but her "Evita" LP was a hot mess the 1st time around (95-96), so why in the world bring it back for a supposed comeback? I see the appeal of giving routine/structure to a personality like Nicole's (fewer new things to learn), but it never worked and given the 50% (or higher) chance of the skate being a disaster, you'd think the focus would be on maximizing Presentation scores. To end this novel, I'll lament how she scored enough points as the 6th-best qualifier to the 98-99 GPF. I'm not sure if she lost a tie-breaker or what, but it would've been great if she'd been able to end her career with an appearance there. She only skated in these 2 Grand Prix events after Nagano that not many witnessed, and who knows? She may have been "on."
I am right there with you. She did decently here and did great over in France. By the time some of those late Fall pro-am type competitions came along, she was consistently landing the lutz, loop(!) and toe with relative ease. She looked like she was back in her 1995 Callaghan form and was really gearing up for something special in January for 1999 Nationals. I don't know if you know, but she had a new Long program set to the music from Titanic ready for 1999 Nationals and, I really, really think that she would've done very well at that championship had she not gotten sick (and subsequently retired from amateur skating). Oh, the what ifs. Will love her skating forever, though :)
I remember being devastated as a kid when - toward the very end of the SP broadcast - they stated Nicole had pulled out of the 99 Nationals. She looked much better that year and I adored her "Mask of Zorro" SP. I only recently (~5 yrs) saw footage of her from the 98-99 Grand Prix and I've always been so confused by why such a musical skater constantly recycled programs. Her "Kalinka" SP (used at 95 and 97 Worlds, and other seasons) was at least a great program, but her "Evita" LP was a hot mess the 1st time around (95-96), so why in the world bring it back for a supposed comeback?
I see the appeal of giving routine/structure to a personality like Nicole's (fewer new things to learn), but it never worked and given the 50% (or higher) chance of the skate being a disaster, you'd think the focus would be on maximizing Presentation scores.
To end this novel, I'll lament how she scored enough points as the 6th-best qualifier to the 98-99 GPF. I'm not sure if she lost a tie-breaker or what, but it would've been great if she'd been able to end her career with an appearance there. She only skated in these 2 Grand Prix events after Nagano that not many witnessed, and who knows? She may have been "on."
I am right there with you. She did decently here and did great over in France. By the time some of those late Fall pro-am type competitions came along, she was consistently landing the lutz, loop(!) and toe with relative ease. She looked like she was back in her 1995 Callaghan form and was really gearing up for something special in January for 1999 Nationals. I don't know if you know, but she had a new Long program set to the music from Titanic ready for 1999 Nationals and, I really, really think that she would've done very well at that championship had she not gotten sick (and subsequently retired from amateur skating). Oh, the what ifs. Will love her skating forever, though :)
She Is so beautiful, great memories 😊😊😊 thanks for the video. Do you have the short?
Short was not shown in the USA, I'm not sure about Canadian or Eurosport coverage but I do not have it :(
I still like her skating. I can just watch her skate even without the jumps
🙄Anybody😑
3 Major Errors with the jumps. And still she was in 1st place. 👎
Dorothy, she wasn’t first. She finished 4th in this competition.