John Misha Petkevich - 1972 OG Espana Cani FS

Even better than his performance at Worlds in Calgary a couple of weeks later, this is Misha at his very best and demonstrating his great musicality within the contstraints of the time.

[@ddjr6673]

Wow. One continuous piece of music, no stops, no awkward changes in tempo - one theme all the way through. LOVED it. Again, thank you so much.

[@pepitone201]

Thank for posting. John Misha Petkevitch is such a wonderful skater.

[@bevinboulder5039]

Lovely! And interesting step in the evolution of men's figure skating from the all black outfits and rather rigid style. Thanks for this flo!

[@TroysPop]

Thank you so much for this Flo! I remember watching this on TV (NBC) at the time and it was one of his best performances, particularly after a disappointing U.S. Nationals where he fell and lost his title. I agree this performance is even better than the one in Calgary.

[@kevinhebner6773]

I was at that Nationals, and I was right by the entrance/exit of the skaters.
I think he had the flu and was very subpar.
But he sure could jump!

[@npe1]

There is the lovely true story of Ulrich Salchow giving Dick Button a trophy from his own collection in 1947 when Dick came second at Worlds and Salchow thought he should have won, likewise in 1972 Dick gave the very same trophy to Misha and then in 1992 Misha gave it to Paul Wylie. It's a pity that many good free skaters fell short of the podiums during the years when figures dominated our sport. Only a year later after this performance by Misha the short programme was introduced which began the gradual downgrading of figures until they were scrapped in 1990.

[@maryhughes7642]

Wonderful anecdote

[@russcohen3779]

Love this preformance

[@QueenVelveeta]

That was a thrilling routine.

[@martypellow9908]

Thanks for posting. What an exciting skater. Such a joy to see real footwork not this IJS flailing.

[@carolpowers4077]

I couldn't agree more!