Tara Lipinski - 1997 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Free Skate

Nashville, Tennessee, USA - 1997 United States Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Free Skate - Tara Lipinski skated a clean program that featured the first triple loop-triple loop combination by a woman in competittion. She would easily win the Free Skate here and would win her only National Title. Interviews with Tara, Nicole Bobek and Michelle Kwan follow.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Tara
• Lipinski
• Nicole
• Bobek
• Michelle
• Kwan
• 1997
• figure
• skating

[getrealandsee]

I don't get class act from Kwan at all....she was so overmarked....way way way overmarked and it wasn't enough for her...bet that Frank told her to get out there and be 'interviewed'....MY GOD.....splatfest and she was sulking over not winning the GOLD???? After Tara's well deserved win and Kwan's gifted silver....well, from then on the Nats were the Michelle Kwan show....class act? Then there were the two Olympic failures...not classy there either... I am KWAN...gimme GOLD 

[RedbeardNC]

@TribleButz OK, I hadn't, thanks. I still don't see what she had to collect herself for except for not winning. I LOVE Michelle's skating, but she is so unpleasant to watch when she doesn't win something.

[dtw1958]

Explanations and tears @ 97 Nationals, 97 Worlds, 98, 02 Olympics. Take a cue from Yamaguchi after she lost 90 and 91 nationals, praising the winner and watching with smiling approval of Trenary and Harding's long programs on camera, but then again Yamaguchis and Hughes display of sportsmanship is a rarity. Karma........Karma.

[96horseluvr]

awww her reaction is sooo adorable!!! and GREAT performance!! totally deserving of the title

[TribleButz]

@RedbeardNC Actually, she took the interview- did you watch the end of the clip? She just needed to collect herself first which is totally understandable.

[Nshsk8r]

Thank you!  Finally a high quality version of this!!!

[RedbeardNC]

Wow, Michelle declined an interview this early in her career - the pouting entitlement reactions begin. How nice to see Tara and Nicole glowing, though.

[dolcevitausa]

young and fearless-a winning combination

[russianskatingfan]

Also the judge who actually marked Tara behind Michelle should be banned from skating for life. I hope to hear she was if anyone knows.

[russianskatingfan]

The crowd was booing Michelle moved ahead of Nicole. While Michelle was grossly overmarked for her long program skate, I think alot of these fans arent very knowledgable as they seem to forget there are 2 programs. Nicole did still beat Michelle in the long even with her gross overmarking, but she was too far back after the short to have any chance to pass her (even if Kwan had been marked properly).