1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

1994 United States Figure Skating Championships
1994 United States Figure Skating Championships
Type:	National Championship
Date:	January 4 – 8
Season:	1993–94
Location:	Detroit, Michigan
Venue:	Joe Louis Arena
Champions
	Men's singles: ; Scott Davis
	Ladies' singles: ; Tonya Harding DQ
	Pair skating: ; Jenni Meno / Todd Sand
	Ice dance: ; Elizabeth Punsalan / Jerod Swallow
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	Next: ; 1995 U.S. Championships

The 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships were held at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. Medals were awarded in four colors: gold (first), silver (second), bronze (third), and pewter (fourth) in four disciplines – men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing – across three levels: senior, junior, and novice. The event was used to determine the U.S. teams for the 1994 Winter Olympics and the 1994 World Championships.

The competition was famous for the return of previous Olympians Brian Boitano and Elaine Zayak, as well as the pre-competition attack on Nancy Kerrigan by associates of skater Tonya Harding. Harding subsequently was stripped of her ladies' championship title after she pled guilty to failing to report the assault to the police after the fact, although she maintains that she had no knowledge of the attack beforehand.

Medalists[]

Senior[]

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Pewter
Men	Scott Davis	Brian Boitano	Aren Nielsen	Todd Eldredge
Ladies	No champion^†	Michelle Kwan	Nicole Bobek	Elaine Zayak
Pairs	Jenni Meno / Todd Sand	Kyoko Ina / Jason Dungjen	Karen Courtland / Todd Reynolds	Natasha Kuchiki / Rocky Marval
Ice dancing	Elizabeth Punsalan / Jerod Swallow	Susan Wynne / Russ Witherby	Amy Webster / Ron Kravette	/

^† In June 1994, U.S. Figure Skating voted to no longer recognize Tonya Harding's 1994 win.^[1] The gold medal position was left vacant; the other competitors did not move up one position.

Junior[]

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Pewter
Men	Jere Michael		Johnnie Bevan
Ladies
Pairs	/	/	/ J. Paul Binnebose	Danielle Hartsell / Steve Hartsell
Ice dancing	/ Oleg Fediukov	/	Eve Chalom / Mathew Gates	/

Novice[]

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Pewter
Men	Timothy Goebel
Ladies		Tara Lipinski
Pairs	/ John Zimmerman	/	Sarah Booth /	/ Jered Guzman
Ice dancing	Jessica Joseph / Charles Butler Jr.	/	/	/

Senior results[]

Men[]

Rank	Name	SP	FS
1	Scott Davis	2	1
2	Brian Boitano	1	2
3	Aren Nielsen	5	3
4	Todd Eldredge	3	4
5	Mark Mitchell	6	5
6	Shepherd Clark	4	6
7	Rudy Galindo	9	7
8	Michael Weiss	7	8
9	Damon Allen	8	9
10	Dan Hollander	11	10
11		10	11
12		12	12
13	John Baldwin Jr.	18	13
14		16	14
15		15	15
16		18	16
WD
WD	Larry Holliday

Ladies[]

Rank	Name	SP	FS
1	~~Tonya Harding~~	1	1
2	Michelle Kwan	3	2
3	Nicole Bobek	2	3
4	Elaine Zayak	4	4
5	Tonia Kwiatkowski	6	5
6		7	6
7	Lisa Ervin	5	8
8	Jessica Mills	8	7
9		11	9
10		10	10
11		13	11
12		9	13
13		15	12
14		16	14
15		14	15
16		18	16
WD	Jenna Pittman	12
WD		17
WD	Nancy Kerrigan
WD

Pairs[]

Rank	Name	SP	FS
1	Jenni Meno / Todd Sand	1	1
2	Kyoko Ina / Jason Dungjen	2	2
3	Karen Courtland / Todd Reynolds	3	3
4	Natasha Kuchiki / Rocky Marval	4	4
5	Stephanie Stiegler / Lance Travis	7	5
6	/ Joel McKeever	6	6
7	Calla Urbanski / Joseph Mero	5	7
8	/ John Frederiksen	8	8
9	/	10	9
10	/	12	10
11	/	11	11
12	Tracey Damigella /	14	12
13	/ Brian Wells	13	13
14	/	9	15
15	/ Richard Gillam	16	14
WD	/	15

Ice dancing[]

Rank	Name	CD1	CD2	OD	FD
1	Elizabeth Punsalan / Jerod Swallow	2	1	1	1
2	Susan Wynne / Russ Witherby	3	4	3	2
3	Amy Webster / Ron Kravette	4	3	4	3
4	/	5	5	6	4
5	/	7	6	5	5
6	Galit Chait /	6	7	7	6
7	/	8	8	8	7
8	/	9	9	9	8
9	/	11	10	10	9
10	/	12	11	11	10
11	/	10	12	12	12
12	/	13	13	13	11
13	/	14	14	14	13
14	/	15	15	15	14
WD	Renee Roca / Gorsha Sur	1	2	2

Junior results[]

Men[]

Rank	Name	SP	FS
1	Jere Michael	1	1
2		2	3
3	Johnnie Bevan	5	2
4		6	4
5		4	5
6	Trifun Zivanovic	3	6
7	Derrick Delmore	8	7
8		7	8
9		9	9
10		11	10
11		12	11
12		10	13
13		13	12
14		13	14

Ladies[]

Rank	Name	SP	FS
1		4	1
2		3	2
3		1	4
4		6	3
5	Angela Nikodinov	2	5
6		7	6
7	Brittney McConn	5	7
8	Amber Corwin	8	8
9		10	9
10		11	10
11		9	12
12		12	11

Pairs[]

Rank	Name	SP	FS
1	/	1	1
2	/	2	2
3	/ J. Paul Binnebose	4	3
4	Danielle Hartsell / Steve Hartsell	3	4
5	/	5	5
6	/	8	6
7	/	6	7
8	/	9	8
9	/ Jim Peterson	7	9
10	/ Fred Palascak	10	10
11	Melanie Lambert /	11	11
12	/	15	12
13	/	14	13
14	/	13	14
15	/	12	15

Ice dancing[]

Rank	Name	CD1	CD2	OD	FD
1	/ Oleg Fediukov	1	1	1	1
2	/	2	2	2	2
3	Eve Chalom / Mathew Gates	3	3	3	3
4	/	5	5	4	4
5	/	4	4	5	5
6	/	6	6	6	6
7	/	7	7	7	7
8	/	8	8	8	8
9	/	9	9	9	10
10	/	13	10	10	9
11	/	10	11	11	12
12	/	12	12	12	11
13	/	15	14	14	13
14	/	14	15	13	14
15	/	11	13	15	15

Reinstatement of professionals to amateur status[]

Amateurs who turned professional had been banned from returning to compete as amateurs. This ban was removed and Brian Boitano and Elaine Zayak sought to compete in order to go to the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Having retired from competitive skating after winning Olympic gold in 1988 and the 1988 World Championships, four time men's champion Brian Boitano announced a comeback and would compete to get a place on the 1994 Olympic team. This was highly controversial as he had skated professionally for many years and fought to get former professionals reinstated for amateur competitions. He placed second behind Scott Davis and made the Olympic team as the United States had 2 spots.^[2]

Kerrigan–Harding controversy[]

The January 6, 1994, attack on 1993 champion and Ladies gold frontrunner Nancy Kerrigan preceded the event. The widely publicized attack took place during a practice session for the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit. Tonya Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her bodyguard, Shawn Eckardt,^[3] hired Shane Stant to strike Kerrigan on the knee, though Stant actually struck Kerrigan's thigh a few inches above the knee. Harding won the event, while Kerrigan's injury forced her withdrawal.

After Harding admitted to helping to cover up the attack, the USFSA and United States Olympic Committee initiated proceedings to remove her from the 1994 Olympic team, but Harding retained her place after threatening legal action.^[4] She finished eighth in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, while Kerrigan, who recovered from her injuries, finished second.^[5]

Collision[]

During a warm-up, ice dancer Renée Roca was skating backward and collided with the team of Galit Chait and Maksim Sevostyanov, fracturing a bone in her left arm.^[6] Two hours later, she returned from the hospital with her arm in a cast and decided to try to compete.^[6] She and partner Gorsha Sur placed second in the rhumba, however, Roca was unable to secure a firm grip with her left hand,^[6] and had to withdraw from the rest of the competition.

References[]

^ "U.S. Title Is Taken Back From Harding". The New York Times. Associated Press. July 1, 1994. Retrieved Sep 28, 2010.
^ NYT
^ Web archive
^ "Mass Moments: Skater Nancy Kerrigan Assaulted". Archived from the original on 2010-11-26. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
^ "1994 Winter Olympics: Tonya Harding finishes 8th in women's figure skating". 26 February 1994.
^ ^a ^b ^c Longman, Jere (January 6, 1994). "OLYMPICS; Roca, Ice Dancer, Breaks Arm But Comes Back to Skate On". The New York Times. Retrieved September 7, 2011.

External links[]

men's and ladies' results

[1994-title-1] "U.S. Title Is Taken Back From Harding". The New York Times. Associated Press. July 1, 1994. Retrieved Sep 28, 2010.

[2] NYT

[3] Web archive

[4] "Mass Moments: Skater Nancy Kerrigan Assaulted". Archived from the original on 2010-11-26. Retrieved 2009-04-14.

[5] "1994 Winter Olympics: Tonya Harding finishes 8th in women's figure skating". 26 February 1994.

[jlongman-6] Longman, Jere (January 6, 1994). "OLYMPICS; Roca, Ice Dancer, Breaks Arm But Comes Back to Skate On". The New York Times. Retrieved September 7, 2011.

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