XIII Winter Olympics Games - Lake Placid 1980 | Ladies SP (Highlights)

11 months ago
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The two favorites had divided the last three World titles – Linda Fratianne (USA) winning in 1977 and 1979, and Annett Pötzsch (GDR) winning in 1978. Pötzsch was known to be the stronger compulsory skater and she won that phase, with Fratianne third, also trailing West Germany’s Dagmar Lurz. In 12th place was Switzerland’s lovely and athletic Denise Biellmann, who was another sublime free skater who was never able to overcome her difficulty with school figures. She was best known for the Biellmann Spin, an acrobatic spin performed with the trail leg held behind her and up over the skater’s head, requiring extreme flexibility.

Fratianne won the short program with Pötzsch fourth, but Pötzsch still led going into the free skate, with Fratianne second and Lurz, fifth in the short, third. Biellmann was second in the short program, moving up to eighth place.

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