Carter sets new Australian figure skating record
Olympic Winter Institute of Australia
19th February 2005

Nagano Olympian Joanne Carter has booked a place at next month’s World Figure Skating Championships and is on track for another Olympic campaign following the best performance ever recorded by an Australian skater at the Four Continents Championships.

Competing in Gangneung, Korea, Carter finished one place short of the podium, faltering in this evening’s free program for a seventh place, but retaining the fourth place overall that was set up by her excellent short program two days earlier.

Team-mate and reigning Australian champion Miriam Manzano just edged Carter in the free program, scoring sixth place from the judges. But after a disastrous 16th placing in the short program, the best she could salvage was ninth overall.

The previous best result at the Four Continents Championships by an Australian was Anthony Liu’s fifth place in 1999. Carter’s best prior to this year was ninth, also in 1999.

Skating in the best form of her life in the short program, Carter scored 49.63 points, then added 84.46 from her free skate to total 134.09 points. Manzano’s short program delivered 37.64 points and her free program 85.08 for 122.72 overall.

Japanese skater Fumie Suguri won the gold medal with 178.66 points overall. Compatriot Yoshi Onda was second on 166.80 points and Jennifer Kirk of the United States third on 148.06.

The third Australian in the women’s field, Sarah-Yvonne Prytula, was 21st overall on 82.16 points.

Securing the top placing at Four Continents earns Carter the right to represent Australia at the 2005 World Figure Skating Championships in Moscow next month.

If she finishes in the top 24 in that competition, she will have qualified for her second Olympic Games.

The fourth placing for Carter represents the third time she has set significant milestones in her sport. The Sydney 24-year-old skated to 11th place in the World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1997, the best performance by an Australian, then set another national record by placing 12th in the 1998 Nagano Olympic Winter Games. Injury then curtailed her opportunities to qualify for the Salt Lake 2002 Games.

This Four Continents performance was rated more complete and more mature than Carter has shown previously. In the free program she landed two triple flips, one in combo, and a triple toe. Her performance value was very good - better spins, expression and ‘transitions’ than she has demonstrated before.

Manzano also skated well throughout her program, landing her triple lutz and flip.