Skater wins crowd support

Press, 9 October 1987, Page 32

Skater wins crowd support

PA Auckland If crowd support counted for anything, Glenfield’s Russ Flatt should have won the men’s free-skating title at the world artistic roller skating championships in Auckland. But the skaters were being seeded for today’s four-min-ute “long” programme and Flatt, aged 16, came sixteenth out of the field of 22 skaters. The defending world champion, Scott Cohen, took first place while a fellow American, Gregg Smith, came second. At the end of each skater’s performance, the crowd

threw carnations and roses and while Smith and Cohen gathered a few flowers after their routines, it was Flatt who was the crowd’s favourite. When he had finished his routine more than 20 flowers were scattered around the stadium floor. The American, David De Motte, took third spot in the short programme. In the first section of competition, Italy’s Chiara Sartori kept her women’s figure-skat-ing title when she beat 28 others for the top spot Sartori, aged 18, won the

title in Italy in 1985 and in Colombia last year. West Germany’s Frederique Florentin came second and Lyn Suwinski took third place. The three New Zealanders finished in the middle of the field. Wendy Lundon, aged 20, of Gisborne, went up one in her world ranking in the section when she came fifteenth, while Leigh-Anne Wiig, aged 16, of Napier, was one ahead in forteenth place. Liza Stevens, aged 15, of Glenfield, finished seventeenth.