Ice Queens

Both Ito and Harding can land a triple Axel. Since finishing second to Harding last month at the nationals in Minneapolis , the 19-year-old Yamaguchi has been knocking herself out trying to put it into her repertoire, without luck. She trains in the Royal Glenora rink, in Edmonton , with a pretty fair jumper named Kurt Browning , among others, so she is not lacking encouragement. And Kjarsgaard Ness is certain she'll have the triple Axel by next year. But there is some question whether Yamaguchi , who evokes such elegance on the ice, even needs a 3� revolution jump.

She certainly didn't this year. Skating last of the final five competitors, and thinking that if Eldredge had skated so well from that difficult draw, so could she, Yamaguchi was unaware of the great and small disasters that preceded her. First, Bonaly did her skating kangaroo routine, falling twice—once while applauding herself immediately after her near-quad.

Then Harding, after nailing her triple Axel, rushed her triple toe-triple toe combination and turned it into an ungainly single-double. She didn't fall during her program, but landed only four of the seven triples she had planned. "I didn't deserve to win," Harding said later.

Ito, who was experiencing pain both in her ribs and her left ankle, didn't want to skate. But she was persuaded to try by the chairman of the Japanese Skating Federation, Katsuichiro Hisanaga, who was hoping she could hang on to third place, thereby giving the Japanese three spots in the Olympics. It wasn't to be, as the game Ito landed only four of eight triples, falling on one of those occasions. That enabled Kerrigan , who also fell once but otherwise skated well, to pass Ito and finish third in her first worlds. "Next year Midori will do her combination in the middle of the ice," said Hisanaga.

Which left only Yamaguchi . Skating her free program faster than she had at the nationals, taking her jumps visibly higher, Yamaguchi landed six triples while proving that the era of the stylish skater had not yet passed. Remember what Cranston said about a wall of 5.9's? Yamaguchi put up seven of them for artistic impression, plus a perfect 6.0 from Italian judge Franco Benini. "She's such a finished skater," said Harding's coach, Dody Teachman. "Coming into this, I knew Kristi would be our competition."

Browning was so happy that his training partner won that he dissolved into joyous tears. Come to think of it, among the Japanese contingent, team Yamaguchi and a host of proud U.S. coaches and officials, there were a lot of moist eyes last Saturday afternoon in Munich . But that's figure skating. We wouldn't have it any other way.