Aleksei Urmanov (RUS) - 1997 World Figure Skating Championships, Men's Short Program

Lausanne, SWITZERLAND - 1997 World Figure Skating Championships, Men's Short Program - Aleksei Urmanov of Russia placed 1st with this Short Program, a nice departure from his usual programs choreographed to classical music. Unfortunately, during practice the next day, he would pull a groin muscle that would force him to withdraw from competition and eventually prevent him from being able to compete at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games. An added insult to injury, the ISU implemented a new format this season as to how each country earned the number of berths for next year's World Championships AND the Olympic Games. Rather than where the highest ranking skater places that decides on the number of berths, the total of the combined placements of all of the skaters from a country in each discipline would determine the number of berths. Because Urmanov had to withdraw, that basically added 25pts to Yagudin's 3rd Placement (3pts) and Kulik's 5th Placement (5pts) for a total of 33pts. That total would only qualify Russia 2 berths (instead of 3, as it would have been under the old system) for the 1997/1998 season and would cause the Russian Federation to file a complaint with the ISU regarding this. Sadly, the same fate would happen to the United States as well.