Kay Thomson

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Kay Thomson
Born (1964-02-18) February 18, 1964 (age 60)
Toronto, Ontario
Height1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Figure skating career
CountryCanada
Skating clubThe Granite Club
Retired1984

Kay Thomson (born February 18, 1964)

Anna Kondrashova, bronze medallist Elaine Zayak, and 4th-place finisher Kira Ivanova
.

During her competitive career, Thomson was known as a particularly strong spinner.[2] [3] Her spins included an unusual back layback, performed on the opposite foot than a normal layback spin. Kay in fact had 3 or 4 unique versions of the layback, performed by no other competitor, and often included each one in her long programs, as well as a unique crossfoot version of the scratch spin. Thomson was also one of the first female skaters to regularly include the triple Lutz jump in her programs, and the first ever to complete a triple lutz-double toe combination in a short program. [4] Surprisingly despite having a triple lutz, and sometimes a triple flip, she unfortunately was ever unable to master the standard easier triples of the time- triple salchow, triple toe, and triple loop, which most of the leading female contenders at the time had, which held her back on the international stage. With strong choreography and musical interpretation, Kay was known as a very strong all around skater, and despite failing to reach a world or Olympic podium is often credited as one of those (along with Elizabeth Manley and Tracy Wainmann) who brought Canadian ladies skating back to prominence after a few years of heavily middling results after the retirements of Karen Magnussen and Lynn Nightingale.

Results

International
Event 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84
Winter Olympics 12th
World Champ. 8th 7th 5th
Skate America 5th
Skate Canada 2nd
Prize of Moscow News 1st
National[5]
Canadian Champ. 2nd 1st 1st 1st

References

  1. ^ "Kay Thomson". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.
  2. ^ Kay Thomson (CAN) - 1984 Sarajevo, Figure Skating, Ladies' Long Program. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11.
  3. ^ Kay Thomson - 1983 World Championships Long Program. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11.
  4. ^ "The Montreal Gazette - Google News Archive Search".
  5. ^ "Canadian Figure Skating Championships" (PDF). Skate Canada. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-24. Retrieved 2016-04-29.