Tim Wood - 1969 World Championships LP

Surely one of the two greatest performance of the 1960's (along with Don Jackson in Prague, 1962). Here Tim skates to perfection before a home crowd, showcasing his beautiful fluid style to finally take the World title. All these years later this is still a 'goose bump' moment!

[@kenwood4764]

So happy to have found this video. I had never seen this performance by Tim. Tim is my youngest Brother. The interviewer after performance is Dick Button, and with Tim is his coach Ronnie Baker. Also, at end of performance was a brief shop of our Mother. Thanks for publishing this. Ken Wood Camarillo, CA

[@kenwood4764]

Do you know Tim? He would love to thank you. Even send you autographed photo. Need your contact info if you care to.

[@rolo4945]

It’s wonderful to see these older films, I’m waiting for Jeremy Dowsons program from 1976...he was my pair partner in the same year I won nationals. I never saw Tim skate, but I do remember reading about him in the South African skating magazine Outside Edge. What a beautiful skater. In those days we knew how badly we were judged, we also knew if our figures were manipulated, it didn’t matter how well we skated...the results were disappointing. Ken I’m sure you must be so proud of your brother. I have no footage of my skating at all.

[@marygracehughes7455]

@maseratic boychik For sure. To this day, Tim is one of my favorite skaters!!

[@GoldenAgeofFS]

Tim has my favorite skating style for the men. For ladies, Peggy Fleming. Skating used to be so classy. I like his arm positions with all the emphasis being on the legs/feet.

[@RachelDavisMatthews]

11 years after this, Charlie Tickner didnt land any more difficult triple jumps. In 1980 Tickner just pulled off a triple toe and a triple salchow. That surprises me

[@romanop9173]

The commentator is the 1948 Olympic runner-up Eva Pawlik.

[@zurieljoshua]

What gorgeous skating! Just some of the best body lines ever in the sport, on par with John Curry and Robin Cousins.

[@scook5599]

Yes, thank you for posting Tim Wood's awesome Long Program. He had a very fluid style. Great choreography too. Probably before the time when every skater had a choreographer in addition to their coach!

[@charlesbergen5398]

A great performance without doubt! But of how things have changed: no "kiss & cry area" for these skaters - they stood on the ice to wait for their marks; the ice was not tinted "blue" like today for the television cameras, the "blue & red" lines for hockey were still on the ice and although plexiglass may have been removed from around the barrier, the posts were still in place. Alas, those were the days - gone perhaps but not forgotten....

[@morlavader5454]

The real Olympic Champion of 1968.

[@marygracehughes7455]

Yes Tim got robbed in Grenoble

[@morlavader5454]

His triples are high and great quality jumps, in addition to beautiful artistry, great footwork, strong edging and basics, and strong spins. Total package. My only criticsm is his skating seems for a lack of better word butch, like he is scared to make any use of the upper body that could be remotedly construed as feminine. Maybe a sign of the times.

[@zurieljoshua]

In general, in the early days of skating, both men and women kept their arms lower than their waists. It was just considered the proper style to skate for a very long time.

[@npe1]

Had he decided to stay on in amateur ranks after he won Worlds in 1970 he would probably have won Olympics in 1972 in Sapporo. Ondrej Nepela was good skater but I doubt he could have beaten Tim Wood.

[@morlavader5454]

and he is the real winner of 1968. This isnt even subjective like most times in skating but fact, a scoring error was uncovered but never fixed.

[@timothyhh]

I've never heard this, can you explain please?

[@morlavader5454]

A scoring error was made where a judge punched in a certain score that wasnt registered properly and his total score was added wrong. That judge had Tim over Wolfgang overall, and since Wolfgang won by 1 judge that was the difference. It was never fixed though, even though protests were made after the fact. So this was a factual thing, not a subjective "so and so was robbed" like usual.

[@charlesbergen5398]

Probably not as in those days figures were worth 60% of the total score and Nepala was unbeatable when it came to school figures where he always built up a very big margin just like Trixi later on in the '70s. With the inclusion of the short program things really started to change although unfortunately it didn't really help Janet Lynn in the long run....

[@renzy79]

@@charlesbergen5398 Tim beat Nepala in CF in 1968 and 1969. Nepala barely edged him 1970, but Tim still won overall. Given Nepala's 4th place free skate in 1972, Tim would have won easily with a second place in the figures; nonetheless, Wood was stronger in figures than Ondrej.

[@timothyhh]

Great picture and sound quality. Am I remembering correctly that he basically came out of no where and nearly won the Olympics the year prior?

[@timothyhh]

That's terrible to hear. He did win the freeskate in 1968 though, right? I wonder if he had a longer track record in 1968 if he would've placed higher in the figures. The silver medal is still quite an achievement considering he wasn't even national champ in 1968, IIRC.

[@timothyhh]

Nevermind, I looked it up and he was in fact 1968 national champ and was 2-3 in figures and freeskating respectively at the Olympics. Still, to go from 9th at worlds in 1967 to 2nd in 1968 was unusual in the figures era.

[@marygracehughes7455]

@@floskate Yes it was a technical error and they were unable to reverse.

[@1ACL]

6.0! This is the best skating I've ever seen ever! Just perfect in every way! I♥️HIM!!

[@TheScottAllenKennedy]

Of course, in context, the program was less rigid and mechanical than most of the male skaters of that time, but, I can't help but feel there is still a "walking a tight rope" feel to it, meaning, everything is structured, stiff and timed, it doesn't feel organic and natural. He obviously knew is edges and his lines, but, it is locked in time. Unlike John Curry and Toller Cranston who transcended the era they skated in. I now understand why they made such an impression in the 70s, because they opened the door for men to be much more artistic and less mannered and robotic. Still, its so nice to see champions of bygone eras so we can treasure them as part of our history.

[@janyshendrickson3833]

He was a very clean skater, good jumper, lots of lift and ice coverage. Been years since I've seen anyone do a Split Lutz ... love it! Thank you for posting this :-)

[@SaraKessler-qj9kj]

God I wish she would have shut up .. loved Tim Wood

[@ИринаП-б7о]

Это круто!!!

[@orahzamir3562]

Love this video. Never saw it before.

[@ИринаКириченко-в1т]

Просто катание без гармонии музыкальности.

[@zurieljoshua]

You're crazy. This is brilliant, gorgeous skating with clean lines and wonderful musicality. Something Russian single skaters lack.

[@gimichi]

Nice video thanks!

[@abbevogler2619]

gimichi The technic of the jumps is remarkable, also the great lines of the lay out, speed etc. But the rest is cross-over, cross-over, cross-over.... An elegant, more "designed" frame would have been rejected by judges (and by the audience) of that time. Male skaters had to skate in a masculin way.

[@ZakSF]

As well as a lot of cross-overs (which was totally normal back then) he seems to also be a big fan of the RBO3. (Back when I skated, I was too actually.) Not a criticism, just an observation.

[@renzy79]

Does anyone have his 1970 performance?

[@renzy79]

@@floskate Thank you!