Favorite Skaters of All Time

[meem]

Yikes! How could I have left Tai and Randy off my list? And I don't know how to fit them in with M&D and S&P...3 different eras of skating. But I got hooked on figure skating competitions when I saw Tai and Randy skating at the Genesee skating event on TV back in the late 70's. Loved them.

Sorry, yasgaga, but Yuna did not pull people into her programs the way Michelle did (Yuna's artistry could be a bit "robotic", very little expression on her face). But, this is about who is one's favorite so you have yours and the rest of us have ours.

Love Kwan but lets be real here. What exactly does Kwan have that Yuna doesn't? Yuna is technically superior and artistically superior in my opinion. Kwan was a little robotic at times.

 

[Mathman]

...thank you for giving me a thumb up - you were my 3,000th thumb...

You have 3000 thumbs on 1600 posts?! I'm jealous. Somebody please give me a couple of thumbs ups for this post.

 

[Arriba627]

The (pair) skating has gone nowhere, watching Portopopovs.
Despite the abrupt music changes and her hair, their effortless lift, unison, spirals are just

The podium is funny.. ladies have exact same hair style!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tY_2eE9hv8

This thread is really good! educational and inspiring! :thumbsup:

Agree - good thread. The hair dos are as good as the skating!

 

[Arriba627]

You have 3000 thumbs on 1600 posts?! I'm jealous. Somebody please give me a couple of thumbs ups for this post.

There you go! :agree: Maybe I am secretly giving myself thumbs ups? :hap57:

 

[Mathman]

 

[gravy]

Your 3 favorites in the list made me watch Klimova and Ponomarenko (I started to watch ID very recently) on Youtube. The first one was tchaikovsky no.5.
Wow.... It was an eye opening experience. That gave me totally different ideas and impression on Russian skating. I only saw and tasted a tip of iceberg!!!

Thank you for your list
Edit: and I also learned from a You tube comment that their son, Anthony is a junior ice dancer with a partner, Christina CARREIRA, Québécoise, representing US!! They are doing really well and looking very promising!!:2thumbs:

You should also watch this video by Klimova & Ponomarenko: https://youtu.be/X4LnD0laELk

Watching this free was actually my first foray into the world of figure skating back in 1992. This team is way up there in terms of my all-time favorites.

 

[nieves]

The first Olympics I can remember is 2002 and Michelle Kwan's Fields of Gold is probably my favorite performance EVER. But Yuna Kim got me obsessed with skating as an adult, then Virtue/Moir made me pay attention to ice dance and were my favs until the French. I only started to like watching the men after looking at Lambiel, Buttle, and Takahashi, and pairs I didn't really watch at all until two seasons ago. Yuzu's R&J 1.0 is one of my favorite programs to rewatch but I wouldn't put him as my top man. Actually, Han Yan has the potential to be my all time fav but he's too inconsistent and needs to up his performance game.

All Time Favs as of 2016:

Yuna Kim
Joshua Farris
Papadakis/Cizeron
Sui/Han

 

[Raomina]

I haven't followed figure skating for long enough to really have 'all-time' favourites, so I'll just list the 'game changers' for me in each discipline:

- Mao Asada got me into figure skating around 2008. I've always loved her step sequences the best as it always got me moving in my seat as if I'm trying to match her movements. No one else (aside from Yuzuru now) gives me the same feeling still. There's just such dynamism, musicality and abandon in the way they execute their steps, which are so memorable as well. (All I can see when I watch Shoma's SP and Mura's FS are Mao's steps, same with Han Yan's FS and Yuzu's steps )

- Yuzuru Hanyu got me into Men's skating, and more deeply into figure skating in general, when I discovered him last year after looking up what Mao was up to (around Japan Open time). I swore that SEIMEI would become a masterpiece when I first saw it at ACI (and it was). No one else really got me to go from Ladies to Men's while Mao was competing (I just tried to watch Patrick Chan and Daisuke Takahashi since they were at the top but nothing kept me interested enough, so I didn't even watch Men's during the 2014 Olys), and I stopped following figure skating after Mao took her break. I was only a casual fan of figure skating when I was following Mao but now I'm actually following competitions more, discussing figure skating (why I'm here) and watching more skaters in different disciplines thanks to him. I'm actually invested in the journey and not just the results.

- Papadakis/Cizeron finally made me think 'Wow' in ice dance last year. I was never really impressed and was one of those in the camp of 'it doesn't really feel like a sport' and they all looked similar to me. I think the main reason is the way they gain and maintain speed throughout. It never looks like they're just doing crossovers from one element to another and everything just flows as a connected piece, which is uniquely ice dance since there are no jumps that can disrupt the flow.

- No one has really 'caught' my eye in Pairs yet, apart from the Chinese pairs back in 2010 Vancouver. I love SBS spins and the synchronicity in pairs in general but it seems like the focus is more on twists and throws now rather than synchronicity.

 

[apgold]

These come to mind due to their long (ish) careers:

Ladies: Sasha Cohen, Michelle Kwan, Yuna Kim (except her spiral, sorry), Mao Asada, Midori Ito
Men: Kurt Browning, Stephane Lambiel, Daisuke Takahashi, Patrick Chan, Yuzuru Hanyu
Dance: Virtue/Moir
Pairs: Pang/Tong, Savchenko/Szolkowy, Volozhovar/Trankov

 

[plushyfan]

Men: Plushenko

Ladies: hm..Chen Lu

Pair :Bereznaya-Sikharulidze

Dance: Krilova-Ovsyannikov, Klimova-Ponomarenko

 

[Starsfan84]

Past
Ladies: Michelle Kwan
Men: Kurt Browning
Pairs: Jamie Sale & David Pelletier
Dance: Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat

Current
Ladies: Kaetlyn Osmond
Men: Patrick Chan
Pairs: Aliona Savchenko & Bruno Massot
Dance: Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir

 

[Maribelle]

Ladies: Sasha Cohen
Men: Alexei Yagudin, Johnny Weir, Yuzuru Hanyu
Pairs: Grinkov & Gordeeva
Dance: Belbin & Agosto

 

[Arriba627]

You should also watch this video by Klimova & Ponomarenko: https://youtu.be/X4LnD0laELk

Aren't they just mesmerizing - her with that red hair flying. Wow! They easily made my favorites list! ETA -- And I had forgotten they are husband and wife. Not that that's a big deal, just sayin'...

 

[MeineKatze]

Ladies: MAO ASADA 4eva
Men: Shoma Uno and Daisuke Takahashi

 

[christinaskater]

Ladies: Michelle Kwan- simply one of the GOAT's - my personal Greatest of all time skater .
Akiko Suzuki- she wasn't the most consistent but this girl has magic in her body and boots!
When she is on , she becomes music brought to life!

Male: Daisuke Takahashi- just phenomenal!

Pairs- Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao.. Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze

Ice dancing: Papadakis and Csizeron. Davis and White. Virtue and Moir

 

[meem]

Thanks, Mathman...I've been here before (was Meem) but somehow had difficulties returning so I started all over again w/ new username and password. Yeah...Kristi was maybe THE best because not only did she win titles as an amateur, after she turned pro she was still winning and doing difficult jumps (when she didn't have to, based on her fellow pro competitors). And yeah again...Sale & Pelletier were such a beautiful pairs team in their competitive days.

^ Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting. As we say around here, "post often, post long."

Kristi = And thanks for mentioning Sale and Pelletier. :yes:

 

[Dee4707]

Mens: Kurt Browning, Patrick Chan And even at that it meant that I had to eliminate Alexei Yagudin.

FOR SHAME!!!! Just kidding, but really how could you??? :hpull:

 

[OS]

Oh boy... since when did this thread turn into a kwan vs kim thread. Different skaters pros and cons. No one is perfect and fav skaters does not need to be best or better ok? Figure skating is a sport where best skater may not always win. Oranges are not the only fruit nor are apples and pears but all are beautiful delicious fruits in the garden of eden. Lets just feel the blessings shall we.

For me their legacy and influence are just as important than what they are able to achieve. I see little michelles and yunas everywhere and that is so cute.

 

[lyndichee]

I agree a lot of skaters weren't complete either. I see Yuna as a very deserving Olympic and World Champion, with some breathtaking technical attributes. However, to me, and unlike Kwan, even at her best she didn't have it all.

I think with 2 different retired skaters, we could go on and on about comparing them. I think we should just stop and appreciate the beauty of each.

I want to share some love with Akiko Suzuki as well :luv17: I think her last programs or "swan songs" were a perfect ending for her career.

 

[Mathman]

Please don't use this happy thread to start fan wars, OK? It is enough just to mention who you like and why you like them. It is not necessary to do a "compare and contrast" with skaters who are only your second favorites.