Who do you think excelled at certain moves/elements of skating (spins, spirals, etc)?

Who do you think excelled at certain moves/elements of skating (spins, spirals, etc)?

Hello,

I thought it would be interesting to compile a list of ladies figure skaters that I believe excelled at particular moves/elements of skating. What would your list look like?

SPINS:
Best Spinner ----- Lucinda Ruh
Best Forward Camel ----- Sarah Hughes
Best Back Camel ----- Sasha Cohen
Best Donut ----- Oksana Baiul
Best Back Sit ----- Michelle Kwan
Best Forward Sit ----- Alissa Czisny
Best Classic Layback ----- Caroline Zhang
Best Catch-Foot Layback ----- Alissa Czisny
Best Bielman ----- Mirai Nagasu
Best “I” Position ----- Alissa Czisny

SPIRALS:
Best Spiraler ----- Sasha Cohen
Best Classic Spiral ----- Sasha Cohen
Best Bielman Spiral ----- Ashley Wagner
Best Charlotte ----- Sasha Cohen
Best “I” Position ----- Alissa Czisny

MOVES IN THE FIELD – (other than spirals):
Best Ina Bauer ----- Shizuka Arikawa
Best Spread Eagle ----- Sasha Cohen

LEAPS:
Best Falling Split Leap ----- Michelle Kwan
Best Russian Split Leap ----- Sasha Cohen
Best Hydroblading ----- Michelle Kwan

JUMPS:
Best Jumper ----- Yuna Kim
Best Height ----- Midori Ito
Best Double Axel ----- Oksana Baiul or Yuna Kim
Best Triple Axel ----- Mao Asada
Best Triple Loop ----- Laura Lepisto
Best Triple Salchow ----- ?
Best Triple Flip ----- Yuna Kim
Best Triple Lutz ----- ?
Best Triple Toe Loop ----- Michelle Kwan

OTHER ELEMENTS:
Best Toe Point ----- Naomi Nari Nam
Best Turn Out ----- Sasha Cohen
Best Positions in General ----- Sasha Cohen

ARTISTRY:
Best Emotional Interpretation ----- Michelle Kwan
Best Music/Repertoire ----- Michelle Kwan
Best Grace of Movement ----- Ann Patrice McDonough
Best Gentleness ----- Mao Asada
Best Lyrical Quality ----- Yukina Ota
Best Oozing Quality ----- Chen Lu
Best Tension ----- Sasha Cohen
Best Intesity ----- Katarina Witt
Best Exuberance ----- Naomi Nari Nam
Best Flow ----- Yuna Kim
Best Arm Movement ----- Yuna Kim
Best Balletic Movement ----- Oksana Baiul

CHARACTERS:
Best as Carmen ----- Katarina Witt
Best as Roxie from Chicago ----- Jennifer Kirk
Best as Scheherazade ----- ?
Best as Ballerina from Swan Lake ----- Oksana Baiul
Best as Ballerina from Nutcracker ----- ?

DRESS/HAIR/MAKEUP:
Best Dressed ----- ?
Best Hair ----- Laura Lepisto or Kiira Korpi
Best Makeup ----- Ashley Wagner or Kiira Korpi

Another Move

Here's another move to add to the SPINS section:

Best Forward Scratch ----- Sasha Cohen

I love the list. Thanks!

To the spiral list, I'd add

Best Change-of-edge spiral: Michelle Kwan

No one has quite the same flow on COE spirals.

As for best-dressed, I'd pick Kim. I can't remember any competitive costumes of her that I didn't like. I've only followed skating for a couple of years, so there may be many more earlier skaters who were just as well dressed as Kim.

Best quad (in GOE terms)- Nobunari Oda.
Best (consistant) wuad-Evegeni Plushenko
Best Dressed: Sasha Cohen
Best Throws: Shen and Zhao
Best Twizzles: Davis and White
Best lifts: Ukranian Pair team?
Best interprtation for a pair team: Aliona and Robin

I really like some of Alissa Czisny's outfits.

Hard cuz some of these are such subjective topics! Overall I prefer simple elegant dresses for the ladies, so that's why Michelle, Sarah Meir, Yu-Na and Joannie stick out to me as best dressed.

I LOVE Julia's 3 Lutz, such height! Not sure I'd put Yu-Na down for best Flip, she can contend for Best Lutz though! Definitely best 3/3, whether it's 3lz/3t or 3f/3t.

I'd give Midori the 3ax, with Tonya as Honorable Mention. Also, I'd like to nominate Tonya for the Best 3 Loop title...just WOW.

Double axle...Mao's entrance is super difficult and she does get great height, beautiful air position. But Yu-Na's ina baur entrance and 2a/3t combo are amazing. I loved young Michelle's 2ax, especially when she'd hold the landing edge in attitude position. Young Sasha's 2a was beautiful as well.

I always like Michelle's 3 salchow and wondered why she didn't use it as a 3/3 combo.

Best Y-spin: Alissa

Best Camel Layover: Yu-Na, with honorable mention to Caroline.

Best Layback spin: Caroline, Alissa honorable mention.

I don't have time to comment extensively on this enjoyable topic right now, but if you're talking about best-dressed, we can't forget the Finnish ladies! Michelle of course was always elegantly dressed (usually by Vera Wang, herself an ex-figure skater), and I'd agree about YuNa as another exemplar.

Great that you mentioned Naomi Nari Nam for toe point! She and Sasha were both so good at it that I thought for awhile that it must be a hallmark of John Nicks students. Nam was a wonderful skater for the short time she was able to compete, and she deserves to be remembered whenever possible.

Ina Bauer--definitely Shizuka owns the franchise! Ditto for Lucinda Ruh and spins. Of American ladies, the best spinner is Czisny, I'd say.

I love some of your categories--best gentleness, for example. Much of the reason I love Asada is the landings of her jumps. She's like a leaf landing on a lake. And, as you did, I'd also pick Kwan for best musical repertoire, especially when she was skating with Lori Nichol. I'd love to meet Nichol and talk about her music choices for Kwan, which were original and always delightful. Once very early in Michelle's career, she even skated to a modern Chinese orchestral piece, The Yellow River Concerto. Nichol's musical knowledge was and is a huge asset to her choreographic impact.

Best "I" position should go to Molly Oberstar, her legs are soo long and thin and straight her "I" position spin is AMAZING

My favorite category is Best Oozing Quality but I'm not sure what it means... or whether I'd want to put one of my favorites in it. Makes me think about oil spills....

Best Half-Biellmann: Tugba Karademir

Filling in your Best Nutcracker ballerina: Sasha Cohen

Spun Silver said:

My favorite category is Best Oozing Quality but I'm not sure what it means... or whether I'd want to put one of my favorites in it. Makes me think about oil spills....

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I wasn't so sure about the "best oozing" either but since Chen-Lu was selected it must be very good

Does it mean expression - as in oozing expression or emotion?

Also was wondering about Peggy Fleming's spread eagle/ 2A move? It was a nice one and glad to see the Ladies are still doing this move 40 years after Peggy did it.

Another jump I used to love was the delayed axle. Dorothy had a very good one.

Another skater missing is Janet. Since many coaches still use tapes of her skating to teach their students it seems she must have done a few things pretty well. A couple that come to mind would be music interpretation, flow over the ice, overall positions, posture, and connecting with the audience. And I used to like her walley jumps done it both directions.

BTW, whatever happened to some of the jumps from the 50's. 60's and 70's?
Are they just out of fashion or considered too easy? Delayed axles, walleys, half loops, one-foot axle....?

What about Yuka Sato?

She is so lovely on the ice. So smooth and gliding. Her smile is so cute and she skates like Janet Lynn.

But does she ooze?

Spun Silver said:

But does she ooze?

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Yes, Yuka scores very highly on my oozometer

I would have to vote Baiul for best arm movements. So balletic. Yuna has very nice arm movement but Baiul was a bit better.

As for best Best as Scheherazade, I would have to say Yuna. I loved her free program at 2009 world even with mistakes. I love that music so much anyway.

You should put in a best 3/2, best 3/2/2, best 2/3, best 3/3 jump combination categories. Yuna would take the best 3/3... not sure about the others.

Of the currently competing ladies, I definitely love Alissa Cizny's spins the best. They are really amazing and beautiful to behold. I've never seen Lucinda Ruh's so I can't comment on that.

Phoenix347 said:

Of the currently competing ladies, I definitely love Alissa Cizny's spins the best. They are really amazing and beautiful to behold. I've never seen Lucinda Ruh's so I can't comment on that.

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You really should watch her programs, she is amazing. But I think Nathalie Krieg is even better!

At a very quick glance, a few of my choices that differ:

Best (quality) Quad - ChenJiang Li

Bets "tension" (under atristry) - Maria Butyrskaya

Phoenix347 said:

I would have to vote Baiul for best arm movements. So balletic. Yuna has very nice arm movement but Baiul was a bit better.

As for best Best as Scheherazade, I would have to say Yuna. I loved her free program at 2009 world even with mistakes. I love that music so much anyway.

You should put in a best 3/2, best 3/2/2, best 2/3, best 3/3 jump combination categories. Yuna would take the best 3/3... not sure about the others.

Of the currently competing ladies, I definitely love Alissa Cizny's spins the best. They are really amazing and beautiful to behold. I've never seen Lucinda Ruh's so I can't comment on that.

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ITA:yes:

Best Smile- Janet Lynn
Best Dressed- Alissa Cizny, Yuna Kim (They have long arms and legs) The Finnish ladies
Best Hair - Wagner in LP

janetfan said:

Another skater missing is Janet. Since many coaches still use tapes of her skating to teach their students it seems she must have done a few things pretty well. A couple that come to mind would be music interpretation, flow over the ice, overall positions, posture, and connecting with the audience. And I used to like her whalley jumps done it both directions.

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:yes: