Your favorite skating rivalry of all time?

[bibi24]

Chen Lu / MK
Todd Eldredge / Elvis Stojko
Todd Eldredge / Scott Davis
Emanuel Sandhu / Jeff Buttle
Midori Ito / Kristi Yamaguchi
Nobu / Dai
Kurt / Boitano
Weir / Lysac
Plush / Yags

[dlgpffps]

Chen Lu / MK
Emanuel Sandhu / Jeff Buttle
Nobu / Dai

You have some really interesting choices. I have never really considered Chen Lu and MK as rivals. Chen Lu had problems with consistency, esp. with her lutz, so her track record pales in comparison. Both were exquisite, but while I listed MK as the heavy favorite to win gold in Nagano, I didn't see Chen Lu even on the podium.

In 94-95, they met once and that was at Worlds where Chen Lu won gold and MK was 4th. In 95-96, MK won everything she entered, while Chen Lu was 2nd at WC, 4th at the final and 2nd at SA. In 96-97, MK and Chen Lu were 2nd vs. 25th (Worlds), with Chen Lu withdrawing from her Grand Prix assignments. In 97-98, MK won everything except the Olympics, where she came second to Lu Chen's 3rd. They have met six times with Chen Lu winning only once. Chen Lu was a great skater who had all the goodies, but couldn't keep on top of the game.

[chronos13]

I was born in 1990 so the earliest rivalry I can remember was Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan
which had a lot of potential to be great but fizzled out too soon.

So from the ones I actually remember I'd go with:
Michelle Kwan vs. Sasha Cohen
Michelle Kwan vs. Irina Slutskaya
Alexei Yagudin vs. Evgeny Plushenko
Johnny Weir vs. Evan Lysacek
Yuna Kim vs. Mao Asada
Brian Joubert vs. Patrick Chan (love the talk and the quads vs. artisty)

[silverlake22]

Caroline Zhang vs. Mirai Nagasu during their junior days. They were just too cute!

[heyang]

No Johnny killed that rivalry. Sure he tried all he could to keep it alive with "rivalry" comments to the press but the fact is that talk does not make a rivalry. It aids fuel to the fire when there are tow skaters repeatedly battling it out for the same title, but if one of said skaters does not actually challange the other when the the lights go down, the rivalry is dead. The fact that Johnny's last national title was in 2006, his only world medal came when Evan did not compete speaks for itself. The fact that Johnny has grown less consistent while Evan grew more so pretty much sealed the dea.

I agree with you. As much as the media would like a rivalry, Johnny's own performances killed this rivalry. This year was Johnny's best since his last title win and his choreo, while lovely, did not have enough to win with COP without 'help' at the world level. The rivalry was probably valid from about 2004-2007. I think they pushed each other then, but now it's Jeremy that's pushing Evan at Nationals.

[Jaana]

Back to Johnny and Evan. At the national level, Johnny could beat Evan based upon his skating. Johnny didn't always have to wait for Evan to mess up or not show up at all. But I think that rivalry has died down the past few years because of the new skaters that are coming on the scene and the fact Evan has been the USFS's "golden boy" for years (I guess he literally is their golden boy now!). It's no secret that the folks at US Figure Skating don't like Johnny, the judges don't like him and they punish him when the scores come up (remember what happend in Vancouver?). US Figure Skating killed that rivalry.

It is not the fault of the judges, that Weir has not had decent CoP programmes while competing in CoP-competitions. In my opinion he has gotten the scores he deserves (e.g. in Vancouver).

I think they pushed each other then, but now it's Jeremy that's pushing Evan at Nationals.

I think a top skater needs to aim to do his best = to peak in the most important competition of the season (Olympics or Worlds), the Nationals is not that competition. I remember how disappointed I was as in one Nationals Evan seemed to put his all to win that title, which he did. But he was not as great in the Worlds after that... I have been very happy for his silver and bronze medals in the Nationals, because they are all one needs to be able to compete in the major competition of a season.

My favourite rivalry has been the battle of Brians.

[skateflatt]

MK/Chen Lu
MK/Sasha
MK/Tara
Mao/Yuna
Mao/Joannie- Very interesting to see them next season. So far, Joannie edges Mao 3v2 face to face for the last two years. If I include Japan Open 2009, then four wins for Jo over Mao two. In terms of avg scores, they are very close to each other.
Ito/Yamaguchi
Mirai/Laura- won't speculate for this two, but very exciting to see.

[Kwanford Wife]

Caroline Zhang vs. Mirai Nagasu during their junior days. They were just too cute!

I totally agree and will be a bit disappointed if Mirai v. Caroline is only a memory. Granted, Mirai v. Rachael has some serious potential to be ooddles of fun to watch - the artist vs. the technician. Those are always fun!

[silverlake22]

I totally agree and will be a bit disappointed if Mirai v. Caroline is only a memory. Granted, Mirai v. Rachael has some serious potential to be ooddles of fun to watch - the artist vs. the technician. Those are always fun!

Yeah, well I have a feeling Rachael will go to college either this year or next year and make it her top priority, so I think more realistically we may see Mirai vs. Ashley, Christina, Agnes or (fingers-crossed she sorts out her technical issues) Kiri .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MObZCjKHFaY
http://web.icenetwork.com/media/play...70949217&_mp=1

They were so cute and little. I think there's still the possibility that Caroline might have a comeback.

[CzarinaAnya]

Kwan/Lipinski

Yagudin/Plushenko

[mikiandorocks]

Plushenko vs Yagudin
Kwan vs Slutskaya
Anissina & Peizerat vs Fusar-Poli & Margaglio

[Bijoux]

Would you say that kerrigan and yamaguchi were rivals? It seemed to me that Yama was always favored over Nancy and both were very polite, pc skating princesses.

Kerrigan never felt Tonya was in her league in terms of looks, costumes, acceptance from the small skating community. Does it take two to make a rivalty? Obviously Tonya thought Nancy stood between her and Olympic gold. I don't remember those years say 89-93, after Witt stopped competing and the medals were available then.

Where did Jill Trenary fit into the picture. I remember loving her skating and thinking how adorably cute she was. Where did she fit in with the ladies?

[Olympia]

As I recall, Trenary retired when they eliminated school figures. She knew she couldn't compete against the powerful jumpers such as Ito, and she luckily got her World Championship the last year when school figures were part of the competition. The next year's champion, predictably, was Ito.

[janetfan]

As I recall, Trenary retired when they eliminated school figures. She knew she couldn't compete against the powerful jumpers such as Ito, and she luckily got her World Championship the last year when school figures were part of the competition. The next year's champion, predictably, was Ito.

I believe Midori won her only WC in '89. Jill did win in '90 and Kristi won in '91 and '92.

[Tonichelle]

As I recall, Trenary retired when they eliminated school figures. She knew she couldn't compete against the powerful jumpers such as Ito, and she luckily got her World Championship the last year when school figures were part of the competition. The next year's champion, predictably, was Ito.

didn't school figures end in 1992? Jill won her title, IIRC in 1990?