The greatest performances in men's figure skating

Minoru Sano, 1977 Worlds (he was the first Asian to ever medal at Worlds)
http://youtu.be/c8frqrJ5EzQ
David Jenkins, 1960 Olympics (look at the room he had on the jumps!)
http://youtu.be/AD-iqzaKvxo

Ilia Kulik '96/'97 GPF Romeo & Juliet!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXy7qBMvvOM

He has fire, elegance, intricate transitions all in one!
Also aesthetically very pleasing.

Another couple of entries I forgot to include earlier. John Curry's successor in so many ways.

Paul Wylie
1992 Olympic SP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfEF_0GeDwc&feature=related

1990 Nationals FS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkaci7tZsNw&feature=related

Rudy Galindo 96 Nationals FS (nothing makes my want to burst into a giddy fit of happy tears more than this program. Even the guys in my dorm suite who loathed skating loved this performance.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lH9mg_ZneA

jcoates said:

Another couple of entries I forgot to include earlier. John Curry's successor in so many ways.

Paul Wylie
1992 Olympic SP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfEF_0GeDwc&feature=related



1990 Nationals FS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkaci7tZsNw&feature=related

Rudy Galindo 96 Nationals FS (nothing makes my want to burst into a giddy fit of happy tears more than this program. Even the guys in my dorm suite who loathed skating loved this performance.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lH9mg_ZneA

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Yes!!!! And I would be terribly remiss not to include Kurt's "Casablanca!" Why, oh why, doesn't he have an Olympic medal of any color (I know, rhetorical question).

blue dog said:

Minoru Sano, 1977 Worlds (he was the first Asian to ever medal at Worlds)
http://youtu.be/c8frqrJ5EzQ
David Jenkins, 1960 Olympics (look at the room he had on the jumps!)
http://youtu.be/AD-iqzaKvxo

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David Jenkins would have been an AMAZING competitor in the full fledged triple jump era. He was a superb technician. Look at this triple axel in practice in 1957.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2unFSmlNjI

Great list jcoates! add Donald Jackson in 1962:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alrsemq_mzQ

jcoates said:

Another couple of entries I forgot to include earlier. John Curry's successor in so many ways.

Paul Wylie
1992 Olympic SP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfEF_0GeDwc&feature=related

1990 Nationals FS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkaci7tZsNw&feature=related

Rudy Galindo 96 Nationals FS (nothing makes my want to burst into a giddy fit of happy tears more than this program. Even the guys in my dorm suite who loathed skating loved this performance.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lH9mg_ZneA

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I'm quoting this post but I'm delighted with both of your posts. Thanks so much for going further back in time. Like you, I think that John Curry and Toller Cranston are the twin pillars of modern men's skating. They gave it a dimension that made everything after them possible, including Boitano, Wylie, Browning, and of course Robin Cousins.

(I hope Boitano's 1988 Olympic long program is on the list somewhere in this wonderful thread. It bears repeating if it is.)

I would have trouble narrowing down the lists everyone is providing! Fortunately we don't have to. But for the reasons mentioned, I'd have to put Curry and Cranston at the top of the list, because they began it all in significant ways. Jcoates' lovely post gives the whys and wherefores of their importance.

As for Browning...he's the one guy who has made Olympic medals irrelevant. For his body of work, he deserves an Olympic medal more than many other men who have won bronze, silver, or even gold. But his greatness doesn't seem to depend on the presence or absence of a medal. Thank goodness he's had such a long career, and for a man who had only bad luck at the Olympics, he had only good luck in the timing of his career because he was part of the generation that could really benefit from the pro skating explosion. He has been versatile, innovative, and electric, possibly even more impressive as a pro than as an amateur. And now he's been choreographing and working as a footwork coach...what a wonderful, multidimensional career. The way he darts over the ice--it might be slippery for everyone else, but not for Kurt.

I'd add a lot of his pro programs to this list, including the Nat King Cole program, the jazz "Summertime," and "That's Entertainment." They show how Kurt has learned the secret of defying gravity, especially with his wizard footwork.

Yagudin

2002 Olympics SP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEfR4dQ8wAw

2002 Olympics LP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On65xmS5Xls&feature=related

jcoates said:

I'm shocked that, except for a handful of mentions prior to my post, every program mentioned here happened from 1996 onward.

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Are you really that shocked? I have to admit my participation in these threads is minimal due to my lack of historical knowledge.

That, and I rather find Curry's legendary performance rather dull.

Dragonlady said:

Oldies but goodies:



and Kurt Browning’s 1992 Olympic LP, Casablanca. Kurt was out of medal contention after his disastrous SP so people didn’t notice this program as much as they would have if he had won the event. For me, this we THE performance of the 1992 Olympics.

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&sourc...xJWLAQ&usg=AFQjCNEzMbRRQ0r_psVdNW9IaTMiBBYHVw

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Kurt did not skate to Casablanca in 1992.

He skated to it at worlds 93 & Olympics 94. You probably meant Olympics 1994.

ImaginaryPogue said:

Are you really that shocked? I have to admit my participation in these threads is minimal due to my lack of historical knowledge.

That, and I rather find Curry's legendary performance rather dull.

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I'm with you - when you don't get to watch the performances in real time and in the context in which they were performed, you can't always relate to them in the same way. I can enjoy Janet Lynn's performances, for instance, but I don't really get the Protopopovs, even though I know they were good and advanced the sport and art of skating, etc etc.

Personally, I'd rather not pick any greatest performances - many of the programs and performances that I've enjoyed over the years aren't necessarily GOAT performances, but I liked them, or found them special, even if they were flawed in some ways. But it's a highly subjective reaction. For instance, Dai's Cyber Swan leaves me cold but I adore his La Strada and the Bachelorette EX; I really admire Stephane's Poeta but I don't love it - kind of my reaction to much of what he did in his career; I prefer Yagudin's Winter as performed at 2002 Euros to all the other versions he did because it somehow seemed more joyful; Joubert's Rise SP at 2010 Worlds is a skate I often rewatch, and nobody will ever convince me there was a better program performed on the day than that one; I can see that Johnny Weir's old programs aren't as complex as what we see today, but the skating is just so beautiful... and Candeloro's programs at the Olympics may have been flawed and showy, but great fun nonetheless.

Some of my favorites:

John Curry 1976 Olympics- Don Quixote

Orser 1988 worlds & Oly- The Bolt, Ex: The story of my life

Boitano 1988 Olympics- Napoleon, Carousel waltz (pro)

Gregorz Filipowski- 1989 worlds LP (Warsaw Concerto)

Viktor Petrenko 1992 Worlds & 1994 Olympics LP, Pro: Tosca, Malaguena, If you really love a woman, 1988 Oly LP (Don Q)

Kurt Browning- Casablanca LP- 1993 worlds, 1989 worlds LP (Grand Canyon Suite)

Rudy Galindo- 1996 US Nationals (Swan Lake), YMCA, Ice castles

Todd Eldredge- 1996 worlds (Gettysburg?) LP

Johnny Weir- 2005(?) Otonal LP, Dr. Zhivago - (2004?) US nationals, Fallen Angel (2008?) worlds, 2006 Oly SP (The swan)

Yagudin- 99 Lawrence of Arabia, 01GPF & 00 SC- Gladiator, 2002 Winter (SP)

Plushenko- 2003 worlds Njinski, 2004 GPF- St. Petersburg 300, 2002 Oly LP (Carmen), 2006 Oly SP (Tosca) & LP (Godfather)

Takeshi Honda- 2002 Oly SP (Don Q)

Kulik- 1998 Oly (Rhapsody in blue), 1996 worlds LP (Aladdin), 1996 Euro LP (another Gershwin number, IIRC), Liebestraum exhibition (The art of Russian skating, or something like it)

Paul Wylie- 1992 Oly LP, pro: Apollo 13, Carmina Burana, Schindlers list, Miss Saigon, JFK

Takahashi- 2003(?) SA- Rachmaninoff 2 LP, 2009 worlds LP

Abt- 2002 Euro (Rach 2 & 3), worlds 2003 SP (Dance of the Russian sailors)

Robin Cousins- many of his pro routines; can't list them all, but his footwork and lines were always a joy to watch

Tim Goebel- 2002 Oly SP (Danse Macabre), 2003 worlds LP

Jeremy Abbott- 2010 US nationals

Matt Savoie- 2006 US nationals SP & LP

Urmanov- 1997 worlds SP

Lambiel- Rachmaninoff exhibition

Christopher Bowman- 1992 Oly LP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYxOXmFkdYE

Dick Button's Olympic performances. 1952, when he did the first ever triple jump, a triple loop (no, not toe loope) and 1948, when he introduced the first ever double axel, and the first flying camel spin.

He also upped the ante in costumes a bit

As for competitive programs that I can rewatch and love:

Brian boitano's 1988 SP US Nationals Les Patineurs
Brian Boitano's 1988 LP Olympics Napoleon
Kurt Browning's Casablanca Olympics 1994
Rudi Galindo's 1996 US Nationals LP & SP, especially the LP to Swan Lake
Yagudin's Winter
Abt's LP at Europeans 2002 and especially his Artsakh SP there
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK0yYK4GXaU&feature=related

anything by Ilia Klimkin, jump failures and all

dorispulaski said:

Abt's LP at Europeans 2002 and especially his Artsakh SP there
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK0yYK4GXaU&feature=related

anything by Ilia Klimkin, jump failures and all

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Abt at 2002 Euros... I know it's the LP that usually gets most of the love, so I'm happy to see Artsakh get a mention - of the two, that's the one I've returned to many times.

Klimkin's Swan Lake would be another example of a program that wasn't perfect, but which I really like. A lot of Stanick Jeannette's stuff, too.

Vash, Todd's 1996 Worlds free skate was "First Knight" (he also did it at 1998 Worlds and at the 1998 Goodwill Games). He skated to "Gettysburg" at the 1995 Worlds (and won the silver medal ).

Love all your Paul Wylie choices! Brian Orser's "The Story of My Life" - just unforgetable and so touching!

I have looked at this topic from the "innovation" perspectives. No one ever done anything looked like "Winter" before Yagudin. No one ever dared to be so androgenously travestied like Weir' swan. After them ppl have tried to copy them - fortunately unsuccessfully. And when innovation coincides with force of providence, technical skills, luck, and aura of the arena - the greatest figure skating art is created. I have looked at above mentioned performances, and would say that they are good - but not magical.

ImaginaryPogue said:

Are you really that shocked? I have to admit my participation in these threads is minimal due to my lack of historical knowledge.

That, and I rather find Curry's legendary performance rather dull.

Click to expand...

Buttercup said:

I'm with you - when you don't get to watch the performances in real time and in the context in which they were performed, you can't always relate to them in the same way. I can enjoy Janet Lynn's performances, for instance, but I don't really get the Protopopovs, even though I know they were good and advanced the sport and art of skating, etc etc.

Personally, I'd rather not pick any greatest performances - many of the programs and performances that I've enjoyed over the years aren't necessarily GOAT performances, but I liked them, or found them special, even if they were flawed in some ways. But it's a highly subjective reaction. For instance, Dai's Cyber Swan leaves me cold but I adore his La Strada and the Bachelorette EX; I really admire Stephane's Poeta but I don't love it - kind of my reaction to much of what he did in his career; I prefer Yagudin's Winter as performed at 2002 Euros to all the other versions he did because it somehow seemed more joyful; Joubert's Rise SP at 2010 Worlds is a skate I often rewatch, and nobody will ever convince me there was a better program performed on the day than that one; I can see that Johnny Weir's old programs aren't as complex as what we see today, but the skating is just so beautiful... and Candeloro's programs at the Olympics may have been flawed and showy, but great fun nonetheless.

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I'm not that old, only 35. Curry actually won gold six months before I was born. I became interested in him because he died a couple of months after the 94 Olympics and the Washington Post did a massive write up on him and his accomplishments, a full page if I recall. (Back in the days when skating was actually covered by dedicated reporters at all the major papers.) I had heard and read about him before, but never seen his programs. Back then he and Dick Button were the only modern male singles skaters mentioned in any detail in maintream books and encyclopedia articles on skating because they were such innovators (of course Jackson Haines, Axel Paulsen, Ulrich Salchow and Alois Lutz were also give minor mention for historical purposes). So I was really impressed by how much attention was being paid to this man and his skating at the time of his death. The quotes from Boitano and others praising him had a major impact on my interest in his skating. A couple of years later, my mother bought a copy of Debbi Wilkes' wonderful book on skating history for me as a Christmas present. Looking back that book had a major impact on my understanding and appreciation of skating. It's both a technical and a historical work. Detailing the history and physics of jumping and spinning and figures, it really gives the reader a clear understanding of what skating is at a fundamental level and how it has grown. Curry takes up a lot of the book as do others, many of whom share Curry's history of having been coached by Gus Lussi at some point in their career. That man revolutionized jumping and spinning technique. He was not a skater himself. But applied a strict scientific and mathmatical approach to technique. Breaking it down to its key elements and then building it back up again. His work allowed Dick Button, Dorothy Hamill, Curry and others to refine their technique significantly.

Still in those day's there was no youtube and the only way to see old skating programs was by purchasing tapes, usually from ABC when they made them available or when Wide World of Sports produced a historical segment on past skaters. Still after his death, there was some increased interest in his career and on occasion ABC would show brief clips of him. Around that time I got to see my first program of his (his Olympic exhibition) after purchasing one of the Magic Memories on Ice tapes. I was in awe of his line, posture and stroking which were a major contrast to the dominant men of the time (Stojko, Eldredge, even Urmanov). He took his time with his skating. It was not rushed and he was not racing from one triple to the next. It made me see that skating could be something different. Later in the fall of 96 or the spring of 97 during one of Rudy Galindo's early pro competitions, ABC showed a portion of Curry's Olympic LP. Again I was struck by his line and control. Still even though my interest was there, I had to wait about seven or eight years before I finally got to see his performance in total, first after another edition of Magic Memories came out and later via youtube. During that ten year stretch or so, I became more and more interested in not only Curry's skating, but also other greats whom I missed out on as well as those whom I'd seen but not fully appreciated. I could remember skating going back to about 1980 as a preschooler (my mother and grandmother were big fans) but of course had no educated understanding of it at that early age. My natural love of history combined with my love of love skating finally met it's match once the internet went into full swing. Sandra Loosemore's terrific website and this forum (especially Doris's wonderful ice dancing write-ups) further fed my appetite and allowed me to fill many gaps in knowledge. Finally youtube and other video sharing sites came along and now serve as an actual historical archive for skating. (BTW, check out these four fabulous channels there if you are a history buff like me floskate, 3axel1996, benben35, and k9henrydog. There are literally thousands of programs covering the last 50 years at least.) Thus my exhuberant posting sprees of 30 year old skating clips. I lived through and vividly remember the last 25 years or so. But the previous decades are what really interest me specifically because I was not there or at least was not as aware as I am now. It's like when you are a kid and you ask you grandmother what life was like when she was young. She can tell you about it until she's blue in the face, but until you can see it play out, it's not as real. For me, hearing Uncle Dick talk about skating from the past for most of my life only led to increased curiosity about it. Now I can see it for myself and really take the time to appreciate, analyze and understand it. I find that I like the older programs more in many cases because they are radically different than what's out there now.

Dragonlady said:

and Kurt Browning’s 1992 Olympic LP, Casablanca. Kurt was out of medal contention after his disastrous SP so people didn’t notice this program as much as they would have if he had won the event. For me, this we THE performance of the 1992 Olympics.

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&sourc...xJWLAQ&usg=AFQjCNEzMbRRQ0r_psVdNW9IaTMiBBYHVw

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I'm sure you meant 1994. 92 was a disaster of an LP - he skated to Firebird... or rather, he fell apart to firebird... :no:

I agree Casablanca in 1993 was wonderful, he fought through it to have a good skate at the olys in 94. I also love his SP in 1990 where he threw in the triple axel at the last possible moment of the program. He calls it his Hail Mary Pass... freaking amazing.

I'm not that old, only 35.

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I agree. I'm 27 and I love Janet Lynn and a lot of Curry's stuff... you don't need to be "old" to appreciate/love/have a connection with the skaters that are pre-CoP or even pre-Whack.

Stasi said:

I have looked at this topic from the "innovation" perspectives. No one ever done anything looked like "Winter" before Yagudin. No one ever dared to be so androgenously travestied like Weir' swan. After them ppl have tried to copy them - fortunately unsuccessfully. And when innovation coincides with force of providence, technical skills, luck, and aura of the arena - the greatest figure skating art is created. I have looked at above mentioned performances, and would say that they are good - but not magical.

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Johnny and Yagudin were both wonderful, but they can't be called original in the grand history of skating when you look at whom they followed. They were more accurately carrying on certain traditions and building on them and making them their own. But they were not the first to do what they did. Yagudin is a skater clearly in the mold of Browning, Cousins and even Hamilton. A pure entertainer with fast, dancy feet, high energy, even comedic timing who could turn on a crowd from the first bar of music. Johnny is quit plainly channeling Toller Cranston and Rudy Galindo. Soft lines, extraordinary stretch, unique positions, flamboyant choreography and androgenous sensibility were all things both Toller and Rudy among others all did before Johnny.

Tonichelle said:

pre-Whack.

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Heh...Toni you have such a way with words.

jcoates said:

Heh...Toni you have such a way with words.

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I have many fumbles with words... I still lead a sheltered life, so if this is something naughty I apologise (apparently I've made quite a few online over the past few days that I had no idea on so I'm a bit nervous when people start laughing)