Some one who exceeded your expectations | Golden Skate

Some one who exceeded your expectations

minze

Medalist
Joined
Dec 22, 2012
To borrow from the thread of someone who was supposed to break through and did not.

Who has exceeded your expectations as a skater?
I think maybe Ashley Wanger did anyone expected her to be the #1 U.S lady
Akiko Suzuki was she expected to one of the best ladies in the world
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I'd say Shizuka too. She didn't seem to be on the list of contenders, mostly because of her inconsistency. One world championship, and then suddenly that stupendous win at such a late age. Certainly Akiko Suzuki as well. In what ought to be the twilight of her career, she's doing her best work. Bravo!

And let's not forget Paul Wylie.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
All 3 ladies mentioned definitely did better than expected.

I don't think anyone expected Oksana Baiul to win Worlds in 1993, either.

It was a shock when Paul Wylie medalled at the Olympics.

I never expected Brian Boitano to beat Brian Orser for the OGM in 1988.

When I look back to 2006, when D&W aged out of juniors with their best finish a third at Jr. Worlds and a 2nd at a JGPF, I wonder how many people thought they would ever be two time World Champions? At the time, the US had Belbin and Agosto, OSMs, Gregory & Petukhov (10th at Worlds), Matthews & Zavozin, Jr World Champions, H&H and S&B, both either Jr World champions or thought to be headed that way. People complained endlessly about Meryl's short legs.

At the same time, Capellini & LaNotte's best finish was 4th at Jr. Worlds, behind V&M, D&W, and a long lost Russian team. Now they were 3rd in the FD last yea at Worlds, and are European bronze medallistsr.

Both teams are a testimony to the power of concentration, good coaching, talent, & hard work.
 

Buttercup

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
^ P/B only had only been together for two years when they aged out of juniors, with their highest JW finished being 6th.

Javier Fernandez. He doesn't come from a skating power and he started his career not even making it out of SPs at major events, then climbing up the ranks but still not a real contender. I didn't think he'd have the sort of breakthrough that he did, I remember being pretty shocked when he led after the SP at 2011 Skate Canada.

Shortly after JW in 2009, I mentioned Yuzuru Hanyu in a forum post here as someone with a lot of potential, but I thought he'd be too young to contend until after Sochi. To see him make so much progress so fast was pretty neat.

I didn't follow his career when he was young, but considering Brian Joubert had never medalled internationally at any level prior to 2002 Euros, I wonder how many people would have picked him to win ten consecutive Euros medals and six at Worlds (with 3 Euros/1 World titles).
 

jenaj

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Country
United-States
People did not expect her to OGM.?

She was around for a long time before she was ever anywhere near an OGM. She skated in Nagano and and was way down in the standings. Who would have thought she would win the gold medal 8 years later?
 

FlattFan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Shizuka has everything it takes to be a champion. She was just so inconsistent.

Someone with fabulous skating skills, and good jumps, spins, steps, etc... when put all of them together cleanly will win. With Shizuka, you're just waiting for it to happen.

Someone who exceeded my expectations in a good way is Suzuki.
Someone who exceeded my expectations in a bad way is Julia. Really, how on earth did someone with tiny jumps, weak skating skills, weak presentation, slow, everything terrible become a contender is beyond wild.
I would have her PCS in the 40s max compare to other girls. Her GOE is way too generous as well.
 

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
Joannie Rochette. After she first medalled at Canadian Nationals I thought she might be a solid top-10 skater at Worlds but I never thought she was going to win an Olympic medal. I actually expected Cynthia Phaneuf to stay Canada's #1.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Alissa Czisny. Pretty girl, nice spins. Who would have thought that she would win two U.S. championships and a Grand Prix Final. :rock:
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Maria Butyrskaya - she was a head case and she kid of looked "fragile" something about her landings. Liz Manley looked like she would never get it together either. Petrova and Tikinov looked destined to be Susan Lucci's of skating - close but no cigar. Duhamel and Radford winning bronze. The Carruthers.Oksana Baiul kind came out of nowhere. Holly Cook whoever and wherever she is now. ARakawa for sure. Kira Ivanova - she too looked rather weak and fragile if not at times sickly. Paul wylie winning OSM
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
When I look back to 2006, when D&W aged out of juniors with their best finish a third at Jr. Worlds and a 2nd at a JGPF, I wonder how many people thought they would ever be two time World Champions? At the time, the US had Belbin and Agosto, OSMs, Gregory & Petukhov (10th at Worlds), Matthews & Zavozin, Jr World Champions, H&H and S&B, both either Jr World champions or thought to be headed that way. People complained endlessly about Meryl's short legs.

I still miss G&P, though they would've been overtaken by D&W, I wish they'd left the ice on their terms with a "farewell skate" instead of a fall that took them out and they never really recovered from it. That being said they are doing GREAT things with their EduSkate program. So it worked out nicely for them, and they got to rock it out at the Olys in 2006. And her mom got to see her on Olympic Ice so... overall I guess they didn't have too bad a career competitively.

Evan Lysacek definitely went further than I thought he would. I was late to the party as a fan of his because I just didn't think he'd ever "have it"... but, well...

Same for Johnny Weir, first appearance as a senior at the Goodwill Games where he looked like a deer in headlights... his programs were awful (IMO) and the commentators were pumping him up to be the next big thing and I just wasn't seeing it. He didn't meet his full potential, sure, but he definitely did better than I thought he would.
 

Poodlepal

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Excellent thread, the opposite of the one I started! Well, when someone doesn't work out, there's always someone to fill the void!

I'm trying to think of someone to add. Definitely Paul Wylie is the leader in this category, possibly for all times. I might add Todd Eldredge. He disappeared for a few years and came back--usually when they're gone, they're gone. Jeremy Abbott is someone who'd be in both categories. I'd never heard of him when he won the GPF a few years ago. He was always in the shadow of Johnny and Evan, but burst out as their equal, but still suffered so badly from nerves. Agree about Alissa and Ashley, though I don't know if they succeeded because they were surprisingly good or because they had a void left by those who didn't break through.
 

coppertop1

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
I like this! Some don't come through when expected others come from nowhere.

Shizuka Arakawa in 2006, she was a contender but I thought it would be Irina Slutskaya or maybe Sasha Cohen, but Arakawa is the one who claimed it. Same with Sarah Hughes four years earlier.
Evan Lysacek. I always liked him but I did not expect him to win Olympic Gold, but it was well-deserved.
Shen/Zhao, they had raw talent in their younger days but I didn't expect them to be the great team they were when they were done.
 

Rachmaninoff

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2011
Sarah Hughes: she went into the 2002 Olympics as the 3rd-ranked American ladies skater and won. The U.S. field was packed with young ladies talent then, not to mention MK and her star power, and Sarah didn't seem to receive that much attention. I don't think anyone could have predicted that result.

Agree with Shizuka, Ashley, Akiko...most ladies skaters that didn't achieve their success young or wasn't that successful right out of juniors. I started watching skating in 1994 and encountered child prodigy after child prodigy: Oksana, Michelle, Tara, Sasha, Sarah...I think part of my mind would start overlooking later-bloomers. Carolina, I expected she could be great one day when she first arrived on the scene, but after years falling apart at major events I'd kind of began to dismiss the possibility of her being world champion, and certainly didn't think she'd be around this long.

Shen and Zhao in the sense that I never expected them to be considered moving or artistic skaters, and that's what they became.

Katelyn Osmond so far...she improved very dramatically between the 2011-12 and the 2012-13 seasons.
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
I think maybe Ashley Wagner did anyone expected her to be the #1 U.S lady

I expected big things from her since 2007 Junior Worlds. Her jump technique already seemed more stable than Mirai Nagasu and Caroline Zhang, and she appeared to already be through puberty. That was such a good competition. All 3 of them did really well and had different styles. The future was looking very, very bright for American ladies. Especially after 2008 Nationals, when Mirai threw down 3Lutz+3Toe and Wagner threw down 3Lutz+3Loop.

I still don't think Ashley's full potential has been tapped into.
 

coppertop1

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
I think Sarah Hughes was definitely in the shadow not only of Michelle Kwan but also Sasha Cohen who always garnered attention and who was second at nationals. However, what people who overlooked Sarah forgot was Sarah had more experience than Sasha. Sarah had been two Worlds thrice by then and was the current world bronze medallist, and the two-time Grand Prix Bronze Medallist. Sasha had never been to Worlds and was unproven in competition.

Shizuka had been very focused at the Olympics and went about her business in a way that said "I am here to win". She had skated very well all season.

Joannie Rochette at both Olympics, for different reason. I thought she'd be in the top ten at Torino, I didn't expect her to be top five. I knew she was a fighter, I didn't know she had such incredible determination until Vancouver.

I agree about Shen/Zhao being artists. For so long, they were relying on their tricks but they really worked on their artistry and they were so beautiful to watch.

Patrick Chan, though he's not done yet. I knew he'd be destined for greatness, I didn't expect him to be smashing records this early in the season! Or for him to join the Quad Squad.

Kaetlyn Osmond, too. I didn't expect her be fourth after the short program at Worlds. She may have finished eighth overall but it was a pretty impressive debut.

Yu-Na Kim, I thought she'd be good, I didn't expect her to be the big star of the Post Torino era.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
I never thought Sasha had a better shot in the 2002 Olympics than Sarah. Sasha had never been to a World event and did not have a lot of international cred yet. Her biggest achieve outside of the U.S was a grand prix bronze. She had also never done a clean LP yet. Her 4th place in SLC was actually better than I expected.

I always expected Hughes to win a medal in Salt Lake City. The gold was a surprise though. I had a feeling one of Slutskaya or Kwan would falter and Mrs. Consistent would sneak in for silver perhaps, but never thought both would falter enough for her to even win.
 
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