Best Triple Axel (Men) by Olympic Cycle

Sandpiper · Aug 15, 2014

Since the '80s, the triple axel as been a staple of the men's competition. Many great ones have been landed over the years. Who, in your opinion, had the best 3A of each Olympic cycle?

My picks:
1984-88: Boitano
1988-92: Petrenko
1992-94: Browning, though such a short cycle it's hard to say
1994-98: Kulik
1998-2002: Plushenko
2002-06: Plushenko again
2006-10: Drawing a bit of a blank... Few of the top skaters had an amazing one. Maybe Buttle or Weir? (EDIT: Just Weir)
2010-14: Hanyu

Honourable Mention: Brian Orser, for pushing the 3A into men's figure skating (Scott Hamilton won without one in '84). He had the worst luck ever to not win OGM both times.

bj80alex · Aug 15, 2014

For 06-10 cycle, I would say Daisuke.
He is one of the few skaters whose 3A has both height and distance.

CanadianSkaterGuy · Aug 15, 2014

For 1998-2002, I'd say Yagudin or Stojko.

Plushenko's was certainly the best from 2002-2006.

I wouldn't say Buttle from 2006-2010, since he had some inconsistencies with it, and Plushenko's IMO was still better (certainly in terms of consistency). However, I might pick Weir or Joubert for the overall aesthetic of the jumps and lovely flow on the landings.

drivingmissdaisy · Aug 15, 2014

CanadianSkaterGuy said:
For 1998-2002, I'd say Yagudin or Stojko.

Todd Eldridge has a great one, the flow out was superior to Yagudin, Stojko and Browning IMO.

Meoima · Aug 15, 2014

For 1998-2002 I think Yagudin's 3A was the best. He muscled his jumps but his 3A was standard in term of height.

For 2006-2010 I think it's Weir. He had good flow.

HanDomi · Aug 15, 2014

For 98-2002 I would also go for Yagudin I think. While he maybe not had the best flow on landing the height, and athletic power in his 3A was nice

Krunchii · Aug 15, 2014

2006-2010 I agree with CSG in excluding Buttle, I remember it as not being completely consistent, I really like Daisuke's and Johnny's Weir's.

Li'Kitsu · Aug 15, 2014

For 2006-10 I'd go for Nobunari Oda. Those 3A's were pure :love:

Shame the poor guy never gets his due, even if it's something, IMO, so obvious. Second choice would be Weir.

plushyfan · Aug 15, 2014

Li'Kitsu said:
For 2006-10 I'd go for Nobunari Oda. Those 3A's were pure Shame the poor guy never gets his due, even if it's something, IMO, so obvious. Second choice would be Weir.

I also wanted to say Nobu.

Blades of Passion · Aug 15, 2014

Weir had the best Triple Axel from 2005-2007, slightly better than Plushenko's (although not the same iron-cold consistency). It got a bit smaller and sometimes tended to have tighter landings after he switched coaches. Particularly in the 2010 Olympic season his Triple Axel really stopped flying across the ice like it used to. Was still good and better than many others, though.

plushyfan · Aug 15, 2014

I was curious and I had time

meteorlight8 · Aug 15, 2014

Sandpiper said:
Since the '80s, the triple axel as been a staple of the men's competition. Many great ones have been landed over the years. Who, in your opinion, had the best 3A of each Olympic cycle?

My picks:
1984-88: Boitano
1988-92: Petrenko
1992-94: Browning, though such a short cycle it's hard to say
1994-98: Kulik
1998-2002: Plushenko
2002-06: Plushenko again
2006-10: Drawing a bit of a blank... Few of the top skaters had an amazing one. Maybe Buttle or Weir?
2010-14: Hanyu

Honourable Mention: Brian Orser, for pushing the 3A into men's figure skating (Scott Hamilton won without one in '84). He had the worst luck ever to not win OGM both times.

I would throw in at least an honorable mention to Han Yan's 3A for 2013-2014. I just love it - super smooth.

leoncorazon · Aug 15, 2014

I'll just put this here...

Weir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzM4LM8NsbY

karne · Aug 15, 2014

I have to say - Yagudin got plenty of height and distance but he always looked like he was forcing the jump to happen, whereas Plushenko at his best just stepped elegantly up into the air.

I also disagree with the choice of Hanyu for the 10-14 quad. But I realise I'm in the very, very tiny minority that isn't actually over the moon about his skating, so there's not a lot of point arguing, is there?

EDIT:

If we're going to do splits, maybe we should do them by country's current skaters as well. That could be fun!

satine · Aug 15, 2014

meteorlight8 said:
I would throw in at least an honorable mention to Han Yan's 3A for 2013-2014. I just love it - super smooth.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

satine · Aug 15, 2014

karne said:
I also disagree with the choice of Hanyu for the 10-14 quad. But I realise I'm in the very, very tiny minority that isn't actually over the moon about his skating, so there's not a lot of point arguing, is there?

Please feel free to name your choice. This is a forum afterall & no one's opinion is 'right', whether majority or not

karne · Aug 15, 2014

10-14 quad triple axel finalists:

- Han Yan (CHN)
- Artur Gachinski (RUS)
- Joshua Farris (USA)

Sandpiper · Aug 15, 2014

Yeah, I probably should scratch off Buttle for 06-10. Joubert's landings were a bit swingy hence why I didn't include him (though I would if we were talking about best triple salchow). I love Dai's flow, but his (harder) jumps don't get a lot of air time. Plushenko can't really be considered when he only competed three times internationally. Weir is only choice left, I guess.

karne said:
I have to say - Yagudin got plenty of height and distance but he always looked like he was forcing the jump to happen, whereas Plushenko at his best just stepped elegantly up into the air.

Exactly the reason I didn't pick Yagudin. His 3A looked forced, and his landings kinda heavy. He is a better choice than Stojko though, especially the 1998-2002 Stojko (who's a distant fourth at best behind Plushenko, Yagudin, and Eldredge... heck, would be a distant fourth even if he'd competed against them in his prime).

chloec · Aug 15, 2014

meteorlight8 said:
I would throw in at least an honorable mention to Han Yan's 3A for 2013-2014. I just love it - super smooth.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Wo|flax · Aug 15, 2014

I'm thirding Nobu for 06-10. Especially combos :biggrin:

honourable mention at least for Yagudins huge one.

Edit: I just realized how this might come across: by combos I was referring to the 3-3-3 combo not the zayaking sorry :slink:

poor Nobu

Best Triple Axel (Men) by Olympic Cycle

Sandpiper

bj80alex

CanadianSkaterGuy

drivingmissdaisy

Meoima

Match Penalty

HanDomi

Krunchii

Li'Kitsu

plushyfan

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be

plushyfan

meteorlight8

leoncorazon

Skating on through

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode

satine

v Yuki Ishikawa v

satine

v Yuki Ishikawa v

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode

Sandpiper

chloec

Wo|flax

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