Build YOUR dream skater...

Ok, so what would s/he have?

My ideal male singles skater would have:

Ilia Kulik's jumps
Stephane Lambiel & Emanuel Sandhu's dance quality
Stephane Lambiel's spins
Evgeni Plushenko's consistency
Philippe Candeloro's charisma
Alexei Yagudin's ability to put it together on the big night

and that's just off the top of my head. As for my perfect lady skater, she'd have

Katarina Witt's competitive brilliance and ability to put it together on the big night
Midori Ito's jumps
Michelle Kwan's consistency and flowout on jumps
Sasha Cohen's flexibility and positions
Lucinda Ruh's spins
Yukina Ota, Lu Chen, and Oksana Baiul's natural musicality and lyrical loveliness (some perversely amazing hybrid of the three )

And so forth...I have found pairs perfection in my golden pairs, B&S and M&D, so I feel no need to create the ideal pair As for dance, I enjoy it sometimes but care less about it than about the other disciplines.

Sarah

I agree with most of your choices:
Here's my perfect male skater:
Brian Boitano's jumps/ Tim Goebal's quads
Todd Eldredge's spins
Scott Hamilton's footwork
Paul Wylie's deep edges
Viktor Petrenko's dance quality
Philippe Candeloro's choreography
Alexei's and Brian's ability to put it all together for a big night

Lady skater:
Midori Ito's jumps
Carolina Kostner's speed and flow
Lucinda Ruh's artistic spins and Tara Lipinski's sit spin
Katarina Witt's looks and mental prowess
Sasha's flexibility
Michelle's consistency
Peggy Fleming's grace and dance ability

- Ilia Kulik´s jumping and dancing ability
- Kurt Browning´s footwork
- Stéphane Lambiel´s spins
- Candeloro´s charisma and choreography (eligible)
- Yagudin´s consistency

thanks for reminding me, soogar...

I didn't mention choreography--Philippe for men and Lulu for women. My gold standard in that department.

As for emotion, genuine emotion, I'd also have to go with Lulu for heartfelt expression among the ladies, and for the men...I'd take Philippe again. Hey, I did cite them as my all-time faves on another thread

Finally, I think Irina has superb edges and would make a good "ingredient" on my list of qualities for my perfect ladies singles skater

Sarah

Perfect Ladies Skater:
The new consistant Sasha we saw at worlds with a 3/3, a quad, Peggy's Edges, and Lucinda's spins.

Perfect Pair:
Just clone G&G. They had the split quad twist and the best artistry ever. Cant improve on them...

Perfect Man:
Alexei without hip problems.

Interesting thought...

Men:
Alexei's footwork & brilliance
Scott's & Kurt's charisma, connection, & creativity
Evgeny's & Timothy's jumps
Stephane's spins
Paul's flow & edges
Brian J's looks

Ladies:
Kristi's grace, flow, & connection
Sasha's flexibility
Lucinda's spins
Michelle's consistancy & jumps & Shizuka's 3/3s
Tara's spunk
Irina's fighting spirit & dedication

stroking and basic of Davydov and Sasha Abt
Speed of Sasha (not Gladiator)
facial expressions of Frederic Dambier
Charisma of Vakthang and Yon Garcia
spins of Stephane Lambiel
fire in performance of Stephane
jumps of Yagudin and Kulik
ability to perform under preassure of Yagudin and Brian Joubert
Steps of Sasha and Yagudin, and Vitalij Danilchenko; on one foot..
musicality of Sasha, Frederic and Johnny Weir
handsome look of Sergei Davydov
choreography of Rafael Aratunian
charm of Sergei Dobrin
quad toe of Alexander Shubin
manhood of Philippe Candeloro

ok, female...
spins of Lucinda Ruh
guts of Sasha Cohen
presence and elegance of Lu Chen
toe jumps of Yulia Sebastyen
loop and salchow of Irina Slutskaya
choreography of Vanessa Gusmeroli
speed of Galina Maniachenko
musicality of Susanna Pöykiö
spirals of Sasha Cohen
steps of Galina Maniachenko
power and 3,3 of Shizuka Arakawa
joy of Irina S.