Alexei Urmanov and Ilia Kulik

silverfoxes · Feb 28, 2015

deedee1 said:
Can't say anything e.g. which is a better skater tbh. To me as once-a-young-girl, all of Urmy , Ilia nd Sasha Abt are forever prince in my dreams.

Sasha is my favorite of them all. :love:

(along with Plushy, of course) He just had dreadful luck and timing...

Meoima · Feb 28, 2015

Sandpiper said:
I was wondering when you'd show up!
For me (didn't want to further clutter up the first post with personal thoughts), Kulik had better jumps, spins, probably field moves as well... but it's Urmanov who had the charisma. For some reason, he catches my attention even on the kookiest of programs.

I agree with you, Kulik is the more all-rounded skater. But he lose forever when it comes to costume lol.

plushyfan · Feb 28, 2015

gallavich said:
Sasha is my favorite of them all. (along with Plushy, of course) He just had dreadful luck and timing...

we have same taste...

Meoima said:
I agree with you, Kulik is the more all-rounded skater. But he lose forever when it comes to costume lol.

I like his Aladdin costume..he was young and really cute in it.

Flaya · Feb 28, 2015

I've always really liked Ilia. While Urmanov is better looking in the traditional sense of the word, I find Ilia sexier.

I HATED what was going on in the 80s and 90s with all these young skaters turning pro so, so quickly. Although I understand their motivations and let's face it, money talks. Thank God times have changed since then. I would have loved to see Ilian at Olympics in 2002 or 2006, same for Tara Lipinski, oh well...

SashaJuliaSpins · Feb 28, 2015

bebevia said:
Kulik♡
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1wRN1nx_1M

He had a blouse on, I would rock that blouse for work! :rofl:

SashaJuliaSpins · Feb 28, 2015

Moria Polonius said:
Too young to remember their skating but Ilia Kulik's giraffe costume burned into my eyes forever.

I had to go google the giraffe outfit! I wish I hadn't! :slink:

I may never forget!

silverfoxes · Feb 28, 2015

I liked Ilia's Aladdin costume, his Romeo & Juliet costume (he also had a black version), and especially this costume - but I think that was just from a pro competition, not sure. Anyway, he had some hits and some terrible misses, but that's true of almost every skater. We just don't remember so many of the bad ones because they weren't OGM winners.

Brandenburg · Feb 28, 2015

SJS - yes but that spread eagle into a 3A is really the thing of beauty in this. It's a gorgeous program.

And Gallavich, you're correct - that red and black costume was from Seisouso - one of his first professional programs.

KKonas · Feb 28, 2015

Kulik never liked doing interviews. I was working for TV during the height of his competitive career and almost had to follow him around. I was just glad he did not run away when he saw me coming!

Brandenburg · Feb 28, 2015

KKonas said:
Kulik never liked doing interviews. I was working for TV during the height of his competitive career and almost had to follow him around. I was just glad he did not run away when he saw me coming!

Then he must have been fine with you, just not with interviews.

noskates · Mar 1, 2015

I always felt Ilia was insecure because of his lack of English skills. When he and Katia have been interviewed together he always defers to her.

I loathed the giraffe outfit but saw through it to the incredible skating skills. I'm also very interested in the development of Liza Kulik. I've seen her skate several times and I think she's going to be in the forefront soon. She has her father's jumping ability and her mother's grace! Great genes there.

Victura · Mar 1, 2015

noskates said:
I always felt Ilia was insecure because of his lack of English skills. When he and Katia have been interviewed together he always defers to her.

I always thought the opposite and in fact find his English to be quite good. To me, he seemed pretty willing to integrate into American society and influenced by American culture, whereas Katia kept a certain Russianness to her for many years.

KKonas · Mar 1, 2015

Victura said:
I always thought the opposite and in fact find his English to be quite good. To me, he seemed pretty willing to integrate into American society and influenced by American culture, whereas Katia kept a certain Russianness to her for many years.

Kulik's English was pretty good. I had no problem with it, but he did not always have the patience to deal with some idiotic media questions.

Brandenburg · Mar 1, 2015

KKonas said:
Kulik's English was pretty good. I had no problem with it, but he did not always have the patience to deal with some idiotic media questions.

I think you hit that nail on the head.

Ilia's English was good, is now excellent (both written and spoken) - actually his use of English is fluent and sophisticated. If you have the good fortune to spend some time chatting with him you would find him extremely bright (he's an incredibly smart guy), very funny and an engaging conversationalist. Also, in the last few years he negotiated all the many aspects of creating his own business (Kulik's Skating www.kuliksskating.com), working with designers and engineers on turning a normal commercial space into a skating facility (with all the safety and earthquake engineering required in California) - while he worked with great people, he was the boss and is the boss. Lawyers, accountants, engineers, architects, refrigeration specialists - the list just goes on and on. That's a lot to do in English and he seems to have done it very well as head of every step of his project.

shine · Mar 2, 2015

I was surprised by how good his English was even back in 1998, and he would've been only 19. It was definitely better than many of his compatriots.

midorichen · Mar 2, 2015

Skater Boy said:
I think Evis should have beat Urmanov whose jumps weren't alway so clean or effortless.

But apart from the 3F, Urmanov's jumps in his OGM winning performances were clean and effortless. Only one judge gave Stojko a first-place ordinal for the FS.

Sandpiper · Mar 2, 2015

midorichen said:
But apart from the 3F, Urmanov's jumps in his OGM winning performances were clean and effortless. Only one judge gave Stojko a first-place ordinal for the FS.

And Stojko made at least one semi-error of his own (IIRC, he popped a triple axel then stuck it back in; Urmanov did something similar at a Champion Series Final years later, and he was placed behind Stojko and Eldredge). And while Stojko usually had incredible jump difficulty, he didn't have particularly good jump quality. He did perform much, much better spins than Urmanov. However, the second mark was enough (for most judges) to off-set that.

anyanka · Mar 2, 2015

gallavich said:
I did like Ilia in Center Stage.

Me too!!!

karne · Mar 2, 2015

IIRC, the directors of Center Stage actually thought Ilia didn't sound "Russian enough" and asked him to thicken his accent and butcher his English for the movie? I seem to recall reading that somewhere.

glacial87 · Mar 3, 2015

Imagine how SLC would/could have been with Kulik, Yagudin, Plushenko :cheer:

Perhaps Yagudin wouldn't have got it with his somewhat shaky Flip....

Alexei Urmanov and Ilia Kulik

silverfoxes

Meoima

Match Penalty

plushyfan

Flaya

Match Penalty

SashaJuliaSpins

SashaJuliaSpins

silverfoxes

Brandenburg

KKonas

Brandenburg

noskates

Victura

KKonas

Brandenburg

shine

midorichen

Sandpiper

anyanka

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode

glacial87

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