Golden season

Vash01 · Apr 20, 2005

Since this is off season, my idle mind started thinking- how many skaters have had a season when they won every competition they entered? Irina's 2004-2005 season came to my mind immediately. To make it fair, I decided that in order to be considered, the skater should have competed in at least 4 competitions, including GP's, nationals, worlds, Olympics, cheesefests, Europeans and 4CC.

Here is what I came up with.

Irina Slutskaya 2004-2005 (already mentioned)

Plushenko 2000-2001

Michelle Kwan 1995-1996

Michelle Kwan 2002-2003 (she entered just 4 competitions- Campbells, SA, USN, worlds)

Gordeeva-Grinkov 1993-1994 (SC, Euro, RN, Olympics)

Mishkutionok-Dmitriev 1990-1991 (not sure about this one)
Mishkutionok-Dmitriev 1991-1992

Grischuk & Platov 1997-1998

Ilia Kulik 1997-1998 (not sure)

That's all I can think of right now.

Vash

attyfan · Apr 21, 2005

IIRC, Kwan entered a competition -- the ISU Centennial -- in 1995, but it was the beginning of the '95/'96 season. She got a bronze, behind Butyrskaya and Slutskaya -- but the event was in St. Petersburg.

In her '02/'03 season, I thought she did all three cheesefests, as well as SA, Nats, and Worlds.

On one of my Yagudin compilation tapes, on his skate at Nagano, he was referred to as the European Champion, so either Kulik lost one during the '97/'98 season, or Scott Hamilton got it wrong (which would not surprise me in the slightest)

Natik · Apr 21, 2005

Kulik, didn't participate in Euro.

chuckm · Apr 21, 2005

Kwan's 2002-2003 events (she won them all):
ABC Sports Intl Challenge
World Championships
US Championships
Skate America
Campbell's Classic

These were her 1995-1996 season events.
She one all but the two noted:
Hershey's Team Challenge
World Championships
Champions Series Final
Centennial on Ice (3rd)
US Championships
USPS Team Challenge
Nations Cup
Skate Canada
Skate America
Best of the Best (2nd)

In the 1998-1999 season, she won all these events before losing to Maria B. at Worlds:
U.S. Championships
Japan Open
World Pro Championships
Masters of FS
US Pro Classic
Grand Slam of FS
Keri Lotion Classic
Goodwill Games

antmanb · Apr 21, 2005

Didn't yagudin win everything he competed in in the 2001/2002 season. I know he never won ussian nationals but that year wasn't it because he didn't compete?

I can't remember how his GPs went but i thought he won the GP Final, Europeans, Olympics and Worlds that year.

Ant

Vash01 said:
Since this is off season, my idle mind started thinking- how many skaters have had a season when they won every competition they entered? Irina's 2004-2005 season came to my mind immediately. To make it fair, I decided that in order to be considered, the skater should have competed in at least 4 competitions, including GP's, nationals, worlds, Olympics, cheesefests, Europeans and 4CC.

Here is what I came up with.

Irina Slutskaya 2004-2005 (already mentioned)

Plushenko 2000-2001

Michelle Kwan 1995-1996

Michelle Kwan 2002-2003 (she entered just 4 competitions- Campbells, SA, USN, worlds)

Gordeeva-Grinkov 1993-1994 (SC, Euro, RN, Olympics)

Mishkutionok-Dmitriev 1990-1991 (not sure about this one)
Mishkutionok-Dmitriev 1991-1992

Grischuk & Platov 1997-1998

Ilia Kulik 1997-1998 (not sure)

That's all I can think of right now.

Vash

Kasey · Apr 21, 2005

How many competitions were these people in, in the years they won "everything" they competed in? Somehow Michelle's four competition season is not as impressive as someone who has done 7 comps in their "unbeaten" season....

I don't remember the year, I think it was 98-99 or 99-2000, but there was season when Yags won like 11 out of 13 competitions he was in....that's pretty impressive as well, even if it's not "perfect".

chuckm · Apr 21, 2005

Michelle's all-win season had 5-competitions.

In the mid-90s, Kwan did 10-11 competitions per year and won most of them. Even more impressive, she was winning Pro-Am competitions like Masters of Figure Skating (3 times), the Japan Open (3 times) and even won the 1998 World Pro Championship.

It was after the 2002 Olympics that Kwan started to seriously cut back on the competitions. She had been doing at least 8-9 competitions per year, but since the 2002-2003 season, she has cut back to 5 per year by eliminating the GP series. In an interview during the summer of 2002 in China she mentioned suffering from back pain, and said that years of pounding her body have taken their toll.

Shanti · Apr 21, 2005

Navka/Kostomarov won all the competions they entered last season (2003/2004) :clap:

chuckm · Apr 21, 2005

N/K didn't do Russian Nationals, because she had the flu.

mememe · Apr 21, 2005

Scott Hamilton was undefeated for four years, from the beginning of the 1980-81 season through the 1984 World Championships. I don't know whether he managed four competitions each year, but he usually did at least one "fall" competition and then sometimes a sectional or such and then nationals and worlds. I think T&D went unbeaten for a year or two, too, but don't know for sure.

lotusland · Apr 21, 2005

There were alot fewer competitions at the time; but Kurt Browning had a couple of "golden seasons" where he was healthy and everything went right:

1990 Goodwill Games - 1st
1990 Skate Canada - 1st
1990 Nations Cup - 1st
1990 Canadians - 1st
1990 Worlds - 1st

plus

1991 Nations Cup - 1st
1991 Lalique - 1st
1991 Canadians - 1st
1991 Worlds - 1st

And, Elvis Stoyko had himself a "golden season" in 1997:

1997 Skate Canada - 1st
1997 Nations Cup - 1st
1997 Canadian Championships - 1st
1997 World Championships - 1st
1997 Champion Series Final - 1st

Vash01 · Apr 22, 2005

antmanb said:
Didn't yagudin win everything he competed in in the 2001/2002 season. I know he never won ussian nationals but that year wasn't it because he didn't compete?

I can't remember how his GPs went but i thought he won the GP Final, Europeans, Olympics and Worlds that year.

Ant

He did not win the Goodwill Games which were held in Aug. 2001- not exactly a part of the regular 'season' but they were between the 2000 worlds and 2001 worlds.

Vash

sk8tngcanuck · Apr 22, 2005

Sale and Pelletier had an impressive run of 1st place finishes....

2000 Skate America - Gold
2000 Skate Canada - Gold
2000 Trophy Lalique - Silver
2000 Sears Cdn. Open - Gold
2001 Cdn Championships - Gold
2001 Four Continents - Gold
2001 Worlds - Gold
******************************
2001 Skate Canada - Gold
2001 Skate America - Gold
2002 Grand Prix Final - Gold
2002 Cdn. Championships - Gold
2002 Olympic Games - Gold

Had they won Gold at Tropy Lalique, they would have had back to back "Golden Seasons" - an impressive track record!

Actually, this teams track record was impressive from the moment they became a pair. They competed in their first International event at 1998 Skate Canada as a late addition by Skate Canada. They had only been together about 6 months, but due to monitoring sessions, Skate Canada sent them to get the experience. They won bronze at that event. From 1998 on, Jamie and David competed pretty much every event they could (barring injury), and during their entire eligible career, they were only off the podium 3 times.

They skated in 23 eligible events, garnering 15 Golds, 3 Silvers, and 2 Bronze medals.

gkelly · Apr 22, 2005

mememe said:
I think T&D went unbeaten for a year or two, too, but don't know for sure.

As far as I know, they were also undefeated during the 1981-84 time period.

As were Bestemianova & Bukin 1985-88, and Grishuk & Platov in the 1995 through 98 seasons, except that they did place second in the OD at a couple of pro-ams and 98 Euros.

RIskatingfan · Apr 22, 2005

Vash01 said:
He did not win the Goodwill Games which were held in Aug. 2001- not exactly a part of the regular 'season' but they were between the 2000 worlds and 2001 worlds.

Vash

True, he never had un undefeated season. It was the only competition he lost in the Olympic season.

Plushenko wasn't undefeated in 2000/01 either. He lost the Japan Open to Yagudin. Also the only event he entered where he didn't win gold.

slutskayafan21 · Apr 23, 2005

Gritschuk/Platov did not lose a single event from the 94/95 until the end of their 97/98 season which culminated with their second straight bogus Olympic Gold medal. Bestiamina/Bukin were undefeated from the start of the 84/85 season until the close of the 87/88 season as well.

slutskayafan21 · Apr 23, 2005

lotusland said:
There were alot fewer competitions at the time; but Kurt Browning had a couple of "golden seasons" where he was healthy and everything went right:

1990 Goodwill Games - 1st
1990 Skate Canada - 1st
1990 Nations Cup - 1st
1990 Canadians - 1st
1990 Worlds - 1st

plus

1991 Nations Cup - 1st
1991 Lalique - 1st
1991 Canadians - 1st
1991 Worlds - 1st

And, Elvis Stoyko had himself a "golden season" in 1997:

1997 Skate Canada - 1st
1997 Nations Cup - 1st
1997 Canadian Championships - 1st
1997 World Championships - 1st
1997 Champion Series Final - 1st

You are incorrect on Kurt going undefeated in the 89/90 season. He was 3rd at Skate America in the fall of the 89/90 season, behind Bowman and Petrenko. He was 3rd at NHK that same fall. In fact his win at Worlds that year was remarkable given the rocky year he had. He was even lucky to win the Canadians over a raw Stojko with his 4-triple performance.

Golden season

Vash01

attyfan

Custom Title

Natik

chuckm

antmanb

Kasey

chuckm

Shanti

chuckm

mememe

lotusland

Vash01

sk8tngcanuck

gkelly

RIskatingfan

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty

Similar threads

Connect with us