Best and Worst Skating Moments of 2012 | Golden Skate

Best and Worst Skating Moments of 2012

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Butterscotch17

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 26, 2012
2013 is upon us, but in the spirit of all the New Year celebrations, I thought that it would be fun to look back on the best (and worst) skating moments of 2012.

Some of the best things for me were:
Daisuke Takahashi's FS at 2012 Nationals
Daisuke's FS at Worlds, and just his "Blues For Klook" program in general
Yuzuru Hanyu's amazing FS at Worlds
Virtue/Moir's "Carmen" program
Mao Asada's beautiful "Swan Lake" program

And worst:
Johnny Weir's failed "comeback"
Alissa Czisny's injury and disaster at Worlds
Takahashi/Tran split
Akiko Suzuki losing NHK

What do you think is the best and worst of 2012?
 
Best: Daisuke's FS at the World Team Trophy and Ashley Wagner's winning free skates at Skate America and TEB
Worst: Adam Rippon and Nan Song colliding, and Suzuki losing NHK
 
Best:

Hanyu's FS at 2012 Worlds - His ability to refocus and do a 3A+3T right after that shocking fall was impressive

Kim's comeback

Plushenko signing a letter in opposition to anti-gay legislation; Some westerners could learn from his example

Hanyu's Parisienne Walkways SP - Great choreography, and he executes it so well

Davis/White winning their 4th GPF

Chan getting a much needed reality check


Worst:

The overall state of ladies skating (but Kim's comeback will hopefully force everyone to get their acts together)

Czisny, 2012 Worlds. Enough said.

The "interesting" judging at Skate Canada International
 
Best of Calander year 2012
Mao Asada
Ashley Wanger
Davis and White
Being in warm San Jose for US Nats and MK's induction

Worst
Ashley's hard fall at the GPF
Seeing Lynn K. get cut on the back of her ankle at practice at SA-Kent (thankfully not serious)
Missing Miki Ando
 
My best and worst of 2012 (warnings for total bias :P)

Best:

Artur wins the Euros SP in magnificent style
Joshua demolishes the field at Lake Placid JGP
Joshua and Jason score medals at the Junior World Championships
Jason lands the triple Axel for the first time at the Junior Grand Prix Final
Plushenko.
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva's mighty performance at Russian Nationals
Chan's surprise that his opponents at Japan Open actually came to compete


Worst:

Artur's problems with his legs going numb - from March, ongoing
Related: the expression on Artur's face after Worlds/Skate Canada/Cup of Russia
Hearing Plushenko's terrifying tales of defying dr's orders
Joshua's drugged-up skate at the JGPF
Jason's new short program (and costume) *shoves earplugs in*
 
Best:
- Lysacek/Plushenko coming back, potential renewal of rivalry? (even as 2nd strings).
- Competitive Japanese Nationals Men's / dominate in GP series.
- Mao edging Wagner at GPF against odds.

Worst:
- Weir coming back, publicly asking for donations towards training funds, then calling it quits.
- Nan Song injury.
- Takahiko Kozuka injury.
- Oda no longer keeping up.
- Another dreadful season for Abbott compounded with injury.
- Akiko's sorrow at Nationals (hope she cheers up and use it as motivation).
 
For me the best.... Plushy's Euros' win - "He's like a warrior in action, isn't he? Back on the battlefield, controlling it" as Nicky Slater said. I won't go so far as to say that the worst is the disappearance of the BESP video from Youtube - blocked by none other than, apparently, the ISU !!!???!!!! - but I will say it made me feel quite.... miffed.
 
In more or less chronological order:

The best
  • Evgeni Plushenko's performance at Euros.
  • Ashley Wagner wins US Nats.
  • Carolina Kostner, world champion.
  • Brian Joubert somehow manages to skate really well at Worlds.
  • Pechalat/Bourzat finally medal (and awesome bronze medalists all around) at Worlds.
  • Team France and Team Italy at the WTT.
  • Carolina Kostner's SP at the WTT.
  • Daisuke Takahashi's LP at the WTT.
  • Seeing Kurt Browning in an official competition.
  • Mao Asada's resurgence and Yuna's return.

The worst
  • A really meh Euros.
  • That we never got to see a great performance of Pina in the ISU Championships.
  • The outcome of the men's event at Worlds. I don't know if I find it more disappointing that Chan won the LP or that the audience booed him. Really unfortunate all around.
  • Daiksuke Takahashi reuniting with Nikolai Morozov. Whyyyyyyyyyyyy?
  • Some of the very unfortunate injuries to good skaters. I am especially worried about Yretha Silete, who'd shown some promise last season, ended the season on a down note at the WTT, and is out for the year with a very serious knee injury.
  • Alena Leonova's implosion this season, and I don't even like her that much.
  • Volosozhar/Trankov's programs and marks.
  • The increasing cookie-cutterization of figure skating. I've found so little to get excited about this season.
 
LRK said:
For me the best.... Plushy's Euros' win - "He's like a warrior in action, isn't he? Back on the battlefield, controlling it" as Nicky Slater said. I won't go so far as to say that the worst is the disappearance of the BESP video from Youtube - blocked by none other than, apparently, the ISU !!!???!!!! - but I will say it made me feel quite.... miffed.
Click to expand...

ISU has blocked some videos of Plushy, and I don't know why. I was angry because I also adored the ES version.
 
It was nice to see Plushenko come back and do so well at Euros; sad to see all the injuries. I also think on the worst side seeing Patrick make some poor choices with coaching and now struggling is a sad waste of so much talent. At the same time the Japanese men have been a delight. I have to say I don't think Davis and White or Virtue and Moir really have produced a best or worst moment for 2012. They are good but not spectacular and were nver that bad. For worst moments both from a skating and personal perspective seeing the downfall of Alissa Czisny was tragic. Just horrific. It was a good moment to see Ashley Wagner this year in general; she looks really solid. Hanyu has been another best moment at world's and his nationals (2013 but in 2012) Takahashi has looked grand overall and his GPF was like wow.
 
Best involves Takahashi at Wtt and plushenko at euros and Liza winning Russian nationals.

Worst all involves Mao giving up on doing triples and being rewarded for it
 
Oh yeah, worst was seeing the Russian ladies and in particular Leonova implode or not meet expectations - very sad.
 
Hmm, my other post went missing so I will restate it.

I think best moments have to include Plushenko's return from injury and retirement to taking Euros, P and B winning bronze j ust out of sentiment, Kostner winning WGM with regal skates somewhat hurt by lack of big jumps though, the youthfulness of a bronze win by Takahashi and Tran in pairs at world's. The worst moments to me is the demise of Leonova and the lack of ability of the Russian Baby Ballerinas to reach their potential or expectations, Johnny Weir and Evan Lycacek - halted or non existent comebacks, the number of injuries and in particular Weaver and Patrick Chan's demise with coacing problems or poor decision and some rather mediocre skates from such a talented skater. I would have to say Davis and white and Virture and Moir while good skates and programs - not awe inspirinig and certainly not worst.
 
Mao can basically lose all triples except loop and people say she is having a good year? Lol no one showed a worse collapse on jumps than Mao! Not leonova! What triples can Mao do? Not any consistently. Never did a triple lutz but that is being like kostner. But no triple toe really or flip or salchow or even the loop was inconsistent. The 3a is gone forever and she won an event doing 4 triples in total!
 
Best:

--The emergence of Ashley Wagner as a U.S champion worthy of that title
--Akiko Suzuki's World bronze medal; vindication for an athlete who's been through a lot
--Davis/White's Die Fledermaus free dance; a nearly perfect program
--Plushenko's victorious, fist-pumping return at Europeans :-)
--Caroline Zhang's stirring comeback skates at Nationals/4CC (we won't talk about what's happened since)
--Ross Miner's NHK long program; exciting for American fans
--The stunning debut of Kaetlyn Osmond at Skate Canada: A future force?
--Volosozhar/Trankov's pull-out-all-the-stops free skate at Worlds
--Jeremy Abbott's SPs and LPs, from this season and last: Marvelous
--Daisuke's Blues for Klook: A program I'll remember for a very long time
--Pechalat/Bourzat's audacious & effortlessly sexy Rolling Stones FD


Worst:

--Virtue/Moir win Worlds over Davis/White :-(
--Chan wins everything despite falling and bobbling his way through last season
--Takahashi/Tran and Marley/Brubaker breakups: More talented pairs bite the dust
--The decline of the Shibutanis
--The overscoring/overhype of the Russian wonderbabies
--Volosozhar/Trankov's mistake-ridden yet embarrassingly well-rewarded run on the Grand Prix
--Alissa Czisny at Worlds: Utter and complete disaster
 
Best:

Hanyu winning bronze at Worlds and setting a WR with his new SP
The return of the Queen
Wagner's rise to the top
Kostner finally winning Worlds
Gede medalling at Euros (and bringing back the 3lz-3t
Kozuka's return to form
Gold and Farris skating so well at JWC
Farris landing such a beauty of a 4t at JGP Lake Placid
Anna Pogorilaya coming out of nowhere
Miller winning silver at the JGPF
Joubert skating out of his skin at Worlds
Korobeynikova's glorious Euros FS
Gao's break out season, especially her SA programs
Asada's Swan Lake FS and return to dominance
Fernandez beating Chan at SC and winning/landing 3 quads in his FS at GPF
Takahashi winning WTT and the GPF
Plushenko being an amazing robot
B&S going to Zhulin and getting good programs
Boyang Jin - the amazing little jumping bean
Nathan Chen's JGP debut and Nationals (junior) win
The return of Tuktamysheva, especially her Nationals victory
Katelyn Osmond - sorry, I like her and hope she continues to do well
The amazing ladies FS event at the JGPF :)

Worst:

Czisny's Worlds meltdown
Korobeynikova's Worlds meltdown and general decline this season
Richard Dornbush's consistency issues
Verner's sad decline
Abbott's continued headcase-y-ness
I&K's awful FD
Johnny Weir's failed comeback
Nan Song's injury/decline
Kexin Zhang's injury/retirement
Han Yan not making JGPF
Farris's meltdown at Nationals
Kanako Murakami's UR problems
Sotnikova's inconsistency and meltdowns
MBM/B and T/T breakups
John Coughlin's injury/surgery
Fernandez bombing Euros and Worlds after doing so well otherwise
Gatchinski's confidence/injury issues
Lipnitskaya's injury and withdrawing from GPF and Nationals
Nagasu's meltdown at Nationals
The ladies FS at the GPF being a bit of a splatfest
 
Kexin Zhang retired?!? I was unaware of this, but I'm shocked to hear it. It seemed she was just getting started. Sad.
 
I don't think they say it was retirement just that something's keeping her off the ice and it's not clear why she's off the ice.
 
Best

Ashley Wagner @ US Nationals, and her new season so far (may it continue)
Javier Fernandez winning Skate Canada
Cristina Gao's season so far
Nathan Chen's 2nd Us Junior Men's title
Harrison Choate making the podium of US Junior Men, making his senior debut this season
Akiko on the World Podium
Meryl & Charlie's "Die Fledermaus"
Ross Miner, finally getting more recognition for his talent
Attending US Nationals & seeing Michelle being inducted into the USFSHOF
Thrilled that Rudy will be inducted in 2013 (better late than never - wish it had happened in San Jose)

Worst

So many pair splits
Alissa's heartbreaking skating @ Worlds
Taka's injury and not making Japan's World team/4CC for 2013
 
Last edited:
Butterscotch17 said:
Kexin Zhang retired?!? I was unaware of this, but I'm shocked to hear it. It seemed she was just getting started. Sad.
Click to expand...

This scared me, but I feel better after seeing gmyers' report that she's just off the ice right now. I wish we knew more about what's going on.
 
Last edited:
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