Does your favourite performance belong to your favourite skater?

[sadya]

I'm not a big Hanyu fan, however, one of my favourite programs is the first rendition of his Seimei and I particularly like this performance:

Yuzuru HANYU - NHK Trophy 2015 - LP (NBC)

Yuzuru HANYU - NHK Trophy 2015 - LP (NBC)

www.youtube.com

Still watch this sometimes, one of the programs I will go back to every now and then.

Not a big fan of Lambiel, but he did skate some of my favourite programs at the 2005 Europeans and even though he won Worlds with that Arthur program, I didn't like that program that much and was disappointed he had replaced his Truman Show program. I had hoped to see that one skated well:

Stéphane Lambiel SWI - 2005 European Figure Skating Championships LP

SP: 3rd, LP: 7th, 4th placeJan. 25th-30th, Turino, ITA

www.youtube.com

I enjoyed that SP as well;

Lambiel 2005 Worlds SP Spanish Caravan HQ

Stephane Lambiel winning short program WCH Moscow 2005

www.youtube.com

I think I watched these programs many many times back then.

 

[mrrice]

This will not surprise any of you......Johnny Weir tried but.......Otonal Belongs To Maria Butyrskaya.

Maria Butyrskaya '99 WC FS

Maria Burtyrskaya's gold medal free skate from 1999 World's in Helsinki. Maria would become the first Russian lady to win the title.

www.youtube.com

 

[Magill]

This will not surprise any of you......Johnny Weir tried but.......Otonal Belongs To Maria Butyrskaya.

Maria Butyrskaya '99 WC FS

Maria Burtyrskaya's gold medal free skate from 1999 World's in Helsinki. Maria would become the first Russian lady to win the title.

www.youtube.com

Oh, no. Best Otonal, or at least best known by now, is Yuzuru Hanyu's. I know it was made as a tribute but it is one of these cases when the tribute overtakes the original for many, many people. Does it belong to Hanyu? No. Is it a generational thing? Possibly. Still it is probably the most popular version and he set the world records twice with it at the time.
I know popularity is not the most important thing, as it changes in time, nor are the world records, as they get broken, but I am pretty sure it means you simply cannot say Otonal really belongs to anyone the way Bolero does. There were a couple of great versions by exquisite skaters in different times in history, that's all that can be said. As for Torvill and Dean's Bolero, I do not even remember when was the first time I heard about it as a masterpiece but it must have been years before I started to follow the sport on a more regular basis. It was such a revelation that it thundered through the non-skating crowd, too. I do not think you can really compare Butyrskaya's Otonal to it, it is not even nearly that iconic, sorry!

2018 Rostelecom Cup - Yuzuru Hanyu SP (B.ESP)

Yuzu breaks his own World Record in the new scoring system and currently holds the highest SP of 110.53 points 👏

www.youtube.com

 

[sworddance21]

Firstly - I might be the only person who liked Shoma's Bolero?

To the question - most people who read anything I say here on this forum will know that my all time favorite skater is Jason Brown and just about anything he skates, I adore. I think he's magical. However, my favorite performance ever might be Matthew Savoie's 2006 performance of his Misson program that got him onto the Olympic team.

 

[sadya]

I like Shoma's Bolero too. It did get some getting used to it though. I think it helps that it's a version of Bolero we don't hear often (I never heard that before anyway).

 

[rabidline]

Firstly - I might be the only person who liked Shoma's Bolero?

I like it too. It helps that I do like the Fuji TV version of Bolero he used, which I was familiar with because of watching Japanese Nationals

But for the question, yes, my favorite performance does belong to my favorite skaters. The first one is the one that convinced me singles skating is good, until the results of 2014 Olympics where I just stopped trying to get into the sport (and she stopped skating too):

Yuna Kim FS Les Miserables @ 2013 Worlds (No Commentary)

WC Les Miserables No commentary version

www.youtube.com

And the other one is the one that got me back. I still remember spending a lot of nights rewinding the part where the music swells just so before the 3A and the step sequence after and going, wow, I am going back to following this because he made me feel. Just like she did a few years ago.

2017 WC Shoma Uno SP JPN NBC

www.youtube.com

 

[Mathematician]

Well, this thread has given some pretty good insight. Seems like most people's favourite program does indeed belong to their favourite skater, or skating pair.

For some reason, I didn't expect the trend would be so strong.

 

[Clairecz]

My favourite skater is Javier, always will be and my favourite programs of his are Guys & Dolls, Malaguena and MOLM.
However, there are three programs of other skaters that I'd put on the same level or even slightly above them: Shoma Uno Oboe, Savchenko/Massot La terre vue du ciel (The Olympics performance) and Misha Kolyada's White Crow (the first performance at test skates).