Skaters Who Breakout Later in Their Careers

[BillNeal]

Machida had a breakout late in his career during the Sochi Olympic season. He did have some success prior with 4CC silver and COC gold but was overshadowed by Takahashi, Hanyu, Oda, Kozuka for years. When he won both his GPs that season, he became a possible contender for the Olympic podium. Another example of making it to the Olympics before Worlds . Too bad he retired the season after he had his breakthrough, as I was really starting to enjoy his skating.

 

[mau]

I don’t know if Miki Ando counts since she won Worlds 2007 and was always a successful skater but she had the best season of her career at 24 and after 5 years from her first world title.

 

[yume]

Miki doesn't really count i think. Early in her career she was not in the shadow of someone, others were in her shadow as Japanese fed gave her an olympic spot despite her performance at nationals and not so good body of work that season. She was up and down during her career. Like Kostner who became really successful at 24-25yo (four straight worlds podium, one undeserved) but medaled at worlds at 18yo and 21yo.

 

[4everchan]

D/R... after many partners.... started from scratch together... took them a while to get the recognition they deserved... were among contenders in 2014 for a medal which they didn't get (they got a team event medal though) to bounce back with back to back world titles and finished with a bronze and a gold in 2018. Both are over 30.

 

[yume]

In countries where there is a great amount of depth in certain disciplines, sometimes there are many skaters who skate domestically and don't get a chance to compete on the international stage for a long time. They may only start to get the recognition they deserve once they find a program that is an excellent vehicle for them.

D/R... after many partners.... started from scratch together... took them a while to get the recognition they deserved... were among contenders in 2014 for a medal which they didn't get (they got a team event medal though) to bounce back with back to back world titles and finished with a bronze and a gold in 2018. Both are over 30.

The recognition they/she/he deserved........i think that most of the time when a skater doesn't get recognition it's because he doesn't deserve it. I mean, when you usually plan 4 triples in your program, triples that you botch, and end outside top10 at GPs top15 at worlds, i don't see why there should be a recognition. But when you improve your tech and performance, then you get recognition because of your improvement.

 

[4everchan]

The recognition they/she/he deserved........i think that most of the time when a skater doesn't get recognition it's because he doesn't deserve it. I mean, when you usually plan 4 triples in your program, triples that you botch, and end outside top10 at GPs 15 at worlds, i don't see why there should be a recognition. But when you improve your tech and performance, then you get recognition because of your improvement.

well D/R were not botching their programs all the time... it's their PCS that drastically moved up... i suspect that 1) they did indeed get better 2) they were seen as contenders and it was reflected in marks

 

[BillNeal]

D/R... after many partners.... started from scratch together... took them a while to get the recognition they deserved... were among contenders in 2014 for a medal which they didn't get (they got a team event medal though) to bounce back with back to back world titles and finished with a bronze and a gold in 2018. Both are over 30.

Great careers that these two had especially considering they both skated in singles prior (some years concurrently with pairs), with Duhamel even competing at 4CC in 2006. Duhamel/Buntin were definitely overshadowed by Dube/Davison and also missed out on that Vancouver Olympic spot to Langlois/Hay. After, D/R teamed up and duked it out with M-T/M to push Canadian pairs skating in their first quad together. Their accomplishments during this quad are quite amazing and mirrors that of Fernandez, who was also mentioned in this thread. The team gold, which they skated an additional two Olympic programs for, is icing on the cake.

 

[yume]

Yes PCS is the biggest factor.
I think the most close to "the recognition they deserve" are some Russian and Japanese ladies. Some posters don't like and don't agree with that reality, but there are, though "inconsistents", 210+ and 200+ girls who didn't have the luck to take part 4CC/euros/olympics/worlds this past season, because of the depth of the field. But have the ability to get good placements at those competitions.

 

[BillNeal]

On the note of the deep fields in Japan, hoping that Takahashi can have a breakout comeback performance and earn that 3rd spot on the Worlds team

 

[mishulyia]

Maybe we can look forward to Daisuke Takahashi now?

 

[yume]

Seems like for ladies it's mostly breakout early or breakout very late. Seems like Slutskaya is the one with the most complete seasons who had an early breakout, didn't falter after, and had good placements during all her career till 26yo.

 

[BillNeal]

Seems like for ladies it's mostly breakout early or breakout very late. Seems like Slutskaya is the one with the most complete seasons who had an early breakout, didn't falter after, and had good placements during all her career till 26yo.

Yuna also had her breakout early, not as many seasons as Slutskaya but overall a better set of results, never missing the podium.

 

[yume]

Thst's why i said with the most complete seasons. The number of complete seasons and competitiond of Slutskaya and Kim is not even comparable.
The number of full seasons is important to me because i think it's easier to medal at 20 competitions rather than 100 for example.
Mao is not too far since she started to win big titles in seniors at 15yo and got good results at 25. Even if she had an awful season in 2010-2011. And the most awful and sad that was her last season.

 

[BillNeal]

I see.

On another note, Valentina Marchei actually had her breakout season at the age of 32! She has really accomplished a lot in a completely new discipline in the span of only 4 years.

 

[yume]

Valentina is superb. She won nationals in both singles and pairs. And to have her breakout in pairs at 32yo at olympics is superb too.

 

[el henry]

The earlier mentions of Paul Wylie and Rudy Galindo were spot on.:agree:

Rudy was 26 when he won his only Nats and then went on to win his only (singles) Worlds medal. If anyone saw that happening the year before, when he never got anywhere near the podium, they should have played the lottery. Paul was either 25 or 26 when he won Olympic silver at a time when most never thought he'd even be on the US team.

Inspirational

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

The earlier mentions of Paul Wylie and Rudy Galindo were spot on.:agree:

Rudy was 26 when he won his only Nats and then went on to win his only (singles) Worlds medal. If anyone saw that happening the year before, when he never got anywhere near the podium, they should have played the lottery. Paul was either 25 or 26 when he won Olympic silver at a time when most never thought he'd even be on the US team.

Inspirational

Actually, Wylie was 27 when he won silver in Albertville.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Valentina is superb. She won nationals in both singles and pairs. And to have her breakout in pairs at 32yo at olympics is superb too.

She is indeed! And I'm glad you're not diminishing how superb she is, and also giving her the recognition she deserves, despite the luck of having not had to deal with the depth of a Russian/Canadian/Chinese pairs field.

I think the most close to "the recognition they deserve" are some Russian and Japanese ladies. Some posters don't like and don't agree with that reality, but there are, though "inconsistents", 210+ and 200+ girls who didn't have the luck to take part 4CC/euros/olympics/worlds this past season, because of the depth of the field.

 

[yume]

Oh Jesus, that's incredible
Yes Valentina is superb, and deserve recognition because she improved and proved that she can move to another category and get good results. As those absolutely superb girls who can fight for podiums or top10 but don't have the same luck than others.

 

[iluvtodd]

Alexey Bychenko & Sergei Voronov!