Best female skater at age 15 -16.

[bethissoawesome]

There has always been a lot of debate about young skaters... Tara Lipinsky and Sarah Hughes taking home Olympic Golds so young, Mao not beign eligible for the 2006 Olympics, Caroline and Mirai not being eligible for Worlds this year (possibly causing the US Ladies team to lose a spot for 2009 Worlds).

Who do you think was the best female skater when they were at age 15 - 16?

If you picked other, say who!

 

[roundboypete]

I went with other. At age 16 Sonia Henie had already won three world championships and an Olympic gold medal.

 

[oleada]

Mao Asada

 

[ayanami24]

yu-na

Look back to yu-na's performance in toyko,07 world.
She was just 16 years old

 

[fairskating01]

Look back to yu-na's performance in toyko,07 world.
She was just 16 years old

i agree and also her free program at the junior worlds 2006!

 

[yuriyuri]

Mao Asada is my most favorite figure skater. Mao is a genius of the figure skating. And she is always a brave athlete.
Mao is Japanese so cool like samurai and Ichiro. And Mao is cute like an angel. Mao is brave like samurai.
I think her skating skill is the best in the world. And she is a artist on the ice.
She will be the legend in the future.

 

[Mathman]

Welcome to Golden Skate, Yuriyuri. You'll find a lot of fellow Asada fans here!

 

[all that]

I'm going with Katia Gordeeva. She may not be Sonia Henie, but by sixteen, she had won two World Championships and an Olympic Gold with Sergei.

 

[fairly4]

i didn't vote. but i don't see how mao can be the best skater at 15-16 when she doesn't do her jumps correctly. if you vote on the hardest jump the axel than it would be her of midori, but if you do the whole package and that includes doing the jumps correctly, right take off/landing/ right edges, carriage, the sense you get when skating to the program . overall impression. it can't be her. but than it is also unfair to compare the skaters under the 6.0 to this new system. why because there are different set of rules. i suspect if they had the new system in the eariler times all the skaters would have packaged their programs to fit it. but since they didn't . you can't compare . or say who is the best.
this new system they supposedly watch more closely. the old system they took off more for the littlest mistake. mao is getting ding for ur wrong edge take so you cant compare or say she is the best. all 15-16 yrs old are still learning at that age.

 

[mirai_asada]

Asada because she won the Grand Prix title at her senior debut, defeating veterans Slutskaya & Arakawa (amazing feat, IMO). During that same season, she also became the first lady to land two 3As during the free skate, and also the first lady to land a 3A at in the SP of an ISU championship.

Kim and Henie comes close too.

 

[fairly4]

as i stated earlier --mao didn't have the right jump technique and the right skating technique. sure she won--but they didn't take off for her urs and skating technique.even back then they was more laxed in juding urs', skating technique, wrong edge takes offs,landings etc.
michelle had to skate perfect.the right speed,the right height,the right skating technique, the right spins --everything had to be just so for her to win. no other skater not tara,sarah,mao ,oskana, nancy , irina,sasha had to skate perfect.
if they judged according to the new rules this year where they takeoff for any little thing--will see.
mao is good--best at15-16 no.
you have to have the right technique with the right interpretation. at that age it is hard.
because of theolympics and the hype about her not being able to go.i think inpart was a consolation prize.showing the world the future of figure skating.
she didn't do those jumps correctly.

 

[Wrlmy]

michelle had to skate perfect.the right speed,the right height,the right skating technique, the right spins --everything had to be just so for her to win. no other skater not tara,sarah,mao ,oskana, nancy , irina,sasha had to skate perfect.

I don't get what you are suggesting. Are you dissing Michelle for skating perfect every time she won, or are you saying judges were harsh on Michelle? I believe in the latter.

 

[fairly4]

i wasn't dissing michelle , just stating they were more strick with her than with any other skater. even in her only skate under the cop.

 

[Wrlmy]

Ok never mind

 

[mycelticblessing]

Michelle Kwan, cos I loved her 1995-1996 season, and I think that's one of her best seasons ever.

 

[Kwanford Wife]

Michelle Kwan. She absolutely blew me away at 96 worlds... I've been an uber ever since...

Second place goes to NNN

Mao, Sasha, Miki and Kimmie to a smaller extent made stunning debuts but never reached out & grabbed me from the first second like Kwan & NNN - even though I always paid attention to what they were doing.

I never got the whole Tara thing...

As for the latest crop - I'm more looking forward to seeing them develop as athletes & artist vs. deciding whose the best - Im waiting for puberty, nerves and normal teen age angst to pass before I start paying attention to individuals vs. looking at the whole - but in a sport where 18 can be seen as over the hill one must wonder if they will have time...

 

[antmanb]

Michelle Kwan. She absolutely blew me away at 96 worlds... I've been an uber ever since...

I agree - except she blew me away at worlds in 1995 with the only (?) 7 triple free program of the night and young exuberence. Just a year later I could barely believe that the tiny jumping bean full of energy i had loved the year before returned a mature young artist on the ice. Romanza and Salome are my two favourite combination of programs she used. In Romanza the steps that went from one length of the rink to other into the triple toe were just

Ant (a fellow uber!)

 

[demarinis5]

The Kween need I say more.

 

[Binthere]

The Kween need I say more.

Amen

 

[Blades of Passion]

LOL, I know most people don't agree but I think Tara's performance at the Olympics was sublime. She had an immensely difficult jump layout as well. So, overall, her.

If we are talking about presentation only and remove technical difficulty from the picture, then I'd give a slight edge to Kwan.