I think I would add when she was on Josee Chouinard a realtive unknown that girl when she was on had huge jumps as did Nicole bobek when she was on too.
Love this thread, Coppertop1.
I wish I had something to add to the conversation. I just want to echo the mentions of Midori Ito and Tonya Harding.
...And my new favorite Mae Berenice Meite. Would love to see her doing triple axels in competition.
I think in skating, every body type has its advantage. The wispy ballerinas are light and graceful and rotate easily, the powerful ones have speed and power and often HUGE jumps, and the taller skaters have a commanding presence and cut beautiful lines on the ice. It's a case of knowing your strengths and using them.
This is the way I look at skating. That's why I don't pay much attention when people talk about how Liza T. or some other skater has lost her possibility for a top finish by going through a growth spurt. She will find what works for her and use it, just as Irina and others have done through the years. If men's skating can encompass body types as different as Paul Wylie, Elvis Stojko, and Evgeny Plushenko, then ladies' skating can also. This isn't a hope or a guess on our part. It's been demonstrated time and time again. The ice may be slippery, but human ingenuity and perseverance can prevail.
Yuna Kim
Carolina Kostner (both Yuna and Caro were lyrical skaters but they had insane speed and huge jumps too so..)
Denise Biellman
Tonya Harding
Midori Ito
Debi Thomas
Surya Bonaly
Irina Slutskaya
MAYBE Gracie will end up on this list...
I don't include Mao even though she does triple axels because overall I find she works best as a delicate skater
Gabby Daleman is for sure a powerful skater!!!Great jumps and a huge 3lutz/3toe combo!!
Harding, Ito, Bonaly, and Slutskaya are definitely the standard-bearers here.
From more recent skaters, I'd include Rochette, Wagner, Sotnikova, Meite, and Tuk (make a comeback, girl!). (Wagner more for the attack in her skating than her jumps, but I think she belongs in this category).
I interpret "powerhouse" not just in terms of jumping ability, but in terms of style. Hence why Yuna and Mao don't make my list. Yuna's a powerful jumper but she goes for the more refined style of skating. Mao probably doesn't make the list even taking out her lyrical skating style--as Kwanatic notes, while Mao can do the difficult jumps, she doesn't get the height, distance, or power on them. Gracie belongs in terms of jumping ability but I think she's trying for refined style at this point. Not sure if it's working.
I tend to think of Osmond as falling in the powerhouse category as well, especially in terms of body type.
It's kind of interesting, but most of the top Canadian ladies in the last 30 years (especially those who were reasonably successful internationally) have tended toward the powerhouse end. None were wispy ballerinas.
Yeah. I agree. Osmond's jumps are huge, especially her Flip. So for her, her jumps are either spectacular or a mess. She just needs to control that power appropriately.