Your five favorites of all time in each discipline | Page 5 | Golden Skate

Your five favorites of all time in each discipline

Alba

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
In reply to Alba. I just think Mao's LP in Sochi is the best performance I have ever seen, so powerfully moving and clean, and she ended it with so much triumphant joy that I love to watch it over and over again. but I loved Mao's performance of Bells of Moscow in Vancouver as well. It's just that I saw how sad she was when she missed her triple loop and caught an edge near the end. Most of all, I was upset when she cried in the interview afterwards because her performance had not lived up to her high expectations. However, Mao's performance of Bells at Worlds is my second favorite performance after her Sochi LP. I have written the following post about it. Believe me, I agree that it totally fits her and is such a stunning departure from her image of ethereal innocence:

I love her Swan as well, and I fully agree with you. I think the different perceptions that we have about these two programs are also related to the story/result behind it. In Vancouver she didn't won, and frankly I think it was impossible for her to win, no matter what, after the scores that Yuna Kim got. So it was very emotional but in a negative way if you like.
In Sochi, she came back after a disaster SP. So it was a kind of victory, very emotional but positive.


In this peerless performance, the innocent princess transforms into a dark, nimble angel firing wildly rotating lightning bolts from gyrating limbs during her desperate step sequence. She is bewitchingly beguiling in her cat-like agility, as she springs into the air with a twin attack of triple axels, and an exquisite flurry of rotations that are synonymous with feline finesse. She strikes bizarre behind-the back, peek-a-boo and mask-like poses through a black glove with her arms and hands like figures out of Picasso’s modernist paintings: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and Three Women. This leads into her picturesque arabesque and fully-open scissor-like leg extensions in her spiral sequence.

As for spins, she pulls herself into a crouching position, crosses one leg on her knee, fully extends her arms and locks her hands above her head, before rising upright and extending her leg all the way above her head in a rapidly revolving leg extension. Then, she wraps her head and leg sideways around her back, drops into a sit spin with legs parallel to the ice, before fully extending her head and right leg all the way up behind her back in a full-blown Bielmann. During the Bielmann, she does one of the most passionately beautiful poses I have ever seen by pulling her left hand in flush against her chest and fully extending her finger tips, which are cupped with a black glove. The beautiful tension it creates builds all the way till the final gong of the Bell and upright spin at the end. M&M- Magnificent and Mesmerizing!!!!!! Best of all since Mao is my favorite skater, it ended in the 2010 World Championship just like Roch 2 in 2014.

This is poetry. :clap:
 

thumbyskates

Rinkside
Joined
Sep 3, 2003
Fun game! I've thought about this forever and my "favourites" are not just based on skating skill, but the whole package. An eclectic mix of memories, personality, skating ability, and artistry.

Ladies:
1. Tara Lipinski
2. Joannie Rochette
3. Carolina Kostner
4. Sasha Cohen
5. Oksana Bauil

Men:
1. Kurt Browning
2. Patrick Chan
3. Alexei Yagudin
4. Todd Eldredge
5. Elvis Stojko

Pairs:
1. Katia and Sergei
2. Meghan and Eric
3. Aliona and Robin
4. Jamie and David
5. Isabelle and Lloyd

Dance:
1. Shaelynn and Victor
2. Tessa and Scott
3. Meryl and Charlie
4. Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat
5. Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio

Almost but not yet...Kaitlyn and Andrew...^^^
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
Pairs:
1.The Protopopovs
2.Mishkutenok & Dmitriev
3.Brezhnaya & Sikhuralidze
4.Volosozhar&Trankov
5. Pang&Tong

Alba, I like almost all your choices (great minds think alike, right? :yay:) but was surprised to see that G&G weren't on your pairs list. Just wondering...
 

NYscorp6

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Country
United-States
I'll start with the ladies:
1. Sasha Cohen
2. Nicole Bobek
3. Kristi Yamaguchi
4. Jill Trenary
5. Linda Fratianne - (#5 was the toughest choice, I chose Linda because 1980 was really the first year I was aware and routing for a figure skater to win. 1988 is when I became hooked though. I also kept the USA theme although there are many international ladies I admire).
 

Alba

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
Alba, I like almost all your choices (great minds think alike, right? :yay:) but was surprised to see that G&G weren't on your pairs list. Just wondering...

Oh Yes. :biggrin:

Tbh I didn't include G&G because I realised that all Pairs were Russians. :laugh: So I chose one pair which is not russian and I loved like P&T.
I probably should've put 6 pairs though.
 

Mirunna

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
Tough to pick, but I'll give it a try; also I watched regularly starting with 2004-2005, so naturally my favorite skaters are usually from the current generation or recently retired

Ladies:

1. Mao (my one time favorite)
2. Carolina (my second time favorite)
from here in no particular order
- Shizuka
- Akiko
- Adelina (though I have to admit her winning the Olys made me mad, but in the end it's not her fault. I really do like her)

Honorable mention: Yuna Kim pre-Vancouver. Everything she did after was meh to me, but I still cheered for her to win in Sochi after I saw Adelina is in first and thought she was underscored in the SP


Men

1. Plushy (the reason I started to watch FS, though I can see his shortcomings as a skater now, he remains one of the all times favorites)
2. Daisuke - the complete artist on ice, the best one. His SP (In the Garden of souls, especially the 2011 NHK trophy version, even without a quad, is magical. No words can describe it
3. Lambiel - because of 2007 Worlds Poeta!
4. Tomas, the eternal headcase, for his amazing Django Reinhardt SP he caught my attention and for his AMAZING personality
5. Javier, for his Pirates and Charlie Chaplin LP (especially 2013 European version, which almost had me in tears)

Pairs

1. Savchenko/Szolkowi - so many programs to choose from, it's impossible. For me it's a tie between The Mission, Pina and Out of Africa. Without them, pair skating would have been boring as hell for almost two Olympic cycles (S/Z were almost out the entire time except Vancouver and V/T are pretty recent and have been pretty meh in their first season).
2. Totmianina/Marinin - loved them since Ave Maria SP. Their unison, timing and skating skills, coupled with their statuesque posture and extreme consistency (after her fall of course) made them look regal every time they took the ice. She was an ice queen, impenetrable, I know many found her boring, but in programs like their Olympic SP this worked very well in their favor. Imo, the last true classical russian pair. V/T are in many ways better but they lack the unison of T/M which is what made T/M so special for me
3. Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze - that 2002 SP is the best SP ever. I feel no need to add more on why I love them, it's been said already before so many times.
4. Gordeeva/Grinkov - the same goes for them. Chemistry between them was out of this world
5. Pang/Tong - they grew on me slowly but surely



Ice dance - this is the hardest one I guess
In not particular order:

- Navka/Kostomarov (they were on top when I started to watch FS and she had that "look at me" thing, I really fell for them as a pair instantly even though I knew nothing about ice dance
- Domnina/Shabalin before his injury (their tango from 2007 worlds OD was to die for)
- Virtue/Moir, the best combination of technicality and artistry
- Nathalie/Fabian, with their always voidy and interesting programs (it still pains me their loss at bots Sochi and last Worlds)
- Grishuk/ Platov, very dynamic pair, somewhat ahead of their time I guess. Their Libertango OD is one of my favorites

Honorable mention: Davis/White, whom I never fully got, but who pushed it technically beyond the limit and I don't think there is a pair who will match them on skill anytime soon. Their Bollywood OD is a masterpiece.
 

ioanablabla

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
Country
Romania
Ladies:
Yuna
Mao
Carolina
Sasha Cohen
Midori Ito


Men
Hanyu (I adore him from the moment I watch him skate for the first time)
Takahashi
Lambiel
Yagudin

Pairs

Shen & Zhao because of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYuRHZMNCeE

When it comes to ice-dance I just like Virtue and Moir, I don't really watch pairs and ice-dance for any favorites..
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
Oh Yes. :biggrin:

Tbh I didn't include G&G because I realised that all Pairs were Russians. :laugh: So I chose one pair which is not russian and I loved like P&T.
I probably should've put 6 pairs though.


Ahhhh...I knew there had to be a reason! But IMO the reality is that until the Chinese became competitive, all of the truly great pairs from the mid-20th century onward were Russian or Soviet. So it's natural that they would dominate most fans' GOAT lists. Sale/Pelletier and S/S were wonderful but I never thought of either couple on the same level as the Russians, especially G/G, who to me seemed to exist in some sort of skaters' Valhalla. :love:

Gotta start on a list of my own!
 

Alba

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
Ahhhh...I knew there had to be a reason! But IMO the reality is that until the Chinese became competitive, all of the truly great pairs from the mid-20th century onward were Russian or Soviet. So it's natural that they would dominate most fans' GOAT lists. Sale/Pelletier and S/S were wonderful but I never thought of either couple on the same level as the Russians, especially G/G, who to me seemed to exist in some sort of skaters' Valhalla. :love:

Gotta start on a list of my own!

Sale and Pelletier were not my cup of tea, sorry :)slink:). I like the canadians in general but S&P meh....maybe it's also because of what happend in Salt Lake City, although it was not their fault, I don't know. I prefered more Brasseur&Eisler for example. I thought some of their elements were ahead of their time.
S&S were great but they missed that X Factor if you like. At least for me.

G&G were excellent, and I loved them but sometimes I feel they had too much sugar.:p
 

susuru

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 16, 2014
Random Order

Ladies
Radionova
Yuna Kim
Arakawa
Akiko Suzuki
Michelle Kwan

Men
Yagudin
Dick Button
Plushenko
Hanyu
Javier Fernandez

Ice dance
V/M
 
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