10 World titles

TontoK · Sep 4, 2014

^^^ Regarding the possibility of D/W or V/M winning 10 world titles if they skated in different eras...

I suppose it's possible, but I think that being in the SAME era is what made them so good. Would either have been dominant/invincible without the other team pushing?

Ten years is a long time.

blue_idealist · Sep 4, 2014

TontoK said:
^^^ Regarding the possibility of D/W or V/M winning 10 world titles if they skated in different eras...

I suppose it's possible, but I think that being in the SAME era is what made them so good. Would either have been dominant/invincible without the other team pushing?

Ten years is a long time.

Yeah, I think one reason D/W got so good is that V/M were slightly ahead of them in the beginning and they wanted to catch up. It seems like a lot of teams and skaters often don't even compete at 10 World Championships these days. I think both teams have "only" done seven so far.

coraczek · Sep 4, 2014

I think it will happen someday, but not from any of the current crop or emerging junior crop. Torvill & Dean and Gordeeva & Grinkov

I think it would be difficult for G&G. Firstly, it's difficult for a pair couple to be so consistent for so many years. Secondly, they would have had very strong competitors, especially Mishkutenok & Dmitriev. I'm not so sure that G&G would have always been the winners.

But it's all speculation.

gkelly · Sep 4, 2014

TontoK said:
While I concur that Jill's gold medal was won on the strength of her school figures, I disagree that she wouldn't have been near the podium otherwise.

She placed 5th in the short program and 2nd in the long. Yes, Midori Ito would have won in a walk if the competition were conducted under the next year's rules, but Jill would have made the podium. I don't recall the placements of the other ladies, but Jill's long program placement was strong.

Placements:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_World_Figure_Skating_Championships#Ladies

With those programs and no figures, Trenary would have won silver and Yamaguchi bronze.

tulosai · Sep 4, 2014

coraczek said:
I think it would be difficult for G&G. Firstly, it's difficult for a pair couple to be so consistent for so many years. Secondly, they would have had very strong competitors, especially Mishkutenok & Dmitriev. I'm not so sure that G&G would have always been the winners.

But it's all speculation.

There's also the fact that Katia basically got pregnant in the middle of their competitive career and that he tragically died. Only if neither of those things had happened would it have even been technically possible to say nothing of other competitors. To propose they could have done it is to basically live in a total fantasy world, and I love G&G.

Mathman · Sep 6, 2014

We can see first if anyone can win five again, and then go from there.

gotoschool · Sep 6, 2014

No single men's of women's skater ever will, in my opinion. Though Kwan was a wonderful and consistent skater, in my opinion, the competition was not quite as stiff when she won 5, nor were the demands on the body as great; the spins, jump combinations and step sequences are more demanding these days, so that it is difficult to sustain for many years even if a skater is not injured. And there are more injuries nowadays due to spins like the Biellmann. Even so, Kwan won only 5 out of 12 appearances as one of the greats. As for today, Mao has won 3 out of 8 worlds and Kim has won 2 out of 6 and they are considered two of the greatest skaters in history. Given that percentage they would have to skate in 25-30 Worlds to reach that goal. Yagudin is 4 out of 6 and Plushenko 3 out of 6. That's about 17 to 20 Worlds. Only one of these pillars of the figure skating world has even participated in 10 Worlds, so I think it is impossible. I don't follow dance or pairs closely enough to comment on that.

Icey · Sep 6, 2014

How many competitive skaters even have a senior career that last 10 years these days?

gravy · Sep 6, 2014

Icey said:
How many competitive skaters even have a senior career that last 10 years these days?

If you're only including skaters who competed regularly as a senior (excluding people like Plushenko who had extended hiatuses) the only person who comes to mind is Carolina Kostner. She competed at her first worlds in 2003 (10th place). She was always competitive, but was a head case at first.

jimeonji · Sep 6, 2014

Icey said:
How many competitive skaters even have a senior career that last 10 years these days?

Daisuke Takahashi, who won the Junior World title in 2002 at the age of 16 and the next season competed on the senior Grand Prix. Excluding the 2008-2009 season, when he was injured, he competed a total of 11 seasons as a senior.
Brian Joubert, who began competing at the senior level in 2001. He competed a total of 13 seasons as a senior.
Valentina Marchei, who competed at her first international senior event in 2003. However, she, like Takahashi, sat out most of the 2008-2009 season due to an injury, making 10 her total number of seasons competing as a senior.
Savchenko/Szolkowy, who competed at their first senior competition in 2004. They competed a total of 10 seasons as seniors.
Carolina Kostner, who gravy mentioned.
Shen/Zhao (I'll count them since they retired only after Vancouver), who competed at their first international senior competetion in 1993. A few seasons were missed due to injury or they didn't get GPs/make the world team, but nevertheless they competed around a total of 13 seasons as seniors.
Pang/Tong, who began competing as seniors 1999 and competed a total of 14 seasons, excluding the 2011-2012 season, which they sat out the majority of.
Pechalat/Bourzat, who first comped as seniors internationally in 2002 and continued on to compete a total of 12 seasons as seniors.

There are probably a few other skaters I'm missing. I suspect some of the older pairs skaters/ice dancers may have competed 10+ seasons as seniors.

wonderlen3000 · Sep 8, 2014

impossible because back in their days, they only do simple spins and a bunch of single/double jumps. The skating era today is all about triples/quads and variety of difficult spins. Its very hard to stay on top for more than a few years, let alone winning world titles. lol

Skater Boy · Sep 8, 2014

SkateFiguring said:
Theirs was a very different, much much smaller and simpler "world", more like a private club.

Rodina's wins are more impressive than the others as she was closer to the modern day era and she did do the triple toe loop I believe but at least there wre some riskeir jumps.

Skater Boy · Sep 8, 2014

BravesSkateFan said:
Never say never, but it will be next to impossible in this day. A lot of things would have to align for this to happen. Since the end of figures the most titles won by a skater/team was 5 and only 2 have done that (Kwan & Savchenko/Szolkowy). For someone to double that number would be quite a feat.

Interesting and NO OGM for either of them.

Skater Boy · Sep 8, 2014

Well I think there were numerous skaters who did ten years but to win is another thing ie Elvis Stoijko.

Mathman · Sep 8, 2014

Skater Boy said:
Interesting and NO OGM for either of them.

It is an interesting phenomenon. Olympic champions come along every four years like clockwork, rain or shine. of course. It is only once in a blue moon that someone wins five world championships (we won't even mention 10).

drivingmissdaisy · Sep 8, 2014

wonderlen3000 said:
impossible because back in their days, they only do simple spins and a bunch of single/double jumps. The skating era today is all about triples/quads and variety of difficult spins. Its very hard to stay on top for more than a few years, let alone winning world titles. lol

This is a good point. I think the element of risk is a bigger obstacle than wear and tear on the body. Triples/quads are inherently risky and no one lands them consistently enough.

Icey · Sep 8, 2014

jimeonji, still, isn't that a very small number of skaters when you think of the total number that have competed worldwide?

I did this quickly, but in looking at world's records, 3 men, 4 women and 1 ice dancers won world gold medals five times or more. There were some who won 4 titles.

Ophelia · Sep 8, 2014

Skater Boy said:
Interesting and NO OGM for either of them.

Not winning the OGM factored largely in their decision (Kwan's at least) to continue skating competitively.

anthologyz · Sep 8, 2014

10 world titles? a cyborg skater, perhaps. the human body has limits. i think winning more than 3 or 4 in the current milieu is already difficult. esp. for singles skaters who are breaking down their muscles and bones doing "level 4" positions.

CanadianSkaterGuy · Sep 8, 2014

lilahozi said:
Not winning the OGM factored largely in their decision (Kwan's at least) to continue skating competitively.

I'm almost certain S/S would have retired had they won in Vancouver. Particularly impressive that they had 8 straight World medals (and never off the podium during that time).

I think in this day and age, 10 World MEDALS would be much more attainable. But 10 titles is pretty much impossible.

10 World titles

TontoK

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