Alina Zagitova, the Greatest?

[StephenGfan]

doesn't do a thing for me

MTE, Except her red ballerina program which was delightful to watch and had some great musical accents, the rest just do nothing for me.

 

[Scott512]

I don't think so. While having a grand slam in skating, which, is an impressive feat and nothing to sneeze at! she most likely won't win another major title ever again. Shes not as consistent as she used to be. even last season without the amazing trio of Russian juniors present she still Lost to sofia at europeans and lost the GPF to rika paired with a handfull of shaky performances. She also doesn't have the tech to compete against Sasha and anna, and doesn't have the components/presentation/interpretation skills to compete against alena and her and Evgenia will be buried by them unless she suddenly has amazing artistry or two quads by the end of the summer. She might win a GP next season and make one more worlds/euros team but thats it. Is she legendary? perhaps in some ways, but no where near the greatest especially when you compare her to likes yuna, mao and Kwan and even a few other ladies skaters with their achievements and their skating.

Major title? I consider that World championships European championships Russian Nationals for obvious reasons and Grand Prix final. If she is healthy she will be a contender for all 4 next season. Alina probably won't be able to dominate anymorevbut neither will anyone else. The door is still ajar for Alina to win major titles. And if it doesn't happen so what. as long as she's enjoying her skating is healthy and winning medals then her fans will be happy.

 

[VenusHalley]

Not yet. Yeah, she won medals. She has impressive technical skills. Last year she had good programs that she could pull off (most of the time) and created something impressive. But this year... she had horrible programs, that were bad even if she managed to skate them clean. POTO with that cuts? It just had too much going on. Her Carmen.... Well, she had a very pretty dress. But at the best she was girl with decent jumps in pretty dress skating on top of Carmen tune.... and the lowest (RusNats and Euros... where she has been generously doused in PCS or she'd end up much lower in standings)... a mess in pretty dress with Carmen tune playing in background.

Maybe she can get there artistically and become a legend. Right now... not quite there yet.

(And well, there are many OGM girls and do you remember them all and consider them all? How many gush over Trixi Schuba these days?)

 

[Mathman]

How many gush over Trixi Schuba these days?

Gush, gush.

The greatest FIGURE skater of all time. :yes:

 

[mrrice]

Gush, gush.

The greatest FIGURE skater of all time. :yes:

The Queen of Figures...….

 

[chuckm]

No one with that faulty posture (back horizontal to the ice) and just two years of Senior competition could ever be the GOAT.

If she could learn to carry herself elegantly on the ice, become less frantic and more connected to her music, and could win events into her 20s, then maybe.

 

[Tere19]

But its her style and how she moves ...she turned senior just in perfect time and like she said didnt miss her chance and gave it her all in this 2 years ...she did enough already ..all titles

 

[j00mla]

No one with that faulty posture (back horizontal to the ice) could ever be the GOAT. If she could learn to carry herself elegantly on the ice, become less frantic and more connected to her music, and could win events into her 20s, then maybe.

Horizontal to ice? I have no doubt that you consider yourself a greater specialist in figure skating than Tara Lipinsky, who called Alina's skating technically brilliant. It's a pity that there are no experts of such level as you among judges :sad4:

 

[Lunalovesskating]

Horizontal to ice? I have no doubt that you consider yourself a greater specialist in figure skating than Tara Lipinsky, who called Alina's skating technically brilliant. It's a pity that there are no experts of such level as you among judges :sad4:

Tara Lipinsky who was a major Flutzer called Adelina Sotnikova's Flutz the best Lutz in the business. I am not sure if taking Tara Lipinsky as an expert for FS is really a good idea

 

[VenusHalley]

Horizontal to ice? I have no doubt that you consider yourself a greater specialist in figure skating than Tara Lipinsky, who called Alina's skating technically brilliant. It's a pity that there are no experts of such level as you among judges :sad4:

So now Tara is considered the greatest?

 

[chuckm]

Tara was referring to Alina's technical ability (although I don't consider Tara the last word on technique), not her carriage on the ice. Alina is bent over most of the time when she skates, and that detracts visually from her performances.

 

[nussnacker]

Tara Lipinsky who was a major Flutzer called Adelina Sotnikova's Flutz the best Lutz in the business. I am not sure if taking Tara Lipinsky as an expert for FS is really a good idea

If a person can't do a lutz, does that mean that the person knows nothing about figure skating? lol =)

The fact that Tara is a flutzer doesn't make her any less credible, she certainly has way more expertise than most people on this forum, who haven't stepped their foot on ice even once.
When she said that about Adelina, she might have missed that it was a flutz, yannow sometimes people can be less attentive.

Do you think that since Tara misspoke/was mistaken once should automatically discredit all her knowledge about figure skating? =)

Not only does she know figure skating from the inside, she's also been a commentator for years now, so she's been on both sides for sure.

 

[nussnacker]

So now Tara is considered the greatest?

I'm pretty sure j00mla said, that Tara is a "greater specialist in figure skating" compared to the commenter (which let's be real, is highly likely), not that she's the greatest.

 

[Mathman]

Maybe Tara just meant that Adelina's Lutz was better than her own. Or than that of her contemporary rival, Michelle Kwan.

(Just kidding Michelle Your Lutz was beautiful. :scard7: )

 

[gravy]

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Sealioning

 

[Skater Boy]

Maybe Tara just meant that Adelina's Lutz was better than her own. Or than that of her contemporary rival, Michelle Kwan.

(Just kidding Michelle Your Lutz was beautiful. :scard7: )

We are off topic lol. Forget Adelina or Tara's lutzes or Michelle's consistent but Satoko like quality lutzes. Back to Alina - I don't think she has skated long enough to be the greatest but I guess I agree the greatest FIGURE skater is Tricie Schuba.

 

[jenaj]

I hesitate to post here, because I wonder if this thread is just intended to stir up outraged responses. But here goes. There are so many skaters that are greater than Alina in terms of competitive record, impact on the sport, technical difficulty, artistry. Just to name a few: Michelle Kwan (competitive record--no OGM but 2 Olympic medals, 5 WCs, 8 years of consecutive podium finishes including 5 when she was never lower than silver, superior artistry), Janet Lynn (short program created and figures devalued because of her; her skating skills still the gold standard), Midori Ito (3A queen, 30 years ahead of her time), Katarina Witt (2 OGMs, 4 WCs), Yuna Kim (OGM and Olympic silver, best 3ltz-3T, never off the podium her entire career).

 

[Scott512]

Tara Lipinsky who was a major Flutzer called Adelina Sotnikova's Flutz the best Lutz in the business. I am not sure if taking Tara Lipinsky as an expert for FS is really a good idea

Michelle Kwan no doubt had a more legendary and historic career than Tara Lipinski did. But both are all-time greats in my opinion just at different levels. Tara was world champion at 14 Olympic champion at 15. No one will ever do that again in the history of figure skating. Tara is GOAT material too. Sadly her star shone for too short a time.

She and Johnny Weir also in the opinions of many make a GOAT color commentating team! They are can't miss television for many. People rave about their work their insight their humor and their fashions! Tara knows what she's talking about with Adelina and Alina in particular. She won with a similar style like they did. But when it comes to Tara Lipinski lauding figure skaters like she does we ain't heard nothing yet. Wait until Alyssa Liu becomes a senior. The plaudits won't stop and then Tara may become too much for everyone including me. I know some people don't like Tara and still 21 years later can't stand video of her screaming and jumping up and down in the kiss and cry at the 1998 Winter Olympics. I understand. But I get a kick out of her work.

 

[Scott512]

I hesitate to post here, because I wonder if this thread is just intended to stir up outraged responses. But here goes. There are so many skaters that are greater than Alina in terms of competitive record, impact on the sport, technical difficulty, artistry. Just to name a few: Michelle Kwan (competitive record--no OGM but 2 Olympic medals, 5 WCs, 8 years of consecutive podium finishes including 5 when she was never lower than silver, superior artistry), Janet Lynn (short program created and figures devalued because of her; her skating skills still the gold standard), Midori Ito (3A queen, 30 years ahead of her time), Katarina Witt (2 OGMs, 4 WCs), Yuna Kim (OGM and Olympic silver, best 3ltz-3T, never off the podium her entire career).

Fair point's the ladies you named were great historically. But is it also fair to say they skated in eras that were much easier to dominate? Even Yuna for the majority of her career had less competition than Alina has had in her career. Now Alina really has a handful of other very good to great skaters to deal with including those with quads and triple axels. No lady champion has ever had that before.

 

[Tere19]

In case you forgot nobody in 2018 olympics did quads or 3a ....didnt yuna have to compete against mao asada (3a) and miki ando (3lutz-3loop)?