This reminded me of the man who was the king of cat-like landings. So I propose the Julian Yee "lands like a cat" award!
Eponymous figure skating award ideas
- Thread starter Anna K.
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- Dec 9, 2019
Hmmm but Anna Shcherbakova and Isabeau Levito do the same with their whole upper body carriage and musicality; which led me to compare with different Ballet "schools", as explained by the G.O.A.T. of Ballet and probably other Ballet people. In the Russian school, the upper body matters the most and the feet are a bit more allowed to be approximative (not to the point of slurring though); in the French school, it's the feet that are more important, the upper body matters but in second only (aaand, in France a dancer may ask the orchestra to play their variation slower if this is the means to have more precise moves; which has led to some regrettable excesses and wouldn't do at all in Figure Skating, try to imagine if some skaters would arrive and say, well, I slowed down this passage not to miss steps or stumble, so my Short Program is 3:15 instead of 2:45 — judges would have an apoplexy). And then, there's the Danish school, with lots of leg "batterie" which in Figure Skating would maybe translate into a permanent intricate Step Sequence... Wait... I think I've already seen that with a (very) few skaters?Both Yuzuru and Shoma are experts at saves that any lesser men would have flumped. That iconic Let Me Entertain You is maybe the save of the century, pretty much every other man would have splatted straight on his face! let alone managed to look beautiful (I know some viewers who thought it was a 'cool move') and Shoma does manage to get his legs into origami folds which far taller and thinner people would squirm to do. I think the Japanese style lends itself to good saves.
I was thinking of him, maybe call it "To Cry or Not To Cry" for his sheer Shakespearean drama
The most "peek through your fingers she's gong to diiiieeeeee" death spiral, though I am not a massive pairs fan and death spirals scare the hell out of me, I do think that on a sheer extreme sports level they are one of if not the top move in the entire sport.
The Ginger Rogers Award for drawing so much of your attention to their face rather than feet has to go to Alysa.
Oh, and there ought to be some sort of recognition for the most impressive (not necessarily the greatest number) climb up the rankings from SP to FS, I do recall when Javier Fernandez went from last to second in a GPF people called it "Wagnering", not sure why, but Amber did a spectacular job this year 13th to 5th and Mikhail went from what fifth to gold?
Sorry for the digression!
You know, I hate to make national culture generalizations, but there might be something to this. Skating analysts have noted that Japanese figure skaters tend to display a more "sinuous" carriage and flow, compared to the "British Tango" posture of European-trained skaters.
(Possibly all baloney, but an interesting thought nonetheless.)
As much as culture (or genetics or body type), this might be due to coaching — as in, a Japanese skater trained in Europe would be more likely to have the British posture. Etc.
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- Mar 7, 2015
I nominate myself @4everchan for fans with the best pair of scissors. Gosh I hate those costumes
. Even on the most handsome Junhwan they look awful.
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- Mar 7, 2015
and the trophy could be Adam waving on the kiss and cry forever before realizing that he had actually medaled.
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- Apr 6, 2025
I propose an award for the most dramatic falls, you know, the ones that make us asking "how on earth is he still skating after THAT??!". I name it the Kao Miura Award.
The second, similiar, but different award should be for the most awkward fall. It probably hurt a little, but mostly it was just...awkward. Legs tangled up, butt crashing straight into the board, skater confused about where he is and what he is supposed to be doing, trying to stand up just to stumble again, needing a moment just to catch the music. I shall call it the Junhwan Cha Award, as I'm thinking about his Olympic free - near-perfect skate with gloriously awkward fall (but I'm open to sugestions for other name, as I'm sure there are plenty of contestants)
The second, similiar, but different award should be for the most awkward fall. It probably hurt a little, but mostly it was just...awkward. Legs tangled up, butt crashing straight into the board, skater confused about where he is and what he is supposed to be doing, trying to stand up just to stumble again, needing a moment just to catch the music. I shall call it the Junhwan Cha Award, as I'm thinking about his Olympic free - near-perfect skate with gloriously awkward fall (but I'm open to sugestions for other name, as I'm sure there are plenty of contestants)
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- Mar 7, 2015
I think there was already an award for the first type you mentioned. I remember the days when we called these Pogo falls... In honor of pogorolaya
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- Apr 23, 2018
Oh yes! I do like her but watching her bad skates is even harder than most because the falls look so painful and awful.
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- Apr 6, 2025
Could be! If anything, some falls are truly award-worthy. I suspect most people would just lay there and cry, and yet the skaters get up and do the WHOLE PROGRAM like it's nothing. Mind-boggling stuff. I'm always half-worried and half-impressed and mindblown.
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- Oct 22, 2022
Depends on how you hit the ice. If you slide, not too bad (although you can get pretty wet sometimes if the ice has just been resurfaced). You can usually just slide-roll-and-up and barely notice it, apart from wounded dignity. It's the sudden whap-downs with no slide to them that hurt. Or the ones where you slide into the boards, depending on what part of you hits them.
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- Jul 26, 2003
Midori Ito Recovery from Disaster award in honor of her 1991 SP very bad day. It started with a collision with Laetitia Hubert during warm up that put a hole in her boot. Then on her 3lz2t combination, she fell out of the rink into the cameraman, scrambled back into the rink and kept going.
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- Sep 24, 2025
If we are looking merely at placements, the 2 candidates for best Free Skate Redemption award for this year are Amber Glenn at OLYs(19th to 5th) and Mei Okada at JWC(24th to 10th)
If we are looking at this from a significance standpoint, 2 candidates for Best Recovey Free Skates award wound be Misha and RikuRyu winning the OGM, in their respective disciplines, from 5th place
I have been thinking of who would deserve the win between these 2 pairs of candidates, but it is hard. Mei's would win from a placement standpoint for me(because of het starting SP placement), but Amber did this at the Olympics, so that should count for more in some way....And Misha's win was at that point in the season a total wildcard, but RikuRyu did it with a WR....
I declare we have some ties on our hands!
(Obviously the best recovery is still Adam's from 2024 WC)
I am not sure if these would be cathegorized as a Midori Ito Disaster Recovery, cause that is a whole other ballgame of disaster.
@dorispulaski what do you think?
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the Shiny Benoit Cup for intricate choreos with miming and voiceovers?
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- Jul 26, 2003
I think it is a "whole other ballgame of disaster"
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- Dec 9, 2019
At first read, I had assumed that you were answering to @elektra blue !I think it is a "whole other ballgame of disaster"
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It's much older, in the +3/-3 era, so maybe it's out of the scope — unless it's deemed all the more impressive; but Yuzuru Hanyu had two World Championships very impressive recoveries with iconic (I would say, historical for Figure Skating) programs, one at 17 (it was his second Senior season but today he wouldn't be Senior eligible) in Nice 2012 (and there was a dramatic fall!) from 7th (after an injury) to 3d; the second, in 2017, after a "significant judging error" in the Short Program he was 7th and ended first after a World Record in the Free, a bit like Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara.
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I know who wouldn't win, and ought to take lessons from Donovan Carrillo (it's from 0:28 and in spite of Robbie Williams being quite explicit):
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(In his Professional career, he's opted for little slaps.)
