Favorite Skaters of All Time

[Seren]

This thread may have been done before and I apologize for any repeat- I did a search and couldn't find anything recent.

Who are your favorite skaters of all time in each discipline, PLEASE ONLY PICK ONE! I know it's hard to do, but if you reaaaaally only had to pick one who would it be? You can explain your choice but please only choose one per discipline.

For me,

Ladies: Akiko Suzuki- it pains me to choose anyone but the Kween but Akikos beautiful skating combined with everything she overcame personally is inspiring.

Men: Jason Brown

Pairs: Maxim Marinin and Tatiana Totmianina

Dance: the Shibs (they made me start paying attention to ice dance)

 

[Crossover]

Ladies : Yuna Kim - battled with Kristi Yamaguchi because she is my first love for figure skating and I always wish to see skaters like her both excelled in single and pairs. However Yuna's techniques and artistry rekindled my love for skating after the least exciting period of the ladies' skating for me after the late 1990s.

It is an irony to myself that when American women dominated the ladies, I wished strong Russian or other ladies came to balance the power, and reversely, I wish for the opposite in the era of Russian ladies' dominance. However Asian ladies, mostly Japanese are always around the corner. After all I always want diversity.

Men: Alexei Yagudin - ultimate king of men's skating for me. Winter SP at Salt Lake City is always my No. 1 men's program.

Pairs: Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao - battled with Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy because I like S/S' creative programs more, but Shen and Zhao are my first love for pairs.

Dance: Isabelle Delobel & Olivier Schoenfelder - I don't think I ever loved dance teams like I did for them.

 

[noskates]

Men: Kurt Browning, Kurt Browning, Kurt Browning and Jason Brown
Ladies: Michelle Kwan
Pairs: Gordeeva and Grinkov, Shen and Zhao
Dance: Davis and White

 

[pETEs (Sasha Fan)]

In an all-time best, I value artistry, solid technique, musicality and unique moves, alongside the ISU competitive results.

As time goes by:





*Men: Ronnie Robertson, Ondrej Nepela, John Curry, Toller Cranston, Ron Shaver, Igarashi Fumio, Igor Bobrin, Robin Cousins, Brian Pockar, Norbert Schramm, Gary Beacom, Aleksandr Fadeev, Christopher Bowman, Todd Elderedge, Paul Wylie, Scott Davis, Kurt Browning, Viacheslav Zagorodniuk, Alexei Urmanov, Elvis Stojko, Philippe Candeloro, Ilia Kulik, Alexei Yagudin, Evgeny Plushenko, Sasha Abt, Michael Weiss, Samory Ba, Emanuel Sandhu, Brian Joubert, Jeffrey Buttle, Stéphane, Lambiel, Shawn Sawyer, Jonathan Cassar, Florent Amodio, Takahashi Daisuke, Oda Nobunari, Patrick Chan, Adam Rippon, Jason Brown, Artem Grigoriev, Denis Ten, Javier Fernández, Machida Tatsuki, Uno Shoma, Han Yan, Elladj Balde,

*Ladies: Cecilia Colledge, Belita, Darlene Gilbert, Petra Burka, Laurence Owen, Peggy Fleming, Tamara Bratus (Moskvina), Tatiana Nemtsova, Okawa Kumiko, Janet Lynn, Karen Magnussen, Dianne de Leeuw, Isabel de Navarre, Linda Fratianne, Lisa-Marie Allen, Denise Biellmann, Watanabe Emi, Katherine Healy, Tracey Weinman, Kay Thomson, Katarina Witt, Debi Thomas, Tiffany Chin, Kira Ivanova, Sandra Garde, Ito Midori, Nathalie Krieg, Jill Trenary, Rory Flack, Nancy Kerrigan, Tonya Harding, Surya Bonaly, Sato Yuka, Chen Lu, Marina Kielmann, Oksana Baiul, Nicole Bobek, Maria Butyrskaya, Irina Slútskaya, Michelle Kwan, Diana Póth, Lucinda Ruh, Vanessa Gusmeroli, Naomi Nari Nam, Sasha Cohen, Sarah Hughes, Angela Nikodinova, Yebin Mok, Beatrisa Liang, Julia Sébéstyen, Arakawa Shizuka, Carolina Kostner, Ota Yukina, Fleur Maxwell, Joannie Rochette, Asada Mao, Kim Yuna, Alissa Czisny, Caroline Zhang, Mirai Nagasu, Kiira Korpi, Sofie Barnova, Yúlia Lipnítskaya, Maria Sotskova, (...)


*Pairs: Belousova & Protopopov,Rodnina & Zaitsev, Babilonia & Gardner, Gordeeva & Grinkov, Mishkutenok & Dmitriev, Yamaguchi & Galindo, Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze, Meno & Sand, Ina & Zimmermann, Shen & Zhao, Savchenko & Szolkowy, Kavaguti & Smirnov, Volosozhar & Trankov, Duhamel & Radford, (...)

*Ice dance: Moiseeva & Minenkov, Torvill & Dean, Bestemianova & Bukin, Klimova & Ponomarenko, The Duchesnays, Usova & Zhulin, Krylova & Fedorov, Roca & Sur, Rahkamo & Kokko, Anissina & Peizerat, Fúsar-Poli & Margaglio, Bourne & Kraatz, Lang & Tchernyshev, Denkova & Stavinski, Belbin & Agosto, Dubreuil & Lauzon, Delobel & Schoenfelder, Scott & Moir, Ilinykh & Katsalapov, Cappelini & Lanotte, Papadakis & Cizeron , (...)




ps. In red letter is my all-time favorite of each category.

 

[Arriba627]

Ladies -- Michelle Kwan
Men -- John Curry
Pairs -- Gordeeva / Grinkov
Ice Dance -- Klimova / Ponomarenko

 

[GGFan]

Ladies -- Michelle Kwan
Men -- John Curry
Pairs -- Gordeeva / Grinkov
Ice Dance -- Klimova / Ponomarenko

Same except for Torvill/Dean in ice dance (but I love K/P as well).

 

[Arriba627]

Same except for Torvill/Dean in ice dance (but I love K/P as well).

Making this list reminded me of the days after the Olympics when Tom Collins would take his Champions tour around the country and we would see every fabulous skater who had skated in the Olympics. It was so much fun, the show was WAY too long but who cared, and it was just one big love fest for all our favorite skaters. I get excited just thinking about it! Those were the days!

 

[gotoschool]

Women: Mao Asada - for the beautiful symmtery and power of her triple axel, her triple flip and loop, the triple flip / double loop / double loop tano, her incredible I spin, fan spiral, cross grab Biellmann, one handed and classic Biellmann, her low extended sit spins with her hand touching the blade of the skates, her spectacular step sequences, deceptive and smooth speed with little hunching or pumping, her erect posture and elegance, her intense emotional resonance, and her brave commitment to compete even with illness and a left knee injury though I wish she would recover first
Men: Evgeni Plushenko- fabulous jumps and drama, wonderful step sequences and nice Biellmann for a man
Pairs: Shen and Zhao- spectacular lifts and compelling artistry
Dance: Papadikas and Cizeron- smooth and dreamy

 

[rain]

Dance: Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir
Pairs: Natalia Mishkutionok/Artur Dmitriev
Ladies: Michelle Kwan
Mens: Kurt Browning, Patrick Chan — yes, I cheated here. I absolutely could not choose between them. And even at that it meant that I had to eliminate Alexei Yagudin.

 

[ancientpeas]

For me this is easy:

Pairs (and for all time probably) Grinkov and Gordeeva (Shen and Zhao come 2nd)
Men: Kurt Browning
Ladies: Yuna Kim (although I also love Katerina Witt and Michelle Kwan)
Dance: Torvill and Dean because they brought me to the show (my first skating favourites)

 

[turquoiseblue]

Sinead and John Kerr

 

[mrrice]

Men: Plushy/Patrick Chan. I'm sorry but I can't choose between the two

Ladies: Maria Butyrskaya

Pairs: Sale' and Pelletier

Dance: Meryl and Charlie

 

[ks777]

mine are

ladies
Yuka Sato, Michelle Kwan, Shizuka Arakawa, Midori Ito.

Pairs
Shen and Zhao

Dance
Dubreuil and Lauzon

Men
Minoru Sano, Kurt Browning, Chazz Michael Michaels.

 

[Erin S]

Ladies: Michelle Kwan
Men: Brian Boitano
Pairs: Gordeeva and Grinkov
Dance: Torvill and Dean

I'm clearly a child of the eighties and nineties.

 

[tzazu]

Ladies: Mao Asada
Men: Daisuke Takahashi
Pairs: Shen/Zhao
Dance: Davis/White

 

[Ares]

Ladies: Mao Asada
Men: Alexei Yagudin
Pairs: Shen / Zhao
Dance: Anissina / Peizerat

 

[Imagine]

I would say, it's a tie between Arakawa Shizuka and Sasha Cohen.

I totally discovered FS during the wrong era.

Other favorites include Yulia Lipnitskaya and Asada Mao (so, at least I still get to enjoy the current field).

 

[Interspectator]

Well, it's Team Japan, Old and New.
They are a warm and fuzzy bunch, and most of them were in fine form at NHK 2016.
This year's NHK broadcast featured Arakawa Shizuka, Akiko Suzuki, Nobunari Oda, Takeshi Honda, (Daisuke Takahashi recapped for another channel so he was visible too) Mai Asada, Yuzuru Hanyu, Keiji Tanaka, Satoko Miyahara, Wakaba Higuchi, Yura Matsuda, and Ryuju Hino.
As a team they are my favorites. :luv17:

 

[4everchan]

omg... this is so tough.... even if i had to just pick a canadian and an international.... i like so many figure skaters....

Canadian lady : my first love : Josée Chouinard... never reached her full potential but she had it all... grace, beauty, big jumps, and emotion on the blade
Canadian men : are you kidding me??? kurt? Buttle? orser? patrick? sigh... that's mean.... will go with Patrick because he keeps surprising me each year pushing himself further technically and artistically
Canadian pairs : Brasseur and Eisler... they were such underdogs and IMHO they led the way to pair skating outside of russia. They had the most amazing lifts...
Canadian dance : Bourne and Kraatz... again underdogs.... just loved them

International
Ladies : Lu Chen
Men : Lambiel but Yagudin is a close second
Pairs : Mishkuteniok/Dimitriev Shen and Zhao a close second
Dance : I was crazy about the Duschesnay but then Rahkamo Kokko made me even more at least once a year i watch their Valse triste.

I hope I didn't cheat too much

 

[Weathergal]

I love so many skaters for so many different reasons so it is difficult to pick just one skater/team in each category!

Ladies - Michelle Kwan
Men - Daisuke Takahashi
Pairs - Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov
Dance - Meryl Davis/Charlie White