Let's Chat About Less-Known Skaters!

[Diana Delafield]

Victoria Morozova.... the girl will never make it to the big time, but I luv her skating and the royal blue dress.

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The most flattering skating dress I ever had was exactly that colour. I had dark red hair when I was younger and it wasn't easy to find a colour that looked good on me on the ice. It works for her ash-blonde hair as well.

 

[4everchan]

For us CAN fans let's not forget Sebastien Britten who won Nationals one year as well as several international medals. He went to 3 worlds and 1 Olympics. He showed great skills and style on the ice but gave up on amateur competitions when he tried to add the 3A to his programs with little success. He did place 8th at his 1st worlds even without the 3A. But according to wikipedia ' In 1998, Britten beat several Olympic and World medallists to win the 1998 World Professional Figure Skating Championships held in Jaca, Spain.'

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so many 10.0 s !!!!

omg... Josée Normand is so young there.

Sébastien is the only skater from Québec (if I recall correctly) to have won Nationals...it seems like our male skaters prefer doing pairs/dance...

I was counting on Jo Phan or Nic Nadeau to break that drought but yeah... we know what happened there.

I don't think Anthony will be the one... yes... I doubt he will get the big tricks... but he is a fun skater to watch, sort of like Shawn Sawyer.

However, I am rooting for Edward Vasii to get there !

Edward and Anthony, as well as Jo and Nic all come from Yvan Desjardins's club.
I leave you with 17 year old Jo Phan...

"how can you not be a fan?" says Rod Black... I agree... GOSH i miss Jo so much...

 

[TallyT]

Back on topic, a young talent who I fear may be lost to the "progress" of "revolutions", but I love his style, his commitment and his skating:

Anthony Paradis of Canada:

See, this shows how we can miss people in the crowd. I missed seeing this boy and he shows promise of being very much in a style for me (looking at my folders, my taste in skaters, as in music, can most politely be called 'eclectic' aka all over the map) And it's adorable how at fifteen much he looks like a character from an off the wall SF film.
Thank you!

 

[4everchan]

See, this is the thing, I missed seeing this boy and he shows promise of being very much in a style for me (looking at my folders, my taste in skaters, as in music, can most politely be called 'eclectic' aka all over the map) And it's adorable how at fifteen much he looks like a character from an off the wall SF film.
Thank you!

he has been competing on the JPG circuit... and will probably do so next year again.... He won junior nationals in 2022... this year, he had a terrible SP but came back strong in the LP to finish in 3rd place. I find that JGP provides with more eclectic options... you can always try Canadian nationals... I always find a variety there... How would I put it... ? Canadian Nationals : there are often enough spots for a variety of skaters who only aspire to compete at a National level, which allows for a variety of styles, especially in men. For some, just being at Nationals is the highlight of a career... We are not talking top ten. We are not talking triple axels and quads... but many, as they do not focus on jumps nor train enough to focus on being competitive, develop other areas of skating. As a matter of fact, when figures were removed from international competitions, Canada stuck teaching them... a big gap was then created in terms of jump development, especially in women as our skaters were still focused on good skating skills and figures.... Patrick is an example of a skater who did freestyle and figures for the longest time.... In any case, I find that this thread, if it keeps focusing on skaters that are unknown, will bring up more and more options. I have contributed a lot with Canadian skaters, because I watch Nationals... and I know they don't get out much or at all... and I hope people from other nations will do the same.

 

[TallyT]

he has been competing on the JPG circuit... and will probably do so next year again.... He won junior nationals in 2022... this year, he had a terrible SP but came back strong in the LP to finish in 3rd place.

I'll keep an eye out, thanks. It tends to be difficult when someone (aka me ) doesn't have a specific 'type' or preference and only knows what they like when they see it... but knows all too well what they don't like. And in a very annoying failure of scientific reality, livestreams do not have fast-forward

The juniors competitions can be wonderful for the soul though.

 

[lariko]

The most flattering skating dress I ever had was exactly that colour. I had dark red hair when I was younger and it wasn't easy to find a colour that looked good on me on the ice. It works for her ash-blonde hair as well.

It's my favorite color on skaters. At some point I was collecting videos of everyone who skated in royal blue.

 

[lariko]

This dress seems to be Yuna Kim reference, by the way.

Well, she skated in it for 2 years, so for me it Morozova's dress.

 

[moonvine]

LOVED that SP from Kirk Haugeto!!! Here's his LP:

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I have literally never seen anyone do that ending pose before, and he does it in both programs! Plus he is so excited after he finishes, and his K&C is so adorable. He exemplifies the joy of skating! May he maintain that joy for as long as he stays in skating. I hope to see much more of him!!!!! Going toward center ice with a spread eagle before the music starts?! At a competition?! Nobody does that and I LOVE it. It is impossible to watch those videos and not feel happier! for sharing!

He did that ending pose on SKIS on his IG.

 

[Sackie]

Let's not forget about Shawn Sawyer. he was a great skater and performer with outstanding moves and flexibility, but he too like so many other CAN men at the time struggled with the 3A and therefore could not put two good programs back to back. He did place 3rd in the short at NHK one year but slipped to 5th over all.

NHK TROPHY Short Men - Shawn SAWYER - Grand Prix Japan 23/10/2010

3° - 70.15TUTTO in sezione SKATING de La Riserva forum http://lariserva.forumcommunity.net

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He also won the free at Skate Canada in 2008 even beating Chan and Lysacek in the free, but was to far back in the short and was only able to move up to 5th over all.

Shawn Sawyer 2008 Skate Canada LP

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And just look at his moves in this tribute to his mentor Toller:

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He did win a fluky silver medal at Skate America in 2009 though.
He had his best skates at nationals in 2011 (couldn't find them on you tube) where he placed 2nd in the short and free and overall. He qualified for worlds but due to worlds being postponed that year he ending up not going and then he retired.

 

[Diana Delafield]

Let's not forget about Shawn Sawyer. he was a great skater and performer with outstanding moves and flexibility,



And just look at his moves in this tribute to his mentor Toller:

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He did win a fluky silver medal at Skate America in 2009 though.
He had his best skates at nationals in 2011 (couldn't find them on you tube) where he placed 2nd in the short and free and overall. He qualified for worlds but due to worlds being postponed that year he ending up not going and then he retired.

I was just rereading a couple of Toller's autobiographies, including where he says he saw a similar artistic ability to his own in Shawn's skating.

In "Zero Tollerance" he includes a chapter on
"The Great Unknowns", skaters he admired but who mostly had little success internationally or even in their own countries, perhaps either because of competition nerves, or lack of opportunity for the best training, or, like Shawn's, problems with the big jumps. (In another book, "When Hell Freezes Over Should I Bring My Skates", Toller scorns achieving fame by just adding another rotation to one of the jumps.) Most of his favourites dropped out of competitions and achieved their best work as professionals.

The skaters he admired most from his own era were: Gary Beacom "the king of the Great Unknowns", Allen Schramm and his wife Angela Greenhow, Cindy Stuart, Catarina Lindgren, Simone Grigorescu, Sarah Kawahara, Doug Mattis, Christopher Nolan, Stephanee Grosscup, Robert Wagenhoffer, Karen Kresge, Ann Pellegrino, Kitty Kelly, Norm Proft, Kathleen Schmeltz, Daniel Weiss, and Suzanne Russell.

I had the great pleasure to be one of the hundreds of Toller's casual friends, only meeting him a few times in the 1970s. Memorably, we first met in mid-air. Literally. He had dropped in to a Montreal rink while visiting friends in the weeks leading up to the 1972 Olympics. It was my home rink at the time and I was on my own without my pairs partner, working on improving my Axel takeoff. By a fluke we were the only two skaters on the ice, and I stayed down at one end, confining myself to a small area and not paying attention to him. I guess he assumed I was a better, faster skater than I was and would be out of his way in seconds, while I forgot he was a reverse (clockwise) jumper, and didn't think of him being very much faster and stronger than I was. Absorbed in my own little putterings, I stepped forward into a takeoff for a single Axel just as he launched a double Axel right behind me. Mid-air collision that sent me flying. He was appalled, rushing to pick me up, brushing the snow off me, checking me out for injuries (none), and apologizing over and over. I was only a couple of years older than he was, and finally I said, through gritted teeth, "Toller, if you call me Ma'am one more time I am going to KICK you!" Then we both started to laugh. My acquaintance with him was minimal, but he was never other than one of the nicest, politest people I ever met in my unspectacular skating career.


Needless to say, I'm not including *him* among the "less-known skaters"!

 

[4everchan]

+ 1 for Gary Beacom.

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[TT_Fin]

I am trying to remember a skater who composed his own music. I think his first name was Konstantin and he was from a country which was a part of Soviet Union before the splits but I am not sure was it so or was he from Russia. And I think he was also tall. Maybe his active years was in the middle of 90's. Does somebody remember him?

 

[gkelly]

I am trying to remember a skater who composed his own music. I think his first name was Konstantin and he was from a country which was a part of Soviet Union before the splits but I am not sure was it so or was he from Russia. And I think he was also tall. Maybe his active years was in the middle of 90's. Does somebody remember him?

Dmitri Dmitrenko of Ukraine? He did compose music for some of his programs, but those specific programs don't seem to be available online.

I don't think he was very tall, though.

 

[PaulE]

My late wife and I loved Gary Beacom. I did not realize he had been skating so recently until I just did a search for him YouTube and found this adult competition at Oberstdorf in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA6Y69keNGk.

I also liked his skates with Gia Guddat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K792sigTB4.

I don't really know anything about Gia and where she came from (so she is certainly an unknown skater to me) but I think she was a choreographer for the summer programs at Sun Valley. Here she is skating with one of the skaters mentioned above by @Diana Delafield: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJNEANohV8I.

 

[4everchan]

My late wife and I loved Gary Beacom. I did not realize he had been skating so recently until I just did a search for him YouTube and found this adult competition at Oberstdorf in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA6Y69keNGk.

I also liked his skates with Gia Guddat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K792sigTB4.

I don't really know anything about Gia and where she came from (so she is certainly an unknown skater to me) but I think she was a choreographer for the summer programs at Sun Valley. Here she is skating with one of the skaters mentioned above by @Diana Delafield: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJNEANohV8I.

omg. these zebras are so cool !!!!!

 

[Diana Delafield]

+ 1 for Gary Beacom.

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I would *not* want to skate in spotlights while wearing dark glasses, and no hockey lines for orientation!

 

[TT_Fin]

Dmitri Dmitrenko of Ukraine? He did compose music for some of his programs, but those specific programs don't seem to be available online.

I don't think he was very tall, though.

Thanks, exactly him I was thinking about. He is European champion so I don't know if he is unknown. And he is 175 cm, so not so tall. Another skater I was thinking about was Konstantin Kostin from Latvia, I mixed them up. But he is not tall either.

A piti there is no DD's those programs available, that was exactly I was looking for.

 

[lariko]

Wasn't Dmitrienko coaching the guy who was in Juniors pre-pandemic? Kokura, I think? He had fun programs.

 

[labgoat]

Rewatching 2017 JGP Riga I came across a young Lucrezia Beccari of ITA. Suddenly I remembered that this short program caught my eye with her very nice skating and unusual choreography. This makes me more excited to see what her and Matteo G come up with as a pair.

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[labgoat]

Thanks, exactly him I was thinking about. He is European champion so I don't know if he is unknown. And he is 175 cm, so not so tall. Another skater I was thinking about was Konstantin Kostin from Latvia, I mixed them up. But he is not tall either.

A piti there is no DD's those programs available, that was exactly I was looking for.

Yes there are videos in the REWATCH section of Fan Fest
- the link will take you to 1996 Europeans

REWATCH Major Championships 1947 – 1998

1993 World Figure Skating Championships – March 9-14, 1993 Prague, Czech Republic - Sportovní hala | Wikipedia *1993 was the first year that the ISU introduced a qualifying round for the singles events. In the qualifying events, the skaters were split into two groups, with the top 12 in each...

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