Whose 3A do you like the best?
- Thread starter Bennett
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2007
My vote has to go to Johnny too. I am a good little fangirl... The ease of it, the elegance, the landing, the way he can really incorporate it as an artistic move in his programs. I am also impressed how the jump went from okay at Skate America back to sublime at NHK Trophy.
Other notable ones are Takahashi; he somehow gains height with each rotation - though he doesn't really take his time after the jump - he practically rushes to the next element. Kozuka and Oda have good 3As too.
Former skaters whose 3A were just incredible are Petrenko (outstanding height, though it tends to look a tiny bit awkward and uncontrolled - but it's still an incredible jump), Kulik (at 28 seconds - how he does it from the spread eagle, looking absolutely effortless - geez, I am a fangirl again), Urmanov (similar to Petrenko's actually, with a bit more controle), Zagorodniuk (also similar style to Petrenko - they were training buddies - but covers more distance and has more controle) and of course Yagudin (will not talk about him, might turn into a fangirl again). I still think there must have been something in the Russian water.
Other notable ones are Takahashi; he somehow gains height with each rotation - though he doesn't really take his time after the jump - he practically rushes to the next element. Kozuka and Oda have good 3As too.
Former skaters whose 3A were just incredible are Petrenko (outstanding height, though it tends to look a tiny bit awkward and uncontrolled - but it's still an incredible jump), Kulik (at 28 seconds - how he does it from the spread eagle, looking absolutely effortless - geez, I am a fangirl again), Urmanov (similar to Petrenko's actually, with a bit more controle), Zagorodniuk (also similar style to Petrenko - they were training buddies - but covers more distance and has more controle) and of course Yagudin (will not talk about him, might turn into a fangirl again). I still think there must have been something in the Russian water.
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2004
I agree with Medusa about the old school triple axel technique of the Russian's is second to none. Urmanov's triple axel was a thing of beauty. And Yagudin - who didn't even bring his arms all the way in and still made the three and half revolutions look effortless.
I have to say that Stojko's triple axel was also amazing - the height and technique getting up there was great but also the length covered with the jump. But the best bit about Stojko's jumps IMO was the landing. I watched some of his performances a few weeks ago and i was absolutely taken aback by the softness of his landings. Even on the quad - the knee and ankle bend on the landing made him look like he was landing on a cushion of air!
Ant
I have to say that Stojko's triple axel was also amazing - the height and technique getting up there was great but also the length covered with the jump. But the best bit about Stojko's jumps IMO was the landing. I watched some of his performances a few weeks ago and i was absolutely taken aback by the softness of his landings. Even on the quad - the knee and ankle bend on the landing made him look like he was landing on a cushion of air!
Ant
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
I'm starting to see a pattern in my answers but.... Kurt Browning's triple Axel was a monster and just beautiful.
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2008
Generally, those who are consistent with it, they all have nice 3As. I can't pick one favorite. Maybe it's because he's been out for so long, but the first name that popped in my head when I read the question was Oda. So smoooooth.
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
URs from this season aside Evan's Triple Axel isn't pretty though he stands up on it more times than not. I love him to death but his Axel take off is so weird lol
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2005
It's kind of impossible to compare mens and ladies in my opinion.
Mens: Oda (beautiful), Browning
Ladies: Mao Asada (kind of obvious... she has the most consistent clean 3A of any lady skater of seen. Midori Ito's had a bit of a leg wrap to it, Harding's always looked off-balance during the rotations, and the rest have just not been consistent enough)
Mens: Oda (beautiful), Browning
Ladies: Mao Asada (kind of obvious... she has the most consistent clean 3A of any lady skater of seen. Midori Ito's had a bit of a leg wrap to it, Harding's always looked off-balance during the rotations, and the rest have just not been consistent enough)
How have you gotten to see him skate so much? Do you attend his shows and does he still do 3A there? I've only known him more as an extremely well-known person who does great commentary so that I am a bit curious how you've gotten so much exposure to his skating.
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2008
I don't know exactly when Kurt stopped doing the 3-Axel, but he definitely doesn't perform the jump in shows anymore.
Of the guys currenly competing today, my favourite 3-Axels belong to Johnny Weir and Fedor Andreev. I know there are very few Canadians on this board, so here are a few vids for those of you who aren't familiar with the latter:
2004 Canadian Nationals SP
: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klWOWHgBksM2008 Canadian Nationals SP
: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJkIVqzcTTEYukari Nakano & Fedor Andreev perform side-by-side 3-Axels
: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcTPXS39XVQFedor was forced to retire from the sport when he severely injured his back practicing a quad in the spring of 2004. When the pain miraculously subsided in the summer of 2007, he started training again, and regained his 3-Axel in only 2 days!
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
I grew up watching figure skating...I've met Kurt but never seen him skate live... but I watched him as a pro (and as an amatuer, but I remember him more for his pro career)... he's still very much a part of the skating scene (this year between his knee surgery and his father's illness/death he hasn't done much...).
Kurt was EXTREMELY popular in the US (for an international skater). He kept up his technical (10 years to the day of landing the first quad in competition he hit one without warning the cast of SOI during the fun and games routine - where Scott Hamilton was commentating his skate - and I hear it was just incredible) and was Brian Boitano's main rival on the pro competitive circuit (Brian Orser, unfortunately, never really made much of a competitive impact... no second coming of the Battle of the Brians... Scott would later call Kurt and Brian's head to head matches the Battle of the Titans, and in so many ways it was!).
I want to say the last 3Axel I saw him do on TV was around 2004... Kurt was known more for his technical abilities (quad, 3axel, jumps in general) as an amatuer, but he grew into an incredibly versatile and artistic skater as a pro. He really found his niche with Stars On Ice. He's a 4 time World Champion and a 3 time World professional champion... it never mattered (to his fans) that he didn't get a medal at any of the 3 Olympics he went to (88, 92, 94).
http://www.kurtfiles.com has a GREAT look on his career (including links to vids of his best moments)...
I don't know why it'd be shocking that I would have had a great deal of exposure. He was in the 'golden era' of skating. Every week in the winter had a new skating show or competition on... Thank you, Tonya Harding.
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- Joined
- Jan 6, 2007
I agree that the jump looks great - once he is in the air. But before the take-off his position is rather ugly - just my opinion of course. I don't know how to describe it, at least not in English. He is cowering (?) a bit before the jump, crouching down (?)? I just don't like it. The landing and the air position are terrific though, the arm position during the landing is good average - but I just don't like the beginning of the jump. I think Morosov worked a bit on it with Oda, it wasn't really bad at NHK.
I can't remember when the last time was Kurt did a 3-axel where people could see him, but as recently as 2006, he apparently had been landing some in practice - he says he does them just to see if he still can. IIRC Kurt actually started landing quads *before* the 3-axel, but the year after he landed the first quad, he was the first to land two 3-axels in the same original program, so he apparently picked up the 3-axel not long after. (and this is OT for the topic, but Kurt apparently last tried a quad in 2003, 15 years after he landed the first, but fell so hard he was sore for days and gave it up. I think he would have been 37 at the time?)
I dunno if it's his best 3-axel ever, but I distinctly remember this one from the 1997 Ice Wars b/c he landed it in the exact same spot Brian Boitano bungled his (which was very rare for Boitano), and it was so high..plus I was there live
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6qxtyzONMU
Actually if you want to check out Kurt's programs, KurtsGirl on YouTube has some great channels:
http://www.youtube.com/user/KurtsGirl618
And yeah, up until this year when his dad's illness caused him to pull out of a couple shows, Kurt's stayed pretty active, at least in Canada, as a skater. He just did the Holiday Festival on Ice shows this past weekend, and was landing jumps even though he'd only been cleared to do jumps this week (having just had knee surgery on a persistent injury).
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
yeah, like I said I wanted to say it was 2004... but it could have easily been longer ago than that...
I don't want to ever come to the day when we're counting years its been since he skated in shows or something like that... I still miss seeing Scott!
I don't want to ever come to the day when we're counting years its been since he skated in shows or something like that... I still miss seeing Scott!Similar threads
