The Undefeated Season | Golden Skate

The Undefeated Season

truthbooth

On the Ice
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Dec 27, 2014
This year, we saw Nathan Chen have an undefeated season, winning every competition he entered. This got me on a path of thinking about who else had done it in recent history. Papadakis and Cizeron also accomplished it this year after scarcely missing it last year, though they did miss a second GP and GPF due to injury. Evgenia Medvedeva did it back in '16 - '17.

Yuzuru Hanyu has been close several times, but has never quite managed it. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva missed it by one GP (Skate America) back in '14 - '15. Likewise, Alina Zagitova missed it by one competition (Worlds) in '17 - '18.

Who else has accomplished this rare and difficult feat? For the sake of this discussion, let's narrow our scope to skaters/teams that competed at least three times internationally in a season (e.g. Sui and Han from this season are not eligible).
 

SkateSkates

Medalist
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Feb 17, 2010
Irina Slutskaya in 2004-2005 and Michelle Kwan in 95-96 come to mind
Davis and White in 2010-11 and 12-14 (2 undefeated seasons not including team competitions)
V/M 16-17
Also V&T in 2012-2013
 

4everchan

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we have had this thread before....

lots of interesting data

patrick chan 2011-12

duhamel radford 2014-15

i didn't include team events there... just GP, 4CC, Worlds.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

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Jan 25, 2013
Duhamel/Radford had an undefeated 2015-2016 season, save for World Team Trophy (where their total was less than 2 points off Sui and Han).

It's astonishing that Chen has only not won gold once (the Olympics) in the past 2 seasons. Even more astonishing to know he hasn't even maxed out his potential this season and yet has won by healthy margins, including winning Worlds by over 20 points and 47 points.
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
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The first I thought of was Davis and White, two undefeated seasons, including Olympic gold.

Truly, truly, truly impressive.:clap:

I believe John Curry was undefeated in 1976, but I don’t know for sure. His legacy certainly doesn’t depend on that.

I would be interested in that very rarified and elite group whose undefeated seasons included Oly gold. Anyone besides Meryl and Charlie?

ETA: meaning, I would think there are, but I don’t know off the top of my head:think:
 
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Ic3Rabbit

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Virtue and Moir 16-17. And almost in 17-18, 09-10 and 11-12.
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
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This year, we saw Nathan Chen have an undefeated season, winning every competition he entered.

Except he didn't.

Nathan was 4[SUP]th[/SUP] in his first competition of the season, the single segment Japan Open. Largely because he had 3 falls, earning 4 points in deductions.

Entries / Results Page: https://www.jsfresults.com/InterNational/2018-2019/japanopen/

Men's Free Skate

PL.
CompetitorNationTSSTESPCSSSTRPECOINDeductionStN.
1Shoma UNOJPN186.6998.2589.449.118.828.799.118.891.00#6
2Nobunari ODAJPN176.9592.4584.508.577.798.758.468.680.00#3
3Javier FERNANDEZESP
157.8670.0687.808.868.758.618.938.750.00#4
4Nathan CHENUSA144.9666.3282.648.398.257.828.508.364.00#5
5Deniss VASILJEVSLAT129.3254.1876.147.577.437.437.827.821.00#1
6Jeremy ABBOTTUSA124.0645.7078.367.797.757.398.048.210.00#2

FS Results: https://www.jsfresults.com/InterNational/2018-2019/japanopen/data0105.htm
FS Protocols: https://www.jsfresults.com/InterNational/2018-2019/japanopen/data0105.pdf

I know it was only one segment, and it was way back when the focus was on the Junior GP Series. But it was still a competition and it was still this season. And we have to be accurate when making statements like this.

CaroLiza_fan
 

DanseMacabre

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Except he didn't.

Nathan was 4[SUP]th[/SUP] in his first competition of the season, the single segment Japan Open. Largely because he had 3 falls, earning 4 points in deductions.

...

I know it was only one segment, and it was way back in the summer. But it was still a competition and it was still this season. And we have to be accurate when making statements like this.

CaroLiza_fan

I wouldn't count Japan Open for this because it's a JSF fluff competition, not an ISU one (it is sanctioned by the ISU but that's not quite the same thing). It's a team event to boot and they only do one program so it's hardly equivalent.
 

CaroLiza_fan

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I wouldn't count Japan Open for this because it's a JSF competition, not an ISU one (and it's a team even to boot and they only do one program so it's hardly equivalent). I mean...there are retired skaters there. It's a fun watch and an enjoyable competition but it's a cheesefest.

Don't worry, I agree with what you are saying. (Although, I wouldn't go as far as to say that it is a "cheesefest").

But, it is still a competition that he entered.

I am just making the point that what the Original Poster wrote in their first sentence is a very sweeping statement, and that the way it is worded means that it is actually an inaccurate statement.

CaroLiza_fan
 

DanseMacabre

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Don't worry, I agree with what you are saying. (Although, I wouldn't go as far as to say that it is a "cheesefest").

I removed that bit from my post because I thought some people might get sensitive about it. That's what we used to call all those American fluff competitions in the 90s and it's meant with affection but that might be lost on some.

But, it is still a competition that he entered.

I am just making the point that what the Original Poster wrote is a very sweeping statement, and that the way it is worded means that it is actually an inaccurate statement.

CaroLiza_fan

He entered Japan Open as part of a team, not as an individual (and the context of the OP's post makes it pretty clear they mean his individual results just as others have mentioned things like WTT as exceptions), so I'm saying that I don't think it's inaccurate at all.
 

CaroLiza_fan

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I removed that bit from my post because I thought some people might get sensitive about it. That's what we used to call all those fluff competitions in the 90s and it's meant with affection but that might be lost on some.

Ah, right. I didn't realise people used it in an affectionate way. I always assumed it was being used in a derogatory way. So, thank you for clearing that up.

:thank:

He entered Japan Open as part of a team, not as an individual (and the context of the OP's post makes it pretty clear they mean his individual results just as others have mentioned things like WTT as exceptions), so I'm saying that I don't think it's inaccurate at all.

Fair enough point. When it comes to team competitions, I always tend to pay more attention to the results of the individual skaters in their own category than the overall team results. (Which is why I didn't like the formats used for the TCC and the Olympic Team Event, because some skaters did 2 segments, some only did 1 segment, and some did no segments at all). But, as the discussions over the years about how the Predictions Game rounds for the WTT are scored have shown, not everybody agrees with this viewpoint.

As anybody why has visited my Fan Fests knows, I don't make exceptions when it comes to competitions. For the simple reason that if the skater didn't think they mattered, they wouldn't have entered in the first place. :)

CaroLiza_fan
 

anonymoose_au

Insert weird opinion here
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Plushy did it in the 2000-2001 season which interestingly was the same season he debuted his mullet. :biggrin:

Great hair, great skater.
 

Colonel Green

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It’s obviously most common in ice dance, particularly under the 6.0 system. Grishuk/Platov went undefeated an entire quad from 1994-1998, as did Torvill/Dean from 1980-1984.

Another men’s example on top of the ones already mentioned would be Brian Joubert in 2006-2007.
 

Noxchild

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Rika was very close this year, winning 5/7 competitions this year (5/8 if you count WTT :O), definitely the closest any female skater got to pure dominance this whole season, losing out on National and Worlds. Still, an amazing result for her debut season, and I'm sure she'll take what she's learned and create something even more special next year... along some new heart attack-inducing moments ;) I do long for the days of undefeated '22 champion Rika Kihira, but it's pure wishful thinking lol :laugh:
 

jenaj

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Irina Slutskaya in 2004-2005 and Michelle Kwan in 95-96 come to mind
Davis and White in 2010-11 and 12-14 (2 undefeated seasons not including team competitions)
V/M 16-17
Also V&T in 2012-2013

Also, Michelle in 2002-03, though she only skated in one Grand Prix event.
 

anonymoose_au

Insert weird opinion here
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The first I thought of was Davis and White, two undefeated seasons, including Olympic gold.

Truly, truly, truly impressive.:clap:

I believe John Curry was undefeated in 1976, but I don’t know for sure. His legacy certainly doesn’t depend on that.

I would be interested in that very rarified and elite group whose undefeated seasons included Oly gold. Anyone besides Meryl and Charlie?

ETA: meaning, I would think there are, but I don’t know off the top of my head:think:

Plushy did in 2005-2006 but he only did four competitions that year, one of which was Nats so I'm not sure it counts.
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
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Plushy did in 2005-2006 but he only did four competitions that year, one of which was Nats so I'm not sure it counts.

But I don't know why it wouldn't?:confused:

The greats of yesteryear did not have as many competitions, and that's how it worked. It doesn't detract from their achievements, IMHO.

And jumping off from your post, I think Scott Hamilton may have been undefeated in his Oly gold year (and in fact for a year before that as well).

I tried to verify with my friend Google and websites are saying that Scott has not lost a competition since 1980 :shocked: leading up to his 1984 gold. But no details.

https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/1984/FSK/mens-singles.html

If true, Nathan has two more years to go:)
 
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