Name your top five underrated skaters, past or present.

theharleyquinn said:

Huh, I'd say it's pretty en vogue to criticize all of their skating amongst figure skating fans...

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Yes it is...the fashion now

dorispulaski said:

Nobunari Oda -curse his inability to count jumps. He is still a great skater!!!
Ilia Klimkin - such a creative, interesting skater; such bad luck in his personal life, and to be competing in the shadow of Plushy, Abt and Yagudin
Judy Blumberg & Michael Seibert
Madison Chock & Evan Bates - Sinead Kerr said that if others were getting +5 for their lifts Maddy and Evan should be getting a lot more. I agree!
Tonya Harding

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What happened to Ilia Klimkin - I always enjoyed his creativity and then he just dropped off the radar. I never knew why...

SarahSynchro said:

Yes!

While I can understand the ISU’s rationalization behind the creation of the Zayak rule, it also came off as a direct snub of Elaine’s jumping skills and overall talent. In a way, it blacklisted her, and her career was never the same afterwards.

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She also skated as well as she did with only part of one foot due to a childhood injury from a lawnmower! That's what you call a champion.

skateluvr said:

I like Evgenia now that she is older. Honestly I was a stick too at her age but I did say her legs bothered me.i think she has a mature style now that is nicer to watch than the frenetic Alina. I honestly think Peyong podium should be reversed. Osmond had the best program and PCS by far. Backloading it seems got Alina her medals. I just don’t enjoy what she does out there. She could skate beautifully and show off lines and edges. Ladies skating is awful because of the whacko scoring system. Several skaters are far more special. Every second a sloppy fast move. Anyway I think Mariah Bell was great at worlds. The scoring seemed to be an Eteri festival. Not a fan. Sorry not sorry.

Anyway Meghan Duhamel is a great athlete. No she was never gonna be Katia or Savchenko. But it is sport over art these days by far. Carolina Kostner in 2014 was to die for. 2018 she was overscored. Only she and Chan could bomb and still get huge PCS. The scoring system keeps changing. But I understand. I was happy to see the little Kazakh finally show her athletic prowess but she was Overscored. Hey I have never seen her smile before. Her career has finally paid off.



I guess the question is IS -is Eteri overrated and does she have some secret pull with the judges and the federations? Her secret is accept nothing but all out execution of the programs and drill the jumps till these tiny girls drop. I am not a fan of her choreographers. So I think it is fine to say who is underrated and overrated. It is opinion but if you get enough responses certain skaters stand out. So maybe we can be objective. I agree with much I have read here. I am just beginning to see that Vincent can be more than a quadster. He has potential artistically but his quads are what puts him on the scene. His worlds was the best I have seen him skate and kudos to him. He seems so serious. He will never be Hanyu or Shoma or even Nathan for me but he has made great strides. He is much improved just from beginning to end of last season.

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Eteri doesn't have some magic or dirt over the Fed and/or the judges; she's pretty forward thinking and not being stagnate with her up and comers only doing the status quo of what's winning on the current senior circuit. look at her big name/most successful skaters (looking at what they did as seniors): Lipnitskaia - packaged very well for the Olympics and had her remarkably consistent and with the exception of Mao (1 skater, who I don't feel had very good success rate with triple axel); then came Evgenia Med. - tano'd everything when it was bullet point for extra points; then came Alina Z. who backloaded everything for the bonus points, even now Alina the crazy busy programs to get bonus points for all the transitions. Now with her up and coming seniors of Anna S. and Trusova - they are bringing competition ready quads.

Amei said:

Eteri doesn't have some magic or dirt over the Fed and/or the judges; she's pretty forward thinking and not being stagnate with her up and comers only doing the status quo of what's winning on the current senior circuit. look at her big name/most successful skaters (looking at what they did as seniors): Lipnitskaia - packaged very well for the Olympics and had her remarkably consistent and with the exception of Mao (1 skater, who I don't feel had very good success rate with triple axel); then came Evgenia Med. - tano'd everything when it was bullet point for extra points; then came Alina Z. who backloaded everything for the bonus points, even now Alina the crazy busy programs to get bonus points for all the transitions. Now with her up and coming seniors of Anna S. and Trusova - they are bringing competition ready quads.

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Not only that, the programs are also loaded with transitions, difficult entries and exits in/out of the jumps, a lot of 1-foot skating (her trademark imo), the ladies never lose levels: the Sambo-70 spins are always lvl4 +5 goe, the stsq always done on lvl4.
She‘s very detailed and perfects every single element.
Not mentioning incredibly smart content she makes.
Look at Elizabeth, she wasn’t able to get her lutz-toe back this season, but with backloaded sal-toe in SP her BV was higher than that of Eunsoo Lim with flip & lutz-toe, and Kaori, Medvedeva and others, in fact, it was the 3rd highest SP base value. And that’s just sheer base value!
She‘s very smart and thinks outside of the box, who else would‘ve thought that sal-toe can be so beneficial if done in the second half, especially when done so well.

Plus, she knows how to package her skaters.
She found a style that suits Medvedeva the best, and she was really delivering the programs she was given, the OCS that came after was so not fitting her.
She found a style for Elizabeth that suits her the best, and turns her lightness into an advantage, not a disadvantage. Her programs this year were the best she’s ever done. Her past programs like Carmen, pcyhm and other were so not fitting to her frame.
They all skate programs that fit them the best.


People can say whatever they want, it’s much easier to think of excuses and some conspiracy theories how she‘s so much more powerful than all federations (LOL) and all the judges in the world (LOL), than to actually acknowledge her strengths - she knows the system very well and how to maximize the points, her girls are doing amazingly difficult routines not just because of jumps, but because of all other things besides the jumps.

Give the credit where it’s due, she knows what she’s doing and she’s good at it.

Tonya Harding, Midori Ito, and Surya Bonaly- their athletism on the ice in the 90's was not appreciated as much as it should of been. I wish the cop had been in effect in 92 because I think Tonya would of at least got the bronze she she should of had anyway in that case. I also consider Nancy the most overrated skater of all time- not athletic enough, I didn't like the spiral with the hand on the leg, and didn't find her artistic at all. Kristi was a little bit underrated because she actually balanced the tech (3lutz/3toe) and the artistry better than anyone else at the time.

Other underrated skaters- Nakano, Yoshie Onda, Tatiana Malinina , Irina Slutskaya, Elena Sokolova

Elaine was one of a kind. She was finally appreciated in 1994 when she returned to Nationals. She was very successful in earning medals at the world championships from 1981-1984 with her triple jumps. Her style finally improved in 1984 at the Olympics in addition to performing a triple/double/double combination. If there were no compulsories then, she should’ve received a medal. But who knows.

1) Elizaveta Nugumanova - A victim of domestic judging. To this day i still believe she is the most artistic russian lady: best posture, best skating skills (both posture and skating skills better than any Tutberidze skater, i'm sorry, she is a better "ballerina" than Zagitova ever was), she holds her movements like spirals, she has great twizzles, she has a great charisma, she loves to be on the ice and skates to the music. Her spins are amazing too.

Yes she doesn't have the best lutz or flip technique, but so it was Lipnitskaya or Medvedeva or Konstantinova or Sotnikova and they all still got their chances.

She has never had a chance to compete at senior international events because judging at domestic competitions is all about the technical contents and consistency and reputation.

It's so sad and frustrating because in every other country in the world she would be praised much much more for her artistry.

I still hope she can find a way but that possibility becomes more and more uncertain every year, if i was her i'd work on 3A, or really spend all your money go abroad, compete for USA and have your Sasha Cohen moment, or switch to Ice Dance or Pairs cause the skills are all there.

Gala Events
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuOhe4aoK1o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTB5R_Ccack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND3FmbFOrDs

Swan Lake (a piece suggested by Miki Ando)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c3YSpCWL9I

Nutcracker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R79i774lvPA

La La Land
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNhXE38Q7J0

2) Deniss Vasiljevs - he's getting a little lost in the shuffle due to illness but the previous season also i think he never got the marks he deserved due to the lack of quads. He should get Jason Brown's level of PCS in my opinion, his Recondita Armonia's SP is one of the best programs i've seen from the men in years.

3) Andrew Torgashev - again great great artist who deserves better mark but unfortunately he's super inconsistent.

4) Alexander Petrov - he had 2-3 seasons where he was really consistent and again he had very good skating skills but never rewarded for it. Then again injuries and lack of quads.

5) Akiko Suzuki - Beautiful skater who never had her moment for a gold medal at Worlds or GPF unfortunately, always outshadowed by others (Yuna, Mao, Miki, Carolina).

Not exactly underrated but i hope their careers in figure skating continue to grow because they deserve better

Matteo Rizzo
Kevin Aymoz
Daniel Grassl

Tolstoj said:

1) Elizaveta Nugumanova - A victim of domestic judging. To this day i still believe she is the most artistic russian lady: best posture, best skating skills (both posture and skating skills better than any Tutberidze skater, i'm sorry, she is a better "ballerina" than Zagitova ever was), she holds her movements like spirals, she has great twizzles, she has a great charisma, she loves to be on the ice and skates to the music. Her spins are amazing too.

Yes she doesn't have the best lutz or flip technique, but so it was Lipnitskaya or Medvedeva or Konstantinova or Sotnikova and they all still got their chances.

She has never had a chance to compete at senior international events because judging at domestic competitions is all about the technical contents and consistency and reputation.

It's so sad and frustrating because in every other country in the world she would be praised much much more for her artistry.

I still hope she can find a way but that possibility becomes more and more uncertain every year, if i was her i'd work on 3A, or really spend all your money go abroad, compete for USA and have your Sasha Cohen moment, or switch to Ice Dance or Pairs cause the skills are all there.

Gala Events
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuOhe4aoK1o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTB5R_Ccack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND3FmbFOrDs

Swan Lake (a piece suggested by Miki Ando)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c3YSpCWL9I

Nutcracker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R79i774lvPA

La La Land
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNhXE38Q7J0

2) Deniss Vasiljevs - he's getting a little lost in the shuffle due to illness but the previous season also i think he never got the marks he deserved due to the lack of quads. He should get Jason Brown's level of PCS in my opinion, his Recondita Armonia's SP is one of the best programs i've seen from the men in years.

3) Andrew Torgashev - again great great artist who deserves better mark but unfortunately he's super inconsistent.

4) Alexander Petrov - he had 2-3 seasons where he was really consistent and again he had very good skating skills but never rewarded for it.

5) Akiko Suzuki - Beautiful skater who never had her moment for a gold medal at Worlds or GPF unfortunately, always outshadowed by others (Yuna, Mao, Miki, Carolina).

Not exactly underrated but i hope their careers in figure skating continue to grow because they deserve better

Matteo Rizzo
Kevin Aymoz
Daniel Grassl

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Nugumanova always had textbook lutzes and flips, she has the technique!
The posture, on contrary, doesn’t look good to me, she hunches a lot.
She’s very artistic though, and very talented.
I think she became a victim of puberty possibly, I noticed she started popping her jumps more, but maybe I’m wrong and it’s just psychological.
But I hope she can comeback, she was landing very nice Lutz-loops in practices and some competitions.
Agree about Matteo, but he’s been gaining momentum lately, now he needs to sustain it and he’ll get the marks

Gubanova is underrated for sure. I hope she will make it into the GP series sooner or later.

Nugumanova, Gubanova, Vasiljevs, along with most of my favourites (Jason Brown, Misha Ge, Kevin Aymoz at the top of the list) are the victims of the current scoring system where disproportionate importance is fixed on jumps. "Technical", IMO, ought not to be all about jumps, should be a part of it along with all the other elements. I am not saying jumps are not important, just that other elements should be equally important, especially the skating skills - this is figure skating, after all.

These skaters exemplify what makes this sport special and beautiful, and it would be tragic if they are to be buried under other jumping beans just because they lack the top notch jumps in their repartoire.

nussnacker said:

Nugumanova always had textbook lutzes and flips, she has the technique!
The posture, on contrary, doesn’t look good to me, she hunches a lot.
She’s very artistic though, and very talented.
I think she became a victim of puberty possibly, I noticed she started popping her jumps more, but maybe I’m wrong and it’s just psychological.
But I hope she can comeback, she was landing very nice Lutz-loops in practices and some competitions.
Agree about Matteo, but he’s been gaining momentum lately, now he needs to sustain it and he’ll get the marks

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They got better over time, she used to lean a lot on those jumps.

I don't know much how a puberty issue really is cause the jumps are still all there, she has never been the most consistent skater, fairly consistent but not as much as a Tarusina or Vasilieva or Tutberidze skaters, pops are maybe due to lack of confidence.

If she gets some challenger event this season, that would be a start, she really needs some international competition and like i said maybe work on 3A because technically judges don't reward her spins properly (i've seen +1s for her combo spin or her layback that are always amazing, fast and centered) and artistry is not rewarded either in Russia unless you get a name.

Nicole Rajicova. I've always liked watching her and feel like she gets very little recognition for her success. Isadora Williams, by comparison, gets a lot more love with far, far lower results (no shade to Isadora, she's done great work for Brazil).

edit: Agreeing with others on the thread re: Gilles/Poirier, Liza Tuktamysheva, Maria Sotskova.

For me...

1. Kaetlyn Osmond (imo, the most complete ladies skater of her generation)
2. Joannie Rochette (the ultimate ''Firebird''), tied with
2. Liz Manley (check out her 1986 World performances for proof that 1988 was no fluke)
3. Jeff Buttle (for both his on ice and off ice masterpieces...Ararat and Kaetlyn's Black Swan!)
4. Lucinda Rhu (oh for a time when skating was so much more than jumps)
5. Chen Lu (just spell-bounding as per Edmonton 1996)

Well, I do agree that Kaeatlyn was underrated. I've never been interested in ladies fs so much, but judging fom the distance even with her amazing results there were always discussions about Russian ladies (whoever was on the top there), discussions about Japanese ladies whether they can keep up with them and than there was Carolina. Compared to them I didn't hear about Kaetlyn almost at all which is a shame.

Clairecz said:

Well, I do agree that Kaeatlyn was underrated. I've never been interested in ladies fs so much, but judging fom the distance even with her amazing results there were always discussions about Russian ladies (whoever was on the top there), discussions about Japanese ladies whether they can keep up with them and than there was Carolina. Compared to them I didn't hear about Kaetlyn almost at all which is a shame.

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Maybe you didn't read GS threads enough during olympic season. There were a lot of talk about her imo.

Osmond4gold said:

For me...

1. Kaetlyn Osmond (imo, the most complete ladies skater of her generation)
...)

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yume said:

Lol, Osmond among the most underrated skaters

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The thread:

"Name your top five underrated skaters, past or present."

NoviceFan said:

The thread:

"Name your top five underrated skaters, past or present."

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Mine are Hanyu, Plushenko, Yagudin, Fernandez and Chen

zounger said:

Mine are Hanyu, Plushenko, Yagudin, Fernandez and Chen

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Good for you :agree:.

Voltare would remind us that we all have a right to our opinion and my opinion will always be that:

Pairs and all pairs are criminally underrated.