Most complete female skater during the IJS Era | Page 4 | Golden Skate

Most complete female skater during the IJS Era

Mishaminion

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 12, 2014
This is probably a question that can be answered properly only after the IJS has been turned into something else. At the mo, I probably would put Yuna in the top spot, but am not sure how long I can keep her there.

And that's because I just saw Alena Kostornaia skate live for the first time and I must say, I have never seen anyone like her ever before. I am still a bit at a loss for words to describe her skating, but she certainly has everything that a complete skater needs... There was a certain otherworldliness to what she did: the speed, the flow, the height of her jumps, the finish of all her movements and espacially today a glimpse of her ability to perform different things. She is still young, but I believe she can develop into one of the truly greats.

E

Wow you got to see that performance live? I am very jealous xD
 

eppen

Medalist
Joined
Mar 28, 2006
Country
Spain
Wow you got to see that performance live? I am very jealous xD

I was only going to go on Friday originally, but when the practice videos of the 3A started to appear I realized I had better be there on Sunday, too. Still on a skating high!

E
 

SkatingWithEdges

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 12, 2019
Yuna is the first skater in my mind match to this point

Her speed , her jumping technique , her edges , her musicality , her performer : everythings is perfect and she's the most complete women individual skater ever
 

SkatingWithEdges

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 12, 2019
Yuna is the most complete female skater ever

Technical so strong especially jumping technique , speed across the ice , knee actions , edges

Artistic brilliant by her musicality , expression , feeling to the music , sophisticate
 

jenaj

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Country
United-States
Kostornaia has had one competition at the senior level. It is way too early to crown her with anything. The only skaters who have proven themselves over the long run to be "complete," meaning strong on both the technical and artistic sides are Mao Asada and Yuna Kim. Neither is without faults so neither is truly "complete." But they are more complete than any other skaters in the IJS era.
 

jenaj

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Country
United-States
Kamila - quads, artistry, flexibility, amazing spins, star quality. She’s the perfect package (if she gets better choreography).

Are we including juniors? OK, then, I'll nominate Alysa Liu--triple axel, quad lutz, joyful skating. (For the record, I don't think any junior can be called the most complete skater of anything except the junior circuit).
 

ancientpeas

The Notorious SEW
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 11, 2014
Yuna Kim is a good choice.

Of the current crop I'd say no one yet. A few are getting closer and closer.
 

silveruskate

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 20, 2019
Mao can do everything but hardly ever did everything together in a FS without under-rotations. Has she even skated clean across two programs before in her career??
 

silveruskate

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 20, 2019
Yuna Kim, Aliona Kostornaia (and Kaetlyn Osmond) stand out for me.

Rika is close and I think her skating-skills are severely underestimated, but her jumps aside from the triple axel are on the smaller side.
 

moriel

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 18, 2015
I would say Yuna Kim, Alina Zagitova, Alena Kostornaia in that order.
Mao had technical strengths, but also major technical issues. But the three above are full package.
 

Nightcrawler

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 25, 2014
Mao can do everything but hardly ever did everything together in a FS without under-rotations. Has she even skated clean across two programs before in her career??

Τhat's an interesting point; Kim only had 3 clean competitions in her whole senior career across short and long (2010 Olympics, 2013 Worlds, 2014 Olympics) and she's considered by many to be the epitome of consistency.
We also have to consider Mao skated in an era where edge calls and under-rotations were much stricter and that she was hardly ever overscored, unlike many of her competitors who would ofter get a free pass with flutzes, URs or both.

Back on topic, Yuna, Mao and Carolina are the saint trinity of figure skating, the perfect example of what IJS should aspire to be and it's no wonder they always make it to lists like these. To me, Mao is by far the most complete and the one who had lesser faults than the other two, despite them being exquisite skaters on their own right.
From the current crop of skaters, Zagitova, Kihira and Kostornaya come the closest to the whole package even though Rika and Alyona need to further develop their artistic side (but I feel they're on the right track).
 

nussnacker

one and only
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 16, 2019
Τhat's an interesting point; Kim only had 3 clean competitions in her whole senior career across short and long (2010 Olympics, 2013 Worlds, 2014 Olympics) and she's considered by many to be the epitome of consistency.
We also have to consider Mao skated in an era where edge calls and under-rotations were much stricter and that she was hardly ever overscored, unlike many of her competitors who would ofter get a free pass with flutzes, URs or both.

Back on topic, Yuna, Mao and Carolina are the saint trinity of figure skating, the perfect example of what IJS should aspire to be and it's no wonder they always make it to lists like these. To me, Mao is by far the most complete and the one who had lesser faults than the other two, despite them being exquisite skaters on their own right.
From the current crop of skaters, Zagitova, Kihira and Kostornaya come the closest to the whole package even though Rika and Alyona need to further develop their artistic side (but I feel they're on the right track).

Agree with everything.
Although, I have to say, watching FS back in the day, I almost felt like ISU really went after Mao specifically. Maybe it’s just my biased perception, I don’t know, but quite often I felt like she was put to a very high standard in her days, almost cornered with every new regulation.
Not that I want to say anything, but I felt like judging of Mao quite often was very harsh.
Aside from the edge problem, she was pretty much flawless artistically and technically. A rare combination of both excellent jumper and a spinner, especially in those days.
 

temadd

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 19, 2015
Kihira and Kostornaia are my favorite skaters since Ashley Wagner. :pray:And don't go dissing Ashley. I know she was lacking in some areas but as far as performing and showing technical difficulty she was right up there. As much as I enjoyed Yuna, I always found her programs to be lacking heart
 

Roo87

Medalist
Joined
Nov 12, 2017
Kaetlyn Osmond for sure. It was interesting to see her and Evgenia skate side by side at Stars on Ice, you could clearly tell who the weaker skater was (and Kaetlyn hadn't even been competing for an entire year at this point). She really should have been the silver medalist at the Olympics, super glad she got that world title.
 

Ophelia

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 6, 2013
Τhat's an interesting point; Kim only had 3 clean competitions in her whole senior career across short and long (2010 Olympics, 2013 Worlds, 2014 Olympics) and she's considered by many to be the epitome of consistency.
We also have to consider Mao skated in an era where edge calls and under-rotations were much stricter and that she was hardly ever overscored, unlike many of her competitors who would ofter get a free pass with flutzes, URs or both.

Back on topic, Yuna, Mao and Carolina are the saint trinity of figure skating, the perfect example of what IJS should aspire to be and it's no wonder they always make it to lists like these. To me, Mao is by far the most complete and the one who had lesser faults than the other two, despite them being exquisite skaters on their own right.)

Kim delivered on the biggest occasions when it counted, and she didn't have any meltdown skates unlike the other two. She also had no glaring weaknesses that held her back. If all three skated cleanly, she was the favorite to win (you can dig up threads around this question from way back. People put their money on Kim).

Asada struggled too much technically for me to consider her the most complete skater. I would put Kostner ahead of her.

Of the current crop, Kihira and Kostornaia are the potential complete packages for me. I'm on the fence about Zagitova because while she has all the raw goods, artistically she isn't quite there. Her skating is so hunched over.
 

Nightcrawler

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 25, 2014
Kim delivered on the biggest occasions when it counted, and she didn't have any meltdown skates unlike the other two. She also had no glaring weaknesses that held her back. If all three skated cleanly, she was the favorite to win (you can dig up threads around this question from way back. People put their money on Kim).

Asada struggled too much technically for me to consider her the most complete skater. I would put Kostner ahead of her.

Of the current crop, Kihira and Kostornaia are the potential complete packages for me. I'm on the fence about Zagitova because while she has all the raw goods, artistically she isn't quite there. Her skating is so hunched over.


She did deliver when it mattered the most, but she was also the skater who was held up the most by the judges when she didn't. She wasn't the only one, of course, but that makes it harder for me to praise her consistency. I do commend her consistent results, though, whether I feel they were justified or not.
Mind you, I would also bet good money on Kim (just as I would bet today on Trusova) but that hardly makes them my favourite skaters. I would rate both Koster and Asada above Yuna if everyone went clean, because to me, they were superior artistically and just as good technically (Kostner's jumps were huge, albeit a bit telegraphed and Asada had a full range of triples, flutz and all - as opposed to just four - better spins and step sequences). Although it takes a lot of courage to define any of them INcomplete, as they were all divine.

When it comes to Zagitova, I find this year's SP quite stunning, arguably the best of the season (also courtesy of Satoko's unfortunate Egyptian dance).
 

Ophelia

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 6, 2013
She did deliver when it mattered the most, but she was also the skater who was held up the most by the judges when she didn't. She wasn't the only one, of course, but that makes it harder for me to praise her consistency. I do commend her consistent results, though, whether I feel they were justified or not.
Mind you, I would also bet good money on Kim (just as I would bet today on Trusova) but that hardly makes them my favourite skaters. I would rate both Koster and Asada above Yuna if everyone went clean, because to me, they were superior artistically and just as good technically (Kostner's jumps were huge, albeit a bit telegraphed and Asada had a full range of triples, flutz and all - as opposed to just four - better spins and step sequences). Although it takes a lot of courage to define any of them INcomplete, as they were all divine. .

Which competitions was Kim held up? Never felt like she placed higher than she deserved.

Consistency doesn't have to do with judging. You're conflating two separate issues. Medvedeva was the gold standard of consistency even though her scores were held up.

I don't think anyone can make a strong argument for Asada being great technically when she was always getting hit by URs and she had to switch coaches to rework her jump technique bc it was causing her so many points. I've seen Asada live and she was slow and her jumps were small compared to other skaters. I'll give her the edge on artistry, spins, and step sequences.
 

Osmond4gold

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
I vote for the Queen of the Comeback as the most complete, or Kaetlyn Osmond. There is something to be said for speed, power, grace, edges, spins, presentation and overall appeal, that few will ever possess (Yuna, Mao, Caro and Gracie being the exceptions of course) :)
 

Nightcrawler

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 25, 2014
Which competitions was Kim held up? Never felt like she placed higher than she deserved.

Consistency doesn't have to do with judging. You're conflating two separate issues. Medvedeva was the gold standard of consistency even though her scores were held up.

I don't think anyone can make a strong argument for Asada being great technically when she was always getting hit by URs and she had to switch coaches to rework her jump technique bc it was causing her so many points. I've seen Asada live and she was slow and her jumps were small compared to other skaters. I'll give her the edge on artistry, spins, and step sequences.

It's not necessarily the rankings that were wrong, but I feel the scores definitely were even when her skating was not up to her usual standards. Off the top of my head:

2008 Worlds (where Nakano was also grossly underscored) - she could have easily missed the podium and it wouldn't have been scandalous
2010 Worlds - she should not have been first after the long program; not sure if her mistakes were serious enough to drop to 3rd.
2011 Worlds - should not have won the SP and should have been closer to Kostner in the free (or even behind her). 3rd place would've also been fair in my opinion.

I'm not sure I get your point when it comes to conflating two different issues. I feel Kim was much less of a consistent skater than her results make her out to be with only three clean competitions under her belt. Asada and Kostner were also inconsistent, even more so, but I've always had the feeling that especially Asada was never trusted enough by the judges to be rewarded with big scores even if she did skate clean (case in point, the 2014 Olympics). That said, I've never seen her live (or anyone) to see how slow her skating was or how small were her jumps.
 
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