Who is a more dominant skater: Yuzuru Hanyu or Nathan Chen?

*Throws a cat among the pigeons* Of all time in men's? Plushy For nearly four seasons he was only beaten twice - and one of those was on a technicality.

Also of note after sitting out nearly 3 seasons his technical content was still enough for him to get back to the top after only 6 months of high-level training. That's just boss.

Well, if the thread must be revived, it might as well be derailed.

Of all time in men’s?

Mr. Dick Button. Forget the two OGM and five WCs. Who else has won US Nats and Euros? And no one else will

This is just a tongue and cheek retort. I find it quite a coincidence that this thread suddenly revived when the contentious Russian hegemony in figure skating thread was sidelined for replies.

GOATs: Dick Button, Kurt Browning, Alexei Yagudin.

In my opinion, Dominance has to be assessed in a relatively long period of career. Winning at least 1 Olympic gold medal combined with multiple World Championships is a strong indication.
Dick Button is no doubt the most dominant figure skater in men's history. Plushenko, Yagudin and Hanyu are on the list for consideration.
Chen: amazed at his capability but it is too early to tell

el henry said:

Well, if the thread must be revived, it might as well be derailed.

Of all time in men’s?

Mr. Dick Button. Forget the two OGM and five WCs. Who else has won US Nats and Euros? And no one else will

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Oops sorry I didn't even notice this thread was so old! It just popped up on the "New Posts" list and I couldn't resist!

With dominance you could also go with Ulrich Salchow, not only did he win Worlds ten times, he also won gold for figure skating...at the Summer Olympics! There's something you don't see every day!

anonymoose_au said:

Oops sorry I didn't even notice this thread was so old! It just popped up on the "New Posts" list and I couldn't resist!

With dominance you could also go with Ulrich Salchow, not only did he win Worlds ten times, he also won gold for figure skating...at the Summer Olympics! There's something you don't see every day!

Click to expand...

You don’t have anything to apologize for, it was revived by the time you got to it. I’m not a huge fan of “who did it better:Skater A or Skater B” threads in the first place, but that’s just me.

Ulrich Salchow for the win:thumbsup:

Olympic gold is much chancier than world gold. If Nathan were to perform his normal SP with 103-104 points at PyeongChang, he might have won the gold in his 2nd season as senior. Or if the Olympics were one year later in 2019, Nathan might also have won the gold. Of course he didn’t win but it shows how much Olympic gold is a game of luck.

Long win streak is sure an indication of dominance. Had Nathan won the Olympic gold, he would have won 14 games in a row. That’d be only rivaled by Ulrich Salchow (17-game win streak), Karl Schäfer (22-game win streak) and Dick Button (14-game win streak) in the early 1900s, when there were only a few men in most competitions with much less technical demands. It’s not to diminish their accomplishments but to point out how hard it is to keep winning and performance consistency at today’s level of technical difficulty.

In any case the Chen-Hanyu rivalry is ongoing. Nathan is now 5 to 4. Yuzu may tie it if he wins Worlds next March.

Just answering the OP. Right now Nathan Chen is the dominant male skater on the planet. He had a rough skate in his sp at Peyongchang. If he skated his SP as he normally did he would have won the gold. I am a big Hanyu fan but he won Sochi with a non Olympic showing. As Brian says they realize that but a win is a win. Again Nathan faltered and Yuzu skated off with the gold. He is a very lucky guy in addition to being so talented. I think Dick Button was amazing. A trailblazer and dominant for so long. He loves to kid Hamilton and Boitano about his European Champ medal. He is such a character. As he used to say he didn’t give “rusty hoot” whatever that is when he gave his at times critical opinions as a commentator. Kind of the Howard Cosel (sp) of skating commentary. So for now I would have to say he is still the GOAT. When both Hanyu and Nathan are done their amateur careers then I think this can be debated. I wonder who both these guys consider as the greatest skater of the past. Anyone know? I think Hanyu would likely say Brian Orser out of respect and love for Brian but who knows. Has either ever weighed in on this? I know Hanyu used to regard highly Plushenko. Even though Plush had incredible longevity and all those medals I never thought he was a great skater. Great jumper yes but SS, no.

Haven’t read whole thread or commented before as it seemed like a sure fight between fans would derail it and close it but the question if I understood it is a current one and that makes Nathan the one. When it is all said and done we will see. And there have to be criteria agreed upon. Even then it will come down to personal preference unless we are just to count medals and scores and quads landed. Very tough question. I am so glad we have both and that Hanyu continues to compete.

I guess I read the question a little differently. "Who IS the most dominant skater."

To me, this means, right here, right now, who is likely to crush all opposition and win by 30 points.

Karl Schäfer WAS the most dominant skater once upon a time. So was Dick Button.