Amazing Skaters Who Never Won an Olympic or World (individual) Medal

[Yossalu]

I know he's been mentioned but my top choice is absolutely Jeremy Abbott. If he had repeated his 2010 Nationals performance at the Olympics he might have won the gold. In 2014 it would have easily been bronze with a decent shot at silver. In 2012 he might have challenged for gold, though by that point the USFSA had abandoned him and his PCS wasn't close to where it should have been.

He has a style that's completely his own. His jumps were beautiful when they were there. Every time he put it all together he was magical. It's a pity that putting it all together was a thing he only did at Nationals.

I second the Kerrs, Verner, Abt, Amodio, Oda (it seems impossible that he never medalled), and two of my all-time favorite Americans, Savoie and Farris. For current skaters I am crossing my fingers for Aymoz, Aliev, Gilles & Poirier, Brown, and eventually Fear & Gibson. I know it won't happen for Han Yan but my goodness can he be beautiful. I had such hope for him and Daniel Samohin when they came out of Juniors.

 

[skatingfan4ever]

Happy to see Alexander Johnson mentioned. Here is his "Eleanor Rigby" LP, performed twice, three years apart, with a slightly different jump layout. Check out that 3Lz+1Lo+3F! :yay: Beautiful program.

2013

2016 (forgive and tune out the commentary)

His highest placement at Nationals was 6th, but when I watch him, placements and scores don't even matter.

 

[sworddance21]

Recognizing my apparent bias toward American skaters I second Abbott, Farris, Savoie, Cizisny, and add Rohene Ward.

 

[Alex D]

Susanna Pöykiö,

without her skating I wouldn´t have started writing about the sport, nor would I have returned to it after Katharina Witt did retire. She came third on Junior Worlds and won two medals at Europeans, sadly never a golden, except for nationals and one JGP at Norway.

Her an Sasha had such a brilliant expression on ice, I have to admit that I am looking for that still most, when I watch a skating program.

 

[Jeanie19]

I know he's been mentioned but my top choice is absolutely Jeremy Abbott. If he had repeated his 2010 Nationals performance at the Olympics he might have won the gold. In 2014 it would have easily been bronze with a decent shot at silver. In 2012 he might have challenged for gold, though by that point the USFSA had abandoned him and his PCS wasn't close to where it should have been.

He has a style that's completely his own. His jumps were beautiful when they were there. Every time he put it all together he was magical. It's a pity that putting it all together was a thing he only did at Nationals.

I second the Kerrs, Verner, Abt, Amodio, Oda (it seems impossible that he never medalled), and two of my all-time favorite Americans, Savoie and Farris. For current skaters I am crossing my fingers for Aymoz, Aliev, Gilles & Poirier, Brown, and eventually Fear & Gibson. I know it won't happen for Han Yan but my goodness can he be beautiful. I had such hope for him and Daniel Samohin when they came out of Juniors.

Great 200th post. For current I'm adding Deniss Vasiljevs. A good quad and he's in the running.

 

[Skatefan15]

what what what.

WHAT did I just read?!

We're talking about the same skater, right? Joshua Farris? With the textbook perfectly upright jumps? With the best 3A in the world at the time BAR NONE? Who was landing the quad toe and was capable (as we later saw) of landing the quad Salchow?

Not only would Joshua have gone on to win a World medal (and I believe an Olympic one also), he would have been perfect for the +5/-5 GOE.

I just meant quad wise because in the end, that’s what took him out of this sport (injuries from quads). Also his 3A was good but I wouldn’t say it was the best. I wish he could have gotten a world medal, but he needed at least one quad to be consistent (and just be a more consistent jumper in general) and it never was, still love his skating though.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

I know he's been mentioned but my top choice is absolutely Jeremy Abbott. If he had repeated his 2010 Nationals performance at the Olympics he might have won the gold. In 2014 it would have easily been bronze with a decent shot at silver. In 2012 he might have challenged for gold, though by that point the USFSA had abandoned him and his PCS wasn't close to where it should have been.

He has a style that's completely his own. His jumps were beautiful when they were there. Every time he put it all together he was magical. It's a pity that putting it all together was a thing he only did at Nationals.

I second the Kerrs, Verner, Abt, Amodio, Oda (it seems impossible that he never medalled), and two of my all-time favorite Americans, Savoie and Farris. For current skaters I am crossing my fingers for Aymoz, Aliev, Gilles & Poirier, Brown, and eventually Fear & Gibson. I know it won't happen for Han Yan but my goodness can he be beautiful. I had such hope for him and Daniel Samohin when they came out of Juniors.

In regards to Abbott: He put it together other places than just Nationals. He's GPF champion, and first American man to do so in the 08-09 season. He's also been Cup of China champ twice and Skate Canada champ once. When it comes to the 2010 Vancouver Games, he was very sick, and has spoken on this in interviews in the past how he didn't even get to experience the Olympic Village and spectating other Olympic sports much there because of it. Just sayin'.

 

[TallyT]

I know it won't happen for Han Yan but my goodness can he be beautiful. I had such hope for him and Daniel Samohin when they came out of Juniors.

Oh yes, Han Yan! He really should have been one of the big names going into Pyeongchang.... :sad21:

 

[labgoat]

Include me in the camp wanting to see Gilles & Poirier get a World or Olympic medal someday.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Alissa Csizny
Kanako Murakami
Jeremy Abbott
Matthew Savoie
Emanuel Sandhu
Nobunari Oda
Michal Brezina
Tomas Verner
Sergei Voronov
Florent Amodio
Adam Rippon
Chengjiang Li

 

[macy]

Also Alissa Czisny. one of my all time favorite US ladies.

 

[jenaj]

In addition to Alissa, Gracie Gold, Mirai Nagasu, Adam Rippon, Jeremy Abbott.

 

[jenaj]

deleted

 

[Harriet]

Has anyone mentioned Sarah Meier yet? If not, I will.

 

[Blades of Passion]

Matt Savoie - ahead of his time, and so gorgeous without the program feeling cluttered. Every beat of music was accounted for. I feel so much peace when I watch this. (He was 7th overall and 5th in the FS).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naDdt4vKtUI

One of the most spiritually evocative programs ever (maybe the Nationals performance is slightly better, but either way), and his SP at 2005 Nationals is stunning too. He should have won the Olympic Bronze, the PCS judging was criminal. They also randomly (and wrongly) gave him an underrotation call on his 3Lutz, while not calling Buttle's < Quad attempt.

Skating keeps getting further away from true artistry and organic performance/movement quality, and it's sad. There's a very important line here in Sandra's commentary: "the intricacies are not just to collect points, it really is an emotional expression." Although it's funny, if choreography and interpretation were actually being judged correctly, these aspects would be collecting points. It's yet to really happen with the CoP scoring system (certainly not with any level of consistency). The components are mainly judged on reputation, politics, skating skills, transitions.

Some people not listed in the thread yet, I would add:

Vladimir Kotin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLZzYe8BUyU (and he should have medalled at 1986 Worlds)

Gary Beacom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iJLlBn8-pE (Skating Skills. Uniqueness.)

Kanako Murakami - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbvDVS4I9qU (I'm still mad she was robbed of winning this event, and the Silver medal at Worlds that year)

Hanae Yokoya - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbd3Wc0KMFY (a forgotten mid-90's delight)

Rika Hongo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3NSFxpHw7Q (and she should have medalled at 2015 Worlds)

Stephanie Rosenthal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-2J_d9XksU (THE LEGEND. LEGENDARY LEGEND) / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi0n2AbCQxg (LEGEND 4EVER)

 

[Skatesocs]

Yukari Nakano - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbvDVS4I9qU (I'm still mad she was robbed of winning this event, and the Silver medal at Worlds that year)



Stephanie Rosenthal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-2J_d9XksU (THE LEGEND. LEGENDARY LEGEND) / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi0n2AbCQxg (LEGEND 4EVER)

That's Kanako Murakami you've linked. I opened expecting an event you thought Nakano should've won, because I assumed you were referring to 2008 worlds otherwise.

yes @ Rosenthal lol

 

[Blades of Passion]

I had Nakano on my list too, before I saw in the thread they were already mentioned. But nobody stuck up for Murakami yet! Her programs that season were so good, especially the Skate Canada version. 3Loop+2Loop is such a satisfying combination to see and she had to give it up because of the phantom underrotation call freaking her out about the jump, ugh.

 

[Skatesocs]

I had Nakano on my list too, before I saw in the thread they were already mentioned. But nobody stuck up for Murakami yet! Her programs that season were so good, especially the Skate Canada version. 3Loop+2Loop is such a satisfying combination to see and she had to give it up because of the phantom underrotation call freaking her out about the jump, ugh.

I too love loop combos, but not rewarded correctly

I had Murakami silver at 2013, and knocked off Kostner lol. But I just long for such an event again, with a legendary performance and several other very good ones.

 

[Blades of Passion]

Also about Rosenthal, obviously those programs are amazing, but I dream of an alternate timeline where they had been constructed/coached perfectly for CoP that season and she didn't make a couple silly mistakes. With proper guidance, I believe Rosenthal actually could have placed 2nd at Nationals and made the Olympics, with only 3Toe and 3Sal as Triples in the programs. That would have been something, and really showed how radical of a shift the new scoring system could create. There were an unlimited amount of 2Axels allowed in the LP in those days, she could have done 3Sal+2Axel and 3Toe+2Axel sequences to ramp up her points (she literally already does a 3Toe+2Axel in that program, but had it planned on paper as two separate jump elements). The spins and spirals could have been max level too, but I think her coaching team didn't understand the rules, she showed the skills necessary to hit the levels, but the programs didn't combine the moves in the proper way to meet the rule requirements.

 

[Skatesocs]

Also about Rosenthal, obviously those programs are amazing, but I dream of an alternate timeline where they had been constructed/coached perfectly for CoP that season and she didn't make a couple silly mistakes. With proper guidance, I believe Rosenthal actually could have placed 2nd at Nationals and made the Olympics, with only 3Toe and 3Sal as Triples in the programs. That would have been something, and really showed how radical of a shift the new scoring system could create. There were an unlimited amount of 2Axels allowed in the LP in those days, she could have done 3Sal+2Axel and 3Toe+2Axel sequences to ramp up her points (she literally already does a 3Toe+2Axel in that program, but had it planned on paper as two separate jump elements). The spins and spirals could have been max level too, but I think her coaching team didn't understand the rules, she showed the skills necessary to hit the levels, but the programs didn't combine the moves in the proper way to meet the rule requirements.

Ahahaha now that would have been great. I actually think she already might have deserved to, seeing that she had the best PCS (Cohen hit the PCS at the Olympics, not nationals). Maybe Rosenthal should be third at 2006 US Nationals.