Not a fan of either of these skaters but their Olympic free programs were the skates of their lives. Evan Lysacek and Sarah Hughes.
Classic examples of winning it on the ice... the best of that particular night... delivering when it REALLY counted.
Not a fan of either of these skaters but their Olympic free programs were the skates of their lives. Evan Lysacek and Sarah Hughes.
Not a fan of either of these skaters but their Olympic free programs were the skates of their lives. Evan Lysacek and Sarah Hughes.
Classic examples of winning it on the ice... the best of that particular night... delivering when it REALLY counted.
But my choice is an personal and emotional one - in the fall 2017, Javi failed badly in the Cup of China basically disqualifying him from the GPF, so coming to France for his second GP was a lot of personal pressure to show that he had not suddenly lost it, I think. The short program is IMO the best performance for the Modern Times routine (again by David Wilson) and the little twirl and smile at the end tell how well it went. It is a brilliant choreography telling the story of the movie in just 2 and a half minutes. Javi's ability to make competition programs look anything but that is just amazing...
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Yuzuru Hanyu back to back WR setting skates NHK 2015 and GPF 2015. Simply ICONIC!
My pandemic lockdown entertainment included watching the top 5 in the worlds for men and ladies categories from 1980 onwards - only afterwards I realized that this spring marked the 40th anniversary of my conscious FS watching habit... I also dabbled a bit with the 1970s, but the videos are rarer for that time. However, have tried to come up with one performance per category for each five decades.
There are probably three skaters who get the most mentions for the 1970s, Janet Lynn, Toller Cranston and John Curry. And having now seen what was common at the time, it is clear why they stood out. Janet Lynn's (almost) organic movement to music was unique at the time when the FS vocabulary was quite restricted and stiff. The comparison between Cranston and Curry in my eyes went to Curry who is a complete work of art with every move finished and choreographed. Cranston has some moments, but overall he is far more conventional, patchy and perhaps a bit too pathetically dramatic to my tastes.
It's interesting but I can't remember..
You could pick any performance for Janet Lynn (they are fine, but also very similar all of them), but here is one in good video quality from 1970 Worlds - she really loved the Afternoon of the Faun. John Curry with the semi-legendary 1976 Olympics Don Quixote. (And as a bonus, some of the maybe first ever uses of Carmen: short programs of Vladimir Kovalev and Linda Fratianne in 1975-6).
WOW! I remember! I'm so old. I really liked Kovalyev's elegant style and Curry's art! You didn't mention Jan Hoffmann he was the athletic side of the FS then!
My ladies choice was easy and clear: the best Carmen ever, Katarina Witt in the 1988 Olympics. Her technical side had started to deteriorate already before, but she sure could sell a program like no one else. She tells the story and the way she skates the last part holding the knife wound on her side is just brilliant. I did not like her back in the day, but watching her now, 30+ years later really makes me appreciate her so much.
:thumbsup:
My obsession with FS started really with men and particularly Robin Cousins - 1980 Olympics and especially his gala number to Michael Jackson. But his competition programs look now fairly awful exactly for the reasons outlined above. So, I really struggled with this. But in the end I opted for Norbert Schramm and his 1983 free. He has a theme, the music is selected in such a way that it roughly all fits together. He has some originality in the choreo and movement vocabulary. (For whatever reason, I did not care for the Battle of the Brians, but if I have to choose, I would take Orser for more interesting movement - Boitano did so many crossovers that it just turns me off. In the end the 1988 free for Boitano by Sandra Bezic is a better program than anything the Orser team came up with, but I find it a bit boring in the end.)
I agree on Cousins! :luv17: I liked Brians, too I had a very hard time choosing...Both of them were goodloking, elegant skater! Finally I was happy with Boitano's victory. I have some other favorite who has some interesting programs..Kotin and Bobrin!
1990s were the time I followed men in the beginning of the decade - Petr Barna and Kurt Browning :luv17: When they retired I turned my attention to the ladies for the rest of the decade. The men were just horrible after that... Rewatching them now did not change my mind with these two guys. Both produced interesting programs with characters and storylines and were able to pull them off convincingly. Loved their versatility and ability to skate to a rhythm (very few are really able to do that). But with Kurt, Casablanca is hard to beat and the 1993 worlds it is. Sandra Bezic again and this time I truly loved her work. (The bit from La Strada is a bit distracting though... As a bonus, Petr Barna's Chaplin ex from Albertville 1992. The guy did Paganini themes as SP, Hamlet as FS and this.)
Agreed again. I add to this list Petrenko's Carmen SP and some other interesting skaters' program..Eric Millot tango in 1995 (?) and Kulik, Candeloro's programs..
The ladies then. Rewatching made me appreciate Kristi Yamaguchi in a new way - she had the tech side and performance skills to match, charisma too. Maybe a little underrated nowadays. Oksana Baiul was the first ever lightning career, but she remains amazing to watch, particularly the first season when she was not marred by injuries. Michelle Kwan was a big favorite at the end of the decade, but although I appreciate her earlier stuff, she starts to repeat herself relatively quickly. So, Lu Chen is my choice in the end. The 1996 free by Sandra Bezic. I would have given her the title over the very accomplished, but slightly immature Michelle Kwan. Lu's programs were just amazing and the next season, all the top ladies had a classical piece in a simple black dress. (As a bonus, Baiul's Swan Lake SP from 1994 - easily the best ever balletic performance in FS.)
Lulu! :luv17: her Rachmaninov program! I agree on Baiul's Swan Lake SP!
:thumbsup:The 2000s were still a bit empty when it came to men, could not care less for the Yagudin-Plushenko battle. But if I have to choose I would take Yagudin. Plushenko emerged with his personal style as a 17 year old and has not progressed artistically since. Yagudin was marred in my eyes by Tarasova's overblown dramatics. The latter part of the decade brought along Stephane Lambiel and Daisuke Takahashi and I could mostly forget ladies. Lambiel's Poeta choreographed by Antonio Najarro is my choice, here from the 2007 worlds. More for the incredible choreo than for anything else. Lambiel is perhaps less versatile skater than Takahashi who seemingly can do anything with credibility - Stephane is brilliant in lyrical pieces, but really is not very good with the rest. But Takahashi's programs were never that quality choreos.
The Yagudin-Plushenko era was ended in early 2000's. I agree Yagudin had a well-deserved victory but to say Plushenko didn't progress artistically is weird for me. That is forgetten by many people Plush was only 20 year old when the battle was ended, Yagudin retired!! We can say that wasn't Plushy's peaktime. Plushenko was almost 3 years younger, all of those big battles happend in his teenage! Plus to 2002 Plush collected lots of 6.0s (not only for his performance but technical 6.0s, too) he had much more than Yagudin's. He was simply perfect on many competitions. He has own style-not N-A style-, the peole like it or not, matter of taste.
I add to the list as program for the ages Plushenko's tribute to Nijinsky.
Finding a ladies program for the 2000s proved to be surprisingly difficult. Michelle Kwan and Irina Slutskaya did not excite me, Sasha Cohen had some amzing moves, but overall not my cup of tea. Mao Asada and Yuna Kim left me cold also - although I must say, Yuna has become a minor favorite after rewatching. Tarasova is not my fave choreographer it seems, and she turned Mao a bit stale, I think. David Wilson did great work with Yuna, who also has some of the most expressive arms in the whole history of FS. But in the end I chose a choreo I liked a lot and that I did not remember from the time, Joannie Rochette 2007-8 FS to musical Don Juan by Felix Gray. The choreo was by David Wilson. Subtle Spanish style with emotion and grace.
For me Cohen's Black Eyes programs and Kwan is memorable. But after 2006 I lost my interest in FS for some years.
2010s has seen an incredible intensification of my FS habit - maybe thanks to the possibility of watching so many competitions online, not being dependent on what TV chose to show us. And anyone who has bumbed into my posts on this forum can probably guess that my choice in men falls to Javier Fernández The problem was just which program/performance... Guys and Dolls from Boston was already mentioned and that is truly a skate of the ages - the only performance in singles to get two 10s in the PCS, choreo and interpretation (and with the changes in the PCS I don't see this record being broken in the near future). I loved Black Betty, the 2014-5 SP, I loved Malagueña, the 2015-7 and 2018-9 SP (especially the Helsinki performance in 2017, OMG!), I loved Man of La Mancha, the last FS (the Olympics 2018 especially). But my choice is an personal and emotional one - in the fall 2017, Javi failed badly in the Cup of China basically disqualifying him from the GPF, so coming to France for his second GP was a lot of personal pressure to show that he had not suddenly lost it, I think. The short program is IMO the best performance for the Modern Times routine (again by David Wilson) and the little twirl and smile at the end tell how well it went. It is a brilliant choreography telling the story of the movie in just 2 and a half minutes. Javi's ability to make competition programs look anything but that is just amazing...
:thumbsup:
I add to the list Plushy's last ECH title with his LP, Mouline Rouge. The whole Europe was amazed by that performance. Only on that evening was full-house at the arena, the audience was crazy about him, the media wrote how matured, how masculine he was! That is a manly skating!
Patrick Chan's Four seasons LP at TEB in 2013! One of the best skatings ever!!!! He was flawless we can enjoy all aspects of his skating!!! I never forget it!
For the ladies, I chose Ashley Wagner's version of Moulin Rouge. Shae-Lynn Bourne has produced a lot of good stuff, but this remains my fave clearly above everything else. The music cut, lyrics and movement work all together making it such a beautiful entity. 2016 Worlds (although the white dress I did not like so much.) Ashley divides opinions, but I like her attack and ability to act a lot over all her failings as a technical skater... (My other Moulin Rouge fave is actually from ice dance -Virtue and Moir in 2017-8.) There are also others bubbling under, particularly Carolina Kostner in both her programs in the 2014 Olympics, Evgenia Medvedeva's 2016-7 SP, Yuna Kim's FS in the 2013 Worlds, but these you can go and find yourselves...
Ashley wasn't my favorite, this era is for Caro's Bolero, Ave Maria, and I add to your list Mao's Swan Lake
I add to the list as program for the ages Plushenko's tribute to Nijinsky.
You didn't mention Jan Hoffmann he was the athletic side of the FS then!
Kotin and Bobrin!
Eric Millot tango in 1995 (?) and Kulik, Candeloro's programs.
Patrick Chan's Four seasons LP at TEB in 2013! One of the best skatings ever!!!! He was flawless we can enjoy all aspects of his skating!!! I never forget it!
Alas, we have to agree to completely disagree on Plushenko. Rewatching all those old programs did not endear him to me any more than what were my feelings back in the day, rather on the contrary.
Jan Hoffman was not a very versatile or interesting performer - athletic, but somewhat boring to watch.
There is relatively little Kotin and Bobrin available unfortunately, but they would both be interesting to watch more. Kulik was around for such a short period of time that it is difficult to know whether he would have developed into a very good performer. He was good, but not so memorable as many others. I saw him in some show in the 2000s (I think) and thought it remarkable how introvertedly he still skated - he did not look up at all to connect with the audience. As if no one had taught him how to perform to an audience.
The French guys in the 2000s fell victims of watching them again with my 2020s eyes. Millot's tango was a fave back then, but watching it now makes me just mildly amused at how crude it was in the end. Candeloro started to repeat himself very quickly after he found his "style". No development, versatilty and such ugly movement in the end. I liked the Godfather short program actually, but that idea really did not carry a 4,5 min free, not to mention repeats over two seasons.
And Patrick Chan - watching his performances over a very short period of time emphasized how he really is a one trick pony. I love his skating in many ways, but he too started to repeat himself very quickly... The TEB performance is good, though.
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He only did one style - but credit to him for changing the music every season. I watch his 2016 Chopin program, and am still able to watch his 2017 "a journey" program with similar enjoyment. I don't get bored between the two programs. I also can watch his Elegie SP, and then still have an emotional experience watching his beetles short program later.And Patrick Chan - watching his performances over a very short period of time emphasized how he really is a one trick pony. I love his skating in many ways, but he too started to repeat himself very quickly... The TEB performance is good, though.
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His quality of skating was unmatchable, and that really is the thing I enjoy watching with Patrick, even if his choreography is a bit repetitive over the seasons.