Top 10 Ice Dance Teams 1989 to present

[longingfornia]

1 Marina Klimova & Seegei Ponomarenko Russia
2 Oksana Grishuk & Evgeny Platov Russia
3 Angelika Krylova & Oleg Ovsiannikov Russia
4 Maya Usova & Alexander Zhulin Russia
5 Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat France
6 Tatiana NAVKA & Roman KOSTOMAROV Russia
7 Tessa VIRTUE & Scott MOIR Canada
8 Albena DENKOVA & Maxim STAVISKI Bulgaria
9 Shae-Lynn Bourne & Victor Kraatz Canada
10 Oksana DOMNINA & Maxim SHABALIN Russia

HM
Isabelle Delobel & Olivier Schoenfelder France
Irina LOBACHEVA & Ilia AVERBUKH Russia
Susanna Rahkamo & Petri Kokko Finland
Margarita Drobiazko & Povilas Vanagas Lithuania

[judgejudy27]

1 Marina Klimova & Seegei Ponomarenko Russia
2 Oksana Grishuk & Evgeny Platov Russia
3 Angelika Krylova & Oleg Ovsiannikov Russia
4 Maya Usova & Alexander Zhulin Russia
5 Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat France
6 Tatiana NAVKA & Roman KOSTOMAROV Russia
7 Tessa VIRTUE & Scott MOIR Canada
8 Albena DENKOVA & Maxim STAVISKI Bulgaria
9 Shae-Lynn Bourne & Victor Kraatz Canada
10 Oksana DOMNINA & Maxim SHABALIN Russia

HM
Isabelle Delobel & Olivier Schoenfelder France
Irina LOBACHEVA & Ilia AVERBUKH Russia
Susanna Rahkamo & Petri Kokko Finland
Margarita Drobiazko & Povilas Vanagas Lithuania

I would have to put Anissina & Peizerat above 3 and 4 since they have the Olympic Gold. I would actually put Virtue & Moir at 4, or maybe even 3 ahead of the French. I would have Krylova & Ovsiannikov at 5 and Usova & Zhulin at 6, since K&O have 1 more World title.

I definitely wouldnt have Bourne & Kraatz or Domnina & Shabalin in the top 10. Replace them with Belbin & Agosto and Davis & White on my list.

[blue_idealist]

1) Grishuk/Platov
2) Anissina/Peizerat
3) Klimova/Ponomarenko
4) Duschesnays
5) Virtue/Moir
6) Usova/Zhulin
7) Navka/Kostomarov
8) Krylova/Ovsiannikov
9) Belbin/Agosto
10) Denkova/Staviski

HM - Bourne/Kraatz, Fusar-Poli/Margaglio, Lobacheva/Averbukh, Delobel/Schoenfelder, Davis/White, Domnina/Shabalin

[Carmen Ovsiannikov]

Great idea for a thread and you would have to make it more difficult by having us rank them by who we feel is the best. Or is it just the top ten in general and not best to "worst" format? The top five alone is difficult for me.

There were some amazing dance teams competing from 1989 through last year.

1.Grishuk/Platov
2.Usova/Zhulin
3.Klimova/Ponomarenko
4.Krylova/Ovsiannikov
5.Anissina/Peizerat
6.Denkova/Stavisky
7.Delobel/Schoenfelder
8.Domnina/Shabalin
9.Navka/Kostamarov
10.Virtue/Moir

HM (no particular order)
Bourne/Kraatz, Belbin/Agosto, Pechelat/Bourzat, Drobiazko/Vanagas, Dubreuil/Lauzon, Rahkamo/Kokko

judgejudy, your post does make me wonder how the dancers should be ranked and should one area outweigh another (medals vs actual ablility and memorable excellent choreography as opposed to great skating but blah content) and in the case of a team like DomShabs the potential and how good they were on paper. DomShabs were excellent in 2006 and despite less than stellar programs I felt their skating skills were excellent until Max's surgeries and rushed returns to competition.

Looking back, as much as I enjoyed Lobacheva/Averbukh and as fantastic a skater as Ilya was, overall they were not a great team; especially compared to the other top Russian teams. They did have two or three stand out programs but in general Ilya was the star and most of the time outshone Irina. Additionally, Natalia Linichuk seemed to give them programs that didn't seem designed for a team that was looking to move up the standings and win championships. Therefore they just missed my HM list despite two world medals (one championship).

I might have to do some reshuffling.

[mia joy]

What do you mean by "top"? ones who have the most successful careers or just those we think were the best?

Well, I have only followed FS since 2000 and from those 11 years, I would definitely have those on my list:

Drobiazko/Vanagas - the most undermarked team EVER. IMHO they should've had many more medals, including Olympic one from 2002 (if it wasn't for the fall, also from 2006). Definitely the best on ice chemistry I've ever seen.

Anissina/Peizerat - man, they knew how to DANCE. Today's teams look so acrobatic in comparison to them. They had the emotion too.

Delobel/Schoenfelder - pure French elegance and class. Undermarked many times as well, Olympic medal 2006 should have been theirs.

probably Virtue/Moir - as much as I don't like most of their dances, their skills are undeniable. And if so, Davis/White as well - cause IMO the level of those two teams is comparable and D/W are so much more exciting to watch. Plus those crazy twizzles. Plus how dazzling they look on ice together

I definitely WOULD NOT include the following:
Navka/Kostomarov
Domnina/Shabalin
Bourne/Kratz
Belbin/Agosto
Grushina/Goncharov
Denkova/Staviski

in general, the 2003-2006 period was such a terrible time for ice dancing. I enjoyed absolutely noone from the world's top, but Delobel/Schoenfelder (and even though, I only fell for them in 2006). I even stopped following ice dance at some point there, soooo uninteresting. Thank God Drobiazko/Vanagas came back for the Olys, otherwise I could have even not watched it.

[Proustable]

My favourites.

1. Virtue/Moir
2. Klimova/Ponamarenko (would be higher if I could go earlier)
3. Anissina/Piezarat
4. Grishuk/Platov
5. Denkova/Staviski
6. The Duchesnays (would be higher if I could include 1988)
7. Drobiasko/Vanagas (in terms of pure passion, they are the best)
8. Krylova/Ovsiannikov (I might be the only one who loved their jungle dance)
9. Usova/Zhulin AND Domnina/Shabalin (need to see more of the earlier; the latter were great until his injury - that 2007 Tango is so cool it hurts)
10. Torvill/Dean (that Rhumba at Lillehammer!!!!) Okay, that's cheating.

Also Davis/White (need more connection to music and each other), Delobel/Schoenfelder (Don't like their earlier stuff, but their 2006/8 FDs were awesome), Navka/Kostamorov ("Ain't No Sunshine" is awesome), Cappellinni/Lannotte (so gorgeous it hurts)

Definitely NOT: Lobacheva/Averbukh, Fusar-Poli/Margaglio, Belbin/Agosto, Bourne/Kraatz (I wish I understood ice dance then as I do now, I could've saved a lot of useless tsursis), Dubrueil/Lauzon (two great FDs back-to-back at the end of their careers, but lots of stuff I just didn't like)

Haven't seen enough of: Rahkamo/Kokko, Monotte/Lavanchy, others.

[Twilight1]

Not ranking them except my personal top 3...
Virtue & Moir
Klimova & Ponomarenko
Grishuk & Platov

1. Klimova & Ponomarenko
2. Usova & Zhulin
3. Grishuk & Platov
4. Krylova & Ovsiannikov
5. Anissina & Peizerat
6. Bourne & Kraatz
7. Navka & Kostamarov
8. Drobiazko & Vanagas
9. Virtue & Moir
10. Davis & White

HM
Belbin & Agosto
Dubreuil & Lauzon
Delobel & Schoenfelder
Denkova & Staviyski
Duchesnay's

[flutzilla1]

Personal Preference Ranking Only

Klimova & Ponomarenko
Davis & White
Grishuk & Platov
Krylova & Ovsiannikov
Anissina & Peizerat
Bourne & Kraatz
Belbin & Agosto
Virtue & Moir
Kerr & Kerr
Delobel and Schoenfelder

[BellaSTRARSSA!]

1. Klimova & Ponomarenko
2. Virtue & Moir
3. Anissina & Peizerat
4. Grishuk & Platov
5. Usova & Zhulin
6. Krylova & Ovsiannikov
7. Delobel & Schoenfelder
8. Rahkamo & Kokko
9. Drobiazko & Vanagas
10. Denkova & Staviyski

I definitely value clean, pure technique and K&P, V&M, & A&P are the best examples of that since 1989, imo. HM for Delobel & Schoenfelder in this aspect as well.

G&P are problematic because I respect their speed and attack, but they could be sloppy sometimes.

Usova & Zhulin had great technique, but not always the difficulty, and they got lost in the shuffle in 1994 unfortunately.

HM: Torvill & Dean for 1994, Navka & Kostamarov, Belbin & Agosto, Davis & White

[SamuraiK]

01. Grishuk Platov
02. Klimova Ponomarenko
03. Virtue Moir
04. Krylova Ovsiannikov
05. Navka Kostomarov
06. Annisina Peizerat
07. Davis White
08. Uzova Zhulin
09. Denkova Staviski
10. Delobel Schoenfelder

[Jenny81]

Ice dance = Russia

[nuge]

Ice dance = Russia

Quite

Everyone better watch out for B/S I/K

[pani]

Quite

Everyone better watch out for B/S I/K

[VarBar]

1. Virtue/Moir
2. Klimova/Ponomarenko
3. Krylova/Ovsiannikov
4. Grishuk/Platov
5. Anissina/Peizerat
6. Usova/Zhulin
7. Denkova/Staviski
8. Belbin/Agosto
9. Bourne/Kraatz
10. Delobel/Shonfelder

[Cherub721]

I'll try to do one based on medal count, not my preference, and this is all from memory so feel free to correct mistakes... I'm only using Euros as tiebreakers for teams with World titles and Olympic medals whose records are the same.

1. Grishuk & Platov - 2 Olympic golds, 4 world titles
2. Klimova & Ponomarenko - Olympic gold (silver and bronze were before 1989), 3 world titles
3. Anissina & Peizerat - Olympic gold and bronze, 1 world title
4. Navka & Kostomarov - Olympic gold, 2 world titles
5. Virtue & Moir - Olympic gold, 1 world title
6. Usova & Zhulin - Olympic silver and bronze, 1 world title
7. Krylova & Ovsiannikov - Olympic silver, 2 world titles
8. Lobacheva & Averbukh - Olympic silver, 1 world title
9. Duschenays - Olympic silver, 1 world title (ranked below L&A because L&A won Europeans and the Ds never did, and their World medal counts are comparable)
10. Domnina & Shabalin - Olympic bronze, 1 world title, 2 Euro titles
11. Fusar-Poli & Margaglio - Olympic bronze, 1 world title, 1 Euro title

That ends the list of dancers who won Olympic medals AND world titles during this period...
at this point it starts getting tricky with Olympic medalists who never won worlds vs. World champions without Olympic medals - which is better?

Honorable mentions:
Torvill & Dean - Olympic bronze, but Olympic gold and 4 world titles prior to 1989!
Belbin & Agosto - Olympic silver, 4 world medals
Davis & White - Olympic silver, 1 world medal
Grushina & Goncharov - Olympic bronze, 1 world medal
Denkova & Staviyski - 2 world titles
Bourne & Kraatz - 1 world title, and more overall medals than DelSchon
Delobel & Schoenfelder - 1 world title

That was a fun exercise... quite different than what my list would be!!! N&K look rather high, but they do have the hardware - they won it in a weaker field, but you can't really control for that in the stats. V&M can still move up. I ended up with the Duschenays on my list, who weren't on a lot of peoples' lists. I didn't see T&D on anyone's list but they're better known for their pre-89 achievements. Fan favorites like Rahkomo & Kokko and Drobiazko & Vanagas didn't make the list. Delobel & Schoenfelder barely made the cut for honorable mention, but a lot of people had them in the top 10 on preference.

[nuge]

comparable)
Grushina & Goncharov - Olympic bronze, 1 world medal
Denkova & Staviyski - 2 world titles
.

I bet D'S wouldn't swap those two world titles for that olympic bronze which could have been theirs

[Loves_Shizuka]

Looking back, as much as I enjoyed Lobacheva/Averbukh and as fantastic a skater as Ilya was, overall they were not a great team; especially compared to the other top Russian teams. They did have two or three stand out programs but in general Ilya was the star and most of the time outshone Irina. Additionally, Natalia Linichuk seemed to give them programs that didn't seem designed for a team that was looking to move up the standings and win championships. Therefore they just missed my HM list despite two world medals (one championship).

I never, ever, EVER got L/A. Seriously. I was TOTALLY lost on why/how they were liked so much by 02. I'm no teknik, but I never thought they were that good and everything they did seemed totally blah. I always thought of them as a kind of 2nd tier couple, like a 4-6 kinda team, but clearly I know nothing.

[judgejudy27]

If Lobacheva & Averbuhk were from most other countries they would have been a 2nd tier out of the medals regularly kind of couple. If Krylova & Ovsiannikov had not had her back injury and the Russians needed to anoint an unusually unexceptional team to their #1 status L/A probably would have never won a World medal of any color (or maybe one bronze if they got lucky). Even with the backing as Russian #1 they finished out of the medals at the 2000 Worlds and were lucky to eke out their bronze in 2001. It took 3 years as Russian #1 for them to become a major threat at the very top.

[duane]

Honorable mentions:
Torvill & Dean - Olympic bronze, but Olympic gold and 4 world titles prior to 1989!

Thanks Cherub. I've never been a fan of Ice Dancing, but definitely have heard of T&D. I didn't understand why they weren't on the list until reading your post, and realizing that their success occurred prior to 1989!

[Vash01]

I can't rank them, but here are my 10 most favorite ice dance teams since 1989:

1.Klimova-Ponomarenko
2.Usova-Zhulin
3.Virtue-Moir
4.Davis-White
5.Grishchuk-Platov
6.Krylova-Ovssianikov
7.Anissina-Peizerat
8.Navka-Kostomarov
9.Domnina-Shabalin
10.Denkova-Staviyski