Best spinners in skating

[centerstage01]

Inspired by the spirals thread, who do you consider the best spinners? Any discipline is up for discussion.

Looking for speed, centering, flexibility, and (seeming) ease.

Loved this program from Lucinda Ruh. (And I think it would be perfect if Alissa Czisny would skate to this music. It seems tailor made for the two best ladies spinners in the sport.)

[l'etoile]

Aside from Ruh, I can't think of anyone better than Czisny. Mirai's spins used to blow me away but lately I think she should find her mojo again.

Oh, oh, oh! You can't also rule out Stephan Lambiel and we all know why

[iarispiralllyof]

lucinda ruh, stephane lambiel, sasha cohen, mirai nagasu, caroline zhang and alissa czisny

mao asada has beautiful positions but isn't very fast

btw, that lucinda ruh program in the first post features at the end my favorite scratch spin ever. seriously! I wish COP would change so that scratch spins would be worthy of inclusion again, and they could still garner points as long as the skaters could execute them with amazing speed and centering. they have always been (imo) one of the most amazing elements of figure skating, especially as an ending move when the music swells toward the end.

and I love lucinda's freaky head move at the end of her scratch spin it almost brings to mind a sped up version of linda blair in the exorcist

[l'etoile]

lucinda ruh, stephane lambiel, sasha cohen, mirai nagasu, caroline zhang and alissa czisny

mao asada has beautiful positions but isn't very fast

btw, that lucinda ruh program in the first post features at the end my favorite scratch spin ever. seriously! I wish COP would change so that scratch spins would be worthy of inclusion again, and they could still garner points as long as the skaters could execute them with amazing speed and centering. they have always been (imo) one of the most amazing elements of figure skating, especially as an ending move when the music swells toward the end.

and I love lucinda's freaky head move at the end of her scratch spin it almost brings to mind a sped up version of linda blair in the exorcist

I can't believe I left out Sasha

[Vagabond]

Looking for speed, centering, flexibility, and (seeming) ease.

In other words, Ronnie Robertson.

(If you aren't a North American of a certain age, I encourage you to watch the whole video. It is a fascinating glimpse into the past. )

Until Lucinda Ruh established herself as the greatest spinner of all time, Scott Davis was considered by many the best since Robertson.

Others thought it was Nathalie Krieg, shown here as a thirteen-year-old competing at Skate America.

Stéphane Lambiel is probably the best since Ruh. Or maybe it's Alissa Czisny. (The spins start at about 2:15 on each of these videos.)

Here are three skaters who might not be quite on the same level as these five, but they could do some very memorable spins:

Denise Biellmann shows how it is done.

We must caution the viewers at home not to try to do what Shawn Sawyer does here.

And an up-and-comer, Courtney Hicks.

[gkelly]

We can't omit Nathalie Krieg

[Vash01]

Julia Lipnitskaya- still developing, but I like her spins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DlQqRP6jZ4

Oksana Baiul was a very good spinner too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6zKfZVurJY

[Vash01]

Emanuel Sandhu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxqwVCOk0Uo

[briancoogaert]

Alissa Czisny is actually the very best. This is impressive, the speed, the centering...
She was thie only one to get big applause from the crowd at last Trophee Bompard for each of her spins.

[ks777]

Lucinda Ruh by far the best spinner.

[Ares]

I'm not a huge fan of the super fast spinners like Lucinda and Alissa. A lot of the time they are going so fast it's hard to truly appreciate the position before they are on to the next one.

Sasha had the perfect combo of speed and wonderful positions.

[love_skate2011]

does this include the fastest spinners ?
fastest hyperextended i spin would be Julia Lipnitskaya

also for me the best spinner today is Alissa Czisny

[paskatefan]

Lucinda, Alissa

Todd, Stephane, Scott Davis

[smarts1]

Come on guys... We need more votes for Natalie Krieg! Personally I think she's better than Lucinda...

[~tapdancer~]

Paul Wylie.

[Vash01]

Come on guys... We need more votes for Natalie Krieg! Personally I think she's better than Lucinda...

Krieg was phenomenal. Wasn't she the one who set a record for spinning for the longest time? My brother has no interest in FS but I remember that he mentioned her as a great spinner when he saw one of the Olympics (98? 2002?) on TV. I saw her program at one Olympics and was hoping to see more of it, but she seemed to disappear from competitions and I did not see her again. I think we are not seeing many votes for her because she is not as familiar as Lucinda, who skated much longer and in the US too (was it with SOI?)

[Vagabond]

At the start of the first clip in gkelly's post, someone (Terry Gannon, I think) says that Krieg did a spin that lasted 3 minutes, 22 seconds. Then the other commentator says that it was in a competitive interpretive program, and most of the program was one spin. I wonder if there's any video of it.

[smarts1]

In other words, Ronnie Robertson.

(If you aren't a North American of a certain age, I encourage you to watch the whole video. It is a fascinating glimpse into the past. )

Until Lucinda Ruh established herself as the greatest spinner of all time, Scott Davis was considered by many the best since Robertson.

Others thought it was Nathalie Krieg, shown here as a thirteen-year-old competing at Skate America.

Stéphane Lambiel is probably the best since Ruh. Or maybe it's Alissa Czisny. (The spins start at about 2:15 on each of these videos.)

Here are three skaters who might not be quite on the same level as these five, but they could do some very memorable spins:

Denise Biellmann shows how it is done.

We must caution the viewers at home not to try to do what Shawn Sawyer does here.

And an up-and-comer, Courtney Hicks.

... Courtney? Her spins are all mediocre minus the one spin she invented, the twicks spin...

[smarts1]

Krieg was phenomenal. Wasn't she the one who set a record for spinning for the longest time? My brother has no interest in FS but I remember that he mentioned her as a great spinner when he saw one of the Olympics (98? 2002?) on TV. I saw her program at one Olympics and was hoping to see more of it, but she seemed to disappear from competitions and I did not see her again. I think we are not seeing many votes for her because she is not as familiar as Lucinda, who skated much longer and in the US too (was it with SOI?)

It was the 1994 Olympics. When two triple jumps were required in the SP starting in 1995, Natalie faded away from the skating world because of her jump inconsistencies. Really a shame cuz her spinning ability was amazing. And Lucinda set the record for most revolutions on one foot (it was something like 110 revolutions). I have no idea who had the record before that.

[Vash01]

Naomi Nari Nam was a very good spinner. Watch this 1999 US nationals LP, especially toward the end ( start watching at 2:40 for the spins), but the whole program is gorgeous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S7EEHAM6nU