Best at school figures?

[skatemommy]

Brian Boitano was also very good at loops. His coach, Linda Leaver went onto the ice to take a picture of his tracings of his last championship that included figures.

[bardtoob]

I heard that, oddly enough, Rudy Galindo was good at figures for his age before focusing on pairs. He won Jr Worlds in 1987 over Todd Eldredge and Yuri Tsimbaliuk, although both supposedly had more ice time.

[skateboy]

There's a video somewhere on YouTube of Scott Hamilton doing a figure. Afterward there is a closeup of the actual tracings. It's practically perfect.

Trixi Schuba got marks that were miles ahead of any of her competitiors, and deservedly so. Toller Cranston said that, if anything, Trixi was UNDERMARKED in figures. She was that good.

[skatesindreams]

There's a video somewhere on YouTube of Scott Hamilton doing a figure. Afterward there is a closeup of the actual tracings. It's practically perfect.

Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU9Hy1upUr0

[skateboy]

Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU9Hy1upUr0

Thanks, that's the one!

[lulu]

Going slightly on a tangent here, but one thing that always interested me about Trixie Schuba is that the conventional wisdom seems to be that she was a less than stellar free skater(at least in comparison to her compulsories), yet I'd imagine that since she was so good in figures, that her edges & basic skating skills in her free skate would have been excellent.

[floskate]

Going slightly on a tangent here, but one thing that always interested me about Trixie Schuba is that the conventional wisdom seems to be that she was a less than stellar free skater(at least in comparison to her compulsories), yet I'd imagine that since she was so good in figures, that her edges & basic skating skills in her free skate would have been excellent.

You can judge for yourself here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTwv03_sufg

[briancoogaert]

Going slightly on a tangent here, but one thing that always interested me about Trixie Schuba is that the conventional wisdom seems to be that she was a less than stellar free skater(at least in comparison to her compulsories), yet I'd imagine that since she was so good in figures, that her edges & basic skating skills in her free skate would have been excellent.

It's not the same kind of work. You can be excellent at figures but having awful and bad crossovers, spins, jumps...
In the case of Schuba, I think she was not particularly good at spinning, nor jumping. And she was not elegant, at all. That's why many people say she is a poor free skater.

[jcopper]

If you go to Google and search for this, you'll come up with the videos on Youtube of Schuba:

beatrix-schuba OR beatrice-schuba OR trixi-schuba OR trixie-schuba

At the left, you can choose videos and you'll get the list. The second, fourth, and fifth from the top are the best examples of Schuba in amateur competition.

[skateboy]

It's not the same kind of work. You can be excellent at figures but having awful and bad crossovers, spins, jumps...
In the case of Schuba, I think she was not particularly good at spinning, nor jumping. And she was not elegant, at all. That's why many people say she is a poor free skater.

From what I've seen, Trixie's free skating looked labored. As for elements, her spins were the real weak link. The jumps were decent and executed on correct edges.

She actually had a pleasant program in 1968, but she was thinner then, than when she won the Olympics. I think, with some decent choreography, she might have been a more attractive free skater.

[sbanet]

She actually had a pleasant program in 1968, but she was thinner then, than when she won the Olympics. I think, with some decent choreography, she might have been a more attractive free skater.

Here is a svelte, tiffed and turned out Trixie Schuba circa 1974, skating for Holiday on Ice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxS9h...eature=related

[leapfrogonice]

Awesome school figures clearly, but there is a YouTube clip with JoJo Starbuck commenting on how Trixie skated her free skate during 1971 Worlds ... wearing a visible wrist watch

[ElinorD]

Don't forget Jill Trenary! She had excellent school figures. And I think I recall that Alexander Fedeev was the master of figures at the time. I remember in '84 - '88 era, he was somewhat expected to win the figures portion of the competition.

[briancoogaert]

In France, Jean-Christophe Simond and Fernand Fedronic were really good at figures.