Good enough to medal at worlds or Olympics, but never did- who are these skaters?

[Moka-Ananas]

My list:

Alexander Abt
Andrei Griazev
Ilia Klimkin
Sergei Dobrin (IMHO he had great potential, he's coaching now but still has all the triples and even a quad sal and toe)
Viktoria Volchkova
Sarah Meier
Lang/Tchernyshev
Tomas Verner (he had his chances, blew them)
Susanna Pöykiö
Kerr/Kerr
Julia Sebestyen
Elene Gedevanishvili (don't think she'll win a Worlds or Olympics medal in this life)

[Vash01]

Why is Sergei Dobrin not competing anymore?

[Katarzyna]

Why is Sergei Dobrin not competing anymore?

Injuries. If I recall it right even some hallux valgus problems. Some skaters have great talent, but just not the body that can sustain elite figure skating. : Actually Russia had many promising skaters that time but almost all of them had to quit at some point because of ongoing injury troubles - Alexander Uspenski is another one that comes to my mind.

[misskarne]

My top pick for men, however, is Alexander Abt: Some injuries, which definitely hampered him from exploitation of technical capabilities combined with the most awful timing I’ve ever seen in skating (e.g. competing against Plushy & Yagudin at their peak during the quad era of 6.0 system).

I think it was Alexei Mishin who once referred to Abt as "a bright star born too early or too late".

[Loves_Shizuka]

In case of a poll, my first place for ladies would, however, go to Viktoria Volchkova: like Josee Chouinard nerves again. She had a great jumping technique but most times couldn’t transfer it to competition (tough her body type was certainly not helpful for keeping together on the jump department under pressure). I remember her coach, Victor Kudriavtzev, mentioning in an interview how often she became sick before / during competition because of nerves. She also suffered from bad timing – when she was at her peak, the Russian ladies team was really strong (Slutskaya/Butyrskaya/Sokolova), so she was usually No. 3 on the team. Later on injuries started to set in (and some really stupid ones, like infected blisters, and so on). After all a pretty bad accumulation of career hampering factors! I’m actually surprized no one mentioned her yet!

She was one of the first names that came to mind, but I wasn't sure if we were counting Euro medallists in this thread or not. But if not, then definitely her. I absolutely loved her jump technique and her statuesque style. Sounds like she really suffered from nerves and bad injuries - I think her chest might have caused her problems too I also thought she often looked quite slow; nonetheless I thought her very stylish.

[Moka-Ananas]

Why is Sergei Dobrin not competing anymore?

He also said in a recent interview that he realized at some point that he did no longer "profit" from competing professionally.
"His" generation of skaters (he named Lutai and Griazev for instance) were taught to skate with the old judging system and never were able to fully adapt to the new one and then it was too late.
So he turned to coaching and so far he's doing a really good job. He coaches at a rink somewhere in Siberia and his pupils are winning medals left and right. He seems very happy now and he still has all his jumps, it's amazing.

[Philly2034]

Caroline Zhang

[Simone411]

Definitely a tough decision IMO because there has been so much quality skating I've seen or observed throughout the years. In regards to Ice Dancing, Kerr & Kerr comes to mind, and another fabulous dance couple that I love just as much as Torvill & Dean.

Elizabeth Punsalan & Jarod Swallow at 1998 Worlds.

[Vagabond]

Caroline Zhang

You're kidding, right?

[Sasha'sSpins]

Definitely a tough decision IMO because there has been so much quality skating I've seen or observed throughout the years. In regards to Ice Dancing, Kerr & Kerr comes to mind, and another fabulous dance couple that I love just as much as Torvill & Dean.

Elizabeth Punsalan & Jarod Swallow at 1998 Worlds.

^^^
THIS!! I'll always believe they deserved at least one World and one Olympic medal in their career. But politics wasn't on their side in their day.