ldec
Well-Known Member
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- 140
Ok, in my quest to cover the careers of great skaters from the past who never were, I would like to address the more experienced fans here and start a separate thread to present what is, in my opinion, one of the saddest career derailments in figure skating ever.
Remember Ilia Klimkin? He was a very promising Russian skater of the late 90s and 00s. With immense talent he seemed like he could have had it all with a little bit of luck - he had a great jumping ability, marvelous spins for his time, and very unconventional and intricate choreography which left people talking. He also had wonderful musicality and carriage, decent skating skills, and in terms of transitions seemed to have been ahead of his time. Maybe he wouldn’t have been OGM, but he had all the chances ahead of him to be a major contender and win a few World medals or even an Olympic one.
Yet, Klimkin won insultingly little during his career - his biggest senior achievement was a bronze medal at the Europeans in 2004, and a couple of grand prix medals.
Some details on his career (under spoiler because it is a bit long):
What memories and impressions do you have of Klimkin’s skating?
It boggles my mind to no end why do such talented skaters get thrown away like this with their potential so unceremoniously wasted? Is there something that prevented him from achieving high results that I forgot to mention here?
Do you think the derailment described above could have been prevented in any way? Different coach, maybe? Who could have been a good match for him?
What do you think could it have been had he had the chance to keep the upward trend and have a normal career in 2004 and beyond - no injuries, no withdrawals, no missed seasons, etc.?
To finish off, here are a few of his more memorable programs:
2001 Grand Prix Final - Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun FS
2002 Europeans - Petrushka FS - (ok, definitely not his best skate but the program is still great choreographically)
2002 NHK Trophy - short program
2002 NHK Trophy - Free Skate
2004 Europeans - Swan Lake SP
2004 Europeans - Free Skate
Remember Ilia Klimkin? He was a very promising Russian skater of the late 90s and 00s. With immense talent he seemed like he could have had it all with a little bit of luck - he had a great jumping ability, marvelous spins for his time, and very unconventional and intricate choreography which left people talking. He also had wonderful musicality and carriage, decent skating skills, and in terms of transitions seemed to have been ahead of his time. Maybe he wouldn’t have been OGM, but he had all the chances ahead of him to be a major contender and win a few World medals or even an Olympic one.
Yet, Klimkin won insultingly little during his career - his biggest senior achievement was a bronze medal at the Europeans in 2004, and a couple of grand prix medals.
Some details on his career (under spoiler because it is a bit long):
Competing in the shadows of greats like Plushenko, Yagudin and Alexander Abt, he would often fall victim to his nerves as evident by his inconsistent performances both at Russian Nationals and international competitions in the late 90s - early 00s. After he finally made the Euro/World team in 2003, his long-time coach who had nurtured his talent and created his skating style from scratch, died following a long battle with cancer.
Klimkin joined Viktor Kudriavtsev afterwards (who has coached in the past Butyrskaya, Ilia Kulik, Elena Sokolova, Viktoria Volchkova, etc.); just as he was starting to gain competitive momentum in 2004, his injuries mysteriously started piling up: first, he developed a very serious problem with the achilles tendon, which in turn caused more injuries (one of which forced him out of 2004 Worlds), and finally required surgery. It is worth to note that Klimkin has been quoted saying that Kudriavtsev often dismissed his injuries and pain complaints, either accusing him of lying and being lazy, or being too nervous and lacking confidence, or something along those lines, and pushed him to train and compete like that.
After a year-long hiatus (he missed worlds in his hometown in 2005), he managed to return to the big sport in late 2005 but was never the same skater again, and judges quickly dropped him to the ranks of second tier skaters. He managed to develop some jump consistency which he so direly needed earlier but at the cost of everything else - his programs were empty and bland, not fitting to his strengths or CoP, artistically he had regressed, and the overall packaging resembled a caricature. He managed to compete at the Olympics and Worlds in 2006 but didn’t place high. After that, he kept having injury problems and continued to skate very poorly at competitions until his ultimate retirement from skating in 2007.
And he is universally forgotten now.
A very cruel end for such a wonderful skater. And, if you ever watched Klimkin, I am sure we can agree that no matter if you liked his skating or not, no matter if you think he deserved to win more or not, it is very unfortunate when a skater gets their career destroyed in such a painful way and is forced to retire without ever having reached their potential.
Klimkin joined Viktor Kudriavtsev afterwards (who has coached in the past Butyrskaya, Ilia Kulik, Elena Sokolova, Viktoria Volchkova, etc.); just as he was starting to gain competitive momentum in 2004, his injuries mysteriously started piling up: first, he developed a very serious problem with the achilles tendon, which in turn caused more injuries (one of which forced him out of 2004 Worlds), and finally required surgery. It is worth to note that Klimkin has been quoted saying that Kudriavtsev often dismissed his injuries and pain complaints, either accusing him of lying and being lazy, or being too nervous and lacking confidence, or something along those lines, and pushed him to train and compete like that.
After a year-long hiatus (he missed worlds in his hometown in 2005), he managed to return to the big sport in late 2005 but was never the same skater again, and judges quickly dropped him to the ranks of second tier skaters. He managed to develop some jump consistency which he so direly needed earlier but at the cost of everything else - his programs were empty and bland, not fitting to his strengths or CoP, artistically he had regressed, and the overall packaging resembled a caricature. He managed to compete at the Olympics and Worlds in 2006 but didn’t place high. After that, he kept having injury problems and continued to skate very poorly at competitions until his ultimate retirement from skating in 2007.
And he is universally forgotten now.
A very cruel end for such a wonderful skater. And, if you ever watched Klimkin, I am sure we can agree that no matter if you liked his skating or not, no matter if you think he deserved to win more or not, it is very unfortunate when a skater gets their career destroyed in such a painful way and is forced to retire without ever having reached their potential.
What memories and impressions do you have of Klimkin’s skating?
It boggles my mind to no end why do such talented skaters get thrown away like this with their potential so unceremoniously wasted? Is there something that prevented him from achieving high results that I forgot to mention here?
Do you think the derailment described above could have been prevented in any way? Different coach, maybe? Who could have been a good match for him?
What do you think could it have been had he had the chance to keep the upward trend and have a normal career in 2004 and beyond - no injuries, no withdrawals, no missed seasons, etc.?
To finish off, here are a few of his more memorable programs:
2001 Grand Prix Final - Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun FS
2002 Europeans - Petrushka FS - (ok, definitely not his best skate but the program is still great choreographically)
2002 NHK Trophy - short program
2002 NHK Trophy - Free Skate
2004 Europeans - Swan Lake SP
2004 Europeans - Free Skate
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