Top skaters of these particular quads

[vanillashake]

On another site there is a topic of who is the top skater of each quad since 1980 or something. I am not interested in doing all of them since I think most of them are fairly obvious, but of the debateable ones who do you think as the top skater of each quad. These are the uncertain ones I think.

Pairs-

1993-1994: Do you give it to Gordeeva & Grinkov for their dominant 93-94 season. Or give it to a team who was strong both seasons like Brassuer & Eisler or Shishkova & Naumov.

1995-1998: Who on earth is it.

2007-2010: Is it Savchenko & Szolkowy or Shen & Zhao

2011-2014: Is it Savchenko & Szolkowy or Volosozhar & Trankov

2015-2018: Is it Savchenko & Massot or Sui & Han.

The pairs has by far the most debateable ones.


Men-

1995-1998: Is it Stojko or Kulik.

2007-2010: Is it Takahashi, Lysacek, or Joubert.



Ladies:

1989-1992: Is it Yamaguchi or Ito. On paper Yamaguchi by far but this might be a rare case pure logic overcomes paper.

1995-1998: Is it Kwan or Lipinski.

1999-2002: Is it Slutskaya or Kwan.

2003-2006: Is it Arakawa, Cohen, or Slutskaya.

2011-2014: Is it Kostner or Kim.



Dance:

2007-2010: Is it Delobel & Schoenfelder, Domnina & Shabalin, or Virtue & Moir.

2015-2018: Is it Papadakis & Cizeron or Virtue & Moir.

 

[Jeschke]

For pairs:

1995-1998: It's Wötzel/Steuer for me; most constant (in results), bad luck with accident hitting into Olympics, still went out with bronze.

2007-2010: Is the only quad I would give to Aliona; they were clearly on the rise, had momentum and just not the 'luck' on their side in Vamcouver.

2011-2014: It's a tie for me, bujt as Olympics count more, I would give it in the end to V/T over S/M.

2015-2018: Is it Savchenko & Massot or Sui & Han.

On a fair not, Duhamel/Radford won 2 world titles and an olympic medal in that quad; they should at least be in debate for this. (this said by me )

 

[vanillashake]

True, I guess Duhamel & Radford could be added as a third contender for 2015-2018, although they would not be my pick.

Come to think of it yes I agree Woetzel & Steuer are the best choice for 95-98. World gold, world silver, European title, Grand Prix final win, Olympic medalists. Kazahkova & Dmitriev only have on world medal, a bronze, and could not even win a Grand Prix final, so I can not give it to them. Berezhnaya & Sikhardlidze had only one good year, so not them either. If Eltsova & Bushkov did not bomb at the Olympics they would have a good case.

I think my choices of the tough calls ultimately go.

89-92 ladies: Yamaguchi over Ito. I feel I am not being objective if I give it to Ito with the disparity in results. And lets face it, if Kristi quitted pairs sooner it would probably be even more decisive since she had poor results all of 89-90 due to her focus on pairs before she quit. Although if Ito did not have all her accidents and injuries in 91-92 it might have been her anyway.

95-98 ladies: Lipinski over Kwan. This one is really tough.

99-2002 ladies: Slutskaya over Kwan. This one is still close, but was easier than 95-98 for me.

2003-2006 ladies: Cohen. I just can't feel comfortable going with Arakawa when she had 2 good competitions all quad, and a bunch of 8th and 9th places at worlds and poor grand prix final showings otherwise. I thought of going with Slutskaya, especialy with her super dominant 2004-2005 season. It was only between Slutskaya and Cohen for me. If Cohen had just won one World or Olympic gold this would be a super easy call.

2011-2014 ladies: Kim. I thought of going with Kostner since she medaled at every Worlds and Olympics this quad. I gave it to Kim ultimately since she beat Kostner all 3 times they met in Worlds/Olympics. Plus when Kim is basically the unofficial real winner of the 2014 Olympic Gold anyway as that was the biggest farce result in skating history, although Kostner was also robbed of a silver or even gold medal there too.

1993-1994 pairs: Brasseur & Eisler. I went with them since I don't want to give even a half quad to someone who did only 1 season, and they beat Shishkova & Naumov everywhere minus the 94 worlds. Plus Shishkova & Naumov could not even win a Europeans in either 93 or 94.

2007-2010 pairs: Shen & Zhao. I have a hard time giving it to Savchenko & Szolkowy when they could not beat Shen & Zhao even once, and did not even really challenge them. Which is different from Virtue & Moir vs Papadakis & Cizeron which I will get into later.

2011-2014 pairs: Volosozhar & Trankov. Winning Europeans 3 times is enough to cement it with their 2 Olympic Gold (1 the lesser value team gold), and a World and Grand Prix final win. Even with S&S winning 3 worlds to their 1 this quad.

2015-2018 pairs: Savchenko & Massot. Barely over Sui & Han.

95-98 men: Kulik. I hate Stojko so much, so I pick Kulik. Or maybe Eldredge who medaled at all 4 worlds. This is the only one I admit I am openly not being very objective on since I hate Stojko and his skating and constant judging favortism so much, sorry.

2007-2010: Lysacek. Joubert bombed at the Olympics so badly I have to go with Lysacek I guess.

2007-2010 dance: Virtue & Moir. I thought of going with Domnina & Shabalin but then I realized they not only won only bronze at the Games, but they only won 1 world medal, their gold in 2009. It has to be Virtue & Moir despite their being clearly behind both D&S teams until the final season of the quad, the most important one.

2015-2018 dance: Papadakis & Cizeron. Taking the whole quad into account it is about a tie. Olympic Gold is worth about 4 world titles, and Olympic silver worth about 1. So Virtue & Moir have basically 5 world titles and Papdakis & Cizeron 4. P&C have a world silver, Grand Prix final win and numerous Grand Prix final medals, and 4 European titles on top of that though. As I said above they atleast both regularly challenged and beat Virtue & Moir which Savchenko & Szolkowy could never do with Shen & Zhao. So I go with them since V&M skated only 15 months of the quad.

 

[zigzig]

Ladies:

1989-1992: Is it Yamaguchi or Ito. On paper Yamaguchi by far but this might be a rare case pure logic overcomes paper.

YAMAGUCHI

1995-1998: Is it Kwan or Lipinski.

KWAN

1999-2002: Is it Slutskaya or Kwan.

KWAN

2003-2006: Is it Arakawa, Cohen, or Slutskaya.

COHEN

2011-2014: Is it Kostner or Kim.

KIM

 

[vanillashake]

I am guessing most will wind up picking Ito for 89-92 due to her popularity. I love Ito, so I won't complain.

 

[bardtoob]

I am guessing most will wind up picking Ito for 89-92 due to her popularity. I love Ito, so I won't complain.

Some will pick Ito because she was the first female to do a 7 triple LP and the first female to do an 8 triple LP.

 

[vanillashake]

Some will pick Ito because she was the first female to do a 7 triple LP and the first female to do an 8 triple LP.

True. I guess my point is in some cases you don't always have to go with just best results which would definitely be Yamaguchi, but Ito was more revolutionary to the sport.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I think Lipinski gets a bad rap because she was on the scene for ever so briefly. (And, yes, some people thought she wasnt artistic enough. I, however, did.)

95 -98 On paper Kwan...but if I were to press the matter for just a portion of that quad then Lipinski.

89 -92 As far as Ito and Yamaguchi... no contest at all Yamaguchi... With Ito it was only technical.... Yamaguchi jumps were less powerful but verrrrryyyy consistent... Artistry +100 over Ito.

 

[vanillashake]

I thought Ito was very artistic, and I thought Kristi was overrated technically with her tiny little jumps and bad flutzing. JMO I remember her making 89 worlds over a clean Harding back before Kristi had any artistry so the judges judged Kristi's jumps as more powerful and better quality than Harding which is crazy.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I thought Ito was very artistic, and I thought Kristi was overrated technically

We can certainly agree to disagree here. Majorly. lol

 

[vanillashake]

We can certainly agree to disagree here. Majorly. lol

She wasn't a traditional "pretty" or elegant skater who was super polished like Yamaguchi, Kwan, or Cohen but she had her own form of artistry which was unique, refreshing, and often underappreciated. Still she was far more artistic than Bonaly or Harding. I would even say Kerrigan, although most would disagree. I never got the praising of Kerrigan's artistry and found her stilted and awkward.

 

[bardtoob]

I never got the praising of Kerrigan's artistry and found her stilted and awkward.

Kerrigan was just very nice to look at in still photos. In motion, she was athletic but artistically awkward.

 

[vanillashake]

Kerrigan was just very nice to look at in still photos. In motion, she was athletic but artistically awkward.

ITA, which is why I never got the reputation for her being such an artistic skater, which even the judges believed. Contrary to what many believe she did not lose the 94 Olympic Gold to Baiul on artistic scores, she and Baiul each lost 2 judges by the artistic score, and Kerrigan won 2 by the technical, and Baiul ridiculously and inexplicably won 3 by the technical score which is how she won. And bloated artistic scores saved her medals often with poor skates, particularly the 92 Olympics and 92 worlds.