What are your favourite lesser-known / obscure skaters?

[Areski]

They can be contemporary ones that are not top of the top or those from the past.

I would like to mention Czech figure skater Lenka Kulovana, she competed until 1998.


The quality of the video is not high but here in '97 Euro Champs she executed 3toe-3toe combination at the time where 3-3 combinations were few and far between among Ladies. I've always liked her carriage and her balletic arms on full display, she was such a pleasant, graceful skater to watch. Such a shame that she was only capable of two kinds of triples (toeloop and salchow), loop infrequently years prior to 98 I think. Also it is unusual to see a skater performing 3-3 while not possessing any of these more difficult solo jumps.

Lenka Kulovaná CZE - 1997 European Championships SP

SP : 4th, LP : 12th, 11th place Jan. 21st-25th, POPB, Paris, FRA

www.youtube.com

 

[Orm Irian]

Cool idea for a thread! I was always very fond of Danielle O'Brien and Greg Merriman, who were Australian ice dancers in the 2000s. Most memorably, they did a very well-researched and culturally courteous (and accurate) program representing the Aboriginal Australian culture of their region at the same time as D/S were presenting their...thing in the OD, but because they were so low-ranked, theirs passed largely unnoticed despite being very good in its own right and a much better illlustration of what that OD was meant to be.

Danielle O'Brien & Greg Merriman OD

O'Brien & Merriman skate their original dance at the 2010 Four Continents Championships in Korea

www.youtube.com

 

[Plusdinfo]

There are so many names one could write. Here's one, since she's obscure compared to her sister: Karen Kwan.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Ladies

Junko Yaginuma (JPN)
Yukina Ota (JPN)
Alice Sue Claeys (BEL)
Sydne Vogel (USA)
Jeri Campbell (USA)
Jane Bugaeva (USA)
Angela Derochie (CAN)
Miriam Manzano (AUS)
Annie Bellemare (CAN)
Linda Carbonetto (CAN)
Tanya Bingert (CAN)
Stacey Pensgen (USA)
Lisa Bell (USA)
Amy D'Entremont (USA)
Alizah Allen (USA)
Zuzanna Szwed (POL)
Jill Frost (USA)
Katherine Adams (USA)

Men
Scott Smith (USA)
Fedor Andreev (CAN)
Jayson Dénommée (CAN)
Matthew Hall (CAN)
Gordon Forbes (CAN)
Fumio Igarashi (JPN)
Falko Kerstin (GDR)
Doug Mattis (USA)

Dance
Megan Wing / Aaron Lowe (CAN)

Pairs
Elizabeth Putnam / Sean Wirtz (CAN)
Shelby Lyons / Brian Wells (USA)
Jennifer Heurlin / Brian Frederiksen (USA)
Nicole Schirotta / Gregory Schirotta (USA)

I'm sure I'll think of more at a later stage.

 

[Jot the Dot Dot]

Fleur Maxwell, of Luxembourg. How her eyes sparkled in the midst of such a beautiful program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzcydOuanMQ

 

[I❤️Marina&Sergai]

They can be contemporary ones that are not top of the top or those from the past.

I would like to mention Czech figure skater Lenka Kulovana, she competed until 1998.


The quality of the video is not high but here in '97 Euro Champs she executed 3toe-3toe combination at the time where 3-3 combinations were few and far between among Ladies. I've always liked her carriage and her balletic arms on full display, she was such a pleasant, graceful skater to watch. Such a shame that she was only capable of two kinds of triples (toeloop and salchow), loop infrequently years prior to 98 I think. Also it is unusual to see a skater performing 3-3 while not possessing any of these more difficult solo jumps.

Lenka Kulovaná CZE - 1997 European Championships SP

SP : 4th, LP : 12th, 11th place Jan. 21st-25th, POPB, Paris, FRA

www.youtube.com

I remember her, such a lovely skater.

 

[millyskate]

I used to love Lenka Kulovana too! And what a cool name also.
Mikkeline Kierkgaard made an impression, and hilarious I used to have a soft spot for Zoe Jones when she was a singles skater! Little did I know that one day she'd make a return.
Szabolcs Vidrai could be quite the voidy entertainer! And I always wish Neil Wilson had got to compete more. He was a pretty good spinner.

Neil Wilson GRB - 1999 European Championships SP

QA : 8th, SP : 13th, LP : 13th, 13th place Jan. 24th-31st, Prague, CZE

www.youtube.com

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

I used to love Lenka Kulovana too! And what a cool name also.
Mikkeline Kierkgaard made an impression, and hilarious I used to have a soft spot for Zoe Jones when she was a singles skater! Little did I know that one day she'd make a return.
Szabolcs Vidrai could be quite the voidy entertainer! And I always wish Neil Wilson had got to compete more. He was a pretty good spinner.

Neil Wilson GRB - 1999 European Championships SP

QA : 8th, SP : 13th, LP : 13th, 13th place Jan. 24th-31st, Prague, CZE

www.youtube.com

The 1999 European Championships were a fabulous competition. So many new and obscure skaters on the scene.

Kaja Hanevold from Norway skated an excellent short program as well.

Kaja Hanevold NOR - 1999 European Championships SP

QB : 11th, SP : 13th, LP : 17th, 16th place Jan. 24th-31st, Prague, CZE

www.youtube.com

 

[paskatefan]

We saw Viktor Pfeiffer (Austria) @ the Liberty Summer Competition (now the Philadelphia International Summer Competition) in the early 2010's, & were quite impressed with him. Glad he's coaching students in Delaware.

 

[antmanb]

I used to love Lenka Kulovana too! And what a cool name also.
Mikkeline Kierkgaard made an impression, and hilarious I used to have a soft spot for Zoe Jones when she was a singles skater! Little did I know that one day she'd make a return.
Szabolcs Vidrai could be quite the voidy entertainer! And I always wish Neil Wilson had got to compete more. He was a pretty good spinner.

Neil Wilson GRB - 1999 European Championships SP

QA : 8th, SP : 13th, LP : 13th, 13th place Jan. 24th-31st, Prague, CZE

www.youtube.com

Neil's Wikipedia page says that he skated until 2004 worlds in Dortmund which IIRC was the last worlds to use 6.0. I'm not sure if Neil would have received GP invitations or skated under the COP properly but I always wondered what he would have done spin wise under a more mature COP. Spins under 6.0, and particularly the men, were perfunctory at best so Neil's stood out.

 

[Plusdinfo]

We saw Viktor Pfeiffer (Austria) @ the Liberty Summer Competition (now the Philadelphia International Summer Competition) in the early 2010's, & were quite impressed with him. Glad he's coaching students in Delaware.

Viktor was a great performer. I remember a competition when he had some wardrobe malfunction like slicing the fabric around his shins. He did something like pull up that pant leg at the end of his program before deciding to pull up the other so they were even, all with a huge grin.

 

[Finnice]

We saw Viktor Pfeiffer (Austria) @ the Liberty Summer Competition (now the Philadelphia International Summer Competition) in the early 2010's, & were quite impressed with him. Glad he's coaching students in Delaware.

One of my favourites, too! Such a sofistication.

 

[Frau Muller]

Before Eteri’s gals there was...JILL FROST! Loved her Cats program, skated in a onesie. In the early 1980s, so ahead of her time. She was a contemporary of Canada’s Tracy Wainman, who I also admired.

 

[aliceanne]

From the past: Shepherd Clark, Lisa Marie Allen, Angela Greenhow, Viktoria Volchkova, Julia Sebesteyan, Nakari Nakano.

More recently: Sean Sawyer, Tsurskaya, Marin Honda, Joseph Phan, Liam Firus. Ice dancers Stiegler/Majorov.

 

[Areski]

Also I would add Jamal Othman (Switzerland)
& Alisa Lozko (Russia)

for their spins

And Sean Rabbitt for his performing skills .

 

[Areski]

Before Eteri’s gals there was...JILL FROST! Loved her Cats program, skated in a onesie. In the early 1980s, so ahead of her time. She was a contemporary of Canada’s Tracy Wainman, who I also admired.

Apparently onesies are forbidden because of Katarina Witt!

 

[Frau Muller]

Apparently onesies are forbidden because of Katarina Witt!

How? I never heard that. Katarina wore unusual costumes but I don’t recall her wearing unitards/onesies in the 80s.

They’re perfectly acceptable now.

 

[MacMadame]

The Katerina Witt rule said that Ladies costumes had to have a skirt. It was because of her Showgirl costume that had a bit of a feather boa type of thing around her ass that didn't cover much.

 

[gk_891]

In pairs, I used to think Olena Bilousivska (or in Russian Elena Belousovskaya) was a fairly talented skater. She went through so many partners though and never really broke through the ranks. When it comes to Ukrainian ladies pairs skaters, she was kind of like a precursor to Julia Obertas, Alona Savchenko, Tatiana Volosozhar, etc.

1994 (with Maliar)

Elena Beloussovskaya & Igor Maliar UKR - 1994 European Championships LP

SP : 12th, LP : 8th, 9th place Jan. 17th-23rd, Copenhagen, DEN

www.youtube.com

1996 (with Potalov)

Elena Belousovskaya & Sergei Potalov UKR - 1996 European Championships LP

SP : 7th, LP : 7th, seventh place Jan. 22nd-28th, Sofia, BUL

www.youtube.com

1997 (with Morozov)

Elena Belousovskaya & Stanislas Morozov UKR - 1997 European Championships LP

SP : 10th, LP : 8th, 8th place Jan. 21st-25th, Paris, FRA

www.youtube.com

 

[Finnice]

Michael Tyllesen DEN. He also was very nice and intelligent, and his programs were soooo voidy.

 

[paskatefan]

And Sean Rabbitt for his performing skills .

Sean!

 

[text_skate]

Ivan Dinev, I liked his looks

and he always looked more promising, than he actually performed.

 

[Maofan7]

Debbie Cottrill - a British skater who came 4th at the 1981 World Championships. But for a poor short program, she would have made the podium. The difference in the end between her and Claudia Kristofics-Binder in 3rd were the scores of just one judge. Debbie was in 2nd after the compulsories. After a poor short program (she placed 8th in that section), a good free skate then left her in 4th overall. Her strength was always in the compulsories, but she was a good, but often inconsistent, free skater.

Since Erica Batchelor won Bronze at the 1954 World Championships, no British ladies singles skater has come as close as Debbie did at the 1981 World Championships to getting onto the podium at Worlds. Outside of Debbie, Jean Scott came the closest, placing 6th and then 5th in 1972 and 1973 respectively. Others have placed in the top 10, including Joanne Conway, Sally-Anne Stapleford, Patrica Dodd, and Diana Clifton-Peach. However, in the 66 years that have elapsed since Britain last medalled in the ladies event, it was Debbie who came the closest.

This is Debbie Cottrill's free skate from 1981 Worlds

Debbie Cottrill - 1981 World Championships Long Program

4th place after compuslory figures and the short program (2nd compulsory figure, 8th short program), this long program from Great Britain's Deborah Cottrill ...

www.youtube.com

The following is an interview that Jean Scott did a while back explaining why British skaters have struggled - lack of facilities basically

Jean Scott - Figure Skating Champion

Scotsport TV interview with Jean Scott In this clip Jean Scott, Maria McLean and Gail Keddie

www.youtube.com

Debbie Cottrill-Oliver as she is now called currently coaches at the North Bay Figure Skating Club in Ontario

 

[briancoogaert]

Jamal Othman !

 

[Dobre]

My favorites would depend on how lesser-known the skaters needed to be. My first answer would be . . .

Jamie Silverstein & Justin Pekarek

If they need to be lesser-known, then I'm sure the following would fit the bill:

Caitlin Mallory & Brent Holdburg

 

[Japanfan]

Ilia Klimkin.

 

[Theoreticalgirl]

I used to skate with Alizah Allen. I believe she works as a skating coach in Manhattan and is still involved with ITNY in some capacity.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Debbie Cottrill - a British skater who came 4th at the 1981 World Championships. But for a poor short program, she would have made the podium. The difference in the end between her and Claudia Kristofics-Binder in 3rd were the scores of just one judge. Debbie was in 2nd after the compulsories. After a poor short program (she placed 8th in that section), a good free skate then left her in 4th overall. Her strength was always in the compulsories, but she was a good, but often inconsistent, free skater.

Since Erica Batchelor won Bronze at the 1954 World Championships, no British ladies singles skater has come as close as Debbie did at the 1981 World Championships to getting onto the podium at Worlds. Outside of Debbie, Jean Scott came the closest, placing 6th and then 5th in 1972 and 1973 respectively. Others have placed in the top 10, including Joanne Conway, Sally-Anne Stapleford, Patrica Dodd, and Diana Clifton-Peach. However, in the 66 years that have elapsed since Britain last medalled in the ladies event, it was Debbie who came the closest.

This is Debbie Cottrill's free skate from 1981 Worlds

Debbie Cottrill - 1981 World Championships Long Program

4th place after compuslory figures and the short program (2nd compulsory figure, 8th short program), this long program from Great Britain's Deborah Cottrill ...

www.youtube.com

The following is an interview that Jean Scott did a while back explaining why British skaters have struggled - lack of facilities basically

Jean Scott - Figure Skating Champion

Scotsport TV interview with Jean Scott In this clip Jean Scott, Maria McLean and Gail Keddie

www.youtube.com

Debbie Cottrill-Oliver as she is now called currently coaches at the North Bay Figure Skating Club in Ontario

I really enjoyed Cottrill's powerful free skate. She was quite something, and looked a little bit like Nicole Bobek, too.

 

[ldec]

Ilia Klimkin.

His story and the way he was exploited and betrayed by the Russian sporting machine infuriate me to this day. I am pretty convinced that under different circumstances, he would not have been in the "obscure skaters" echelon.

 

[Laura4]

For me, it's Emily Samuelson. With skating skills that were the equal of Evan Bates (her partner at the time) and her long lithe body with legs for days, she looked like a star in the making.

This FD from the 2010 Nationals was my favorite Samuelson/Bates program:

2010 Nationals FD Samuelson & Bates.avi

www.youtube.com