Women skaters (singles) 25 and up who skated in Olympics or worlds

[Vash01]

This question came up in my mind when a local tv commentator said about Mariah Bell - it is unheard of someone to skate competitively at age 25. By then they are long retired.

I was like WHAT? What about Tuktamysheva, Leonova, Butyrskaya, and many others?

I am not sure about others but may be Carolina Kostner? Anyone else? Didn't Fumie Suguri skate for many years?

I am thinking Midori Ito when she returned in 1996(?) would have been over 25.

Please help me make a list of these 'old' lady skaters who are past their 'retirement age'.

 

[Seerek]

Many skaters competed in Olympics in their late 20s, Tatiana Malinina, Elena Liashenko, Julia Sébestyen, Silvia Fontana, Lateita Hubert, Jenna McCorkell, Anastasia Gimazetdinova. There may be more?

 

[Sylvia]

Josefin Taljegard is making her debut at the Olympics at age 26.

There's an article headline that says Mariah Bell is "the oldest US women’s Olympic figure skater in 94 years" and it's also been mentioned that she is the "oldest woman to win a U.S. national title since 26-year-old Beatrix Loughran won her third in 1927."

 

[Belsornia]

Natasha McKay too. She is now 27 and making her Olympic debut.

 

[SidelineSkater]

Wasn’t Mirai 24 at the 2018 OGs? I was surprised too when I saw the Mariah story locally. They made it sound like it was a much bigger deal. 24/25 isn’t that far apart.

Happy for Mariah that she’s competing no matter the age!

 

[cbd1235]

Ashley Wagner won the World Silver medal in 2016 just a couple months before her 25th birthday, and then skated (and won GP medals) for 2 more seasons, incl one more trip to Worlds in 2017.

And can't forget Akiko Suzuki who won a World Bronze medal in 2012 at the age of 27. She won a GPF bronze medal the next season, and competed at 1 more Olympics and 2 more Worlds until she was 29.

Excellence doesn't end at seventeen, it only begins.

 

[screech]

Maria Butyrskaya won Worlds at 26. I believe Irina Slutskaya was the same age when she won in 2005
Carolina Kostner was 4th at 2018 Worlds at 31 years old
Fumie Suguri's last trip to Worlds was in 2009 when she was 28 (she placed 8th). She won silver at 25.
Jennifer Robinson was (I believe) 27 in her last year of competing, and placed top 10 at worlds when she was 25 and 26.

 

[Allskate]

Mariah was one of the bright points in a really sad women's competition today. I am really happy for her. She can leave knowing that she gave it her all to get to the Olympics and fought for that beautiful program.

Katarina Witt was in her late 20s when she went back to the Olympics in 1994. She was on Olympic Ice today, very sad about the state of women's skating today, especially with the Russian girls having such young and short careers. She wants a higher age requirement and was talking about how great it is to watch skaters over the course of long careers and see ongoing rivalries.

 

[jmtfti]

Well.....Magda Julin, the subject of my latest article, competed at the 1920 Olympics at the age of 25 AND while pregnant: https://householdwords.substack.com/p/the-olympics-of-motherhood?utm_source=url

(Also I don't know which other threads to share this article in! Got some good stuff from Meagan Duhamel, so if anyone wants to cross-post this elsewhere, go ahead.)

 

[DreamSkates]

I love the theme of this thread! Age as a number isn’t always key. Of course eventually “age” will be a factor in deciding not to compete but I so much enjoy programs if skaters in the + 20 range.