Posted on 01/31/2019 6:07:37 PM PST by ZagFan
As someone who has watched figure skating for over 40 years I couldn’t disagree more. The skaters today are far better in every way, technically and artistically.
The men have to skate quads to even be considered contenders- -US and World champion Nathan Chen lands 6 in his performances! I’m a big fan of both Boitano and Hamilton, don’t get me wrong, but they only skated triple jumps, which was huge at the time, but no way near what’s happening today.
The women constantly push the envelope, too. The current US champion Alysa Liu, all of 13 years old, just completed 2 triple axels in her winning performance. For years the standard for women was, first double jumps (Dorothy Hamill), and then triple/triple jumps (Kwan, Lipinski, from the 90’s up to just last year with Bradie Tennell) and only double axels. Just this year that formula has now been replaced by this amazing skater.
The same can be said of pairs and ice dancing. Every year the skating gets better, especially the lifts which leave me in awe.
I suggest you watch the championship performances of Meryl Davis and Charlie White (the best ever in my opinion), the Shibutanis, Hubble and Donohue, Chock and Bates in dancing and the others I mentioned—their talent will amaze you. Until next year—I can’t imagine what more they can do.
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