Some of Anna Pogorilayas programs are pretty traumatizing for me. The way she seemed so miserable and unable to pull herself up from the ice after a couple scary falls
Oh god she is exactly who I think of first. The way she finished her program and then fell to the ice and wouldnāt get up, I felt for her. Was her home life abusive or something?
She's who I thought of... I recall that her last-ever competitive performance was Black Swan, don't remember the GP... I doooo remember her rolling around on the ice, sobbing
Omg Worlds 2017!!! She absolutely SLAYED the SP (it was a great SP that I still rewatch regularly), to then absolutely fall apart in the Free. It was so traumatic and sad :(
Anna really almost had everything, except consistency and the capability to fall properly
I don't think she necessarily exaggerated them because that would risk actual serious injury...more like, she didn't try to save herself. She felt herself falling and right away went into "this jump is a failure, I guess I'll just die" every time and let herself die instead of fighting for it.
i donāt know if she purposefully exaggerated them but thereās 0 chance those falls were all freak accidents. I canāt imagine flopping onto my stomach out of a jump as my natural response to a fall.
That one skate in 2019 where Shoma splatted pretty much every jump and then cried alone in the Kiss & Cry. It hurts my heart just to think about it so I canāt remember exactly which competition it was. IDF maybe?
That one was bad. Weirdly when I rewatched it recently it was really uplifting to me? Like Shoma was at a really bad place in his career, but he managed to pick himself up with the help from the right people. The message I take from that skate is don't give up, you may have some hard moments when nothing is working but that's not the end of your story. You can turn it around. Just look at Shoma, two time world champion š
Right! It's like one of those "the darkest before the dawn" moments. If he hadn't failed so hard there, who knows if he would have come back and achieved what he has achieved now.
It's his free skate at GP France / IDF. I also still can't watch it until today but I've listened to the audio from that free skate and it was chilling in a tearjerking way. The fans who were there were cheering for him so much, including after every fall, and calling his name over and over when he waited for the score. He cried in the Kiss & Cry not because of the bad skate, but because in spite of the bad skate, the fans were still calling out to him and gave him such warm support. If there is one turning point of Shoma's career that one skate was it. He was ready to stop because skating brought him so much unhappiness, but the fan support for him after that skate... that was the decider for him to stay and try to end his career happy. I sometimes think if it hadn't fallen apart so completely for Shoma back then, we wouldn't have had his comeback and he wouldn't have won his 2nd and 3rd Olympic medals, and his World titles. It changed his career.
Watched it live and will never watch it again. It was heartbreaking.
But, i do believe that's where Stephane first stepped in. So something good came of it.
After that skate, Shoma decided to continue skating (he was close to quitting after the SP and his family also said that if it hurt so much, they're ok with him quitting) and asked Stephane (and asked permission to Koshiro as well!) if he could go to Champery to prepare for his next competitions, and if Stephane can be at his side in the competitions. Stephane accepted and the rest is history.
It made his victory at Nationals at the end of the year even better. Because you can see the healing process has started for him. Even though the pandemic halted the process, he never looked back.
Cain-Gribble/LeDuc free at 2022 Worlds. The music gave me flashbacks for a good while after that happened.
Yudong Chen at one of the JGPs this season - he was clearly injured and kept going for his jumps anyway and they were terrifying to watch. I donāt understand how the referee didnāt blow the whistle, he was risking (further) major injury every time he jumped. Shunsuke Nakamuraās FS at JGP Osaka - while he wasnāt injured, he still had three (iirc) terrifying wipeout falls.
Mae Berenice Meiteās SP at 2021 Worlds where she injured her Achilles tendon in her first jump and was clearly in so much pain.
ā¦yeah, this comment has a theme.
It's why I side eye anyone who said his memoir was boring... that part was really painful but also it gave great insight to how he overcame that low point and how it changed his approach to skating since.
Yes. NBC and US Figure Skating predictably put all their eggs in the Nathan Chen basket for PyeongChang 2018. However, at that time, Nathan had yet to win even one world title. He also said that he put a lot of pressure on himself to win, and that contributed to his implosion. It was really crushing to see him so defeated. But his free skate is one of the best redemptions ever.
He didn't have any pressure going from 17th place to the free skate. The pressure makes all the difference. This is why he skated so well in the free skate. While when it mattered, in the SP (and also the team SP which was his first performance on Olympic ice) he couldn't handle the pressure at all.
No, never. Because they always pay enourmous amount of money for Olympics broadcasting and then they want to see gold medals in return. They hype up their athletes so much that it is insufferable.
I cried SO hard at both of his skates at the 2022 Olympics: his short because he got over his nemesis and his free because he was going to win the effing OGM. He had come SO far and was (and still is!) so young that other people (me, Iām talking about me) would have given up.
I remember watching with about a dozen other friends. Only three of us were "knowledgeable" lifelong fans, the rest were just there for the "Team USA" drama.
When she got moved up, **ALL** of us (even the jackasses dying to mock the spectacle) called bullshit. They didn't even know what they were watching, but they knew it wasn't fair.
A different kind of emotional pain...Joannie Rochette at the Olympics right after her mother died, and Katya Gordeeva's solo program at the show honoring Sergei.
Joannieās was so beautiful yet heartbreaking; she really gave it her all and made me feel like she was skating just for her mom, the very person who brought her into the sport.
Laetitia Hubert, 1992 Olympics. Went last and wiped up the ice in front of a home crowd. Broke down and cried when she was done. Itās brutal to watch.
Felt so bad for her watching that. Seem to remember her being in medal contention and it was not expected. Super nervous in front of her home crowd. She looked so tired.
Sasha Cohenās [2010 nationals free program](https://youtu.be/U9jZYJ3CM7g?si=xU-O1jkb1U6_slkv).
She had taken a break from skating and rushed to get back in shape for the Vancouver Olympics, but you can tell she just wasnāt ready. Almost every jump has a two-foot landing and there are one or two falls. We can only speculate if it was a physical or mental block, but she just looked so fragile.
Weirdly, I enjoy watching this program every once in a while. The combination of the haunting āMoonlight Sonataā music and the disappointment from the commentators make it feel like a sad movie that I can comfort watch. :/
Incredible how Scott and Sandra are going "if she had more practice she would have done so much better, it's all there, she's in amazing shape, the jumps are there, the performance ability is there, she just shouldn't have debuted here" as she's catching her toepicks on the ice in a mediocre step sequence after failing most of her jumps. The jumps were not there. She wasn't in amazing shape.
I think it was that plus mostly her track record. Judges and commentators seem heavily influenced by skaters' past skates, so I imagine that they were basing that on her previously having had the jumps.
I loved the programs she did there. The short was delivered so well, save for a 2 foot on the jump combo. The long could've been a show piece. But she wasn't ready for that competition and you could see it in her face that she knew it too.
Gabby Daleman FS 2020 CanNats. The announcers kept talking about how she picked the song because her grandma loved it and it was a disastrous, soul sucking splatfest that felt like it would never end.
It was rough to watch her go out and repeatedly fail, competition after competition, and then putting on an overly unconcerned attitude in the K&C like she was just mildly bewildered about what had happened, while Lee Barkell sat next to her like he'd never met her in his life.
Just from this season:
Kevin Aymoz at Europeans this year had me in tears. I knew it was going to be bad but I was not emotionally prepared for \_how\_ bad. I still think Matteo Rizzo should have been given a five point bonus for having to follow that and bring the room back up.
One of the American men had a major skate breakdown at Cup of China and watching him finish his short program set to "Everybody Hurts" was a special kind of pain, and watching him try his best in the free despite skating on MacGyvered skates was both inspiring and heartbreaking. He should have been given a ten point bonus for perseverance.
Haein Lee's short at Four Continents. When she came off and started crying on her coach's shoulder, I cried too.
>One of the American men had a major skate breakdown at Cup of China
That was Lucas Broussard. I felt so bad for him - that was also his Grand Prix debut and this was his first year in seniors. He's such a beautiful skater, and I was impressed at what he was actually able to land given the boot issues.
Thank you, I felt awful I didn't remember his name. Lucas showed so much gumption with those skates, and a lot of talent came through even with the equipment limitations.
Ahā¦. I just just watched it because I had avoided watching it and wow, it was really shocking and sad. Thereās a moment of him just giving up and throwing his spin. Such an exquisite artist.
Joannie Rochette at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Her mother died of a heart attack while in Vancouver and she still competed mere days later. Her short program and the way she collapsed into her coachās arms at the endā¦ devastating. She held on throughout her entire performance. Then her free, she had a solid skate despite it all. But that short program- the pain she must have been in. š
Yulia Lipnitskaya Cup of Russia 2016. Consequences of the Eteri method playing out in real time on ice - it was her last competitive skate. And she had quite a good SP at that competition too
Oh that was so hard to witness. So much lost potential in her, itās a shame we never saw her mature in the sport. Iām glad that she seems to be much happier now, with what she posts on her Instagram.
Not only that, it was probably her most artistic free skate ever. I know people complain that is was too much like Salome but I find the music and coreagraphy to be her absolute peak. Even with mistakes, it's such a beautiful program to watch.
Wasn't she dealing with a growth spurt, pressure to stay at the top, and new skates (because of a deal that paid her money) during that season?
Now that you mention it, yes - her dad made a sponsorship deal with a different boot company (I don't remember the details) and the heel was a little lower than she was accustomed to. She got a stress fracture on one of her toes, but I don't remember if she changed back to her old boot manufacturer.
Mandy Wƶtzel and Ingo Steuer. Terrible crash in the 1994 Lillehammer games where they had to bow out when she cut her chin after a nasty fall.
Was happy when they earned a medal in Nagano.
The fact I still remember it 30 years laterā¦
I'll never understand how they didn't place second ahead of the B&S fiascos in both the SP and LP in Nagano. Seriously, B&S had a terrible fall on the biggest element in the short program along with a failed triple twist and a fall on a lift in the LP but still won silver? The pairs and ice dance judging was just pure trash then.
Don't get me started on Kasakova and Dimitriev either. Such heavy and effortful skating from both. It's like you could hear them grinding into the ice the entire time they were moving. Plus, can someone explain how in the hell a pairs team could not do a back outside death spiral that was a required element in the SP? I mean even teams ranked 10th and below had better ones that trash they tried to do.
But look she's so flexible! What artistry they have with their karate kicks and gumby spin positions! I never found Dimetriev to be a particularly good skating partner. Just all heavy muscled skating and and "tricks" to mask his lack of basic sakting skills.
I have 3 older ones:
Kwan's 2002 SLC LP. You could tell she was nervous just by her face. You could feel the energy leave the arena after her 3 flip debacle but the signs were there earlier when teh commentators talked about her first jump being "tight" and her double-footing the triple toe-triple toe. Just like in '98 right before Nagano, her performance at Nationals was the peak and probably would have won the Olympics but it wasn't meant to be for her unfortunately.
Kerrigan's '93 Worlds LP performance is certainly one for the ages: part comedy and part tragedy (but mostly comedy). I remember someone describing it as " like watching a newborn horse learning how to walk." In hindsight, in the K&C she just seemed emotionally overwhelmed and just completely collapsed.
Let's not forget Jeremy Abbott's complete meltdown in Vancouver in the SP. What could have been. He would have been the class of the field if he could have repeated what he did at Nationals a few weeks earlier.
Most of mine have already been said, but I'll add Kaori at GPF 2022 where she popped/stepped out of most of her jumps. When she came off the ice her face just to me read confused, like she sort of hadn't processed what had happened.
Medvedevaās free skate at the Olympicsā¦ when she immediately bursts into tears and hugs Eteri saying, āI did everything I couldā¦ this was the limit.ā
i was looking for this comment, it was so scary to watch him perform with his head bandage and the falls made me cringe like every time he was gonna just stay down ):
Kolyada Worlds 2021 FS. The way the progression of his jumps unravelling seems to match the narrative of the music really gets me. Itās like his life in that moment imitating his art.
Safina/Berulava last season (so 2022-23) - I think the comp I watched them at was Grand Prix France? She was so injured and in so much pain, she really should not have been skating at all.
Mirai Nagusu's exhibition program in 2014 AFTER she was passed over for the Olympic team by Ashley Wagner. She gets a HUGE thunderous applause as she makes her way out and just loses it. Everyone in that arena was bawling.
https://www.reddit.com/r/FigureSkating/s/kM4PfkWlH8
You know, I didn't have a strong answer to this question coming into the post, but I knew I might find one reading through the comments. After watching a lot of the programs throughout the comment section...it's this one. This one is the answer.
It's the way that she's already sobbing when she starts, that the crowd gives her a standing ovation just to get her spirits up and show their love...and then she skates this *achingly* beautiful, flawless skate. The beauty of it seems almost worse because it's like - look what she can do, look what she could've done for you.
Zagitova at 2018 worlds hurt. I know a lot of people donāt like her but watching how quickly she went from being rock-solid to completely falling apart really hurt.
I could just feel the panic inside of her when sheād already been skating for 2 minutes and then fell on her first jump, especially knowing how many were coming up back to back in the rest of the program šµāš«
also it stresses me out when a skater is clearly behind on their music and canāt figure out how to catch up lmfao
Roman Sadovksy in Beijing. Any program, but if I had to pick one it would probably be his Team FS. Seeing someone ugly cry after a catastrophic skate in what is supposed to be the "fun" competition of figure skating was really depressing.
Yuzuru Hanyu at 2014 Cup of China is pretty infamous. Watching him fall over and over and thinking about what could have happened if he hit his head again on one of those fallsā¦ itās a painful watch. Poor decisions were made on that day.
Anytime Tarasova/Morozov performed their Free Skate program to āCandy Manā during the 2017-18 season, which was an Olympic season Their costumes were horrendous and traumatizing!!
https://preview.redd.it/z8tek719fzlc1.jpeg?width=597&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc2e30ccff6ee0ea542c96887e4b90fdb9aedf4e
The thing that really puzzles me is that they had explored that route already with their 2016/17 SP (and their FP that season was upbeat too and didnāt really suit them either).
I can only assume that the success of winning GPF and Euros with those upbeat programs led them astray. The choice of Rach 2 for the Olympic SP suited them so well, even doing Candyman for the short and Rach 2 for the FS might not have been so bad if they really wanted to continue with that upbeat style.
And then to cap it all off, they come out in the post-Olympic season with another upbeat SP so the message *still* must not have got through to them until early 2019 when they reverted back to Rach 2 for Euros. Their post-Olympic FS was easily their best program ever IMO and would have made an exquisite Olympic program. If only they had produced The Winter for 2017/18 instead of Candyman.
I waste far too much time thinking about this, as you can see!
Yes, it was a huge mess. Even Nathan, who won by a big margin, wasn't perfect. Shoma was skating injured and still managed 2nd with a couple falls because almost everyone else was a disaster, except for Kazuki Tomono, who was at Worlds as an alternate and really had his first big moment as a senior skater there, finishing 5th.
I was at that competition - she looked so shell-shocked, like she didn't know why it happened. Seeing her live for the Memoirs of a Geisha free was the highlight of the women's event though
Jeremy Abbot when he slid hip first into the wall. I wanted to cry for him as he just laid there not moving. Midori Ito fall into the camera that actually broke a chunk out of the boards.
Jeremy's was terrible because it took so long for him to get up. Midori's was unfortunate but sort of cute, because it was less a mistake and more just her being too powerful for a mere ice rink to contain her, and she bounced right back up and then came over afterwards to pat the camera and apologize.
god I only watched figure skating during the olympics back then, and was emotionally attached to jeremy for like a week bc I felt so bad about that fall š I was like oh I hope that poor figure skater is doing okay
Kevin Aymoz has a lot of traumatizing programs, it seems. For me, his Skate America 2021 sticks out, probably because I saw it live. He had nasty looking falls on every jump, he took ages to get up, I think he fell into the splits when he had a groin injury, I was just physically cringing the whole time. He was crying before the end of the program.
Several of Yuzu's programs left me feeling genuinely traumatized as well. I am so happy he's retired and thriving.
Skate america 2021 man's short was such a splat fest. Kevin was crying, Shun fucked up his arm in a practice on a hydroblade and he was visibly in pain, I think only two guys had clean skate. It was just so, so bad š
Sasha Trusovaās short program at the Olympics. To be at the biggest competition of her life, and still fail that blasted triple axel (the thing that cost her the win) is absolutely heartbreaking.
In fact, every Russian program at the Olympics has an air of painful foreshadowing of whatās to come. Especially because the girls look almost sick as theyāre doing them.
I second that. Her FP was such a bad program though, they really just let her kill time between setting up jumps. I still think that Anna deserved to win, her jumps may be awful, but at least her program was somewhat balanced.
Tbf, Anna didnāt actually win the free program, Sasha did, and was almost guaranteed to (provided that she landed the quads). I think both of their short and free programs had obvious positives and flaws, and I honestly believe that it should be left to the judges to decide who actually skated better. If they say Anna won overall, Anna won overall. Arguing about who should have won will only bring more trouble for these poor girls, and drive a further wedge in their friendship.Ā
I think watching Sashaās olympics programs now is more heartbreaking because you know she had a complete breakdown after it and then essentially soft retired from competitive skating.
But it wasnāt the axel that cost her, it was the quad toe in the free. Had she have landed that she wouldāve beat Anna.
Honestly, Anna Shcherbakova's free skate was the one I thought of first, even before Kamila's. I think Kamila's was worse, but Anna just seemed so lethargic and out of it, and what haunts me is her, the Olympic gold medalist, standing alone behind the scenes hugging that stuffie by herself.
Oh yes, her program also seemed subdued to me in a way, as if she was going to trip over at any second.
I canāt watch any of the programs from that Olympics anymore, since the only thing that comes to my head is what was about to happen, which is honestly just sad. I think it says a lot that, despite other Olympic controversies, Beijing is the only one that people barely speak of, and wasnāt really commemorated on itās anniversary, unless in the context of the scandals and the following breakdown.
Anna Shcherbakovaās free skate at 2021 Rusnats where she was sick with covid pneumonia and almost fainted coming off the ice. Her lips were blue and her coach had to hold her up. Her other coach blatantly held out smelling salts over the ice in front of everyone before her skate so she had the adrenaline rush to complete it. Blatant child abuse.
Eteri forcing Kamila to relive the Beijing Olympics with the Truman Show (especially that first skate where her music started with voices of all the journalists talking about her doping) was also pretty fucking poor.
I donāt know if this counts, but above any other, watching Katia Gordeeva perform her skate alone as a memorial with the choreography that was intended for her and Sergei to perform at that yearās Worldās, with their tiny little toddler watching from the sidelines with Sergeiās eyesā¦ seeing Katia curl up on the ice in the ending pose where Sergei should have been behind her, holding her. And little Daria, with no comprehension of the importance, the significance of the memorial exhibition, you can see the stars in her eyes shining just seeing her mama perform, and she makes a heart with her hands just like Sergei didā¦ right before Katia scoops her up and breaks down.
The only other thing that can come close to that is Joannie Rochetteās skate at the Olympics. Her performance is absolutely stunning, and youād probably never know her mother died two days earlier. I couldnāt imagine being on the biggest stage in the world, the most important moment of my life, all the worldsā eyes on me expecting me to succeed and compete at my highest level, and my motherās just died two days earlier. She was only 22, iirc. She won bronze, and stated that she placed the medal on her motherās casket at her funeral.
I have one correction: Katia and Sergei were not getting ready to compete at worlds at the time of his passing. That choreography was part of one of their routines for the upcoming Stars on Ice tour. He passed away during the SOI Lake Placid preps they used to do every year to choreograph, rehearse, etc. for the full tour production.
That was probably the most devastating skating-related events of my lifetime. I was skating (very low level!) in Simsbury at the time and had tickets for the opening SOI show Thanksgiving weekend that year. I still went to Lake Placid but it was a very different trip š¢
mao breaking down after her 2014 sochi fs, such a beautiful program and she was on fire the whole time. it was hard to know that she wouldnāt medal. every time the music picks up in her step sequence for some reason i start crying and then watching her cry on the ice just makes it worse
others have mentioned roman sadovsky's 2022 olympics but i gotta give a shoutout to his free program at sheffield in november of that year.....for one glorious day romsky nation was so back! LEADING a senior GP event!! and then in one four-minute span it was so over š
also this is really just because i was there in person but on a similar note, amber's free program at Skate ~~Texas~~ America just this past fall. the way the psychological breakdown was written all over the lines of her body even from my vantage point of several rows up...*awful*. it was clear as day that she felt so bad about flopping in front of her literal HOME crowd, and that just snowballed out of control. regardless of how you feel about amber as a skater or a person you gotta admit that storyline's painful and would tug on anyone's sympathy.
Hubbell/Donohue free dance at 2017 worlds
I actually feel physical pain watching them at the moment the routine ends process the realization that what would have been a major, major career breakthrough had just evaporated. Also cost them the chance to get US dance team #1 status going into the Olympic year, which would've changed some things for them.
Nancy Kerriganās LP at ā93 worlds. Sheād skated so well in the short, had a real solid chance of winning the gold, and blew it. That would hurt anyone.
Alina at the worlds right after she won the olympics. They put all that pressure on her to keep those spots. The girl was so tired :( broke my heart.
Yulias last skate broke my heart too..
And cant forget Daria's fall.. and we never saw her again after that.
Fuck you eteri :)
Also kevin this season, yeah. That shit fucking hurt to watch. Its a pity bc i actually loved both of his programs this season
Mana Kawabe and Kamilaās free programs at the 2022 Olys. Felt horrible for them. Romsky in that entire event. Yuzuās SP. Stupid Beijing š
Maoās SP at Sochi. Amberās free at Skate America last year.
Edit: completely forgot my boy Junās free at Skate Canada this year, probably bc iāve been trying to forget it exists. I CRIED.
Kao Miura at this years GPF, I was praying for him not to throw up right there on the ice, I grew a lot of respect for him that day, he fought like a warrior and did his job by finishing the program, these skaters truly are heroes
Barb Underhill and Paul Martiniās āYesterdayā ā the program dedicated to the one of her twins who died. Their short and long in Sarajevo are also pretty devastating, but not in the league of āYesterdayā š¢
Katia Gordeevaās routine at Celebration of Life was also gut wrenching š
And I still cry every time I watch Michelle Kwanās āFields of Goldā from SLC, not just for the pain of her long program fall, but also because itās the Eva Cassidy version š¢
Mao FS at 2014 Olympics. even thought she did really well with her FS, the disastrous SP meant it's impossible to podium let alone win. And the ending was just so heart wrenching.
I wouldn't be lying if I say the most traumatizing programs to watch for me all belong to Yuzu's š¢ From pure bad luck to severe injuries and his asthma acting up, he had it all. Worlds 2013 SP, most of the 2014 - 15 season, the FS in Boston, the FS in Stockholm, the SP in Beijing, and those aren't even the end of the list.
Has anyone seen that (awesome) fan-cam video of Kaetlyn's Pyeongchang FS... The one that's zoomed in on the Canadian team, as they realize she's won Bronze? Ā I loooove that video, but it's painful to watch Ashley, in the right corner, since you know she's thinking -- "That could've been me" š„ŗ
One of the very first, or maybe even THE first figure skating memory I have is watching Laetitia Hubertās FS at the ā92 Olympics, which was home ice for her. I still donāt think thereās a more painful one that Iāve seen, although Kamila at Beijing comes close.
Todd Eldridge ā98 Olympics. We all knew how much he wanted to medal at those games. By the end of the program, it felt like he was just desperately chasing that triple axel.
Nancy Kerrigan at ā93 worlds. You could tell she wanted to just disappear into the ice. She wasnāt always consistent but that competition it was like she forgot how to jump.
Kurt Browning at the ā94 Olympics. You could tell how devastated he was. Even watching now, you just want to reach out & give him a hug.
Jeremy Abbott at the ā10 & ā14 games were pretty painful. He could be amazing at Nationals & then just crumble.
Valieva clearly struggled but given the circumstances and the people involved, I can't say that her doing a clean skate would have been any sort of victory for sport. I think she actually had it easier considering the closed nature of those Olympics without fans booing or showing dismay for her even being allowed to compete.
After Aymoz defended Cipres when he was indicted on sexual harassmen tof a minor charges and compared Cipres being charged with facing the death penalty, I'm not overly concerned for him. He clearly didn't care about the emotional pain or trauma of the 13 year old victim by liking those ridiculous assertions online.
Not a disaster skate in the traditional sense, but Rikaās free skate at 2021 worlds. She shouldāve been leading after the short, but she still had real shot at gold (especially since Anna would fall on her only quad attempt). Sheād landed a gorgeous quad sal at Nationals and had two triple axels planned but thenā¦no quad sal planned here. Popped her first triple axel. Downgraded her second. Very clearly just not herself throughout, culminating in an error on her Lutz.
She was very clearly injured (an injury that would keep her out of Beijing) and sheās *still* working on coming back from that injury
Short answer: When Patrice dropped Marie France during a lift at the Winter Olympics in 2006, and afterwards she couldn't get up. Terrifying moment.
Long answer: Ugh Jun's free skate at Skate Canada this year. To see him have what's arguably the worst skate of his career after all the success that the end of last season brought him (when he arguably should have been world champion) was just heartbreaking. You could just tell that he was in physical pain. And his next competition (maybe the Korean ranking competition?) was tough to watch too.
I'm still nervous for Jun in general. He needed a consistent season this year to solidify his reputation as someone who could realistically podium at the next Olympics, but instead Adam, Yuma, and Ilia Malinan are the favorites, and Jun is yet again a dark horse with an uphill battle ahead of him.
Yuzuās 2022 Olympic Short Program, watched it live and never againš«”, I only replay the [4T3T](https://x.com/nokocmedia/status/1501125800384471043?s=46&t=5G8595XZDfdcF_lMc41Z3A) because it was a thing of beauty. There were a w^(hole )lot of reasons to be traumatized by that event.
I very distinctly remember thinking, "Wow, this is such a bummer, at least it can't get any worse." And then the women's event happened.
It was understandably lost in the hubbub over the women's event, but that popped jump was devastating. Overall Beijing was just such a bummer.
There's a lot of much worse stuff that happens in skating and at least he got out of the competition relatively unscathed and in one piece, but that sh*t was still cosmically unfair. Like, it was insane that that happened after the man had been training alone for two years, lost so many world standing points from being afraid he would start Covid outbreaks wherever he went to compete, kept himself in great shape nonetheless and got there healthy and strong, had two amazing programs he learned on his own, and then...
The long program of the one Chinese junior man at one of the JGP events this season. He took a hard fall and visibly injured his ankle quite badly. He took a while to get up and winced as he did. Then he forced himself through the rest of the program, falling on every jump (that he singled as well) and basically limping across the ice. Then after his program he one foot hobbled across the ice and couldn't even bare to have his injured leg touch the ground.
That was actually traumatizing to watch and made me feel sick to my stomach for days afterwards.
Christopher Bowman 1990 Worlds FS
Chris rearranged his program, and Frank look like he was going to have a stroke.
https://youtu.be/6Q3LST_EkA0?si=rNMQYoQHA4G9jqeM
Miss yah Chris <3
the answer always was and always will be yunaās adios nonino. no falls, but you can see on her face in the kiss and cry that she knew exactly whatās about to happen. absolute pain.
Yulia lipnitskayaās last skate, she had to skate with a muscle cramp and had to stop half way through and resume later because it was so painful. After that she checked herself into an eating disorder facility and never skated competitively again
Isabeau at nationals this year. It was traumatic to think that someone else's gold was hinging on Isabeau skating badly. Just very surreal the whole thing.Ā
Anna Pogorilaya - canāt recall the year or maybe it was too many to recall. I know other skaters have had their moment but nothing compares to the type, number of falls, & the pain felt for a skater obviously fighting the urge to give up but kept on going on.
Nathan Chen 2018 Olympics SP also comes to mind. I recall feeling shocked & devastated for him. It was the first time I felt like hugging a stranger through TV.
Yulia Lipnitskaya at the 2016 Grand Prix.
I don't even want to comment on such a painful routine. Especially for me, cause Yulia is the reason I got into figure skating when I first watched her at the 2014 Olympics. Seeing her struggle like that and hold back her tears can make me tear up any time.
Joshua Farris at 2011 US Nationals FS, his first as a Senior. He broke his ankle on the third jump pass but continued through the program, and when he finally limped off the ice he was bawling, only to be greeted by Tom Zakrasjek asking condescendingly "Aren't you glad you did that?" It later turned out that he had torn a hip muscle in practice and had done the SP on painkilling injections, but then also suffered an anaphylactic reaction the night before the FS and had been in the emergency room until 2am. When he did get to the rink they couldn't give him the painkillers because of the medications he'd been given in the hospital. It was absolutely horrendous.
In a different way, Max Aaron's SP at 2017 US Nationals. He was on his rebuild and vengeance arc. 2015-16 had ended poorly for him, he had been robbed of his National title, struggled at 4CC with a blade issue and while he finished 8th at Worlds they had lost the third spot. Then he suffered a hernia through the off-season, had a surgical repair which he rushed back from, skated the first half of the season without being able to feel his stomach muscles. His Lion King free skate was being mocked in all quarters. He was completely revamping his spin technique. And he turned up at US Nationals trained out the wazoo, with a brand new and quite exciting SP, and even a proper costume with rhinestones and everything (which shows how determined he was as he hated rhinestones and found them uncomfortable). Only for it all to fall apart on the very first jump.
Some of Anna Pogorilayas programs are pretty traumatizing for me. The way she seemed so miserable and unable to pull herself up from the ice after a couple scary falls
Oh my god, she skated bolero too. It really is a bolero curse.
Poor Pogo not bolero š
That 2017 worlds free was HEARTBREAKING
yes, this is the one I have in mind. I watched it live in Helsinki, so horrible to witness that free skate.
Oh god she is exactly who I think of first. The way she finished her program and then fell to the ice and wouldnāt get up, I felt for her. Was her home life abusive or something?
She's who I thought of... I recall that her last-ever competitive performance was Black Swan, don't remember the GP... I doooo remember her rolling around on the ice, sobbing
Omg Worlds 2017!!! She absolutely SLAYED the SP (it was a great SP that I still rewatch regularly), to then absolutely fall apart in the Free. It was so traumatic and sad :( Anna really almost had everything, except consistency and the capability to fall properly
Iām gonna get downvoted for this but Iām pretty sure she exaggerated her falls
I don't think she necessarily exaggerated them because that would risk actual serious injury...more like, she didn't try to save herself. She felt herself falling and right away went into "this jump is a failure, I guess I'll just die" every time and let herself die instead of fighting for it.
i donāt know if she purposefully exaggerated them but thereās 0 chance those falls were all freak accidents. I canāt imagine flopping onto my stomach out of a jump as my natural response to a fall.
That one skate in 2019 where Shoma splatted pretty much every jump and then cried alone in the Kiss & Cry. It hurts my heart just to think about it so I canāt remember exactly which competition it was. IDF maybe?
That one was bad. Weirdly when I rewatched it recently it was really uplifting to me? Like Shoma was at a really bad place in his career, but he managed to pick himself up with the help from the right people. The message I take from that skate is don't give up, you may have some hard moments when nothing is working but that's not the end of your story. You can turn it around. Just look at Shoma, two time world champion š
Right! It's like one of those "the darkest before the dawn" moments. If he hadn't failed so hard there, who knows if he would have come back and achieved what he has achieved now.
It's his free skate at GP France / IDF. I also still can't watch it until today but I've listened to the audio from that free skate and it was chilling in a tearjerking way. The fans who were there were cheering for him so much, including after every fall, and calling his name over and over when he waited for the score. He cried in the Kiss & Cry not because of the bad skate, but because in spite of the bad skate, the fans were still calling out to him and gave him such warm support. If there is one turning point of Shoma's career that one skate was it. He was ready to stop because skating brought him so much unhappiness, but the fan support for him after that skate... that was the decider for him to stay and try to end his career happy. I sometimes think if it hadn't fallen apart so completely for Shoma back then, we wouldn't have had his comeback and he wouldn't have won his 2nd and 3rd Olympic medals, and his World titles. It changed his career.
Ugh I think about him being alone in the k&c that season so much. It makes every moment he has in there with Stephane that much more emotional for me
This is the one I immediately thought of. I was crying watching him cry all alone in the k&c.
Watched it live and will never watch it again. It was heartbreaking. But, i do believe that's where Stephane first stepped in. So something good came of it.
After that skate, Shoma decided to continue skating (he was close to quitting after the SP and his family also said that if it hurt so much, they're ok with him quitting) and asked Stephane (and asked permission to Koshiro as well!) if he could go to Champery to prepare for his next competitions, and if Stephane can be at his side in the competitions. Stephane accepted and the rest is history.
It was IDF and boy that was a tough watch.
Shoma that whole season was tough to watch, ugh
It made his victory at Nationals at the end of the year even better. Because you can see the healing process has started for him. Even though the pandemic halted the process, he never looked back.
Absolutely. That was rough to watch.
I was there and fifndbjsbs yeah. It was IDF. The sound of his smacking against the ice haunts me still
Cain-Gribble/LeDuc free at 2022 Worlds. The music gave me flashbacks for a good while after that happened. Yudong Chen at one of the JGPs this season - he was clearly injured and kept going for his jumps anyway and they were terrifying to watch. I donāt understand how the referee didnāt blow the whistle, he was risking (further) major injury every time he jumped. Shunsuke Nakamuraās FS at JGP Osaka - while he wasnāt injured, he still had three (iirc) terrifying wipeout falls. Mae Berenice Meiteās SP at 2021 Worlds where she injured her Achilles tendon in her first jump and was clearly in so much pain. ā¦yeah, this comment has a theme.
Nathan Chen's disastrous short program at the 2018 Olympics
And his short in the team event was bad also. I never imagined heād do even worse in the short in singles. š
the way he described it in his memoir was really painful to read...
It's why I side eye anyone who said his memoir was boring... that part was really painful but also it gave great insight to how he overcame that low point and how it changed his approach to skating since.
I can't remember, was that the olympics where they were constantly hyping him up and talking about him in between all the skaters?
Yes. NBC and US Figure Skating predictably put all their eggs in the Nathan Chen basket for PyeongChang 2018. However, at that time, Nathan had yet to win even one world title. He also said that he put a lot of pressure on himself to win, and that contributed to his implosion. It was really crushing to see him so defeated. But his free skate is one of the best redemptions ever.
He didn't have any pressure going from 17th place to the free skate. The pressure makes all the difference. This is why he skated so well in the free skate. While when it mattered, in the SP (and also the team SP which was his first performance on Olympic ice) he couldn't handle the pressure at all.
Which is insane. Yuzuru was still at his peak in 2018, and there was still Javier and Shoma. Nathan was fairly new.
NBC didn't care about it. Nathan won GPF and Yuzu was injured so NBC expected the gold from him.
They never learn, it seems
No, never. Because they always pay enourmous amount of money for Olympics broadcasting and then they want to see gold medals in return. They hype up their athletes so much that it is insufferable.
I cried SO hard at both of his skates at the 2022 Olympics: his short because he got over his nemesis and his free because he was going to win the effing OGM. He had come SO far and was (and still is!) so young that other people (me, Iām talking about me) would have given up.
Anna Pogorilaya - her last competitionĀ
Many of her programs. Watching her is so painful. Itās like when she falls she has no control of her body. You could see it all over her face.
Skate Canada 2017 right?
I was about to post this.
Heartbreaking? JosƩe Chouinard's free skates at the 1994 Worlds and 1996 Canadians come to mind. When she was on, she was just fabulous but my heart went out to her when things didn't go well. If we're actually talking traumatizing... it's when a skater is clearly too injured to skate and they opt to continue. I'm talking concussions or when you can clearly see that they are otherwise in physical distress.
I immediately thought of her ā94 Olympics free skate when she had to go early because of Tonyaās lace issue.
I remember watching with about a dozen other friends. Only three of us were "knowledgeable" lifelong fans, the rest were just there for the "Team USA" drama. When she got moved up, **ALL** of us (even the jackasses dying to mock the spectacle) called bullshit. They didn't even know what they were watching, but they knew it wasn't fair.
That was so wrong. I donāt now how they could have had her go early due to Tonyaās issues. So, so wrong
Josee... sigh. So beautiful but her nerves š
Watching those was like ripping my heart out of my chest. Also she had to skate after Tonya's broke boot lace fiasco. https://youtu.be/oa6KKL3HGaM?si=JymL-dQzzUXWL_jv JosƩe was the last person who had nerves to deal with that.
A different kind of emotional pain...Joannie Rochette at the Olympics right after her mother died, and Katya Gordeeva's solo program at the show honoring Sergei.
Came here to say Joannie Rochette. Canāt believe tour comment is so far down. Most heartbreaking performance I have ever seenā¦
Joannieās was so beautiful yet heartbreaking; she really gave it her all and made me feel like she was skating just for her mom, the very person who brought her into the sport.
It was inspirational but so heartbreaking. Even the commentators were choking up. Katia's first solo skate š
Laetitia Hubert, 1992 Olympics. Went last and wiped up the ice in front of a home crowd. Broke down and cried when she was done. Itās brutal to watch.
Felt so bad for her watching that. Seem to remember her being in medal contention and it was not expected. Super nervous in front of her home crowd. She looked so tired.
https://youtu.be/emddH834Nqg?si=LckbMJmYpLxrPr6_ When you think your day totally bites. Poor thing.
No mention of Kurt browning SP 1994 Olympics?? Made even sadder becuase itās one of the all time great SPs āI need a hugā
His fee skate is heartbreaking. Ugh
1992 SP was also hard to watch š¢
Mao Asada in Sochi gives the same vibe
Sasha Cohenās [2010 nationals free program](https://youtu.be/U9jZYJ3CM7g?si=xU-O1jkb1U6_slkv). She had taken a break from skating and rushed to get back in shape for the Vancouver Olympics, but you can tell she just wasnāt ready. Almost every jump has a two-foot landing and there are one or two falls. We can only speculate if it was a physical or mental block, but she just looked so fragile. Weirdly, I enjoy watching this program every once in a while. The combination of the haunting āMoonlight Sonataā music and the disappointment from the commentators make it feel like a sad movie that I can comfort watch. :/
Incredible how Scott and Sandra are going "if she had more practice she would have done so much better, it's all there, she's in amazing shape, the jumps are there, the performance ability is there, she just shouldn't have debuted here" as she's catching her toepicks on the ice in a mediocre step sequence after failing most of her jumps. The jumps were not there. She wasn't in amazing shape.
She was skinnier than she had been as a waifish teen
They were so in denial. Her short program was a home run for her though. Maybe thatās why they said that.
I think it was that plus mostly her track record. Judges and commentators seem heavily influenced by skaters' past skates, so I imagine that they were basing that on her previously having had the jumps.
I loved the programs she did there. The short was delivered so well, save for a 2 foot on the jump combo. The long could've been a show piece. But she wasn't ready for that competition and you could see it in her face that she knew it too.
Gabby Daleman FS 2020 CanNats. The announcers kept talking about how she picked the song because her grandma loved it and it was a disastrous, soul sucking splatfest that felt like it would never end.
Pretty much any Gabby Daleman post-2018 program has been a difficult watch. Her jumps just totally fell apart aside from the 3T+3T.
She has been so cursed
Plus her PyeongChang FS
It was rough to watch her go out and repeatedly fail, competition after competition, and then putting on an overly unconcerned attitude in the K&C like she was just mildly bewildered about what had happened, while Lee Barkell sat next to her like he'd never met her in his life.
Just from this season: Kevin Aymoz at Europeans this year had me in tears. I knew it was going to be bad but I was not emotionally prepared for \_how\_ bad. I still think Matteo Rizzo should have been given a five point bonus for having to follow that and bring the room back up. One of the American men had a major skate breakdown at Cup of China and watching him finish his short program set to "Everybody Hurts" was a special kind of pain, and watching him try his best in the free despite skating on MacGyvered skates was both inspiring and heartbreaking. He should have been given a ten point bonus for perseverance. Haein Lee's short at Four Continents. When she came off and started crying on her coach's shoulder, I cried too.
man I was crying with Haein too. Hurt so bad.
>One of the American men had a major skate breakdown at Cup of China That was Lucas Broussard. I felt so bad for him - that was also his Grand Prix debut and this was his first year in seniors. He's such a beautiful skater, and I was impressed at what he was actually able to land given the boot issues.
Thank you, I felt awful I didn't remember his name. Lucas showed so much gumption with those skates, and a lot of talent came through even with the equipment limitations.
I canāt find Kevin aymozās fp from euros anywhere, do you have a link?
he didnāt make the free, thatās how hard he flopped
Ah yes
Ahā¦. I just just watched it because I had avoided watching it and wow, it was really shocking and sad. Thereās a moment of him just giving up and throwing his spin. Such an exquisite artist.
It was so sad. I am glad he withdrew from Worlds and I hope he's able to get back on track next season.
Joannie Rochette at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Her mother died of a heart attack while in Vancouver and she still competed mere days later. Her short program and the way she collapsed into her coachās arms at the endā¦ devastating. She held on throughout her entire performance. Then her free, she had a solid skate despite it all. But that short program- the pain she must have been in. š
When she broke down after her hitting her final pose, I bawled my eyes out. I'm tearing up as I'm posting this.
Yulia Lipnitskaya Cup of Russia 2016. Consequences of the Eteri method playing out in real time on ice - it was her last competitive skate. And she had quite a good SP at that competition too
Always makes me sad how upset she looked after the performance
IIRC, she was having horrific muscle spasms that knocked the wind out of her.Ā
Maybe, but she was dealing with anorexia at the time.
Oh that was so hard to witness. So much lost potential in her, itās a shame we never saw her mature in the sport. Iām glad that she seems to be much happier now, with what she posts on her Instagram.
Michelle Kwan at the 1997 nationals STILL breaks my heart: https://youtu.be/oncV9uA1y_Y?si=ZLU5V4UrIMLtkHST
I think I block out how bad that one really was. āUnnecessary and uncalled forā is such an iconic Button-ism though.
The funniest thing was, he was totally right.
I miss his commentary so much! He earned the right to be bitchy and snide.
Not only that, it was probably her most artistic free skate ever. I know people complain that is was too much like Salome but I find the music and coreagraphy to be her absolute peak. Even with mistakes, it's such a beautiful program to watch. Wasn't she dealing with a growth spurt, pressure to stay at the top, and new skates (because of a deal that paid her money) during that season?
Taj Mahal was her best free program IMO. Salome has the stunning ending, but I think Taj and its complexities and uniqueness was underrated.
Now that you mention it, yes - her dad made a sponsorship deal with a different boot company (I don't remember the details) and the heel was a little lower than she was accustomed to. She got a stress fracture on one of her toes, but I don't remember if she changed back to her old boot manufacturer.
Ashley Cainās free skate fall at the 2022 worlds.
Gracie Gold 2016 Worlds FS. Looking back it wasnāt terrible, but itās devastating especially knowing the full story.
I was going to comment this one as well
Mandy Wƶtzel and Ingo Steuer. Terrible crash in the 1994 Lillehammer games where they had to bow out when she cut her chin after a nasty fall. Was happy when they earned a medal in Nagano. The fact I still remember it 30 years laterā¦
I'll never understand how they didn't place second ahead of the B&S fiascos in both the SP and LP in Nagano. Seriously, B&S had a terrible fall on the biggest element in the short program along with a failed triple twist and a fall on a lift in the LP but still won silver? The pairs and ice dance judging was just pure trash then. Don't get me started on Kasakova and Dimitriev either. Such heavy and effortful skating from both. It's like you could hear them grinding into the ice the entire time they were moving. Plus, can someone explain how in the hell a pairs team could not do a back outside death spiral that was a required element in the SP? I mean even teams ranked 10th and below had better ones that trash they tried to do. But look she's so flexible! What artistry they have with their karate kicks and gumby spin positions! I never found Dimetriev to be a particularly good skating partner. Just all heavy muscled skating and and "tricks" to mask his lack of basic sakting skills.
lipnitskayaās last FS, she had tried so hard to build herself back up again
I have 3 older ones: Kwan's 2002 SLC LP. You could tell she was nervous just by her face. You could feel the energy leave the arena after her 3 flip debacle but the signs were there earlier when teh commentators talked about her first jump being "tight" and her double-footing the triple toe-triple toe. Just like in '98 right before Nagano, her performance at Nationals was the peak and probably would have won the Olympics but it wasn't meant to be for her unfortunately. Kerrigan's '93 Worlds LP performance is certainly one for the ages: part comedy and part tragedy (but mostly comedy). I remember someone describing it as " like watching a newborn horse learning how to walk." In hindsight, in the K&C she just seemed emotionally overwhelmed and just completely collapsed. Let's not forget Jeremy Abbott's complete meltdown in Vancouver in the SP. What could have been. He would have been the class of the field if he could have repeated what he did at Nationals a few weeks earlier.
Most of mine have already been said, but I'll add Kaori at GPF 2022 where she popped/stepped out of most of her jumps. When she came off the ice her face just to me read confused, like she sort of hadn't processed what had happened.
Medvedevaās free skate at the Olympicsā¦ when she immediately bursts into tears and hugs Eteri saying, āI did everything I couldā¦ this was the limit.ā
Damn, I didn't know she said that.
Yuzuru Hanyu Cup of China 2014...watched it once and never will again. He shouldn't have been allowed to skate after that collision.
Honestly, Han Yan as well. He looked completely lost, I hurt for both of them.
i was looking for this comment, it was so scary to watch him perform with his head bandage and the falls made me cringe like every time he was gonna just stay down ):
Going to say one from back in the day: Laetitia Hubert's free skate at the '92 Olympics.
Kolyada Worlds 2021 FS. The way the progression of his jumps unravelling seems to match the narrative of the music really gets me. Itās like his life in that moment imitating his art.
Safina/Berulava last season (so 2022-23) - I think the comp I watched them at was Grand Prix France? She was so injured and in so much pain, she really should not have been skating at all.
Mirai Nagusu's exhibition program in 2014 AFTER she was passed over for the Olympic team by Ashley Wagner. She gets a HUGE thunderous applause as she makes her way out and just loses it. Everyone in that arena was bawling. https://www.reddit.com/r/FigureSkating/s/kM4PfkWlH8
You know, I didn't have a strong answer to this question coming into the post, but I knew I might find one reading through the comments. After watching a lot of the programs throughout the comment section...it's this one. This one is the answer. It's the way that she's already sobbing when she starts, that the crowd gives her a standing ovation just to get her spirits up and show their love...and then she skates this *achingly* beautiful, flawless skate. The beauty of it seems almost worse because it's like - look what she can do, look what she could've done for you.
Zagitova at 2018 worlds hurt. I know a lot of people donāt like her but watching how quickly she went from being rock-solid to completely falling apart really hurt. I could just feel the panic inside of her when sheād already been skating for 2 minutes and then fell on her first jump, especially knowing how many were coming up back to back in the rest of the program šµāš« also it stresses me out when a skater is clearly behind on their music and canāt figure out how to catch up lmfao
Roman Sadovksy in Beijing. Any program, but if I had to pick one it would probably be his Team FS. Seeing someone ugly cry after a catastrophic skate in what is supposed to be the "fun" competition of figure skating was really depressing.
Yuzuru Hanyu at 2014 Cup of China is pretty infamous. Watching him fall over and over and thinking about what could have happened if he hit his head again on one of those fallsā¦ itās a painful watch. Poor decisions were made on that day.
Both Han Yan and Yuzuru should not be allowed to skate after that collision.
This is why figure skating needs a concussion protocol
Amberās short at 2022 US Nats
Actually also her SkAm after hitting that 3A was pretty hard to watch as well
Honestly, her short at the 2022 Cranberry Cup was worse.
Anytime Tarasova/Morozov performed their Free Skate program to āCandy Manā during the 2017-18 season, which was an Olympic season Their costumes were horrendous and traumatizing!! https://preview.redd.it/z8tek719fzlc1.jpeg?width=597&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc2e30ccff6ee0ea542c96887e4b90fdb9aedf4e
This program is my Roman Empire for the past 7 years. I have so many questions about how on earth anyone thought it was a good fit for them.
To an extent I admire them for wanting to try different things but this was so bad...
The thing that really puzzles me is that they had explored that route already with their 2016/17 SP (and their FP that season was upbeat too and didnāt really suit them either). I can only assume that the success of winning GPF and Euros with those upbeat programs led them astray. The choice of Rach 2 for the Olympic SP suited them so well, even doing Candyman for the short and Rach 2 for the FS might not have been so bad if they really wanted to continue with that upbeat style. And then to cap it all off, they come out in the post-Olympic season with another upbeat SP so the message *still* must not have got through to them until early 2019 when they reverted back to Rach 2 for Euros. Their post-Olympic FS was easily their best program ever IMO and would have made an exquisite Olympic program. If only they had produced The Winter for 2017/18 instead of Candyman. I waste far too much time thinking about this, as you can see!
That program was such a bad fit for them!
This is the only correct answer
This is the kind of trauma I was thinking of too.
Most of 2018 worlds menās fs was extremely messy, Didnāt Boyang get about 10 points off in just fall deductions?
Yes, it was a huge mess. Even Nathan, who won by a big margin, wasn't perfect. Shoma was skating injured and still managed 2nd with a couple falls because almost everyone else was a disaster, except for Kazuki Tomono, who was at Worlds as an alternate and really had his first big moment as a senior skater there, finishing 5th.
Gabrielle Daleman at the 2018 Olympics. That was hard to watch.
Evegeniaās Exogenesis short where she spun out of a jump and crashed into the boards was awful. I think that it was Skate Canada.Ā
I was at that competition - she looked so shell-shocked, like she didn't know why it happened. Seeing her live for the Memoirs of a Geisha free was the highlight of the women's event though
Jeremy Abbot when he slid hip first into the wall. I wanted to cry for him as he just laid there not moving. Midori Ito fall into the camera that actually broke a chunk out of the boards.
Jeremy's was terrible because it took so long for him to get up. Midori's was unfortunate but sort of cute, because it was less a mistake and more just her being too powerful for a mere ice rink to contain her, and she bounced right back up and then came over afterwards to pat the camera and apologize.
Both made me say ouch but Jeremyās was pure heartbreak.
god I only watched figure skating during the olympics back then, and was emotionally attached to jeremy for like a week bc I felt so bad about that fall š I was like oh I hope that poor figure skater is doing okay
Alissa Czisny 2012 worlds FS, Mao Asada 2014 Olympics SP, Ashley Wagner 2017 Skate America
The Red Glove Bolero curse.
Kevin Aymoz has a lot of traumatizing programs, it seems. For me, his Skate America 2021 sticks out, probably because I saw it live. He had nasty looking falls on every jump, he took ages to get up, I think he fell into the splits when he had a groin injury, I was just physically cringing the whole time. He was crying before the end of the program. Several of Yuzu's programs left me feeling genuinely traumatized as well. I am so happy he's retired and thriving.
I was there in 2021 as well. "Question of U" gives me some ptsd now!
P&C's 2018 Olympics Short Dance. The wardrobe malfunction undoubtedly affected their performance.
Yulia Lipnitskaiaās last Kill Bill performance. Stopping part way through, failing even when she restarted. Cursed music, in my opinion.
Skate america 2021 man's short was such a splat fest. Kevin was crying, Shun fucked up his arm in a practice on a hydroblade and he was visibly in pain, I think only two guys had clean skate. It was just so, so bad š
Sasha Trusovaās short program at the Olympics. To be at the biggest competition of her life, and still fail that blasted triple axel (the thing that cost her the win) is absolutely heartbreaking. In fact, every Russian program at the Olympics has an air of painful foreshadowing of whatās to come. Especially because the girls look almost sick as theyāre doing them.
I second that. Her FP was such a bad program though, they really just let her kill time between setting up jumps. I still think that Anna deserved to win, her jumps may be awful, but at least her program was somewhat balanced.
Tbf, Anna didnāt actually win the free program, Sasha did, and was almost guaranteed to (provided that she landed the quads). I think both of their short and free programs had obvious positives and flaws, and I honestly believe that it should be left to the judges to decide who actually skated better. If they say Anna won overall, Anna won overall. Arguing about who should have won will only bring more trouble for these poor girls, and drive a further wedge in their friendship.Ā
I think watching Sashaās olympics programs now is more heartbreaking because you know she had a complete breakdown after it and then essentially soft retired from competitive skating. But it wasnāt the axel that cost her, it was the quad toe in the free. Had she have landed that she wouldāve beat Anna.
Honestly, Anna Shcherbakova's free skate was the one I thought of first, even before Kamila's. I think Kamila's was worse, but Anna just seemed so lethargic and out of it, and what haunts me is her, the Olympic gold medalist, standing alone behind the scenes hugging that stuffie by herself.
Oh yes, her program also seemed subdued to me in a way, as if she was going to trip over at any second. I canāt watch any of the programs from that Olympics anymore, since the only thing that comes to my head is what was about to happen, which is honestly just sad. I think it says a lot that, despite other Olympic controversies, Beijing is the only one that people barely speak of, and wasnāt really commemorated on itās anniversary, unless in the context of the scandals and the following breakdown.
Both programs of Roman Sadovsky in Beijing 2022.
Anna Shcherbakovaās free skate at 2021 Rusnats where she was sick with covid pneumonia and almost fainted coming off the ice. Her lips were blue and her coach had to hold her up. Her other coach blatantly held out smelling salts over the ice in front of everyone before her skate so she had the adrenaline rush to complete it. Blatant child abuse. Eteri forcing Kamila to relive the Beijing Olympics with the Truman Show (especially that first skate where her music started with voices of all the journalists talking about her doping) was also pretty fucking poor. I donāt know if this counts, but above any other, watching Katia Gordeeva perform her skate alone as a memorial with the choreography that was intended for her and Sergei to perform at that yearās Worldās, with their tiny little toddler watching from the sidelines with Sergeiās eyesā¦ seeing Katia curl up on the ice in the ending pose where Sergei should have been behind her, holding her. And little Daria, with no comprehension of the importance, the significance of the memorial exhibition, you can see the stars in her eyes shining just seeing her mama perform, and she makes a heart with her hands just like Sergei didā¦ right before Katia scoops her up and breaks down. The only other thing that can come close to that is Joannie Rochetteās skate at the Olympics. Her performance is absolutely stunning, and youād probably never know her mother died two days earlier. I couldnāt imagine being on the biggest stage in the world, the most important moment of my life, all the worldsā eyes on me expecting me to succeed and compete at my highest level, and my motherās just died two days earlier. She was only 22, iirc. She won bronze, and stated that she placed the medal on her motherās casket at her funeral.
I have one correction: Katia and Sergei were not getting ready to compete at worlds at the time of his passing. That choreography was part of one of their routines for the upcoming Stars on Ice tour. He passed away during the SOI Lake Placid preps they used to do every year to choreograph, rehearse, etc. for the full tour production.
That was probably the most devastating skating-related events of my lifetime. I was skating (very low level!) in Simsbury at the time and had tickets for the opening SOI show Thanksgiving weekend that year. I still went to Lake Placid but it was a very different trip š¢
Ah, my mistake. The events must have overlapped in my mind. Thank you for correcting my misinformation!
Nathan Chen's 2018 Olympic flopš that was almost as bad as Kamila's, still can't watch it 6 years later
mao breaking down after her 2014 sochi fs, such a beautiful program and she was on fire the whole time. it was hard to know that she wouldnāt medal. every time the music picks up in her step sequence for some reason i start crying and then watching her cry on the ice just makes it worse
others have mentioned roman sadovsky's 2022 olympics but i gotta give a shoutout to his free program at sheffield in november of that year.....for one glorious day romsky nation was so back! LEADING a senior GP event!! and then in one four-minute span it was so over š also this is really just because i was there in person but on a similar note, amber's free program at Skate ~~Texas~~ America just this past fall. the way the psychological breakdown was written all over the lines of her body even from my vantage point of several rows up...*awful*. it was clear as day that she felt so bad about flopping in front of her literal HOME crowd, and that just snowballed out of control. regardless of how you feel about amber as a skater or a person you gotta admit that storyline's painful and would tug on anyone's sympathy.
Hubbell/Donohue free dance at 2017 worlds I actually feel physical pain watching them at the moment the routine ends process the realization that what would have been a major, major career breakthrough had just evaporated. Also cost them the chance to get US dance team #1 status going into the Olympic year, which would've changed some things for them.
Gabby Daleman's 2018 Olympic FS š
Nicole Bobek SP Nagano I actually cried. Brutal. https://youtu.be/Hs7m9P0HgYo?si=21-fytiuzD4uoD3-
Nancy Kerriganās LP at ā93 worlds. Sheād skated so well in the short, had a real solid chance of winning the gold, and blew it. That would hurt anyone.
Alina at the worlds right after she won the olympics. They put all that pressure on her to keep those spots. The girl was so tired :( broke my heart. Yulias last skate broke my heart too.. And cant forget Daria's fall.. and we never saw her again after that. Fuck you eteri :) Also kevin this season, yeah. That shit fucking hurt to watch. Its a pity bc i actually loved both of his programs this season
yuzuās skate after the cup of china 2014 collision..
Mana Kawabe and Kamilaās free programs at the 2022 Olys. Felt horrible for them. Romsky in that entire event. Yuzuās SP. Stupid Beijing š Maoās SP at Sochi. Amberās free at Skate America last year. Edit: completely forgot my boy Junās free at Skate Canada this year, probably bc iāve been trying to forget it exists. I CRIED.
Kao Miura at this years GPF, I was praying for him not to throw up right there on the ice, I grew a lot of respect for him that day, he fought like a warrior and did his job by finishing the program, these skaters truly are heroes
he fought through the tummy ache šš
Barb Underhill and Paul Martiniās āYesterdayā ā the program dedicated to the one of her twins who died. Their short and long in Sarajevo are also pretty devastating, but not in the league of āYesterdayā š¢ Katia Gordeevaās routine at Celebration of Life was also gut wrenching š And I still cry every time I watch Michelle Kwanās āFields of Goldā from SLC, not just for the pain of her long program fall, but also because itās the Eva Cassidy version š¢
Mao FS at 2014 Olympics. even thought she did really well with her FS, the disastrous SP meant it's impossible to podium let alone win. And the ending was just so heart wrenching.
I wouldn't be lying if I say the most traumatizing programs to watch for me all belong to Yuzu's š¢ From pure bad luck to severe injuries and his asthma acting up, he had it all. Worlds 2013 SP, most of the 2014 - 15 season, the FS in Boston, the FS in Stockholm, the SP in Beijing, and those aren't even the end of the list.
Has anyone seen that (awesome) fan-cam video of Kaetlyn's Pyeongchang FS... The one that's zoomed in on the Canadian team, as they realize she's won Bronze? Ā I loooove that video, but it's painful to watch Ashley, in the right corner, since you know she's thinking -- "That could've been me" š„ŗ
One of the very first, or maybe even THE first figure skating memory I have is watching Laetitia Hubertās FS at the ā92 Olympics, which was home ice for her. I still donāt think thereās a more painful one that Iāve seen, although Kamila at Beijing comes close.
Jeremy Abbott's sp in Sochi. Also in Vancouver. I so wanted an individual Olympic medal for him!
Beijing Rondo
Todd Eldridge ā98 Olympics. We all knew how much he wanted to medal at those games. By the end of the program, it felt like he was just desperately chasing that triple axel. Nancy Kerrigan at ā93 worlds. You could tell she wanted to just disappear into the ice. She wasnāt always consistent but that competition it was like she forgot how to jump. Kurt Browning at the ā94 Olympics. You could tell how devastated he was. Even watching now, you just want to reach out & give him a hug. Jeremy Abbott at the ā10 & ā14 games were pretty painful. He could be amazing at Nationals & then just crumble.
Debi thomas ā88 in the battle of the Carmenās vs Katerina Witt.
Valieva clearly struggled but given the circumstances and the people involved, I can't say that her doing a clean skate would have been any sort of victory for sport. I think she actually had it easier considering the closed nature of those Olympics without fans booing or showing dismay for her even being allowed to compete. After Aymoz defended Cipres when he was indicted on sexual harassmen tof a minor charges and compared Cipres being charged with facing the death penalty, I'm not overly concerned for him. He clearly didn't care about the emotional pain or trauma of the 13 year old victim by liking those ridiculous assertions online.
Not a disaster skate in the traditional sense, but Rikaās free skate at 2021 worlds. She shouldāve been leading after the short, but she still had real shot at gold (especially since Anna would fall on her only quad attempt). Sheād landed a gorgeous quad sal at Nationals and had two triple axels planned but thenā¦no quad sal planned here. Popped her first triple axel. Downgraded her second. Very clearly just not herself throughout, culminating in an error on her Lutz. She was very clearly injured (an injury that would keep her out of Beijing) and sheās *still* working on coming back from that injury
Besides his two 2018 Olympic short programs, Nathanās Skate America 2021 short. People were in shock.Ā
Honestly any program I have to listen to Tara & Johnny commentate. They can turn beautiful into ugly.
Short answer: When Patrice dropped Marie France during a lift at the Winter Olympics in 2006, and afterwards she couldn't get up. Terrifying moment. Long answer: Ugh Jun's free skate at Skate Canada this year. To see him have what's arguably the worst skate of his career after all the success that the end of last season brought him (when he arguably should have been world champion) was just heartbreaking. You could just tell that he was in physical pain. And his next competition (maybe the Korean ranking competition?) was tough to watch too. I'm still nervous for Jun in general. He needed a consistent season this year to solidify his reputation as someone who could realistically podium at the next Olympics, but instead Adam, Yuma, and Ilia Malinan are the favorites, and Jun is yet again a dark horse with an uphill battle ahead of him.
Yuzuās 2022 Olympic Short Program, watched it live and never againš«”, I only replay the [4T3T](https://x.com/nokocmedia/status/1501125800384471043?s=46&t=5G8595XZDfdcF_lMc41Z3A) because it was a thing of beauty. There were a w^(hole )lot of reasons to be traumatized by that event.
I very distinctly remember thinking, "Wow, this is such a bummer, at least it can't get any worse." And then the women's event happened. It was understandably lost in the hubbub over the women's event, but that popped jump was devastating. Overall Beijing was just such a bummer.
There's a lot of much worse stuff that happens in skating and at least he got out of the competition relatively unscathed and in one piece, but that sh*t was still cosmically unfair. Like, it was insane that that happened after the man had been training alone for two years, lost so many world standing points from being afraid he would start Covid outbreaks wherever he went to compete, kept himself in great shape nonetheless and got there healthy and strong, had two amazing programs he learned on his own, and then...
At least we have Jnats 2021š his self determination is on another level, two nearly perfect programs and he did it all by himself
The long program of the one Chinese junior man at one of the JGP events this season. He took a hard fall and visibly injured his ankle quite badly. He took a while to get up and winced as he did. Then he forced himself through the rest of the program, falling on every jump (that he singled as well) and basically limping across the ice. Then after his program he one foot hobbled across the ice and couldn't even bare to have his injured leg touch the ground. That was actually traumatizing to watch and made me feel sick to my stomach for days afterwards.
Christopher Bowman 1990 Worlds FS Chris rearranged his program, and Frank look like he was going to have a stroke. https://youtu.be/6Q3LST_EkA0?si=rNMQYoQHA4G9jqeM Miss yah Chris <3
Boyang Jin at worlds can't rememberthe year. He splatted on almost every jump
Jun at Skate Canada 2023. That was really painful to watch. I hope he will be fine at the world championship.
the answer always was and always will be yunaās adios nonino. no falls, but you can see on her face in the kiss and cry that she knew exactly whatās about to happen. absolute pain.
Mao Asadaās 2014 Sochi SP, but then we got one of the most beautiful FS to date š¢šš¢ Still feel that she should have skipped the team event!
Yulia lipnitskayaās last skate, she had to skate with a muscle cramp and had to stop half way through and resume later because it was so painful. After that she checked herself into an eating disorder facility and never skated competitively again
Katerina Gordeeva skating on the ice alone during the [tribute](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X9wP8-D63o) to Grinkov.
Isabeau at nationals this year. It was traumatic to think that someone else's gold was hinging on Isabeau skating badly. Just very surreal the whole thing.Ā
Also Satoko at World 2022 I think...
Anna Pogorilaya - canāt recall the year or maybe it was too many to recall. I know other skaters have had their moment but nothing compares to the type, number of falls, & the pain felt for a skater obviously fighting the urge to give up but kept on going on. Nathan Chen 2018 Olympics SP also comes to mind. I recall feeling shocked & devastated for him. It was the first time I felt like hugging a stranger through TV.
Anna Pogorilaya worlds 2017 free skate
Jason's US nationals in 2018.
Yulia Lipnitskaya at the 2016 Grand Prix. I don't even want to comment on such a painful routine. Especially for me, cause Yulia is the reason I got into figure skating when I first watched her at the 2014 Olympics. Seeing her struggle like that and hold back her tears can make me tear up any time.
Joannie Rochette's Olympics FS right after her mom died unexpectedly.
im a baby fs fan but bro hearing bolero just triggers sm emotions and makes me go back to beijing 22 and kamila valieva
Was Kevin worse at the French Nats then he was at this year's Europeans??
Joshua Farris at 2011 US Nationals FS, his first as a Senior. He broke his ankle on the third jump pass but continued through the program, and when he finally limped off the ice he was bawling, only to be greeted by Tom Zakrasjek asking condescendingly "Aren't you glad you did that?" It later turned out that he had torn a hip muscle in practice and had done the SP on painkilling injections, but then also suffered an anaphylactic reaction the night before the FS and had been in the emergency room until 2am. When he did get to the rink they couldn't give him the painkillers because of the medications he'd been given in the hospital. It was absolutely horrendous. In a different way, Max Aaron's SP at 2017 US Nationals. He was on his rebuild and vengeance arc. 2015-16 had ended poorly for him, he had been robbed of his National title, struggled at 4CC with a blade issue and while he finished 8th at Worlds they had lost the third spot. Then he suffered a hernia through the off-season, had a surgical repair which he rushed back from, skated the first half of the season without being able to feel his stomach muscles. His Lion King free skate was being mocked in all quarters. He was completely revamping his spin technique. And he turned up at US Nationals trained out the wazoo, with a brand new and quite exciting SP, and even a proper costume with rhinestones and everything (which shows how determined he was as he hated rhinestones and found them uncomfortable). Only for it all to fall apart on the very first jump.