Brian Orser's free skate at the world championships in 1988. One of the best skates of all time for sure! Includes kiss and cry area and marks! Perfect 6.0s!
His jumps are the most beautiful and effortless I have ever seen. I had not seen this program until recently, and it truly does go down as one of the finest ever. His jumps float in the air, and his triple lutz could have been a quad no doubt... stunning!!!!
Orser was always brilliant when the pressure wasn't on him. He dug himself such a hole after the short here there was no way he could catch Boitano, so, knowing he couldn't win, he skated the best I've ever seen him skate.
I have felt the same way about Orser. But when you look at his programs in comparison to the other skaters of that era, he was the most complete skater. Boitano finally got real programs in 1988, but before then, Orser was regarded as the best. I think many still held him in that regard. Truthfully though - I appreciate Orser much more than Urmanov, Kulik, Elvis, and ESPECIALLY Plushenko.
plankboi: If you can't see Orser's quality than you are either biased or you know nothing about skating. Saying he isn't fluid is absurd... I've been watching skating for 30 years, and he's one of the MOST fluid on ice. And his jumps were incredible. One doesn't get practically all 5.9's and 2 6.0s (especially at that time) if a skater isn't very special.
Thanks so much for posting this!!!!!! This had to have been one of Brian's best skates from the amateur ranks and one of my favourites. This was the skate he should have had in Calgary... "The Bolt" as it was meant to be skated.
@@ebonyladyJeez Louise. Boitano did not have better choreography, that's just your opinion. And there was no "cheating scandal." You sound like the people who still think Biden stole the 2020 election. It's been decades and you still think Boitano "didn't win the Olympics by enough and he had to beat all the cheating that was set up against him to do it." Yet you never provide a shred of evidence. You just keep saying Boitano was the GOAT, end of story. Not enough. Get over it.
The greatest male figure skating performance I have ever seen. Sophisticated choreography, beautiful edge quality, great speed and power throughout, relentless build to the end. Simply superb from start to finish.
He was actually 2nd in the short program. He would have been much lower had the other men skated well. All of them faltered except Brian Boitano. Orser was also 5th in figures.
I also loved Brian Orser's skating and wonderful choreography. However, I have never like his excessive arm movements nor his spins. Back position in sit spins looked hunched over. But just a great skater.
I almost shared the same views as you, and that is only because I saw maybe an exhibition number or two plus this '88 Olympic performance. And they're not really indicative of Orser's style at all. He was merely skating to the clownish character of the music. I think his 84 Olympic skate shows what a complete skater and stylist he was.
He was also super lucky the mens short was an all out splatfest. Like remember at the Olympics Fadeev missed his combination and wound up 9th in the short since the top 8 were all totally clean (plus I think 10th, 11th, and 12th). Orser would have been way down in the short if it was as cleanly skated as Calgary.
But he wasn't. Two other things helped: Fadeev, who won the figures, withdrew from the freeskate, and Filipowski placed better in figures than better freeskaters, so the factored placements helped Orser out to the point where a bad short program didn't hurt him as much and winning the freeskate could boost him to second. It was also not a great freeskate for Boitano. He subbed a quad attempt for the first triple axel, missed it, and popped the second triple axel.
Yes, but he attempted a quad and landed two triple lutzes. He singled a triple axel. But Brian sucked in compulsaries, and for that reason he was never a champion. I agree this performance might have beaten Boitano in Calgary, but I still feel Boitano's Calgary performance was the best male figure skating performance in history. He was brilliant and error free; and I still feel that triple axel was clean. I didnt see a double footing on it.
Agree on all that, and anyway Orser would not have skated that well in Calgary or as well here if he is in contention for the gold. The same way I don't feel Manley skates as well in the long program in Calgary or maybe even here (which still wasn't as good as Calgary) had she been in mathematical contention for gold either time. Neither is a pressure skater, so if they are in mathematical contention to win like Manley in 87, Orser in 86, Orser at the Olympics, although Orser at the Olympics atleast skated pretty well, but those other two skates awful, they are pretty much sure to screw up. The only exception was Orser at the 87 worlds, but I think he was helped by skating first in the long which takes away some of the pressure. ' I laughed at a Canadian reporter with Manley who said to her "does it frustrate you knowing that if you were just 3rd in figures over Witt, or 2nd in the short over Thomas, you would still be 3rd going into the long, but you would win the gold automatically by winning the long now." And she laughed and said "are you crazy, if I went in with a chance at the gold I would have fallen all over my ass."
Well, Liz can speak for herself, but that doesn't mean Brian is the same. Not sure how you can say he "wasn't a pressure skater" when he must have felt tons of pressure in 1987 to prove he could win it all. "Pretty much sure to screw up"? Please.
Orser is "an abnormal skater"? Well, I guess so, considering what a "normal skater" is. Winning a world title, two Olympic silver medals and eight consecutive Canadian titles does make him pretty "abnormal," I guess. But how that makes Boitano, Petrenko, Eldredge, Urmanav, Kulik, Yagudin, Plushenko and Stojko "a lot better" I don't know. I also don't know what fluidity is if he doesn't have it.
