Aleksei Urmanov (RUS) - 1994 Lillehammer, Figure Skating, Men's Free Skate

Hamar, NORWAY - 1994 Winter Games, Figure Skating, Men's Free Skate - Aleksei Urmanov of Russia won the Free Skate and ended up winning the Gold Medal here. He would be the first skater to win the Olympic Games but never a World Championships since Robin Cousins of Great Britian in 1980.

[@TenduYou]

1994 was the most exciting year in figure skating. Makes me sentimental for the good old days, despite scoring flaws.

[@wj3781]

Urmanov was so unfortunate. He should’ve achieved much more than what he did. Had he not injured in 97 Worlds FS, he easily could’ve won 97 Worlds and 98 Olympics and regarded as a legend.

[@grantgoffin4774]

LOL he was not winning the 98 Olympics. I can't think of a single performance he ever did that would have beaten Kulik in Nagano.

[@tipoute]

​@@grantgoffin4774artistiquement urmanov supplenter kulik et de loin.

[@Boooommerang]

Urmanov was excellent, but I prefer Philip Candeloro' performance. He was so strong, emotional

[@user-wb7tn9if5m]

Алексей Урманов моя любовь в фигурном катании❤️❤️❤️ Великолепен!

[@susanv.7540]

How far men's figure skating has progressed in 30 years ; Ilia Malinin just won the gold medal at the 2024 World's with six perfect quadruple jumps.

[@user-by5es1xc2u]

What is the music name of the last part?

[@megofiachra3247]

I remember watching this at the time and thought Urmanov had a ridiculously choreographed program. Just watched it again to see if age has changed my opinion. (It didn't.)

[@Richardsonprincess00]

The first 🇷🇺 man to win the 🥇medal in Lillehammer ever

[@tipoute]

Et premier européen à faire le quadruple boucle piquer dans une compétition, il avait 17 ans.

[@ManuelPabloArnao]

No emotion from either of them after Urmanov gets his artistic marks.

[@lauraw9657]

No way this guy should have beaten Elvis Stojko.

[@nikolaika7777]

He actually deserved this gold medal

[@user-yq5ue4mu3q]

Фигурист Урманов был отличный , а вот как тренер еще ни где не заявил о себе !

[@t.4376]

Что вы знаете о работе тренера ?

[@user-yq5ue4mu3q]

@@t.4376 Работа тренера видна в результатах ! Зачем мне знать работу тренера досконально ? Я не собираюсь ни идти учиться на него , не им работать ! 😁

[@user-hq9zb6on6k]

​@@user-yq5ue4mu3qможет, вы тогда будете заниматься своим делом, а не судить работу других людей?

[@mariazumhagen1755]

Elvis should have won. The mistake on the flip and the atrocious traveling spins left a sloppy impression. Elvis also did 3 axel/3 toe and Alexei only did 3 axel/2 toe. The artistry? This was generic. Elvis was memorable. Artistry should reflect creativity, not just balletic ability.

[@tipoute]

Je suis pas vraiment d accord, mais vous oubliez l avance du programme court que urmanov avait remporté

[@LaviniaFernandez777]

Elvis Stojko was way better

[@user-nv6yh5or7e]

Очень музыкальный, отлично катался, артистичный, высокий, стройный, красивый.

[@user-zv7vh8cw5d]

Как он мне нравился, всегда любовалась ! Красивый, высокий, статный и прекрасный фигурист...

[@callystarr]

Urmanov has one of the best 3Axels ever, perfect form....

[@rowbom]

I am an Elvis fan, but you cannot deny the quality of Aleksei's first few jumps, his position in the air and his landing. Part of me still wishes that Elvis had won, if only he had not popped that first combination.

[@3Axel1996]

True, had he had the 4T in the program, he may have seen a majority of 6.0s for Technical Merit.

[@jjh2456]

Also the popped 3axel meant Elvis attempted 3 3axels. That’s a deduction.

[@Zuranthium]

@@jjh2456 There's no deduction for doing more than two of a jump, you just don't get extra credit for doing more than two. Look at Todd Eldredge at 1995 Worlds, doing a 3rd Triple Axel after falling on his 2nd one. The judges gave full credit for two 3Axel's. Stojko here didn't actually do three 3Axel's anyway, one of them was a single. It's no different than the many times that guys would do two 3Axel's and two 2Axel's in a program. Those double axels aren't "attempted 3Axel's" and if someone did do three 3Axel's in a program, then one of them would just be credited as if it was a 2Axel instead.

[@ohioweatherguy]

Interestingly both the Canadian and American judges placed Urmanov ahead of Stojko.

[@user-lc7cw1rr4i]

The judges were more honest then. Recall the scandal in pair figure-scating in 2002

[@cj222100]

Agree with Elvis' face at 5:14 lol!

[@breahsaldana9251]

Absolutely gorgeous skater...loved watching him!!

[@scottietoohottie5273]

unfortunately for his career in professional shows she has not gotten many people that you can say are part of his fan base in a real money and touring with Champions on ice he was really not a diverse range of styles to get the longevity of my favorite skaters who are more memorable and talked about 20 years later and Surya Bonaly is remembered more than all the people that won the gold medal at the Olympics and he was unable to change his style and I believe that he is. the most forgettable Olympic gold medalist and Elvis should have won however he won the professional and actual amount of longevity and fan base in the end that is all that matters

[@officeaddict33]

Yeah, I'm not a huge Stojko fan - he's not my cup of tea - but in this competition everything he did was better than Urmanov. Urmanov's classical style appeals to judges but Stojko really had more authentic choreography. Urmanov just seemed insincere and be flailing about. It's like he was doing his movements because a choreographer told him this is artistry.

[@Boooommerang]

Perfect comment

[@Songbirdstress]

Underwhelming.

[@existenzialist]

Urmanov is the more elegant skater of the two but Stojko had the better choreography, spins and jumps. Stojko should have won the Gold Medal in my opinion.

[@galileocan]

The first 10 seconds of this program are amongst the most frightening and embarrassing in figure skating history

[@L.Spencer]

Again at 3:03. Cringe

[@nikolaika7777]

Lol sure, Jan

[@genesisfernandezsarabia3923]

Hermoso joven tan sonriente y bellísima coreografía como el ninguno

[@christinamelindablair5497]

I,christina melinda stanleyblair, followed russian figure skater for programs in competitive isu since 1983, I,christina melinda stanleyblair is still enjoying to watch their programs today.

[@nightswimmer99]

Both of the top 2 made a mistake. Urmanov stepped out of the flip; Stojko popped the 3-axel. Of the 2, only one had to change his program in-performance to make up for it. Maybe that was the difference, but I would have given gold to Elvis (since Oksana won on a throw-in, why not Stojko?). Elvis had better footwork, better spins, unique choregraphy and more energy at the end! Urmanov tended to look exhausted in his final long program moments and it was true here.

[@user-se1tq9cx8w]

Great performance. The outcome of this very tough competition was decided by Stojko's butterfly axel.

[@federicopascucciclassicroc7662]

Spins are less than basic

[@deeppurplejaguar]

another Russian gem and soooo handsome ))!!!!

[@rlopen13]

You know what...everyone hates his program, but the beginning of that free skate with the miming...that RULES in today's ladies' figure skating with Eteri's students. Ugh Aleksei's impact.

[@snowballwannabe]

Where are the spins in this free skate? Aren't the spins a mandatory technical element?

[@TravelingMan63]

Not in the free skate. In the short program, there are minimal revolutions for each spin.

[@ADEAL416]

He's often better than some of the judges. You also are remembering that Goebel/Plushenko/Yagudin comment out of context. The point was because Yagudin could lose the long program to Plushenko and still win the gold medal (since the latter was 4th after the short) he might not do as difficult a long, which was true. He was spot on with this one. He was wrong about Yagudin ultimately losing the long, but he was right that he may have risked doing so in order to preserve the overall gold

[@faeryquene]

@cedward1984 I do agree on Alexei's spins. His footwork also wasn't as difficult imo as Stojko's but that didn't seem to matter as much under that scoring system. Under COP they wouldn't be allowed to slide around on their knees either (I don't think-I haven't seen that in years).

[@intldawn]

Oh man. I was never a fan of most of Mishin's students but good lord the choreography in this program is so hacky and odd. I don't get all the discussion about how his skating was so aesthetically pleasing and classical. The music, yes, but the choreography was just odd. 5.9s for this? No way. And even though his jumps were excellent (those triple axels are extraordinary) his spins were awful. There was little value in those spins at all. That's technical, too, and just should have put him even further behind Stojko on that mark.

[@froggrof5835]

Вполне согласна. Мишин и хореография несовместимы. Но талант и харизма Урманова сделала из корявой хореографии сносную произвольную программу. Посмотрите на номер "Тройка" А. Ягудина - вот где сплошная цыганщина и безвкусица. Слава богу Лёша вовремя ушёл от Мишина к Т.Тарасовой. Его "Зима" - ЭТАЛОН короткой программы за всю историю фигурного катания.

[@mariazumhagen1755]

Glad I wasn't the only one who found the choreo weird af.

[@ADEAL416]

I don't know how those programs would be evaluated under C of P. Most recent programs would kill older programs, because they're tailored to the new scoring system in ways that others were not. But Stojko was not "limited" artistically. He had his own style, but that doesn't mean it wasn't artistic. He was damn right that people define that term too narrowly.

[@faeryquene]

@ADEAL416 Hamilton called it wrong, just as he did in 2002 to when he laughably all but suggested that Timothy Goebbels might beat Alexei because he had skated 'conservatively' in his two-quad LP versus Plushenko and that he 'might be giving it away'. Hamilton is not always the best judge of who should or shouldn't win.

[@ADEAL416]

@stonerr But the Lutz and toe loop at the end were two-footed. The announcers don't always see everything. Watch closely. And no, Stojko has not criticized the artistic aspect, he's just upset that people only define "artistry" in men's skating in one very narrow way and never recognized the artistry in what he does. Hamilton has these same objections, by the way, both in his skating and announcing careers.

[@orangewedges]

Sometimes you go back to those brilliant programs performed by Olympic champions and you totally get why they won. There's a charisma, a magical quality about how they skated that still gives you chills 20 years later. Urmanov's program is not one of them. I hated the program then, I hate it even more now. No one would be caught dead with that choreography and quite honestly, most of it was so poorly executed I think the judges were blindfolded whilst judging if they give this mess the gold medal.

[@intldawn]

orangewedges Well put. To me, the next few years of his career bore out what an odd Olympic title was. I believe he was only 21 when he won this title. So he theoretically had a lot of years left in him. But he never won a world medal after this, let alone a world title. He did well on the European level, but considering his Olympic success, perhaps not as well as one would expect. He was unlucky in 1997, after winning Europeans and winning the short program at Worlds then having to withdraw with injury. But considering how long he competed after this, his results were pretty underwhelming.

[@L1623VP]

It was a narrow victory, but I still believe Urmanov deserved to win. Both he and Stojko threw jumps back in to replace the ones they missed and ended up with the same number of triples. All things being equal, Urmanov has the better body awareness, body line and even better technique, as Scott Hamilton pointed out a bit here in his comparison. When the skate is this close, all those details really matter. Still, I find it interesting that except for Yagudin and Plushenko, all the other Russian gold medal singles skaters, Urmanov, Kulik and Sotnikova, were never world champions. I think the only other gold medalist with no world championship is Sarah Hughes.

[@StewNWT]

orangewedges so well said. It reminded me of Plushenko with its prancing nonsensical choreography and knee knocking flamingo preening. Stojko had the harder triple axel combo and didn’t fuck up his triple flip

[@cherylhulting1301]

Stew, not sure at all what you're talking about as regards "knee-knocking" and Plushenko; that's not a feature of his choreography. I've watched his skating for two decades and can say that with confidence. I love Elvis Stojko but he was always going to lose to Plush on the artistic mark. Evgeni is a trained dancer and always had a more elegant edge on ice as compared to Elvis. Plushenko also was the first skater to land three-jump combinations, a feat he monopolized for two seasons before Alexei Yagudin and Tim Goebel caught up. Respect - the man holds 53 gold medals and is an innovator in the sport.

[@Songbirdstress]

@@L1623VP I have never forgotten Stojko, Kurt, or Philippe. This guy totally.

[@Fiero425]

He executed, Elvis didn't! Alexei always played to the judges! It made the difference! ;-)

[@faeryquene]

@stonerr I agree. The judges apparently didn't see any two-foot landings either. Urmanov is lyrical, he also had a longer line with better flow out of his jumps than Elvis who tended to lean on his landings. That did not help Stojko I am sure with the judges who did not seem to care much for his artistic style to begin with (I did-I LOVED Elvis's Bruce Lee LP it's my fave of his). Stojko wasn't perfect either, he popped a 3axel jump versus Alexei who rotated the 3flip but stepped out of it.

[@smoothALOE]

His spins were pretty weak in this performance. They actually looked better in Albertville and in the competitions following Lillehamer. My guess is that his coach knew that these judges would be watching the jumps a lot more than the spins... He had so much heights on that triple toe loop. He could've done a quad easily. I kinda wish he had. Would've made his victory stand out more. Oh well ;)

[@cedward1984]

even though he had the most beautiful positions in the air while jumping ive ever seen, he is probably the worst spinner to have won the gold medal at the olympics. people take it for granted but spins take longer to master and take more energy than jumps.

[@faeryquene]

'Alexei Urmanov cannot make any mistakes' . As usual Scott called it wrong.

[@lyverbird1973]

I had wondered if time would enamour this programme to me a bit more but, nope, I still dislike it as much as I did at the time. I hated the choreography, that knee knocking nonsense was just horrible and overall there were so many boring pauses and dead spots. Where was an Olympic Champion's footwork and/or spins because they weren't here. Some of the jumps were good quality but questionable landings on more than just that hideous flip couldn't save a programme that I found just so lacking in any excitement or star quality. Seems like the judges were determined to get all four figure skating results wrong in Lillehammer!

[@galileocan]

Over the years people have come to view the authenticity of figure skating outcomes, the way they view the authenticity of wrestling. Not highly. Primarily in judging. Urmanov was over marked technically and artistically. Because you skate to classical music in the background does NOT make you an artistic skater. When Urmanov kept buckling his knees at the beginning in some sort of Charleston dance move and had those stiff jerky arm movements, and then when he bizarrely looked like he was answering a telephone later in the program along with spastic head jerks, I cringed in pain. Stojko won but was denied the gold due to erroneous judge bias and error.

[@MNGYM26]

Not one of his jumps was landed with two feet.

[@rowbom]

However one noticeable stumble

[@jamesracioppi2574]

Stojko was better. His artistry is finally being recognized today.

[@L1623VP]

I believe Urmanov deserved the win in a narrow victory. This was as close to a true tie as I've ever seen at the Olympics. Both he and Stojko made big mistakes, and they both replaced those jumps later in the routine. Same number of triples for each, but to me, Urmanov had much better technique and artistry, aside from the weird knee knocks in his choreography. What's interesting is that of the five Russian singles skaters to win Olympic gold to date, only two have been world champion, Yagudin and Plushenko. Urmanov, Kulik and Sotnikova were never world champions.

[@ytyt3922]

Apparently you can’t detect awful, hideous spins when they’re staring you in the face.

[@Анна1804]

OMG, last year you didn't write that Alina hadn't become the World champion too. So you knew future 😅

[@rickram1961]

the fall out on the triple flip certainly didn't make the difference and he went on to win the Gold Medal anyways!

[@officeaddict33]

...... and the audience knowing Urmanov is in first - is flat.

[@thangvuong9196]

"Lyricism" should indicate fluidity and there was nothing fluid about this program, from the amateurish choreography, the complete lack of speed, the HORRIBLE bent free leg on the landing of his jumps and the absolutely substandard spins, one of the worst examples of politics interfering with the results of athletic competition.

[@faeryquene]

@ADEAL416 The judges are the ones who count. Even the Canadian judge gave Urmanov first place and the gold. Personally I see no two-footing from Alexei. He flowed out of his jumps whereas Elvis tended to lean forward almost killing his speed at times. And Stojko popped a jump which seemed a bigger sin in the judges eyes aesthetically than Urmanov's step-out on the triple flip.

[@Zuranthium]

Stojko had good flow out of his jumps, more than Alexei actually. Body position and flow are separate things and Stojko's landing positions were fine here anyway, they weren't that far forward.

[@officeaddict33]

@victoriaindigo - I don't agree. Urmanov's skating is uninsprired, his choreography was trite and robotic (esp the arms - good lord, ugh). He was like Kulik in that way. Urmanov's speed, flow & posture were good as were many of his jumps. He did deserve the gold because skating it all about nailing your programs on the day of competition - and he did it.

[@venuzmodeling6749]

LMFAO they booed him

[@rdumais78]

Elvis Stojko should have won the gold. Not Lil' Prince.

[@kmkokoko9209]

you need glasses. he did not two-foot his axel. his only flaw in this program was in the flip but he was able to recover from it without touching down. he deserved the gold.

[@barkingtree88]

The reason he won was purely political... the judges favored the Soviets, and once Petrenko (who won every other competition that season) was out of contention, Urmanov became plan B. It happens all the time in skating!!

[@barkingtree88]

yea... I don't really consider his tacking arm flailing, knee-knocking choreography "lyrical artistry" I personally would have given Elvis a tenth higher in presentation, as well.

[@faeryquene]

I watched several times-Alexei seemed to catch a rut on the landing of that flip.

[@GioMariatex97]

He completely deserved the gold medal but his spins were absolutely horrible: today, they would be all level 0!! He didn't assume any clear upright position and he had a clear trouble in the first flying sit but, unfortunately, in those years spins were just connecting movements!

[@seljak7046]

Hideous choreography and awful spins. Jumps are ok, but I agree that is very unimpressive OGM skate.

[@vistaprime]

he has some bushy eyebrows.

[@Warren_Flatt]

for a guy who's program was designed to have some resting periods, he still very obviously ran out of gas at the end...that's not olympian. Stojko was robbed.

[@intldawn]

WarrenFlatt Urmanov was well known for lacking stamina at the the end of his programs, but I frequently heard commentators say over the years that a lot of Russian skaters at this time did not always train full run-throughs of their programs. They would only train their programs in sections. Which makes absolutely no sense to me. How can an athlete be expected to perform a full program under the stress of competition if they did not do them over and over again in training? So yeah.

[@ADEAL416]

Watch his landings very closely. Several of them look slightly two-footed--one of the Axels, the Lutz, and the toe loop at the end. It may be a petty thing if the two-footing was that barely noticeable, but as Hamilton said at the beginning, after Stojko's performance, even with his artistic edge, he could not make ANY mistakes if he was to be legitimately awarded the gold. I love his artistry too (though I can say the same with Stojko in a different way) but this is just too many mistakes

[@victoriaindigo]

Aleksei totally deserved the Gold Scott Hamilton is unbelievably biased

[@hairbrush81]

Good grief those are the worst attempts of a sit spin I ever saw. They don't even look like sit spins. Technically the only thing he did well were jumps. Awful spins, practically no footwork at all, no moves in field or spirals.

[@calmand29]

Yawn.Jumps were mostly good, music horrible, choreography abysmal. It should have been Elvis' Gold.

[@Karlinberlin1]

I hated this skate in 1994. Couldn't undestand the decision. Now I think both programs had their flaws. Like Max Aaron today Stojko had beautiful jumps and he was rewarded for it. But, also like Max there was a lot of dead space. Not skating much, gestering. Urmanov had jumps also and that beautiful line and deep edges. (I think that is what judges were seeing in the placements) I don't know why he couldn't spin. Neither had great choreography.

[@officeaddict33]

The spins were horrible. Lousy positions , few revolutions, not sharp positions. They were the WORST spins ever by a World or Olympic champion.

[@mauricios.9078]

maybe the worst Olympic gold performance

[@michaelnugent890]

Petrenko in 1992 will always be the worst

[@valerieteti1755]

The worst Olympic mens gold medalist ever Petrenko second worst

[@innanuzhna1742]

Scott the third? Given the LP

[@L1623VP]

Valerie: No, Petrenko is easily the worst, most undeserving men's figure skating gold medalist with three falls and a downgraded triple to a double, I believe he only had three clean triples in the LP. He only won because the judges severely held Paul Wylie back in the SP, who skated flawlessly and ended up getting 5.2 - 5.4 from the judges. Outrageous. They judged him on his reputation and not how he skated that night. That left him third going into the LP when he should easily have been first or second.