Surya Bonaly (FRA) - 1994 European Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Free Skate

Copenhagen, DENMARK - 1994 European Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Free Skate - Surya Bonaly of France won the Free Skate and ended up winning the European Title.

[@mandm471]

She is so genius. Her style of skating is so unique and wonderful

[@naurrr]

everyone saying she's not artistic needs their eyes checked and appreciate exciting, dynamic skaters, not just nice spirals. she was at her peak of artistic expression here.

[@mikelara8306]

Best performance of this program that Surya ever completed.

[@lflagr]

I would check out the 1993 worlds where she skated this program flawlessly and should have been World champion that year. Here she has one obvious mistake towards the end.

[@victoriagill3337]

Sandra Bezic said it best - whilst she is a great acrobat/gymnast/tumbler Surya can’t skate - everything is done on straight lines, no edges or curves. It would have been interesting to see what she would have made of figures 🤔

[@justinfrisque6802]

Jill Trenery is painful to listen to.

[@rfillangi]

I think Suryea's win European wins in '93 and '94 show that the judges (or at least the European judges) did like her. 1994 was her best shot but those two mistakes at the Olympics cost her a medal. If she had landed one lutz she would have gotten the bronze, if she had landed both she would have challenged for the gold. I also think if she hadn't put herhand down on her triple loop athe 1994 Worlds she would have beat Yuka Sato.

[@timothyhh]

I wish she could've put down a program like this in Lillehammer. Wonder what the judges would've done.

[@vistaprime]

no higher than bronze I would imagine.

[@GioMariatex97]

Oksana did "only" 5 triples, too, but Surya did a beautiful 3-3 combination which, in those years, was considered a super-difficult element that separated from the others; and Surya actually landed the second lutz, she just stepped out of it (and it was UR, but it wasn't considered too much).

[@MTVMANN]

I still find it odd that after Surya beat Oksana at the Europeans that Oksana didn't lose any momentum or favor. She goes to the Olympics and is outskated by Nancy Kerrigan and she STILL wins!!!

[@txbadgirl1]

If she had the grace of Michelle Kwan or any other top skater, she would have been pretty unbeatable! She had the power and could do the moves..but without edges and simply looking gracefull on the ice

[@lutz84]

Actually what I meant to say was in 1993 worlds, where Surya was perfectly clean and in my opinion clearly beat Oksana, Oksana was given the gold .... here, there are more reasons for the judges to award it to Oksana but they gave it to Surya instead ... I'm not actually saying Surya should not have won (I commented on 3Axel1996's other videos so this was in reference to that ... sorry about the confusion)

[@user-bh9lp9ik5g]

В детстве ее так любила. Но все-таки какой контраст: офигенные прыжки при полном отсутствии пластики. с

[@user-hq9zb6on6k]

По мне, она не отсутствует, она просто очень своеобразная, экзотичная

[@diegoubarte5474]

Thar was so magnifique

[@anne91276]

Surya, really was my favorite skater. But the problem was that her nationality is France. Of course if I really want to say this, she's my favorite french figure skater.

[@stefan7171]

So true!!!

[@user-dx8fn4yc8v]

Молодец,что еще сказать ,только скольжение смешное, как-будто бегает по льду, кажется хочет музыку перегнать, женственности не хватает, а смотреть приятно, ноги сильные...

[@rfillangi]

Suryea and Lu were skating the same programs they did 1993 when Suryea won the silver ahead of Lu's Bronze. If they both had skated clean Suryea would have won the bronze. As for the gold...A clean program would have taken away some 1st place ordinalds from Baiul and Kerrigan and thrown the outcome in the air...At worlds Sato won 5-4 with Suryea's near fall on the triple loop.

[@metsdudenj]

There is no way she could have challenged for gold in 1994. She was not in the same class as Kerrigan or Baiul or Chen. The judges in 1994 wanted Sato as the champion and she was a much more complete of a skater.

[@metsdudenj]

First of all, you're a black racist. Many of you cropping up these days. No problem in calling you out on this. No need to have a black judge, because we are judging skating, not race. And you're racist implying that white judges cant be fair. Obviously, you know little about skating, so let me school you a little bit: This program had no style, it had awful music, and was basically a bunch of jumps. No connections, no interpretation and poor spins and still issues with her edges. No connective moves, poor carriage and flow. Sloppy spins. Telegraphed jump entries. She was not flawless. She was lucky the judges gave her 3 world silver medals, she was not a worthy champion.

[@lutz84]

3Axel1996 .... sorry that I seem to be hounding your videos of Oksana vs Surya! .... Surya missed her second lutz and only did 5 triples.... wonder why they gave this to her ... is there some subtle difference between Europeans judges and Worlds judges?

[@vistaprime]

Good Question. Why was always so easy for Surya to dominate this competition year after year.

[@TheWayWithKhuwayne]

Perhaps because Surya had a more difficult program in comparison to Oksana. She attempt two Triple Lutzs, Triple Triple Combination with the Salchow & Toe, Flip & Loop versus Oksana did all 5 Triples with no Combinations. I do believe Oksana Double Footed one or two of her jumps here plus turn out of the Double Axel. Rightfully, I think Surya was best option to win Europeans here but it's a shame she never got the same respect at the Worlds in 1993 where she performed even more better.

[@glennd5574]

Bonaly was a great technician, but she lacked the artistry required to be a great figure skater.

[@metsdudenj]

this music is absolutely putrid and does nothing for her program

[@alexsdb9712]

Vivaldi is a genius and one of the greats of classical music, and the Four Seasons is a work of art forever

[@victoriagill3337]

The music is wonderful and a timeless classic, perhaps it is the interpretation to it that doesn’t work 🤔

[@tumicduguar2583]

It doesn't suit her or her strengths at all. Her short program that season was far better for her.