Dorothy Hamill Isn’t the Greatest Figure Skater of All Time

Dorothy Hamill was one of the greatest figure skaters, but she isn't the GOAT. So who is?

We all have our favorite figure skaters that we root for at the Olympics and other international championships. Dorothy Hamill was America’s sweetheart through much of the 1970s, and we have her to thank for the “Hamill camel” figure skating move. Then, there’s the infamous Tonya Harding, who, despite the Nancy Kerrigan controversy, was an incredible skater and the first American female skater to land a triple Axel in competition.

Both skaters were huge, but do their claims to fame earn them bragging rights as the GOAT? Maybe, but today’s figure skating world continues to push the limits of physics. While a triple Axel remains an impressive feat, now female skaters are landing not just triple jumps, but quadruple ones.

These are the best female figure skaters in history, from early pioneers of the sport to competitors in the 2022 Olympics. Who’s your favorite?

26. Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie

AP Photo

Birth year: 1912

Year retired: 1956

Achievements:

Three-time Olympic champion
Ten-time world champion
Six-time European champion

Bottom Line: Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie performing on ice

AP Photo

Sonja Henie was born over a century ago in Norway and began figure skating as a young child. She was a gifted athlete, also excelling at tennis, swimming and horseback riding, but figure skating was her true claim to fame. She was so talented that her father pulled her out of school and hired tutors to give her more time to train.

The risky move turned out to be the right call. Henie went on to win more Olympic and world figure skating titles than any other female figure skater. She also became an actress, starring in 15 films made between 1927 and 1958.

Henie was one of the pioneers of ice shows, which hadn’t yet been established as a form of entertainment. Her extravagant musical ice skating performances became the inspiration for future ice theater productions in the United States, like Icecapades and Disney on Ice.

Sonja Henie in Action

25. Tenley Albright

Tenley Albright female skater

AP Photo

Birth year: 1935

Year retired: 1956

Achievements:

One Olympic gold medal
One Olympic silver medal
Two world championship titles
Two North American championship titles
Inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame

Bottom Line: Tenley Albright

Figure skating championships featuring Tenley Albright

AP Photo

Many figure skaters are multitalented, including the renowned Tenley Albright. She first learned to skate in her backyard, which her father flooded each winter to create a make-shift rink. By the time she was 11, she won the U.S. Eastern Junior Championship. Shortly after, she contracted polio, but she survived and used skating as part of her rehabilitation.

She made a full recovery, going on to win five consecutive national titles beginning at age 16. In 1956, she cut her right ankle so deeply that it hit bone, and despite becoming the first American female skater to win an Olympic gold, she retired shortly after.

The injury inspired her to become a surgeon, and she graduated from Harvard School of Medicine in 1961. She practiced medicine for 23 years, and in 2015, she was inducted into the National Woman’s Hall of Fame.

Tenley Albright in Action

24. Carol Heiss

Carol Heiss smiling at the ice rink

Raoul Fornezza / AP Photo

Birth year: 1940

Year retired: 1960

Achievements:

One Olympic gold medal
One Olympic silver medal
Five-time world champion
Two North American Championship titles

Bottom Line: Carol Heiss

Skater Carol Heiss

AP Photo

Carol Heiss began skating when she was 6 years old near her home in New York City. In five short years, she managed to reach national acclaim, winning the U.S. novice ladies’ title at just 11. A year later, she won the junior title as well and proceeded to place second to Tenley Albright at the national championships from 1953 to 1956.

Despite the fierce competition, Heiss was unshakable. She even competed with a torn Achilles’ tendon at the 1954 U.S. championships. She almost went into show skating after the 1956 Olympics, but her dying mother left her with one final request: to win the gold.

Heiss took the request seriously, going on to win Olympic gold in 1960, along with a fifth World Championship title. She’s one of only three women to have won five consecutive World Championships. As if that’s not enough, she was also the first female skater to land a double Axel, and one of the few skaters capable of jumping in both directions.

Carol Heiss in Action

23. Peggy Fleming

Peggy Fleming

AP Photo

Birth year: 1948

Year retired: 1968

Achievements:

One Olympic gold medal
Three-time world champion
One North American Championship title

Bottom Line: Peggy Fleming

Peggy Fleming

Robert Rider / AP Photo

It’s impossible to discuss great female figure skaters without mentioning Peggy Fleming. She first stepped on the ice at age 9 and instantly fell in love. Her coach William Kipp was tragically killed alongside the entire U.S. figure skating team in a plane crash on the way to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships, but losing her coach didn’t slow her down.

She found another coach and proceeded to win five U.S. titles with her unique skating style, three World titles and a historic gold medal at the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, France. That year, she was the only American to bring home a gold medal, making her accomplishment a special one for the nation.

She went on to perform in ice shows on national TV and has been a skating commentator since the early 1980s. She also ran a winery with her husband for several years, donating some of the proceeds to breast cancer research.

Peggy Fleming in Action

22. Janet Lynn

Janet Lynn

Robert W. Klein / AP Photo

Birth year: 1953

Year retired: 1975

Achievements:

Two-time Olympic bronze medalist
Two-time world championship medalist
Seven-time U.S. national champion

Bottom Line: Janet Lynn

Famous female skater Janet Lynn

AP Photo

Some of the best skaters were practically still in diapers when they first stepped on the ice. Janet Lynn performed in her first exhibition event at the age of 4. She was traveling for her figure skating training by age 7, and became the youngest skater to pass the final test of the U.S. Figure Skating Association at just 11.

Two years later, she landed a triple salchow jump, and became known as one of the few women of her time consistently landing triple jumps in competition. When her competitive training came to an end after 1973, she was offered a three-year contract with the Ice Follies, a show skating group, for nearly $1.5 million, making her the highest-paid female athlete of her time.

While asthma cut her professional career short, she remains one of the most memorable female figure skaters in history.

Janet Lynn in Action

21. Dorothy Hamill

Dorothy Hamill ice skating

AP Photo

Birth year: 1956

Year retired: 1976

Achievements:

One Olympic gold medal
One world championship title

Bottom Line: Dorothy Hamill

Dorothy Hamill famous figure skater

AP Photo

Every champion starts somewhere. Dorothy Hamill began at the age of 8 with weekly group classes at a seasonal rink. She progressed rapidly and moved on to taking private lessons, getting up in the dead of night to make it to practice at 4:30 a.m. She eventually switched schools in order to have a more flexible schedule for skating, winning the novice ladies’ title at just 12.

She performed in Madison Square Garden the same year and won her first national championship title at age 18. While she doesn’t have the long list of gold medals that some female skaters have, she remains one of the most impressive skaters on record. She’s known for developing a figure skating move called the “Hamill camel,” in which the skater performs a camel spin into a sit spin.

She was known as America’s sweetheart for years thanks to her short, sassy bob hairstyle and later wrote an autobiography called “On and Off the Ice.”

Dorothy Hamill in Action

20. Denise Biellmann

Denise Biellmann

AP Photo

Birth year: 1962

Year retired: 1981

Achievements:

One world champion title
One European champion title
Perfected the Biellmann spin

Bottom Line: Denise Biellmann

Denise Biellmann in competition figure skating form

Ron Frehm / AP Photo

Denise Biellmann is a renowned figure skater hailing from Switzerland. She won her first international championship when she was only 8, and by the time she was 14, she had already placed second at the 1977 European Championships.

At 15, she made history as the first female skater to land a triple Lutz in competition, simultaneously becoming the first woman to receive a 6.0 in Technical Merit. While she performed poorly at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, she remains a memorable figure in the sport.

She perfected a spin in which the skater holds the blade of the skate high overhead, requiring extreme mobility and balance. While she didn’t invent the move, she was so good at it that it was named the Biellmann spin. She was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2014.

Denise Biellmann in Action

19. Midori Ito

Midori Ito famous figure skater

AP Photo

Birth year: 1969

Year retired: 1992

Achievements:

One Olympic silver medal
One world championship title
First woman to land a triple Axel

Bottom Line: Midori Ito

Midori Ito wins an Olympic medal

AP Photo

Don’t judge Midori Ito by her lack of an Olympic gold medal. The mighty, miniature 4-foot-9 powerhouse doesn’t need it. Widely recognized as one of the greatest female figure skaters of all time, Ito began skating when she was only 4. By the time she was 8, she was landing triple jumps.

At age 10, she ended up living with her coach after her parents got divorced and won the free skating event at the World Junior Championships less than two years later. At the time, she was only 3-foot-11 and weighed 53 pounds, earning her the nickname “the Jumping Flea.”

She went on to become the first woman to ever land a triple-triple jump combination (two triple-revolution jumps in a row) as well as the first woman to land a triple Axel in competition. She was also the first woman to land seven triple jumps in one Olympic free skating competition.

Midori Ito in Action

18. Kristi Yamaguchi

Famous figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi

AP Photo

Birth year: 1971

Year retired: 1992

Achievements:

One Olympic gold medal
Two world championship titles
One U.S. national championship title

Bottom Line: Kristi Yamaguchi

Female figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi

Lionel Cironneau / AP Photo

Kristi Yamaguchi is one of the few skaters whose name is almost as recognizable as Michelle Kwan. Yamaguchi is also living proof that anyone can achieve athletic greatness with enough determination and talent.

She was born with clubbed feet and began skating as part of her physical therapy. She pursued both pairs skating and singles skating, making her one of the few skaters to excel in both disciplines.

While she won several gold medals, her Olympic gold is the most noteworthy. She was the first Asian-American woman to win a gold medal in a Winter Olympics event. This achievement is even more poignant given her background: Yamaguchi’s mother was born in an internment camp during World War II, all while her maternal grandfather fought for the U.S. Army.

Yamaguchi was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2005 and won the sixth season of “Dancing with the Stars” in 2008.

Kristi Yamaguchi in Action

17. Tonya Harding

Tonya Harding

John Gaps / AP Photo

Birth year: 1970

Year retired: 1994

Achievements:

One Skate America title
Two-time U.S. champion
First woman to land a triple Axel in competition

Bottom Line: Tonya Harding

Harding U.S. figure skater

Jim Mone / AP Photo

Tonya Harding’s story is heartbreaking and bittersweet. Figure skating fans probably recognize most, if not all, names on this list, but everyone knows the name Tonya Harding.

If you’re the rare exception, here’s a quick recap: Harding was a gifted skater with a tumultuous upbringing. She ended up caught in an unhealthy marriage, and her ex-husband coordinated an attack that brought down her competitor and ended Harding’s career. While she didn’t plan the attack herself (or, according to her, agree to it at all), she was banned from U.S. figure skating for life.

Before the controversy ruined her career, she was a figure skating powerhouse. She had athleticism that most of her competitors could only dream of, and she was the first American woman to land a triple Axel in competition. The gravity of that feat is difficult to explain, but the expression of pure joy on her face says it all.

She didn’t just make history for the jump itself but for being one of the few underprivileged athletes to make it in a notoriously elitist sport. Her story was captured in the 2017 film “I, Tonya.” Now in her 50s, she can still land double jumps.

Tonya Harding in Action

16. Oksana Baiul

Oksana Baiul skating

oksanabaiul / Instagram

Birth year: 1977

Year retired: 1994

Achievements:

One Olympic gold medal
One world championship title
First skater representing Ukraine to win gold

Bottom Line: Oksana Baiul

Oksana Baiul figure skater

Lee Jin-man / AP Photo

Oksana Baiul had a rough start in life. She lived in Dnipro, Ukrainian SSR, a city known for manufacturing missiles for the Soviet Union. Her parents divorced when she was only 2, and her father went missing shortly after. Her mother and maternal grandparents raised her when she was very young, but her mother passed away suddenly from ovarian cancer when Baiul was only 13.

She ended up living with her coach’s wife before moving to Odessa in 1992, with dorm expenses covered by the state thanks to her promising skating career. Despite financial hardship, an unstable home life and a country in political turmoil, Baiul did well at the 1994 Olympics. She remains the first and only skater representing Ukraine to win a gold medal.

She later moved to the U.S. and eventually retired from skating to seek treatment for alcoholism.

Oksana Baiul in Action

15. Surya Bonaly

Surya Bonaly leaping on ice

Eric Draper / AP Photo

Birth year: 1973

Year retired: 1998

Achievements:

Three-time world silver medalist
Five-time European champion
Nine-time French national champion
Only Olympic figure skater to land a backflip on one foot

Bottom Line: Surya Bonaly

Surya Bonaly backflip

suryabonaly1 / Instagram

Let’s not sugar coat this one: Figure skating is not a sport famous known for inclusivity. Reaching a serious, competitive level is taxing, both physically, mentally and financially. The parents of promising young skaters have to shell out tens of thousands of dollars each year for ice time, coaching, travel, skates and costumes, which is a huge limitation for underprivileged skaters.

As a result, the cost of being a competitive skater has severely stunted the sport’s diversity. Surya Bonaly was one of the first famous competitive Black figure skaters. The French skater was known for her powerful skating style and remains the only Olympic figure skater to land a backflip on one blade. The skill was promptly banned in competition, but it remains one of the most memorable feats in Olympic figure skating history.

After retirement, Bonaly became an activist, encouraging other people of color to participate in the sport. Her work inspired the creation of groups like Diversify Ice, which helps provide skating instruction to young skaters of color.

Surya Bonaly in Action

14. Tara Lipinski

Tara Lipinksi

Eric Draper / AP Photo

Birth year: 1982

Year retired: 1998

Achievements:

One Olympic gold medal
One world championship title
One U.S. national championship title
Youngest skater to win an Olympic gold medal
Youngest skater to win U.S. nationals

Bottom Line: Tara Lipinski

Tara Lipinski holding up her gold medal

Lynne Sladky / AP Photo

Tara Lipinski was tiny when her parents realized she might have a future in figure skating. While she was watching the 1984 Olympics, she balanced on top of a Tupperware container pretending to be on the podium winning a gold medal. She started out as a roller skater, winning a national championship in her age group at just 9.

At that point, she switched to ice skating. Three years later, she became the youngest athlete in history to win gold at the U.S. Olympic Festival. While she had to brush up on her ballet skills and improve her choreography, she accomplished both rapidly. That, plus her signature triple loop-triple loop combination, helped her defeat Michelle Kwan at the 1996 Champion Series final.

Lipinski later went into show skating, and by the time she retired, she had won every competition she entered during her professional career. She later became a sports commentator for NBC.

Tara Lipinski in Action

13. Sarah Hughes

Sarah Hughes

Amy Sancetta / AP Photo

Birth year: 1985

Year retired: 2003

Achievements:

One Olympic gold medal
One bronze world championship title

Bottom Line: Sarah Hughes

Sarah Hughes at the Olympics

Amy Sancetta / AP Photo

Sarah Hughes didn’t waste any time jumping on the ice. She began skating at just 3 years old, inspired by her father, John Hughes, who was one of the captains of the Cornell University ice hockey team. She won the junior title at the 1998 U.S. Championships, and in 1999, she finished fourth at the senior level.

Fourth place wouldn’t normally land skaters a spot on the World Championship circuit. The silver medalist, however, was too young to qualify for the event, and Hughes ended up competing at senior Worlds. She received a number of medals over the years that followed, competing with Michelle Kwan and Irina Slutskaya at the 2002 Olympics. She won gold at just 16 years and 295 days old, making her one of the youngest Olympic figure skating champions at the time.

She remains the only American woman who has won an Olympic gold without ever having won a World or U.S. senior national title.

Sarah Hughes in Action

12. Irina Slutskaya

Figure skater Irina Slutskaya

Amy Sancetta / AP Photo

Birth year: 1984

Year retired: 2006

Achievements:

Two-time Olympic medalist
Two world championship titles
Seven-time European champion
First woman to land a triple lutz-triple loop combination

Bottom Line: Irina Slutskaya

Amazing female figure skater Irina Slutskaya

Eric Gay / AP Photo

Irina Slutskaya has an impressive track record. She started skating at the age of 4, and her talent was apparent from the start. She won a bronze medal at the 1994 World Junior Championships, starting a 12-year long rivalry with none other than the legendary Michelle Kwan, who won gold at the same event.

In addition to Slutskaya’s dozens of medals, she is known for landing the first ratified triple lutz-triple loop combination in competition. While skaters make their jumps look nearly effortless, the athleticism required to get enough air time and rotate that quickly, twice, is extreme.

Slutskaya also invented the double Biellmann spin, in which the skater first spins with one leg held behind her head before changing feet. Men rarely perform this move due to the extreme flexibility required.

Irina Slutskaya in Action

11. Michelle Kwan

Michelle Kwan

Michael Dwyer / AP Photo

Birth year: 1980

Year retired: 2006

Achievements:

Two Olympic silver medals
Five-time world champion
Nine-time U.S. champion
Tied with Maribel Vinson for the all-time national championship record

Bottom Line: Michelle Kwan

Female figure skater Michelle Kwan at the skating rink

Doug Mills / AP Photo

If you ask a stranger to name a figure skater, the odds are good that they’ll say “Michelle Kwan.” After taking up figure skating at age 5, it was immediately apparent that Kwan had something special. By age 8, she was training for three to four hours a day, skating both before and after school. Financial limitations were a challenge, but she was able to continue training thanks to financial assistance from a fellow member of Los Angeles’ figure skating club.

It’s lucky she got the help she needed because she went on to become the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history. Her artistry was admired by all, and despite never winning Olympic gold, she was one of the most popular female athletes for over a decade. She also became one of the highest-paid Winter Olympic athletes ever, both via endorsements and as a professional skater on the Champions on Ice tours.

Michelle Kwan in Action

10. Katarina Witt

Katarina Witt

Eric Gay / AP Photo

Birth year: 1965

Year retired: 2008

Achievements:

Two Olympic gold medals
Four-time world champion
Six-time European champion

Bottom Line: Katarina Witt

Katarina Witt at World Figure Skating Championship

Rudi Blaha / AP Photo

Katarina Witt, a former competitive figure skater from Germany, was a two-time Olympic champion known for her athleticism and charisma on the ice. She’s only one of two skaters to defend a ladies’ singles Olympic title, alongside Sonja Henie, and won six European Championships in a row — another feat only matched by Henie.

She’s also one of the few skaters to ever return to competition after retirement. She retired from the competition scene after the 1988 Olympics, then re-emerged at the 1994 Olympics to represent Germany. Even though she didn’t medal, her comeback was impressive.

After retiring for good, she received a Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement and played cameo roles in a few TV shows. She also posed nude for Playboy magazine to dispel the idea that figure skaters are innocent, delicate princesses. The issue was the second in Playboy history to sell out.

Katarina Witt in Action

9. Sasha Cohen

Sasha Cohen

Rick Bowmer / AP Photo

Birth year: 1984

Year retired: 2010

Achievements:

One Olympic silver medal
Two-time world championship silver medalist
One U.S. championship title

Bottom Line: Sasha Cohen

Sasha Cohen at Winter Olympics

Lionel Cironneau / AP Photo

Sasha Cohen is one of the most flexible and graceful figure skaters to ever take to the ice. She started out as a gymnast before switching to figure skating at the age of 7. She didn’t begin taking the sport seriously until four years later, however, and won her first silver medal at the national level at the 2002 U.S. Championship. That achievement also landed her a spot on the Olympic team that year, where she finished fourth.

She went on to win several more medals, and while she’s never won an Olympic gold, she remains the most recent American woman to medal individually at the Olympics in figure skating. After retiring, she earned a degree in political science from Columbia University.

Fun fact: Sasha is a Russian diminutive of Alexandra, Cohen’s legal first name. In her professional life, she now goes by Alex.

Sasha Cohen in Action

8. Yuna Kim

Yuna Kim at Olympic games

Vadim Ghirda / AP Photo

Birth year: 1990

Year retired: 2014

Achievements:

One Olympic gold medal
Two-time world champion
One Four Continents Championship title

Bottom Line: Yuna Kim

Female figure skater Yuna Kim of South Korea

Ahn Young-joon / AP Photo

One of the more recently retired female figure skaters, Yuna Kim is currently regarded as one of the most talented figure skaters of all time and one of the largest media figures in South Korea. She began skating at age 6, and her first coach immediately predicted she would become a world-class figure skater.

She did. She won the 2010 Olympic gold and the 2014 Olympic silver medal, along with several Grand Prix events, two World championships and several other titles. Kim is the first South Korean skater to medal at an ISU Grand Prix event, the ISU Figure Skating Championships and the Olympic games.

Kim is also the first female skater in history to win every single major international competition, including the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the Four Continents Championships and the Grand Prix Final. Her international acclaim has earned her the nickname “Queen Yuna.”

Yuna Kim in Action

7. Mao Asada

Mao Asada

Nam Y. Huh / AP Photo

Birth year: 1990

Year retired: 2017

Achievements:

One Olympic silver medal
Three-time world champion
Three-time Four Continents Champion
First figure skater to win all seven events on the Grand Prix series

Bottom Line: Mao Asada

Mao Asada at 2014 Sochi Olympic Games

Vadim Ghirda / AP Photo

Mao Asada was named after the Japanese actress Mao Daichi. Growing up, she looked up to Midori Ito, one of the most famous Japanese figure skaters to date. Mao was considered to be a child prodigy, becoming the fifth woman and the first junior girl to land a triple Axel in competition.

She won her first Grand Prix title at 15 and set a world record for the highest ladies’ short program score at the 2014 World Championships. While her record was broken two years later by Evgenia Medvedeva, Asada is still regarded as one of the best female figure skaters of her time.

Fun fact: Asada has a pet miniature poodle named Aero, who has joined her on the ice in exhibition programs from time to time. Her dresses and medals were also displayed at an exhibition in Tokyo, drawing over 10,000 visitors on opening day.

Mao Asada in Action

6. Ashley Wagner

Female figure skater Ashley Wagner

Tony Avelar / AP

Birth year: 1991

Year retired: 2019

Achievements:

One Olympic bronze medal
One world championship silver medal
One Four Continents Championship title

Bottom Line: Ashley Wagner

Figure skater Ashley Wagner performing

Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP Photo

Ashley Wagner is living proof that if you’re committed enough, you can achieve pretty much anything you set your mind to. She was born on an Army base in the 1990s, moving nine times by the age of 10. Inspired by Tara Lipinski’s gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics, Wagner began skating at the age of 5 and won gold at her first competition.

The family eventually settled in Virginia, where Wagner was able to pursue her skating career with more intensity. Despite an uphill battle, she eventually won a bronze medal at the Olympics, a silver at the World Championships and a gold at the Four Continents Championships. She also became a three-time U.S. national champion before retiring in 2019.

Ashley Wagner in Action

5. Carolina Kostner

Carolina Kostner at 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games

Bernat Armangue / AP Photo

Birth year: 1987

Year retired: Still active

Achievements:

One Olympic bronze medal
One world championship title
Five-time European champion
Nine-time Italian national champion

Bottom Line: Carolina Kostner

Carolina Kostner at Figure Skating World Championships

Luca Bruno / AP Photo

Carolina Kostner, an Italian figure skater, is the most decorated singles skater in European championship history, holding a record 11 medals. She was born into skating, raised by a mother who was a nationally ranked skater in the 1970s and a father who played hockey for the Italian national team.

Her skating wasn’t all smooth sailing. A landslide destroyed her home rink in the early 2000s, forcing her to drive four hours away to train, but her perseverance paid off. In addition to being the 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, Koster is a five-time European champion, the 2011 Grand Prix Final Champion and the 2012 World Champion.

Fun fact: In addition to Italian, Kostner is fluent in Ladin, German, English and French. Despite being in her 30s, Kostner has yet to announce her retirement.

Carolina Kostner in Action

4. Bradie Tennell

Bradie Tennell

Martin Meissner / AP Photo

Birth year: 1998

Year retired: Still active

Achievements:

One Olympic bronze medal
One World Team Trophy gold medal
One U.S. national championship title

Bottom Line: Bradie Tennell

Bradie Tennell at figure skating chapmiponship

Martin Meissner / AP Photo

Bradie Tennell began skating before she could walk. She was born with pronation issues and learned to walk late, but she was immediately at home on the ice. She won her first competition when she was 10 at the juvenile level, becoming a senior-level skater in 2016.

While she sat out two seasons due to a back injury, she made a strong comeback in 2017, winning U.S. Nationals and competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics. As of March 2021, Tennell is ranked the fifth-highest women’s singles skater worldwide by the International Skating Union.

Bradie Tennell in Action

3. Evgenia Medvedeva

Evgenia Medvedeva

Ivan Sekretarev / AP Photo

Birth year: 1999

Year retired: 2021

Achievements:

Two-time Olympic silver medalist
Two world championship titles
Two European championship titles
Two Grand Prix Final titles

Bottom Line: Evgenia Medvedeva

Evgenia Medvedeva

Ivan Sekretarev / AP Photo

Evgenia Medvedeva is one of the most recently retired competitive figure skaters, and we’re sad to see her go. She began skating when she was only 3 near her home in Russia, later making her senior national debut at the 2012 Russian Championships.

While she placed eighth, her future was bright. She continued working her way up until the 2015-2016 season when she became eligible to compete at the senior international level, winning a gold medal ahead of American skater Gracie Gold at the 2015 Grand Prix event.

She went on to set the world record ISU score 13 times, becoming the first female skater to exceed the 80-point short program mark and the 160-point free skating mark.

Fun fact: She’s deathly afraid of butterflies, and in 2020, she launched an online store where she sells her digital artwork.

Evgenia Medvedeva in Action

2. Wakaba Higuchi

Wakaba Higuchi

Francois Mori / AP Photo

Birth year: 2001

Year retired: Still active

Achievements:

One world championship silver medal
One World Team trophy gold medal

Bottom Line: Wakaba Higuchi

Wakaba Higuchi competing on the ice

Manu Fernandez / AP Photo

While Wakaba Higuchi isn’t ranked as high as Bradie Tennell, she’s still a strong competitor that we’d argue is more fun to watch. She began skating when she was only 3, competing at the novice level for three seasons starting in 2011. She became the 2013 Japanese National Novice Champion and began skating as a junior in 2014.

Despite an unfortunate back injury in 2015, she won bronze at the World Junior Champions two years in a row, followed by a silver at the World Championships in 2018.

Like all athletes, her training and competition plans were impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19, but she returned for the 2021-22 season, landing her first clean triple Axel in competition at the 2021 Skate Canada International, setting a personal best.

Wakaba Higuchi in Action

1. Alexandra Trusova

Alexandra Trusova figure skating

Ronda Churchill / AP Photo

Birth year: 2004

Year retired: Still active

Achievements:

One bronze world championship medal
One European championship title
2021 Skate America Champion
First female skater to land a quad Lutz, quad flip and quad toe loop

Bottom Line: Alexandra Trusova

Figure Skater Alexandra Trusova in mid-air

Darko Bandic / AP Photo

At the 2022 Winter Olympics, Alexandra Trusova is the one to beat. While she has yet to win an Olympic gold, let alone as many as legends like Sonja Henie, she was only born in 2004. She began skating at the age of 4, moving to Moscow in 2015 to train more seriously.

She won the first of her two World Junior Championship titles at just 13 and the 2017 Junior Grand Prix title, making her the youngest female to win either event.

Her real claim to fame is that she’s currently the first and only female skater who can pull of not one, not two, but four different quadruple jumps — a feat that was unheard of just five years ago. She’s also the first female skater ever to score over 100 in technical elements.

Alexandra Trusova in Action

×

Home Page High School Baseball Basketball Football Sports ExtrasAbout Us Terms of Service Privacy Policy Advertise Contact Us Do Not Sell My Personal InfoAlways Pets Big Edition FamilyMinded Far & Wide Stadium Talk Work + Money

© 2024 Big Edition, Inc.

AP Photo

We all have our favorite figure skaters that we root for at the Olympics and other international championships. Dorothy Hamill was America’s sweetheart through much of the 1970s, and we have her to thank for the “Hamill camel” figure skating move. Then, there’s the infamous Tonya Harding, who, despite the Nancy Kerrigan controversy, was an incredible skater and the first American female skater to land a triple Axel in competition.

Both skaters were huge, but do their claims to fame earn them bragging rights as the GOAT? Maybe, but today’s figure skating world continues to push the limits of physics. While a triple Axel remains an impressive feat, now female skaters are landing not just triple jumps, but quadruple ones.

These are the best female figure skaters in history, from early pioneers of the sport to competitors in the 2022 Olympics. Who’s your favorite?

26. Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie

AP Photo

Birth year: 1912

Year retired: 1956

Achievements:

Bottom Line: Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie performing on ice

AP Photo

Sonja Henie was born over a century ago in Norway and began figure skating as a young child. She was a gifted athlete, also excelling at tennis, swimming and horseback riding, but figure skating was her true claim to fame. She was so talented that her father pulled her out of school and hired tutors to give her more time to train.

The risky move turned out to be the right call. Henie went on to win more Olympic and world figure skating titles than any other female figure skater. She also became an actress, starring in 15 films made between 1927 and 1958.

Henie was one of the pioneers of ice shows, which hadn’t yet been established as a form of entertainment. Her extravagant musical ice skating performances became the inspiration for future ice theater productions in the United States, like Icecapades and Disney on Ice.

Sonja Henie in Action

25. Tenley Albright

Tenley Albright female skater

AP Photo

Birth year: 1935

Year retired: 1956

Achievements: