State of US Ladies in skating III: 2014-15 Season

[SimplyAFan]

I was happy to see Gracie skating with a different hair style. A baby step in the direction of not looking the same for every program since she switched to Frank. Room to grow from here. She almost seemed a bit out of shape, like not quite conditioned enough. Hope to see improvement in that area.

Samantha was her usual fierce self. Don't mind that she's doing Carmen again because I love her program. Up the TES and she might find herself in medal contention in future competitions.

Mirai. Beautiful packaging and choreography, but would love to see some expression. Again, needs to fix UR jumps. At least no falls today.

 

[Sandpiper]

How on earth is this even debatable? It's Michelle Kwan, of course.

 

[samson]

How on earth is this even debatable? It's Michelle Kwan, of course.

10 points for Gryffindor. Michelle Kwan 4 lyfe.

 

[aftertherain]

It's definitely too soon to tell, I think. Treating this season as a new slate and ignoring all the hype and attention, it seems like Mirai, Samantha, and Polina have really tried to deliver their free skating programs. What I mean by that is that they've all attempted their full layout in a competition at some point.

Gracie and Ashley haven't been successful at that.

But then if you look at PCS, Gracie is still definitely the leader of the U.S. ladies with Polina behind her and then Samantha.

How on earth is this even debatable? It's Michelle Kwan, of course.

I came in here with the expectation that someone had already said this. Thanks!

 

[Shani]

You have not seen the best and last of Gracie Gold. Nor have you seen the best and last of Tut. It takes a long time to rise in USA or Russia. Gracie burst on the international stage and has the talent but needs a couple of seasons under the spotlight. Tut was swamped by media pressure as was Adelina and Gracie. Let them compete. Neither was Elena R. forced to compete 4 weeks in a row internationally...

 

[papa]

This is Gracie Gold that is able to challenge the world:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2CvqyTxDdI

And I'm not talking about costume or music, I'm talking about attitude, self-confidence and authenticity.

 

[MIM]

I want to agree with you about Gracie's gala.
I see a glimpse of hope in her alt. style, but her AAAAAAAAARMS still bother me so much.

 

[Krunchii]

This is Gracie Gold that is able to challenge the world:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2CvqyTxDdI

And I'm not talking about costume or music, I'm talking about attitude, self-confidence and authenticity.

I agree, much more authentic, she needs something more upbeat and trendy, Gracie seems much more modern than Sleeping Beauty or POTO

 

[Ophelia]

I saw more personality in Gracie's Taylor Swift EX than her last few programs combined. She is a very cheerleader-type skater, as someone else mentioned.

 

[Sandpiper]

I came in here with the expectation that someone had already said this. Thanks!

Sorry, had to go for the low-hanging fruit.

My honest answer: Ashley Wagner! ...What? With Gracie struggling, she probably smells blood.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Sorry, had to go for the low-hanging fruit.

My honest answer: Ashley Wagner! ...What? With Gracie struggling, she probably smells blood.

Ashley's LP scoring potential is probably around 125 in the LP though. She will almost certainly < the 3T on either the 2A-2T or 3F-3T. She also will get an edge call on the lutz and get -GOE on that. She can't catch a clean Polina.

 

[mrrice]

Someone really needs to convince me that Polina is a long term threat to Gracie. I certainly respect her technical ability but, good grief when she's not jumping, I think she has bad posture, and is almost as robotic and boring as my Timmy was when he began as a senior.

Now, I do see her as the future and believe she can improve just like Timmy G. By the way, I'm sure he'd hate that name but, what can I do. IMO, all Gracie has to do is stand up and I would have her over Polina in a heart beat. I think the same thing about a clean Ashley. IMO with Gracie and Ashley, US Nationals is in their hands. They skate well, they win, and deservedly so.

Unfortunately, this is not true for Mirai. Once again she has proven that she's still fragile. There is no reason for a skater with her talent and experience to be performing the way she did. It gets harder and harder not to roll my eyes when someone says "Watch out for Mirai"
We've all waited a long time and until I hear that she's hired a sport psychologist, I will remain doubtful.

 

[Sandpiper]

Ashley's LP scoring potential is probably around 125 in the LP though. She will almost certainly < the 3T on either the 2A-2T or 3F-3T. She also will get an edge call on the lutz and get -GOE on that. She can't catch a clean Polina.

I was joking, but still... Wasn't Ashley rotating those triples in the early parts of last season? I wouldn't count her out entirely.

 

[kwanatic]

Gracie: Still not "Golden" yet. Maybe we should call her Gracie Bronze...it's much more fitting . I think she's lucky she landed on the podium; both Cesario and Park out-skated her. She'll have to win NHK in order to have a shot at the Final. IDK what will happen if she misses the Final for the third year in a row.

Samantha: Love the program and her consistency. She's a bit slow and not as powerful but she leaves a great impression on the ice b/c she's a great performer. Her Carmen wrapped rings around Gracie's Phantom. I think she deserved bronze here.

Mirai: Great to see her attacking again but it's the same old song: multiple URs. And 52 for her PCS. The judges are preparing to drop her. Maybe she should go for slightly easier content for a while...it's better to be clean on easier content than to mess up harder content. Clean performances will help to get her scores back up as well as boost her confidence.

 

[b-man]

She's lucky to come in 4th at the Olympics. She wasn't even in the radar for a medal. The medals were meant for Yuna, Carolina, Mao, and maybe the Russians. It was ridiculous to see her randomly grin mid program. Urgh, NBC needs to chill out with this promotion.

I am a little late here, just drove 6 hours back from SA. As far as NBC goes, its all about ratings and revenue. Figure skating is losing viewers, as everyone on here knows, and we are lucky to get any live coverage. NBC has to promote someone, and with Davis and White gone, who else is there? A good portion of the live audience is women bringing their 8 to 15 year old daughters to see Gracie, while older girls and adult women swoon for Jason Brown. If the pretty princess theme isn't popular on GS, it is with the 8 to 15 yo demographic. There are zero foreign skaters with any name recognietion in the US, so that pretty much leaves Gracie for NBC to promote.

 

[kwanatic]

How on earth is this even debatable? It's Michelle Kwan, of course.

Bingo! :agree:

In other words, no one. I'm sorry but as of right now, I'm not convinced any of the Americans can beat the Russians. Gracie's boring packaging and jittery competition nerves definitely aren't the answer. She lost to Elena by 16+ points and was behind Liza T by 10+ points.

Ashley has the fight and drive but I have a feeling she's going to get her butt handed to her based on TES alone at SC. She's still a force when it comes to PE, IN and CH but she's not going to win based on those components if she can't deliver the technical content.

I'm hoping Polina will be the answer but I'm not sure. She lacks the wow!/it factor some of the Russians have but she can hit the jumps. I'll reserve judgement about her for now.

Mirai, bless her heart, is trying but she's on her way out of the standings if she can't stop URing half of her jumps. Her PCS have dropped down to the 4th or 5th tier...it's going to take a lot to bring her back from that.

Samantha has the fire, consistency and attitude but she lacks the overall quality and skill...that sucks b/c right now, she's my favorite American skater.

No one is stepping up so far. It's still early in the season so maybe it will change. But as of now, the Russians have nothing to worry about when it comes to the Americans.

 

[anyanka]

How on earth is this even debatable? It's Michelle Kwan, of course.

End of discussion.

It's the same when someone asked "Who has perfect jumping technique?" and my only response was "Midori Ito. The end."

 

[humbaba]

Seriously, can we retire the word "princess" unless we're talking about Beatrice of York or Anne or another actual princess

Amen sister. The term "pretty princess" once was useful as shorthand for a skater who was aggressively groomed and packaged to be deliberately, excruciatingly inoffensive. Now the term has become so misused and overused it is all but meaningless. For some people, "pretty princess" has become just a generic, snide insult to hurl at a skater one doesn't like.

Even more egregious is the sophomoric "pwetty pwincess". No, I don't think you're funny or clever when you call a skater a "pwetty pwincess". It's just annoying.

I've noticed the latest fad word is "authentic". Don't like a skater or a program, but can't or won't articulate your views? Just say they're "not authentic". Unless you know a person very well, how could you possibly know what's authentic for him or her?

I'll stop ranting now. I feel much better.

 

[FlattFan]

I see a case for SamCes to get a few more points in PE/CH/IN, but her SS is terrible and should be 3-4 points behind everyone else. She's probably the slowest one out there. This girl needs to learn some skating skills from whoever that has been teaching Madison Chock the past 2 years. Even with a perfect program, SamCes will never break through with horrible SS.

Mirai needs to be more lean to be able to rotate those jumps.

Gracie needs to tone it down with the stupid grin. She showed one or two times that she can do a clean LP with big jumps but her programs have been horrible year after year after year. I must have said a few times this girl needs Tamara Moskvina. The old lady is in the same building, hasn't had any new students, all the old students left except for K/S. All that creative juice is still there, bubbling, oozing. Run to her, give her your number, give her a check, get some programs. Get as many as you can. Then polish polish polish. A clean Moskvina program will transform Gracie from a grinning fool to the next Carolina Kostner.

 

[noidont]

Frank's packaging of Gracie is what markets safely PCS-wise. It's quite obvious that Russian and East European judges dislike cheesy happy American cheerleader look, which is who this girl really is. It has never been proven to work. As Gracie is incapable of actual grace and/or actual gold-winning fierceness, pretty princess does no wrong, though it has occurred to me how huge she looks next to Liza and Elena.