The New Elite

Dube/Davidson; Patrick Chan; Caroline Zhang.

Anyone else we will contantly be talking about that's new?

I think Dube & Davidson have been at this level for a couple of years, but have maybe been held back a bit. I just love how close together they skate. I think they are now a top-5 team for Worlds, if other top teams skate clean, but if someone messes up and D&D skate clean then they can get a medal.

Patrick Chan! I am so impressed by him. I first starting hearing his buzz last year or two, but only had the chance to watch him at Canadian Nationals. He didn't seem to live up to the hype as far as jumps consistency. Of course his basics and technique were excellent though. But for him to come out this week and put down 2 very good programs, 2 great triple axels, and get the scores and PCS that he deserves. I feel like he's been welcomed into the elite group as the thread title says. If he can solidify a consistent triple axel throughout the course of the year and start working in a quad next year, he is a legitimate medal threat for Vancouver. Of course alot can happen with the burden of expectation, but I have a good feeling about him.

Now if Joannie can just lay down a triple triple next weekend, under-rotated, fall, whatever, just do it, then things will be looking up for Canada.

Chan really impressed me... a mature(how many times can Scott Hamilton say that word in one program. Seriously, it's his new favorite word or something...) style... and it worked for him... wish his skating showed off a bit more of his personality though... by what he did after the program makes me wonder if he's got a quirky side

Caroline is just adorable... but she definitely looked the little girl out there (as well she should, she's 14!) she's got very pretty poses and what not... I love her and I do agree that she is one to talk about...

since I was at the mercy of network tv... I didn't see much else in the way of newbies

Dube/Davison would not qualify as a new elite, they have been around for long time now. They were lucky P/T were out of shape and there were none else to challenge. And I am not taking away from them the fully deserving win.

Chan is THE ONE who can kick some @#$ in next two Olympic cycles. But needs to work on quads and consistent 3X.

Zhang had great presentation, but too young and in female skating it is BIG factor.
I would put Bazarova/larionova next to Chan and Zhang as breakthroughs.

oxade21 said:

Dube/Davison would not qualify as a new elite, they have been around for long time now. They were lucky P/T were out of shape and there were none else to challenge. And I am not taking away from them the fully deserving win.

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Two completed seasons on the international senior circuit is a "long time"? Wow, so you think Tara Lipinski had a long career? Michelle Kwan and Irina Slutskaya must be prehistoric corpses in your time frame.

museksk8r said:

Two seasons on the international senior circuit is a "long time"? Wow, so you think Tara Lipinski had a long career? Michelle Kwan and Irina Slutskaya must be prehistoric corpses in your time frame.

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It said New Elite, so I repsonded, they won one Grand Pix event and that's great. But they are hardly a new elite in what they have shown at this event. No radical improvement IMO and nothing new in thier skating. They win is the loss of the competetitors. Finally, as u mentioned they have been full two seasons at Senior International level but still almost got beat in TCS by Bazarova/Larionov.
And do not use these poor snarky comparisons to god save us Hughes.

Joesitz said:

Dube/Davidson; Patrick Chan; Caroline Zhang.

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These 4 skaters were definitely the highlight of Skate America for me! If Patrick Chan continues on this path, then Jeffrey Buttle has a very legitimate challenger to the Canadian mens' throne. Also, U.S. Nationals will be very interesting between Kimmie and Caroline. I'd like to see the two of them on the World team joined by Bebe Liang. If Caroline doesn't meet the age requirement for senior Worlds, then I'd look to Rachael Flatt. All of them need to work on their jump rotation and consistency, but I think potentially they are the best the U.S. has to offer in the ladies. Dube and Davison are my favorite pairs team currently after Shen and Zhao, who I'm hoping will come back for a run at Olympic gold in Vancouver! I'd love to see Shen & Zhao and Dube & Davison on the Olympic podium!

Funny, I thought Dube/Davidson had announced they were quitting at the end of last season. Oh well, glad to see they didn't.

Caroline Zhang? Somewhat impressive, but not as much so as she looked in the Exhibition after Nationals. A delayed axel would make her look "jump-bigger" than she does right now.

oxade21 said:

Finally, as u mentioned they have been full two seasons at Senior International level

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Actually they've been one full season and a couple of performances on the senior circuit. Pre-season surgery kept them out of the entire Grand Prix last year, and the horrendous skate-to-the-face incident at Four Continents shortly after their season debut at Canadian championships knocked out some training time before worlds, where they still had a respectable showing. It's not as if they've been around for a decade waiting in the wings.

You may not have noticed any improvements since last season, but I noticed a lot of difficult entrances and exits to elements added to their programs this season.

Any speculation on whether any of these athletes will join the elite is just speculation at this point....and that's the fun of this thread.

museksk8r said:

If Patrick Chan continues on this path, then Jeffrey Buttle has a very legitimate challenger to the Canadian mens' throne.

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Which would be nothing but a good thing. As much as I love Jeff, he needs to be pushed here at home. That really hasn't happened. We haven't had a really great rivalry here in Canada since the Kurt/Elvis years and look at the skating that gave us.

W/out a doubt, this was Patrick's coming out party. Very impressed.

Tigger said:

As much as I love Jeff, he needs to be pushed here at home. That really hasn't happened. We haven't had a really great rivalry here in Canada since the Kurt/Elvis years and look at the skating that gave us.

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I agree Jeff needs someone to push him now that his rivalry with Emanuel Sandhu seems to have ended. I know Emanuel said he might return for Canadians, but that's a big "if" right now, and if I were Jeff, I'd be a lot more worried about Patrick than Emanuel right now!

As for Dubé and Davison, they've been around for a few years now, but IIRC, this is the first season they've been injury-free since moving to the senior level...and the first season they've truly been able to skate to their full potential. So far, so good...and I hope they stay injury-free for a very long time!

Stephen Carriere is the only other name I'd add to this list right now. Yesterday was the first time I'd seen him skate and I was really impressed. He was Patrick's main rival on the JGP, wasn't he? I hope that rivalry will continue as they compete on the senior level.