This turned out to be a very bad year for Alissa.

krenseby · Mar 29, 2009

This turned out to be a very bad year for Alissa, but mostly because of the judging at U.S. Nationals.

She had good momentum early in the season, but that didn't mean she was ready to go to Worlds.

Now, she finishes the season looking like a genuine failure because she disappointed the expectations of a top 10 finish. This doesn't bode well for her future career, given that no one will trust her to do well at an international competition ever again.

Now, all of this could have been prevented had she finished 3rd at U.S. Nationals and went only to 4CC instead of Worlds. That would have given her another season or two to work on her consistency. Whatever progress she would make, she'd still have some respect from the skating community for trying to raise the level of her skating. Respect that was stripped from her during this Worlds because she failed to live up to the delusional expectations of the USFSA. Has she gotten better this season compared to how she skated before? Yes. Is she anywhere near consistent and meltdown-proof? Not at all.

Final note: She skates too tentantively and that is reflected in her relatively low PCS. The judges see that she is simply going through the motions in her program because she is very nervous. Her caution also sends a negative vibe to the audience. After all, it's hard to a root for a skater who is neither enjoying herself nor engaging you the viewer.

Tonichelle · Mar 29, 2009

yeah those evil US judges....

they gave her a shot, it was up to her to decide what to do with it. She skated well enough to be champion in January... she didn't here. That's not the judges' responsibility, it's hers.

merrywidow · Mar 29, 2009

According to Hamilton & Bezic she skated an excellent long program. She moved from 14th up to 11th so she almost made the Top 10. Has anyone seen her World's LP?

Tonichelle · Mar 29, 2009

they said you could see it on demand online on universalsports.com

Tinymavy15 · Mar 29, 2009

I disagree. I think Alissa's career was not long lived after this season anyway. Next season will most likely be her last. She had a good GP, she WON nationals, made the world team and skated a great there. Compared to last season she did great. She is not stupid. She knew that she won nationals because of her short, and that she did not skate that well in the long. I don't think she expected a top five finish or anything at worlds. She was disappointed in herself for bombing the short, who would not be? but she cam back and did a beautiful long. As for the downgrades, from my seat I could not tell if the jumps were cheated or not, but she stayed on her feet, more than she could do at nationals.

this summer she knows she has to work on getting all the way around on the jumps, now that she is getting slightly better at keeping herself together mentally.

brightphoton · Mar 29, 2009

Eh. She has always been a headcase. This year was more of the same.

flying camel · Mar 29, 2009

You can't control how your skater skates at the big competitions. Everyone thinks Caroline would have done so much better. It would have been her first worlds. We will never know for sure how she would have skated. I'm sure Alissa is very upset about how she skated. But she still skated better this year then she ever has aside from the GP 2005. She needs to regroup. Keep working on being secure with her technique. She still needs to find ways to concur her nerves. I think she should look at Joannie. It took her 7 worlds to get it right.

I think her team made good choices for her to compete more this year. But now I think she needs to compete more with the top skaters. Even if it means going to the NHK. Maybe she could be sent wherever Yu - Na is going. It think Alissa has very low self esteem when it comes to her skating. She doesn't feel that she is as good as the top girls and it shows. She needs to compete with them, watch how they practice. Take it all in. I stiil have faith in her but next year is going to be a dog fight.

Michelle did make a good point on Oxygen. She said the American girls need to look at Mao and Yu - Na and ask why are they winning, what are they doing right.

Medusa · Mar 29, 2009

merrywidow said:
According to Hamilton & Bezic she skated an excellent long program. She moved from 14th up to 11th so she almost made the Top 10. Has anyone seen her World's LP?

Sorry. She landed 3 clean Triples. True, other girls didn't land much more and ended quite high in the standings (Lepistö...). But 3 clean Triples, one underrotated Triple and a popped jump - that's not excellent. That's mediocre.

And she is so tentative, she looks like a very scared Bambi out there - it's painful to watch. She also was quite slow. And everytime she approaches a jump scares the heck out of me, because she looks so afraid.

Kwanford Wife · Mar 29, 2009

Personally, I for one am tired of the Alissa pity party. That girl has the talent and the skill. She is also an athlete competing at the highest levels of her chosen sport. She is a grown woman, not a show pony. The only way she's ever going to win, is to focus. Period. Carolina is another one. Get it together or get out of the way.

I don't mean to sound harsh - but come on. Don't waste your talent. Its like Yoda said: do or do not. there is no try.

museksk8r · Mar 29, 2009

flying camel said:
Maybe she could be sent wherever Yu - Na is going.

If Alissa is healthy to skate in the GP next season, she will be up against 1 of the Worlds top 3 (Yu-Na Kim, Joannie Rochette, or Miki Ando) in each GP event she's entered in. Also, she will have to face 1 of the next group of finishers from Worlds (4-6: Mao Asada, Rachael Flatt, or Laura Lepisto), and 1 of the next group of finishers from Worlds (7-9: Alena Leonova, Fumie Suguri, or Sarah Meier).

DarkestMoon · Mar 29, 2009

merrywidow said:
According to Hamilton & Bezic she skated an excellent long program. She moved from 14th up to 11th so she almost made the Top 10. Has anyone seen her World's LP?

Saw it on live feed. I thought last night was the best she skated her program in terms of hitting her elements. Performance? Not so much but she looked like she was trying to control her nerves and her elements.

If she had one less of a fall the night before, the US would have 3 spots.

Alissa started out well because she said that she didn't care about winning anymore but just having fun this year. She said she considered retirement. That fact was that upon winning her national title, she obviously couldn't go skate for fun because she has new responsibilities as the national title. Everyone has basically beaten it over US ladies' heads that getting 3 spots is practically life and death because of traditional and et al.

Tinymavy15 · Mar 29, 2009

Sandra said that she is a sweet girl but does not have the "killer attitude" needed tro compete at this level. I agree.

Andalusia · Mar 29, 2009

flying camel said:
Everyone thinks Caroline would have done so much better. It would have been her first worlds. We will never know for sure how she would have skated.

Yes, it would have been Caroline's first Worlds. Caroline has also been to the GPF and 4CC, where she faced the likes of Yu-Na, Mao, Kostner, et al. At 4CC, she dealt with a crowd that consisted of the entire population of Seoul and a crew of motley others. Still, at both these competitions, she did remarkably well and attempted 7 triples. And I'm not even counting her individual GP assignments, where she again faced top competitors and did so well.

OTOH, this is Alissa's second trip to Worlds, and her experience the first time around obviously hasn't done her any good.

Mathman · Mar 29, 2009

Was this a bad year for Alissa Czisny?

Compared to what?

Her best year previously was 2005-2006, when she got second at Skate America and first at Skate Canada. She made the Grand Prix final, but finished sixth and last, to go along with a 6th place finish at juniour worlds that year.

In 2006-2007 she was third at U.S. Nationals (first in the LP!), and 15th at Worlds.

Last year she was 9th at U.S. nationals.

This year was her best season by far.

She won two minor events at the beginning of the season, the U.S. Collegiate Championship and the Nebelhorn Trophy. She did relatively OK in the Grand Prix, finishing 9th ahead of all the U.S. ladies except Rachael Flatt, who got 8th.

She won U.S. Nationals!!! (up from 9th the pevious year) and she finished 11th at Worlds (up from 15th in her previous trip.) She can always say she was the national champion (and be introduced like that when she joins SOI.

)

The only thing that I hope for Alissa is that she does not harbor doubts in her own mind about whether she deserved her U.S. title. Hey, Alissa, this is figure skating! Sometimes the judges give you a break, sometimes they dump on you. You take the bad with the good. You are the 2009 United States Champion, joining Mirai, Kimmie, Sasha and Michelle. And you skated a heartwarming LP at the world championship. A tip of the Mathman hat to you and good luck next year, wherever your journey takes you. :clap:

A.H.Black · Mar 29, 2009

Thanks Mathman. I agree. This year Alissa had three good performances (one of them excellent - Nationals SP) and one poor performance between Nationals and Worlds. She has been working hard to get better. She will continue to work to become better. Some of the very best stories of triumph are of those who don't just call it a day, but keep working at it. __________________ Insert your favorite name here.

I just wanted to add one story that I personally witnessed with Alissa. In 1999, at Nationals in Salt Lake City, I watched Alissa in the novice category. During every practice she was in tears about something - always appearing very fragile. During her performance in the competition, the lights went out right in the middle causing a disruption in her skate and the competition. Again she was in tears, but did come back to finish her skate. I think she came in around 5th. I honestly thought at the time that she would never last, that she would give up skating somewhere along the line.

Now here we are 10 years later and Alissa is still with it. I'm sure she battles her own set of demons every day - BUT she doesn't give up. She keeps working at it. Either she loves skating too much to give it up or there is something inside that won't let her give up - or both. She has worked on her strengths and her weaknesses. Her strengths being her ability to spin and her natural grace. Her greatest weakness seems to be her ability to compete well under great pressure.

As for being tentative, that is a quality that some of the best skaters have had. It isn't a quality that should preclude her from being considered as a high level competitor. I'm sure she will work on that quality as well.

Particle Man · Mar 29, 2009

I am hereby calling out every single person who believes that Alissa was "held up" at Nationals. I'm not one of them, but I know there are many, because they screamed about it for weeks on these forums.

If you believe this, it is your responsibility to write an email or letter to the USFSA after Alissa's performance at Worlds. Now is the time to do it. Put up, or shut up.

brightphoton · Mar 29, 2009

You know what, Particle Man? That's a very good idea. I will write a letter to them. Perhaps two, one email and one by paper.

However, I don't think the decision is to either shut up or write a letter. One can both post on this forum and write letters.

Tonichelle · Mar 29, 2009

funny thing happened this morning:

after last night's competition where the most horrible thing to EVER HAPPEN in the history of the world came to pass (aka the US ladies only having TWO SPOTS for the OLYMPICS *dramatic gasp and sigh*) I slept and then woke up and guess what????

the world didn't stop turning, the sun was shining, birds were singing... and life went on.

wow, and to think I was worried the end of the world would come today.

Mathman · Mar 29, 2009

I for one do not see any connection between the judging at U.S. Nationals and Alissa's results at Worlds.

At U.S. nationals, the judges judged he performances they saw. What does that have to do with how well Caroline Zhang skated in her two Grand Prix events in 2007?

At worlds, Alissa tried her best. I am sure she would like to have her short program back, but that's sports.

Tonichelle said:
...the most horrible thing to EVER HAPPEN in the history of the world came to pass...

No, the most horrible thing that happened last night was Golden Skate crashed from all the traffic during the ladies' free skate -- just at the moment when I had composed the all-time wittiest and most profound post in the history of the Internet!

Alas, when I woke up this morning I had forgotten what I was going to say.

Particle Man · Mar 29, 2009

The people who whine like babies on the forums saying they are so sure she was held up, yet given the opportunity to actually do something about it by contacting the people responsible they refuse. Just shows how truly worthless all their negative complaining really is.

This turned out to be a very bad year for Alissa.

krenseby

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

merrywidow

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

Tinymavy15

Sinnerman for the win

brightphoton

flying camel

Medusa

Kwanford Wife

museksk8r

DarkestMoon

Tinymavy15

Sinnerman for the win

Andalusia

Mathman

A.H.Black

Particle Man

Match Penalty

brightphoton

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

Mathman

Particle Man

Match Penalty

Similar threads

Connect with us