Liberty competition July 13 to July 17

[lehmeh]

I attended the senior men's short program. In addition to agreeing with the glowing reviews of Patrick, Armin, and Keegan noted above, I would like to add some other highlights for men who did not place as high.

One skater named Sean (I missed his last name) did a wonderfully entertaining short to a Michael Jackson medley. He incorporated some iconic Michaal Jackson dance moves thoughout the program, and his moves from "Thriller" that he included in his footwork were fantastic. The audience was enthusiastically clapping along.

Wesley Campbell had a few stumbles, but his whole program was choreographed wondefully, and his footwork sequence was particularly interesting and exciting.

Scott Dyer had some falls as well, but has beautiful basics, and had an absolutely wonderful final spin with crisp positions and very, very fast rotation. I wanted that spin to go on forever, and for a while it seemed like it would! Superb.

[iluvtodd]

One skater named Sean (I missed his last name) did a wonderfully entertaining short to a Michael Jackson medley. He incorporated some iconic Michaal Jackson dance moves thoughout the program, and his moves from "Thriller" that he included in his footwork were fantastic. The audience was enthusiastically clapping along.

Sean Rabbitt from Glacier Falls FSC in Anaheim, CA. I also liked his free skate. The music was "The Offspring of Dragons." This is the same piece of music that Zhang & Zhang skated to in the 2006 Olympics. Sean's performance wasn't perfect, but we still enjoyed him very much.

Ross Miner skated to music from "Casablanca" for his free skate. What a wonderful program. I'm not going to compare him to Kurt, but I thought the program was awesome & perhaps he was inspired by Kurt to skate to this.

Re: senior ladies - Samantha Cesario skated to a medley from "Man of La Mancha." Just superb, and she's being coached by Kyoko Ina!

We just got home a little while ago. What an amazing experience!

[Groshkova]

Nina Jiang had a gorgeous triple flip in warm up. She doubled it in the long. She did land two solid triple loops. They seem to be really pacing her well. She had the best speed and presentation of the junior ladies.

[champs]

Thanks for the reports, iluvtodd, lehmeh and Groshkova, sound like it was well worth going!

[feraina]

Nina Jiang had a gorgeous triple flip in warm up. She doubled it in the long. She did land two solid triple loops. They seem to be really pacing her well. She had the best speed and presentation of the junior ladies.

Oh, that's so good to hear! She had lightning speed when she was younger, a real firecracker, but she seemed slow and tentative earlier this year. Maybe she just needed time to grow into her new, grown-up body! And great to hear that she's got the 3R consistent and working on the 3F. With four different triples, she's in good shape for the JGP.

[silverlake22]

Nina Jiang had a gorgeous triple flip in warm up. She doubled it in the long. She did land two solid triple loops. They seem to be really pacing her well. She had the best speed and presentation of the junior ladies.

Oh, that's so good to hear! When I saw the 58 and 3 deductions for her qualifying round FS, I was really worried, but it sounds like she's in good shape and maybe just had an off-skate during the qualifier. The 3lo seems to be a pretty solid jump for her and that's great because it's required in the SP for JGP, and that's awesome she can do 3f now as well! I've always loved her expression and speed, and I think she should be able to do quite well for herself on the JGP this fall. I keep forgetting she only just turned 13, she really does have a lot of promise, 4 triples at 13 is pretty darn good!

[i love to skate]

Does anyone have videos?? I am dying to see Patrick's quad

[LeCygne]

I'm glad to hear about Nina doing well too! It's fantastic that she can land the triple flip already, I remember being concerned back in the spring at her Italy competition when she had just started putting the loop in her programs. In fact, it's good to see that she's not being rushed to learn her triples. With all these girls reeling off triple-triples at age 13 and 14, you forget that it's better to take it slow and learn them properly the first time rather than having to go back and correct hard-to-break habits.. Which JGP(s) does Nina have?

[PolymerBob]

Did Melissa try her triple axel?

[MasterB]

Just got home

Patrick's SP - to take five was beautifully choreographed. Quad was awesome but, fell on the axel. Long was strong for summer but, in comparison to last year at this time he looks stronger.

Ashley's SP - skated to a piece from the Bond CD. I did not like it but, it was okay. Her lutz was two-footed. In street clothes this girl is gorgeous (runway model material).

Emmanuel Savary LP - this kid is growing by leaps and bounds. had some falls in the lp but tried every triple in the book. I think he is twelve or something. His main competition will be Nathan Chen for the next couple of years. At this point in time he looks stronger than Nathan but, Nathan's footwork is unmatched by any junior, novice or senior men (except Patrick Chan).

Alex Johnson is looking better and stronger than last year. Hitting the 3axel with more consistency.

Keegan Messing - this boy is a bundle of raw masculine power. nothing he does is finished but you can tell he has passion with what he does. Super fast spinner with easy jumping.

Joshua Farris - Not up to his usual high standard. He should dump that beige and brown outfit he wore for his LP, it's too neutral (reminds me of people who are selling their homes and paint everything beige).

Did not get up early to see the senior ladies (many scratched anyway)

Angela Wang went for 7 triples and hit 6, not bad at all

Lauen Dinh also went for 7 but hit about 5.

Nina G. missed the flip and some other stuff. Her loops were solid.

Well, thats all I can remember at this point.

[silverlake22]

I'm glad to hear about Nina doing well too! It's fantastic that she can land the triple flip already, I remember being concerned back in the spring at her Italy competition when she had just started putting the loop in her programs. In fact, it's good to see that she's not being rushed to learn her triples. With all these girls reeling off triple-triples at age 13 and 14, you forget that it's better to take it slow and learn them properly the first time rather than having to go back and correct hard-to-break habits.. Which JGP(s) does Nina have?

Courcheval, France for now, then depending on how she does there she may get a 2nd assignment and make the final if she does well enough at both events. I believe Courcheval is the 1st event of the JGP, taking place in about a month

[screech]

Does anyone have videos?? I am dying to see Patrick's quad

Me too! I keep checking youtube but haven't seen anything.

[wallylutz]

Me too! I keep checking youtube but haven't seen anything.

Here is a clip of Patrick Chan's 4T but from last year's Liberty competition however: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wru0zU20ZwE

His 4T looks very smooth and controled vs. some other men who seemed to bang on the ice when they land.

[dorispulaski]

videos will probably show up in bit. It takes a while for people to get them uploaded.

[LeCygne]

Courcheval, France for now, then depending on how she does there she may get a 2nd assignment and make the final if she does well enough at both events. I believe Courcheval is the 1st event of the JGP, taking place in about a month

Thanks! Have the JGP assignments been posted? Do we know who else will be at France (size up the competition a bit haha) and who else from the US will be on the JGP circuit?