The underdogs

I was thinking about how difficult FS is at the elite level, and how I wish I could see some of the top skaters doing their programs alone on their practice ice without facing cameras, fans, judges.

I wonder if any of the GS posters are skaters who share ice with any skaters we might know in any discipline, and what you see and might share. What they do is so hard, and it appears to be getting harder, and less rewarding. I can imagine Jeremy without the pressure, and wish I could see him practice his LP. I guess I feel bad for the skaters like Jeremy and Alissa who have such difficulty. I saw Sasha in practice and in a small show right after she hit the National scene, and she was so incredible. I recall all the little girls ignoring bigger name skaters and just rushing her for autographs. She seemed to love it. I thought I was seeing the next US champion, she was full of confidence. But it never did happen til 2006. What a long wait.

Yup. Somewhere along the line Sasha lost the confidence that she could do a clean FP and didn't collect the gold medals she could have. It's painful to see.... but OTOH she's one of the all-time great SP skaters.

I have similar feelings about Mirai. She went from being the US champion, near medalist at the Olympics, and toast of the skating boards to being a punching bag. She improved distinctly between her first and second GP skate this season, making the podium at COC, but nonetheless has continued to be called fat, lazy, out of shape, and in need of a new coach. Posters in this forum are more excited about Ashley than Mirai this season.

She's had some defeats at the hands of Rachael Flatt that may well have been crazy-making (in my pure speculation) -- Nats 2010 (through bad judging) and Worlds 2011 when Rachael skated injured instead of letting the alternate, Mirai, go. I'm not raising these points to put Rachael down but rather, trying to look at them from Mirai's perspective, to wonder if Mirai gets demoralized by such happenings. So much work and the reward is not only elusive but inexplicably so.

Anyway, she shows up at the rink day after day working away, and I expect her to do very well at Nats. As is often noted, she does well in the underdog position.