Alissa Czisny plans to compete next season | Page 10 | Golden Skate

Alissa Czisny plans to compete next season

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
The 2 members of the US world team since 2009:

2009: Flatt, Czisny
2010: Flatt, Nagasu
2011: Flatt, Czisny
2012: Wagner, Czisny

So in 4 years, we've sent a total of 4 candidates: Flatt, Czisny, Nagasu and Wagner. Now let's analyze their results:

Flatt: 5th, 9th, 12th
Nagasu: 7th
Wagner: 4th
Czisny: 11th, 5th, 22nd

Now, usually one member has a stronger performance and the other member struggles or bombs altogether. Let's see who was the lower placing skater each year.

2009: Czisny (11th)
2010: Flatt (9th)
2011: Flatt (12th)
2012: Czisny (22nd)

Now, how many contenders in the ladies field do we have? Besides them...Zhang, Zawadzki, Gold, Nagasu, Wagner, Gao?

Just looking at these numbers, it seems only Flatt and Czisny have had multiple trips to worlds. And their placements have been all over the map (particularly Czisny's). Have the other ladies REALLY had chances at worlds? For all the talk about the US not "producing any world beaters"...it seems like the same 2 skaters have been on the team the past 4 years- and their results have NOT improved.

So, what's the solution to enhance our chances for 3 spots? There's no easy fix, but I'd say there are two skaters that have had multiple chances and have come up short multiple times, so they probably wouldn't be on the team that got the spots back. In short, the numbers tell us to root for skaters other than Flatt and/or Czisny to get in the US top 2. Maybe a team of Wagner/Gold? Wagner/Nagasu 2.0? Of course, no way to know until we see how these skaters are performing next season. Food for thought.

Exactly, Czisny and Flatt have already been given more than enough opportunities and both have managed to deliver a respectable showing at Worlds only 1 of 3 tries. Both have also been repeatedly overscored at Nationals, Czisny in a huge way in 2009 and 2012, and Flatt every year until this year really, but especialy 2008 and 2011. Both are now on the downside of their careers and on visible decline. It is time to move on to other options. The USFSA already wisely disposed of Flatt in 2012, and now it is time to do likewise with Czisny in 2013.

The U.S #1 post should be Wagner's to lose at this point and I am pretty sure it is. Unless someone like Gold proves to be much more competitive internationally than even a good Wagner or Wagner completely loses her newfound consistency, Wagner will enter Nationals only needing to deliver steady performances to win, although hopefully with her growing confidence she can do better than that. The U.S #2 post should be there for the taking for Gold, Zhang, an revived Nagasu, a steadier Agnes, or any of the surprise youngsters who can really step it up.
 
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tulosai

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 21, 2011
(Another thing, there's a video of her practicing a triple axel on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-0sYGrI6Lk The jump looked good, like she could land it without the aid of the pole harness. If she could add the triple axel to her program, she could help her cause by having much more difficult technical content in her program than the rest of the field.)

Gracie said recently in an interview at JW that the triple axel is actually a really new and scary jump for her. I don't think she will be trying it in competition anytime soon. That said, if you are speaking further ahead than next year, I think it could definitely happen :)
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I am not completely sure what you are recommending. If you are recommending that we root for other skaters, OK, let's root. But the rooting of fans doesn't help us get three spots either.

If you are proposing that the USFSA should rig it so that other skaters go and not Alissa and Rachael, I don't see how that is right.

If you are saying that the USFSA should change its rules just to keep two particular skaters out, that's not right either. (The same rules should pertain to everyone, not just to Cynthia Phaneuf.)

Personally, I would happily go along with any system for selecting the Worlds team, as long as it is clearly announced ahead of time and settled by the athletes on the field of play.

In previous threads, I've already made the recommendation- that USFS examine their World selection policy and make various changes that I suggested (look at numbers, patterns, hold skateoffs in close contests, closely monitor World team members once they're chosen, etc.).

If USFS made said changes, it would inevitably make it harder (but not impossible) for Czisny and Flatt (especially Czisny) to get on the World team again. Past results would not work in their favor.

In addition to that, they need to judge nationals fairly and stop holding up favored skaters and holding down unfavored skaters. If they judged nationals fairly, they'd give Czisny lower PCS for mediocre performances for example (again, this would make it harder for her to get on the world team).
 

pangtongfan

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Jun 16, 2010
Keeping Flatt off the World team is ridiculously easy these days. Even in her days of better skating she sometimes had to be overscored Nationals relative to how she being scored internationally to get on the World team. Now her skating is nowhere near the level it was from 2008-2010, heck even 2011, they just have to stop the past inflated National scoring treatment, which they ALREADY did in 2012 so are pretty certain to continue now (in fact maybe went the other way and were a little overly harsh but better that then the other direction at this point, lol) and she wont come anywhere near a World team again.

For Czisny, well unless she returns to skating as consistently as she was in the 2010-2011 season, it is easy to keep her off too. Just stop inflating her PCS to compensate for her mistakes and weak jumps, stop giving her high scores for things like skating skills which she isnt even any good in anyway, and she wont make it onto another World team either. Even if she returns to her 2010-2011 level where while she was skating consistently for her, but still not doing clean performances hardly ever, if the other ladies step it up a notch, she still shouldnt make it if scored fairly.

So really one doesnt have to hold them down purposely. Just score the performances rightly, dont hold them up like has been done in years past, and neither one will make it anyhow (maybe an outside shot for Czisny in that case if she has one of her better outings and it is a so soish event).
 

krenseby

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 8, 2006
So really one doesnt have to hold them down purposely. Just score the performances rightly, dont hold them up like has been done in years past, and neither one will make it anyhow (maybe an outside shot for Czisny in that case if she has one of her better outings and it is a so soish event).

But do you really think the judges at Nationals decided to throw extra points Alissa's way and disadvantage the other skaters? That would be highly unethical, since everyone should get their fair chance to claim a Worlds spot. I just can't believe that the judges would ever behave so unscrupulously. It goes against the requirements of their job to be objective.
 

evangeline

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
But do you really think the judges at Nationals decided to throw extra points Alissa's way and disadvantage the other skaters? That would be highly unethical, since everyone should get their fair chance to claim a Worlds spot. I just can't believe that the judges would ever behave so unscrupulously. It goes against the requirements of their job to be objective.

There's a very good reason why Nationals scores in general are not counted towards a skater's official SB or PB.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
But do you really think the judges at Nationals decided to throw extra points Alissa's way and disadvantage the other skaters? That would be highly unethical, since everyone should get their fair chance to claim a Worlds spot. I just can't believe that the judges would ever behave so unscrupulously. It goes against the requirements of their job to be objective.

I think it's more of a perception issue. They give Alissa tons of PCS because she is perceived to have the best artistry. The international judges are that way too except when she does badly, her pcs does drop quite a bit. (though at Worlds, she was still 11th in pcs, preventing her from being dead last.)

At nationals a that same drop doesnt happen when she does not skate well. (see nationals 2009, 2012)
 

krenseby

Final Flight
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Jan 8, 2006
I think it's more of a perception issue. They give Alissa tons of PCS because she is perceived to have the best artistry. The international judges are that way too except when she does badly, her pcs does drop quite a bit. (though at Worlds, she was still 11th in pcs, preventing her from being dead last.)

At nationals a that same drop doesnt happen when she does not skate well. (see nationals 2009, 2012)

The thing is, it may just be that Alissa's artistry is good; I do think she skates beautifully. The question is how the other ladies at Nationals stack up next to her in terms of beautiful skating.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I don't remember having too much of an issue with her 2nd place this year (the other contenders sans Wagner had weak LPs too). I did have an issue with her winning in 2009, though. She should have been at least 3rd in the FS if not overall.

But once it was clear Czisny was skating like crap AFTER being selected to the team, it seems there was inaction on part of USFS. Perhaps they felt powerless, I don't know- but this is where they can learn and prevent it from happening again. It's more than just marking fairly at Nationals. It's making sure World Team members are in shape and fit to compete because 2 months can be a long time...
 
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FlattFan

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Jan 4, 2010
Wagner clearly should have won in 2008. Rachael beating her down to 3rd was a crime.

In the SP,
Wagner double fted the 3flip - single the toe on the combo. should be -3GOE
Double fted the flutz. edge & double ft, should be -3GOE

Clearly what? She shouldn't even be on the podium
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
I did have an issue with her winning in 2009, though. She should have been at least 3rd in the FS if not overall.

she did place third in the FS behind flatt and wagner. but she had a 5+ point margin in the short that held her up.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
^ What Macy said.

I don't really see that Alissa is so outrageously held up in program component scores at nationals, in comparison to her marks internationally. In the 2011-12 season her PCSs going into nationals were:

Skate America 62.91
Eric Bompard 61.84
Garnd Prix final 58.45 (for a terrible skate technically, earning only 40 points in TES.)
61.83 U.S. Nationals
 

Trewyn

Medalist
Joined
Dec 10, 2008
In the SP,
Wagner double fted the 3flip - single the toe on the combo. should be -3GOE
Double fted the flutz. edge & double ft, should be -3GOE

Clearly what? She shouldn't even be on the podium

WHAT? That was '09, where Ashley finished 4th overall and paid a very high price for those mistakes in the SP (she was in 12th). In 2008 Ashley landed the triple lutz-triple loop combo in both in the SP and in the LP. Even with the wrong take-off edge, that was still by far the hardest combination of any ladies in the competition.
 

drivingmissdaisy

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Joined
Feb 17, 2010
Alissa does seem to get relatively high PCS scores, even when she bombs. I don't like that aspect of the scoring system, which one has very little ( <10%) variation in PCS scores between a great skate and a poor skate. But she does pull those good scores internationally as well. It's a tough situation because any of the other US girls are giving almost 10 points in PCS for the competition, plus Alissa spins better than any of them, so she can mess up a lot of jumps and still end up ahead.
 

FlattFan

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Jan 4, 2010
WHAT? That was '09, where Ashley finished 4th overall and paid a very high price for those mistakes in the SP (she was in 12th). In 2008 Ashley landed the triple lutz-triple loop combo in both in the SP and in the LP. Even with the wrong take-off edge, that was still by far the hardest combination of any ladies in the competition.

Oh, that year. My bad.
Still don't see her winning.

SP, 2A looked URed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWQXLQDv1OE

LP, stumbled a bit on the 3loop-2loop combo. URed, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShGt3JB_uu0

Rachael beat her on TES. They both got the same on PCS, I believe.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Alissa does seem to get relatively high PCS scores, even when she bombs. I don't like that aspect of the scoring system, which one has very little ( <10%) variation in PCS scores between a great skate and a poor skate. But she does pull those good scores internationally as well. It's a tough situation because any of the other US girls are giving almost 10 points in PCS for the competition, plus Alissa spins better than any of them, so she can mess up a lot of jumps and still end up ahead.

It would be easy to remedy that flaw in the IJS. Eliminate partial credit for falls.
 

chuckm

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Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
It's a nightmare to contemplate Alissa again making top 2 at Nationals 2013 and having Olympic slots dependent on her performance at Worlds. There's nothing to stop her from continuing to compete through 2018 if she can stumble her way through the jumps and just depend on spins to guarantee her a spot on the World team year after year. :disapp:
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Alissa does seem to get relatively high PCS scores, even when she bombs. I don't like that aspect of the scoring system, which one has very little ( <10%) variation in PCS scores between a great skate and a poor skate. But she does pull those good scores internationally as well. It's a tough situation because any of the other US girls are giving almost 10 points in PCS for the competition, plus Alissa spins better than any of them, so she can mess up a lot of jumps and still end up ahead.

Yeah...Czisny can still be awful enough at times to make all that irrelevant, though.

________________________________

If you really wanted to rig the event against Czisny (disclaimer: I would never condone this), what you could do is:

a) hire a strict tech caller to dock her on URs (note this would have the side effect of hurting other UR/edge-prone skaters like Nagasu & Wagner)

b) Since it may not look good to hold Czisny DOWN PCS-wise, what you do is bump UP the PCS scores of her competitors to be more in line with hers (call it National inflation if you want). Therefore, when she makes the inevitable mistake and other(s) are clean, down she goes in the standings.

c) In the short program skate order, deliberately arrange it so Czisny is the LAST skater out of the contenders. (This is a psychological thing, to make her wait longer, to potentially put more pressure on her should someone else do really well...and we all know how good she is with pressure)

d) If Czisny is in a hole after the SP, and is not in the final FS warmup group, you can hold her back somewhat on PCS scores, even if she skates well (like they did to Flatt last year, for instance)

(or, you could just hire some thugs to whack her knee...kidding!!!)

______________________________

But we don't want to do it like that. It's easier to just leave the national championships as they are, and simply extend the criteria for needing to make the world team. One way would be to require a WIN at nationals to make the team, and everyone else either skates off for spot 2, or is chosen at discretion (based on hard numbers, of course).
 
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gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
But we don't want to do it like that. It's easier to just leave the national championships as they are, and simply extend the criteria for needing to make the world team. One way would be to require a WIN at nationals to make the team, and everyone else either skates off for spot 2, or is chosen at discretion (based on hard numbers, of course).

So what if, as of the end of Nationals, Czisny has the best hard numbers, aside from the champion if she's second again? Isn't that pretty much what the situation was this year?
 
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