World Team Trophy Entries

[Mirunna]

her Flip is her nemesis, she has singled almost of all of it or has lost combos with it
this list is not yet final, so Julia could still still have a chance

That is not true. She landed the 3F in the SP four times this season: at 2012 Nebelhorn trophy, 2012-2013 Nationals, 2012 Europeans, 2013 Worlds. She singled the 3F only twice, at her GP events: 2012 Skate America and 2012 Rostelecom Cup. So 4/6 in the SP. At all her 6 events she landed cleanly 1 out of her 2 flips planned in the LP. So yes, she has issues with this jump all right, but she didn't "singled almost all of them". And when she lands it, the jump is well executed. We can't compare it with her 3Lz since she has only 1 planned and only in the LP, but she got an edge call every time and missed it a couple of times

[aftertherain]

Davis/White will not be at WTT.

http://www.usfsa.org/Story.asp?id=49113&type=media

(3/20/13) - U.S. Figure Skating announced today its entries for the 2013 ISU World Team Trophy, scheduled for April 11-14, in Tokyo.

LADIES
Gracie Gold
Ashley Wagner

MEN
Max Aaron
Jeremy Abbott

PAIRS
Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir

ICE DANCING
Madison Chock and Evan Bates

[demarinis5]

Oh that is to bad about D/W the Japanese audience will miss them. They are super popular in Japan.

This will make it a little harder for the US. Glad Jeremy is going though!

So no show down between the two highest ranking Ice Dance Teams.

[dorispulaski]

Once V&M decided to stay, and announced in a radio interview that they are taking a week off and then starting Olympic programs with Marina, I felt it was unlikely D&W would go.

[fairly4]

Based on who U.S. is,seding,we weill be lucky to efinish 3rd. Thee U.S.A. I Mean.

[demarinis5]

Didn't Ashley place first last year?

[Li'Kitsu]

Akiko won last year... I thought Ash was third.

[chloepoco]

I was hoping the Shibutani's would get the spot if Davis/White were not going :(

But I'm happy Akiko got the spot for Japan!

[dorispulaski]

It's too bad, especially since the Shibutanis have a great fan base in Japan, but Chock & Bates finished ahead of them at 4CC's, Nationals, & Worlds. C&B deserved to be asked.

And since V&M, D&W, are staying home, and Marina is starting on Olympic programs, probably that's where the Shibs should be too.

[karne]

All this pushing of kovtun and assignments for kovtun makes me think everyone in the Russian federation knows plushenko is not going to go or compete and the person will be kovtun. That's why he's getting all these assignments for no reason whatsoever.

I think everyone knows Plushenko is a very real chance to not go. However, if that happens, I want to see a FAIR fight between Voronov, Menshov, Gachinski and Kovtun for that one spot.

But Tarasova is involved, so the fight won't be fair. I bet Kovtun could finish fourth behind those three at next year's Nationals and they'd still somehow find a way for him to go.

If Kovtun skates well that may not happen, however. Menshov had a consistent season but so did Kovtun. Kovtun had 2 meh competitions - Nats and Worlds, but was very strong at all his other events. If I had to guess, at WTT Menshov will beat him, but by a very narrow margin. It's not like Menshov is some kind of skate god and Kovtun is a piece of crap kid like some are suggesting. He beat Han Yan at JGP Croatia and Farris and Brown at JGPF, and those guys are all good, winning 4CC bronze and JWC gold and silver this season. Clearly he is very talented.

Han Yan was hardly at the pinnacle of his strength during the JGP this year. And I'm sure it's quite easy to beat a skater who's taken enough Benadryl to knock himself out right before the LP (as Farris had at JGPF). While Kovtun's performance was quite astonishing at JGPF, it's still a Junior level program. At Seniors, which is what matters here, he has not been at all convincing.

I would have been extremely interested to see how a Brown/Farris/Kovtun fight would have looked at JWC. Kovtun may have expected Farris, but Brown's performances may have been a nasty surprise.

O
This will make it a little harder for the US. Glad Jeremy is going though!

Jeremy going will DEFINITELY make it harder for the US!


This is what I don't get. The Russian Fed is harping about giving experience to Kovtun. But the USFSA don't seem to bother with it? Surely even someone as energetic and bouncy as Max needs a rest by now, and what of their Juniors who are going Senior next year? Why not use the opportunity to give Farris or Brown a little exposure at the Senior level? They did it to Gracie Gold last year.

Oh wait, I forgot, the men aren't important to the USFSA, only the ladies can be superstars

[silverlake22]

You point out how his problems started with senior length skates starting at nationals. Once he it seniors because all his training and success was in juniors he started to bomb horribly. It does not matter that menshov is Not a skate god he was better than kovtun. There is a difference between juniors and seniors and kovtun shows difficultly handling it. Euros was mixed for kovtun not any kind of great triumph. He was lucky plushenko withdrew.

Okay so maybe he would have been better off going to JW. Given how well Joshua and Jason skated there, if Kovtun had competed and won (which I think he would have had a good possibility of doing, especially if he landed 1 or 2 quads there), then everyone would be talking about how great he is and how he should have been sent to senior worlds because he is the future of our sport and needs to compete in Sochi, instead of how people are talking like he's terrible now. It's kind of silly, because the only way people wouldn't get upset would be if Menshov went to Worlds and placed top 10 and Kovtun went to JW and didn't win, any other outcome and there will be wuzrobbing arguments either way.

[karne]

Okay so maybe he would have been better off going to JW. Given how well Joshua and Jason skated there, if Kovtun had competed and won (which I think he would have had a good possibility of doing, especially if he landed 1 or 2 quads there), then everyone would be talking about how great he is and how he should have been sent to senior worlds because he is the future of our sport and needs to compete in Sochi, instead of how people are talking like he's terrible now. It's kind of silly, because the only way people wouldn't get upset would be if Menshov went to Worlds and placed top 10 and Kovtun went to JW and didn't win, any other outcome and there will be wuzrobbing arguments either way.

Or the Russian Fed could have just done the right thing in the first place and sent Menshov to Euros and told Kovtun that since he could only finish 5th at Nationals he was going to JWC.

The US sent their 4th to JWC and I don't see anyone wuzrobbing him. (In fact, Russia could also have sent THEIR 4th...which may have been popcorn worthy.)

[Mrs. P]

Akiko won last year... I thought Ash was third.

Ashley won the FS, but Akiko won overall.

[silverlake22]

Also regarding WTT, perhaps USFS asked Farris or Brown but they declined because they are already on their offseasons and preparing to graduate highschool in the next couple months. Or Jeremy was probably 1st on the list and when he accepted the invite, that was the end of it. You would assume that Josh and Jason were on the list to be asked, likely right after Jeremy, or perhaps with Dornbush in between, but there's no way of knowing. Apparently other ladies (I'm assuming Mirai and/or Agnes) were offered WTT last season and declined and only then was Gracie invited (although that was a bit anyways considering she didn't even compete as a senior at nationals and had to make a senior FS specifically for the purpose of WTT, showing how hard the USFS wanted to push her).

On some level though, I do agree, I'm a bit upset about how Gracie, and in the case of Russia, Kovtun, are able to come out of nowhere and get special treatment and politiking just because they have promise. I'm still convinced USFS talked Josh Farris out of competing on the senior GP this season and that staying junior this season was not a decision he or his coaches particularly wanted, but rather accepted, and while it ended up working out for him, with 2 spots on the Olympics team, idk, getting out on the GP this season and skating well could have made the difference in 2nd or 3rd place at US Nats instead of 4th and a trip to 4CC or Worlds, which with a good result could help give him a better chance to make the Olympic team than he does now, even as JWC. And all this, oh he only would have gotten 1 spot, I'm pretty sure he could have gotten 2 if the USFS was willing to push for him to get 2 instead of pushing for the likes of Rippon, Miner, and Dornbush to get 2 and giving SA to Doug Razzano. Farris won silver at JW just like Gracie (but by a 0.5 point margin instead of a 15 point one ), and unlike Gracie, he had an established reputation internationally and decent WS, having qualified for the JGPF twice, winning bronze at it earlier that season in addition to winning 3 JGP golds at that time (compared to Gracie's 1) and another JGP silver. Given all that, the fact that Gracie was able to get 2 GPs and one was not Skate America just makes me think the Feds really have the ability to do whatever they want in regards to skaters, they needed a "star" in ladies so jumped on the Gracie Gold bandwagon and pushed for her to get as much exposure as possible so she can be sent to Sochi. Poor Christina Gao getting held down at Nationals after doing better than Gracie on the GP just to make sure Gracie does enough to make the Worlds team after flubbing the SP because it seems like the plan all along was to get Gold on the senior worlds team at whatever cost.

But then for the men...oh no, we don't need a new star, we are going to sit around and twiddle our thumbs and hope one of these guys who have been around for awhile and have not proved themselves yet are going to suddenly become a star now. It's just frustrating. Seeing Razzano decline this season and Rippon and Miner not doing well at Worlds in 2 consecutive years, and Abbott doing okay but delivering programs far below his potential, in both years being nowhere close to gaining 3 spots, you think they would change things up by now. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they keep Jason Brown on the JGP another season to make room for Lysacek comebacks, Abbott space cadet performances, and lukewarm results from Rippon and Miner on the GP rosters...if they do I will be really angry, like Joshua, Jason too was ready to compete on the GP this season, and after that great FS at JW he definitely belongs on the senior ranks now.

Kovtun is basically getting Gracie Gold treatment and while I get it on some level in both cases, as they are really talented, it's a little annoying, as it's not like they are the only young talented skaters in their respective countries, not by a long shot. And while I do relate Menshov to more of an Abbott in that he is older, near the end of his career, and has generally been inconsistent, he did skate pretty well this season and with better consistency than before, but it didn't get rewarded. In that sense he's a lot like Christina Gao, but having finished 3rd at Nationals instead of 5th!

[SkateFan66]

Also regarding WTT, perhaps USFS asked Farris or Brown but they declined because they are already on their offseasons and preparing to graduate highschool in the next couple months. Or Jeremy was probably 1st on the list and when he accepted the invite, that was the end of it. You would assume that Josh and Jason were on the list to be asked, likely right after Jeremy, or perhaps with Dornbush in between, but there's no way of knowing. Apparently other ladies (I'm assuming Mirai and/or Agnes) were offered WTT last season and declined and only then was Gracie invited (although that was a bit anyways considering she didn't even compete as a senior at nationals and had to make a senior FS specifically for the purpose of WTT, showing how hard the USFS wanted to push her).

On some level though, I do agree, I'm a bit upset about how Gracie, and in the case of Russia, Kovtun, are able to come out of nowhere and get special treatment and politiking just because they have promise. I'm still convinced USFS talked Josh Farris out of competing on the senior GP this season and that staying junior this season was not a decision he or his coaches particularly wanted, but rather accepted, and while it ended up working out for him, with 2 spots on the Olympics team, idk, getting out on the GP this season and skating well could have made the difference in 2nd or 3rd place at US Nats instead of 4th and a trip to 4CC or Worlds, which with a good result could help give him a better chance to make the Olympic team than he does now, even as JWC. And all this, oh he only would have gotten 1 spot, I'm pretty sure he could have gotten 2 if the USFS was willing to push for him to get 2 instead of pushing for the likes of Rippon, Miner, and Dornbush to get 2 and giving SA to Doug Razzano. Farris won silver at JW just like Gracie (but by a 0.5 point margin instead of a 15 point one ), and unlike Gracie, he had an established reputation internationally and decent WS, having qualified for the JGPF twice, winning bronze at it earlier that season in addition to winning 3 JGP golds at that time (compared to Gracie's 1) and another JGP silver. Given all that, the fact that Gracie was able to get 2 GPs and one was not Skate America just makes me think the Feds really have the ability to do whatever they want in regards to skaters, they needed a "star" in ladies so jumped on the Gracie Gold bandwagon and pushed for her to get as much exposure as possible so she can be sent to Sochi. Poor Christina Gao getting held down at Nationals after doing better than Gracie on the GP just to make sure Gracie does enough to make the Worlds team after flubbing the SP because it seems like the plan all along was to get Gold on the senior worlds team at whatever cost.

But then for the men...oh no, we don't need a new star, we are going to sit around and twiddle our thumbs and hope one of these guys who have been around for awhile and have not proved themselves yet are going to suddenly become a star now. It's just frustrating. Seeing Razzano decline this season and Rippon and Miner not doing well at Worlds in 2 consecutive years, and Abbott doing okay but delivering programs far below his potential, in both years being nowhere close to gaining 3 spots, you think they would change things up by now. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they keep Jason Brown on the JGP another season to make room for Lysacek comebacks, Abbott space cadet performances, and lukewarm results from Rippon and Miner on the GP rosters...if they do I will be really angry, like Joshua, Jason too was ready to compete on the GP this season, and after that great FS at JW he definitely belongs on the senior ranks now.

Kovtun is basically getting Gracie Gold treatment and while I get it on some level in both cases, as they are really talented, it's a little annoying, as it's not like they are the only young talented skaters in their respective countries, not by a long shot. And while I do relate Menshov to more of an Abbott in that he is older, near the end of his career, and has generally been inconsistent, he did skate pretty well this season and with better consistency than before, but it didn't get rewarded. In that sense he's a lot like Christina Gao, but having finished 3rd at Nationals instead of 5th!

In your constant rants about how USFSA does not support Farris, you constantly ignore the fact that Farris finished 21st (last) at 2011 US Nationals and 16th at 2012 US Nationals. All of thoses skaters that you constantly trash and disrespect, (Miner, Abbott, Razzano, etc.), ALL finished ahead of Farris at the 2011 and 2012 Nationals and thus EARNED the right to be considered for 2012-13 international senior assignments ahead of Farris. In my opinion, Farris benefited from staying in the JGP this year, and actually increased his chances of making the Olympic team.