2017-18 State of U.S. Men's Figure Skating

karne · Jul 11, 2017

Gigantic triple something (the camera was following someone else and then cut to Jason at the last moment) from Jason was huge.

Every time I've seen Max on the stream so far he's been doing footwork. Cluster of turns, very clean and nice, but obviously not nice enough for him because he keeps repeating it.

Triple lop from Bradley (I think?)

Gorgeous triple Lutz from Jason out of Y-spiral entry!

StitchMonkey · Jul 11, 2017

So I think it is time we concede that Jason Brown is no longer "the guy with the pony tail" and is now "the guy with the man bun"

karne · Jul 11, 2017

StitchMonkey said:
So I think it is time we concede that Jason Brown is no longer "the guy with the pony tail" and is now "the guy with the man bun"

Hahahaha, yes. And that Max is the curly one, because I despair of that mop ever being suitable again.

karne · Jul 11, 2017

The show is not starting for a bit - they're going to make the ice first. So I guess I'll come back at lunchtime and watch the archived version of the stream.

ice coverage · Jul 11, 2017

karne said:
New link for the live stream of the Fort Collins show.

Thanks for adding the more specific YT link.

If the quality of the YT streaming is not super-great for anyone, @pcfclub (Jeremy Abbott's mother) also is streaming on Instagram Live.

ETA:

@zachtdonohue also is streaming on Instagram Live ... with bits of commentary.

Hyena · Jul 11, 2017

musicfan80 said:
Worrisome Josh Farris news from the Skate Dance Dream camp he was supposed to teach at this weekend.

I hope the "medical reasons" aren't too serious. I don't want to be paranoid, but it's worth noticing they used that phrase and not "injury".

I wonder if it's related to why he WD from the Aerial Skating Challenge last month - that would be really bad news.

Or hopefully it is something just a precaution. I hope he at least makes the USFS Champs Camp next month.

Get well soon, Josh!

Oh Josh... I'd love for him to skate again but I'd love even more to know he's safe and completely healthy. :ghug:

andromache · Jul 11, 2017

I live 20 minutes from where Josh was going to be in Ohio...guess that frees up my weekend.

Bluediamonds09 · Jul 11, 2017

I am worried for Joshua, I want him to have a strong comeback. But I also want Alexander Johnson to have a good international season, he is so underrated

Am I the only one who feels that Vincent 's R&J program will be annoyingly predictable with the exact same music cuts as everyone else??

ice coverage · Jul 14, 2017

The USOC has published a participant list (*subject to change*) for its upcoming pre-2018 media summit in Park City.

As usual, this USOC-driven summit in September is for all media (in contrast to the NBC promotional shoot that takes place in the spring).

So far, 69 athletes (for Olympic and Paralympic sports) are on the list -- with over 100 hopefuls expected to participate in the event (Sep 24-27).

At this point, the list has ten figure skaters:

Mariah Bell
Madison Chock
Alexa Knierim
Chris Knierim
Mirai Nagasu
Adam Rippon
Alex Shibutani
Maia Shibutani
Ashley Wagner
Vincent Zhou

Still early, but ...

I'm scratching my head that Adam Rippon and Vincent Zhou so far are the only men listed.

Nice to see that Madi Chock already is on the list, but odd that Evan Bates is not yet.

Scratching my head also that Karen Chen is not yet on the list ...

:popcorn:

ETA (on Jul 20):

The list has been updated. As of Jul 19: The total number of athletes is 82, thirteen of whom are figure skaters.
The skaters who have been added to the list are Jason Brown, Madi Hubbell, and Zach Donohue.

ETA (on Jul 21):

The list has been updated again. As of Jul 20: The total number of athletes is 97, sixteen of whom are figure skaters.
The skaters most recently added to the list are Nathan Chen, Evan Bates, Gracie Gold.

ETA (on Jul 22):

The list has been updated for the third time in three days. As of Jul 21: The total number of athletes is 101, seventeen of whom are figure skaters.
The skater most recently added to the list is Karen Chen.

ETA (on Jul 26):

Today the USOC issued a press release today about the media summit.

Of the over one hundred athletes who are registered, the release mentions/promotes thirteen by name -- including Nathan, Gracie, and Ashley.

Of those thirteen, Nathan and Chloe Kim are the only two who are not already Olympic/Paralympic medalists.

StitchMonkey · Jul 14, 2017

They could have other commitments.

ice coverage · Jul 14, 2017

StitchMonkey said:
They could have other commitments.

IMO, the more likely explanation is that additional figure skaters will be among the 30+ athletes yet to be named.

AFAIK, most athletes and agents would consider invitations to this summit just as precious as those to the NBC promo shoot, and I think most athletes (previous Olympic medalists as well as first-time hopefuls) pretty much would move heaven and earth in order to participate in both. YMMV.

Unless it would require missing someone's own graduation day or a sibling's wedding ceremony or something that rises to a similar level, I would expect most athletes to be more than happy to make a point of showing up in Park City, if at all possible.
(Along the lines of Jason zig-zagging from Hawaii [the first part of his vacation] to West Hollywood [the NBC shoot] to the Philippines [the second part of his vacation].)

FWIW, fourteen figure skaters participated four years ago in Park City. The 2013 list:

Max Aaron
Jeremy Abbott
Marissa Castelli
John Coughlin
Meryl Davis
Caydee Denney
Gracie Gold
Evan Lysacek
Alex Shibutani
Maia Shibutani
Simon Shnapir
Ashley Wagner
Charlie White
Agnes Zawadzki

Along with the interviews, photo/video shoots, and press conferences for all 2013 athletes, some of those from ice sports had the opportunity to give demos open to all media at the summit.
For the figure skating demos, Max, Gracie, and the Shibs performed portions of their 2013-14 competitive programs.

I suppose it is within the realm of possibility that Nepela and/or Nebelhorn could prove to be a schedule conflict for a couple of skaters (not clear whether Christina Gao and/or Ross Miner otherwise would have participated in the 2013 summit??).
But I would like to believe that USFS would not shoot itself in the foot and prevent anyone from accepting an invitation to the media summit ... and would make this year's Challenger assignments accordingly.

bevybean · Jul 14, 2017

ice coverage said:
The USOC has published a participant list (*subject to change*) for its upcoming pre-2018 media summit in Park City.

As usual, this USOC-driven summit in September is for all media (in contrast to the NBC promotional shoot that takes place in the spring).

So far, 69 athletes (for Olympic and Paralympic sports) are on the list -- with over 100 expected to participate in the event (Sep 24-27).

At this point, the list has ten figure skaters:

Mariah Bell
Madison Chock
Alexa Knierim
Chris Knierim
Mirai Nagasu
Adam Rippon
Alex Shibutani
Maia Shibutani
Ashley Wagner
Vincent Zhou

Still early, but ...

I'm scratching my head that Adam Rippon and Vincent Zhou so far are the only men listed.

Nice to see that Madi Chock already is on the list, but odd that Evan Bates is not yet.

Scratching my head also that Karen Chen is not yet on the list ...

Nathan Chen is missing as well. Especially odd since he is not only in the conversation for the US Olympic team, but an Olympic medal possibly Gold.

ice coverage · Jul 14, 2017

bevybean said:
Nathan Chen is missing as well. Especially odd since he is not only in the conversation for the US Olympic team, but an Olympic medal possibly Gold.

Yes, that's why my first observation was that Adam and Vincent are the only men listed. (Meaning from the discipline of men.)

And the absence of Nathan's name was the reason that I chose the men's thread as the most relevant place for me to post the initial list -- as a matter of curiosity, but not of dire significance.

I trust that Nathan's name eventually will be added.

(Perhaps Jason also will be a future addition?)

concorde · Jul 14, 2017

bevybean said:
Nathan Chen is missing as well. Especially odd since he is not only in the conversation for the US Olympic team, but an Olympic medal possibly Gold.

Even stranger when you consider that Nathan is from SLC. If I remember correctly, Park City is about an hour from SLC so that would make Nathan a "local" boy.

Ice Dance · Jul 14, 2017

There's no way the U.S. National Figure Skating gold medalists weren't invited. This is the Winter Olympics. (And, IMO, no way Madison C. was invited without Evan). If they aren't signed up, then they haven't committed to it. Yet.

mrrice · Jul 14, 2017

Ice Dance said:
There's no way the U.S. National Figure Skating gold medalists weren't invited. This is the Winter Olympics. (And, IMO, no way Madison C. was invited without Evan). If they aren't signed up, then they haven't committed to it. Yet.

I agree. If they haven't committed, there's also a chance they could nursing a minor injury, or have some other commitment involving family or business.

Ice Dance · Jul 14, 2017

mrrice said:
I agree. If they haven't committed, there's also a chance they could nursing a minor injury, or have some other commitment involving family or business.

The latter two. Karen competed already. And Nathan just did the show in Japan. If they are healthy enough to do that, then they are healthy enough for a media conference. (Chock & Bates have gone to Nebelhorn the past three seasons. Shpilband took four teams last year. And he has at least two teams who have to attend this season--Min & Gamelin and Coomes & Buckland. I had expected Chock & Bates to go again, though they/Igor/USFSA could certainly switch things up).

StitchMonkey · Jul 14, 2017

FYI Ondrej Nepela Trophy is SEPT 21-23, 2017 and Nebelhorn Tropy is SEPT 27-30, 2017. Either of which could conflict enough with this event.

Even though athletes want to go to the NBC pre-Olympics promo shoot now, it was not that long ago that NBC has to beg to get the Athletes to attend, now it is a big thing. As some of the athletes not listed have already done a media day, they may just not feel this one is the most efficient use of their time. While politicking in the Olympic year is important, so is training and competing. I doubt there is any kind of snub of weirdness going on... just people making choices about their priorities. Honestly the idea that some may have declined for various reasons just does not seem that crazy to me.

ice coverage · Jul 14, 2017

Ice Dance said:
There's no way the U.S. National Figure Skating gold medalists weren't invited. This is the Winter Olympics. (And, IMO, no way Madison C. was invited without Evan). If they aren't signed up, then they haven't committed to it. Yet.

I basically tend to agree, although I would be mildly surprised if Yuki Saegusa had not already advised Nathan and Karen to go ahead and accept.

mrrice said:
I agree. If they haven't committed, there's also a chance they could nursing a minor injury, or have some other commitment involving family or business.

I highly doubt that a "minor injury" (if any) in mid-July would prevent someone from accepting this invitation for late September.
YMMV.

StitchMonkey said:
FYI Ondrej Nepela Trophy is SEPT 21-23, 2017 and Nebelhorn Tropy is SEPT 27-30, 2017. Either of which could conflict enough with this event. ...

Yes, my post above discussed the possibility of a schedule conflict related to Nepela or Nebelhorn.

But as I also said, USFS would be foolish (IMO) if it were to insist on Nathan or Karen competing at Nepela or Nebelhorn -- instead of a different Challenger. And I cannot think of a reason why Nathan or Karen themselves would have their hearts set specifically on Nepela or Nebelhorn -- as opposed to any other Challenger. YMMV.

StitchMonkey said:
... As some of the athletes not listed have already done a media day, they may just not feel this one is the most efficient use of their time. While politicking in the Olympic year is important, so is training and competing. I doubt there is any kind of snub of weirdness going on... just people making choices about their priorities. Honestly the idea that some may have declined for various reasons just does not seem that crazy to me.

The already well-known Olympic medalists Meryl and Charlie thought the 2013 USOC media summit was worthwhile use of their time, so my prediction is that by the time September rolls around, the list of names will include Nathan and Karen. YMMV.

Even for the sake of their own convenience, it would be more efficient (IMO) to kill many birds with one stone in Park City instead of dealing with a series of individual media requests later from some of the same outlets that were at the summit.

(And I agree with concorde that for Nathan in particular, it would seem like a no-brainer b/c of the hometown connection.)

Tavi... · Jul 15, 2017

For those who don't frequent the Jason FF: I was lucky enough to see him debut his new programs at Skate Milwaukee this weekend! Both are works in progress; FS music was just finished, the SP is farther along. He looks very well trained already, but because he's still getting choreo down, he only did triples in SP (3A was solid); he (deliberately) doubled all jumps in FS.

SP is very fast paced / non stop movement - the choreo has echoes of his Gatsby program, and the footwork looks incredibly hard. It's still early days yet, but I think the program will end up being very Broadway / show biz.

Anyone who loved last year's FS will probably also love the new one - they are clearly building on the Piano, and the new program features the same show stopping spiral. The music is lyrical, orchestrated, perhaps passionate, and builds towards the end, so I think this program will probably be more overtly emotional and less "still" (some would say monotonous) than Piano. For the musicians out there, I'd say on a first hearing, the music - composed by Maxime Rodriguez for Jason - is lyrical and effective (and happily without sound effects!), but didn't really stay with me.

2017-18 State of U.S. Men's Figure Skating

karne

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