Cohen Withdraws from Cup of China

[mzheng]

There is no stop flight from east coast to city of china. Flight from west coast (Cal) to China, usually took 17 hours. Unless she took charter plain. lol.

She should've known that 3/4 weeks apart from SA to CoC pluss the long flight, she would not made it. But may be delayed announce is what USFSA doing, or it will take a little heat off her if anouce one by one not the whole together. You know just show public you 'really' wants to be included in GPs.

She should've get some rest and prepare for coming National and Worlds.

Anyway, I have my trip to china arranged in 17th this month. Hopfully I can watch some GPs alive from there. I believe CCTV5 does alive broadcast.

[mzheng]

There's still time to get a replacement in line; after all, Alissa Csizny went to Skate America on just about the same amount of notice.

I would think replacement to SA is much easier for a US skater than to China. There is visa and international flights need to be arranged.

[euterpe]

BeBe Liang is injured and since she'd previously withdrawn from NHK, she is not eligible to be given a second GP assignment.

I'd think it's much too late for China to find a replacement for Cohen. CoC starts just a week from today; skaters would be due to arrive on Monday, with practices starting on Tuesday. That's not enough time in which to make travel arrangements and obtain necessary visas.

The CoC roster isn't up to date; it still lists Cohen and Pavuk, and Viktoria has a badly injured ankle and won't be able to compete. With no replacements, there will be only 10 Ladies. Stanislav Timchenko has withdrawn, too, so there are only 11 men.

[lavender]

This is not news to me. I knew she wasn't going. How could she with so little time to heal.

[Joesitz]

This is not news to me. I knew she wasn't going. How could she with so little time to heal.

Cup of China November 11

Three weeks later and back is healed:
Marschalls - December 3

I do believe Sasha's back has been bothering her, but I believe dropping out of CoC was to give her some time to skate a decent program at Marshalls which has more top tier skaters entered. It's strategy and why not?

Joe.

[Mathman]

I hope she doesn't risk further injury at the Cheesefest. Do you mean to tell me that she could make more money at the Cheesefest than doing the GP? She made $15,000 at Campbells. How much do they make at the GP?

At one of the regular Grand Prix events she would have made $9000 for her third place finish. At the GP Final, $12,000.

The fee schedules go:

Cheesefests:

1st -- $50,000
2nd --- 25,000
3rd --- 15,000
4th ---- 5,000
5th ---- 3,000
6th ---- 2,000

Grand Prix event

1st -- $18,000 (down from $30,000 last year)
2nd --- 13,000
3rd ---- 9,000
4th ---- 3,000
5th ---- 2,000

Exhibition fee for skaters who do not win prizes -- $200.

GP Finals

1st -- $25,000 (down from $50,000 last year)
2nd --- 18,000
3rd --- 12,000
4th ---- 6,000
5th ---- 4,000
6th ---- 3,000

In announcing the fee schedule for the cheesefests, the USFSA made it clear that their intent was to elevate these made-for-TV events as serious competitions.

"'By introducing this prize money U.S. Figure Skating is making a significant investment in establishing these three events as major competitions for the top athletes in our sport,' said Chuck Foster, president of U.S. Figure Skating."

In addition to prize money, I think that the skaters can also negotiate appearance fees. I have read that in past years Michelle received something like $100,000 per event, but I don't know whether that is true or not.

I do know know that (like MZheng says) the skaters try to honor their contracts once they agree to compete in the cheesefests (unlike their commitments to the Grand Prix series, which do not seem to be taken very seriously). This was reported to be the main reason why Sasha insisted on skating in the December event last year, honoring her commitment even against the wishes of her coach. Reportedly this was the main issue over which Sasha and Tarasova broke up last year.

Mathman

[Joesitz]

I don't believe Sasha is money driven. She wants to ensure that she gets a gold in Moscow, and why not? Anyone entered at Worlds wants the same. I believe the back is sore and not going to Beijing is the correct move.

Not to do Marshalls could look cowardice but more important it is good practice to see how she stands up against the other skaters especially her compatriats whom she will meet in the more important Nationals the following month.

Joe

[Mathman]

There is no stop flight from east coast to city of china. Flight from west coast (Cal) to China, usually took 17 hours. Unless she took charter plane. lol.

The one with the red velvet couches, LOL.

MZheng, if you go to China on the 17th I think that will be too late to see the Cup of China live (Nov. 11 - 14). Anyway, have a great trip and be sure to report back on any skating that they show.

I bet you have already reserved your tickets

I most certainly have! I will be sorely disappointed if Sasha is not able to participate. But of course her health comes first.

Mathman

[euterpe]

Sasha skated poorly (for her) at Campbell's, and it seems her jumps had taken a holiday. Shortly after that, she announced that she had a back injury and would be unable to practice her triples.

After a competition where she couldn't land her triples, and a month of not practicing them, how will she be able to be in competition shape 3 weeks later?

If her back is really injured, doing Marshall's may not be the best thing. If she further injures herself, she won't be up to par for Nationals.

And Torino is only 15 months away.

[SkateFan4Life]

Thanks for sharing this with us. I'm truly sorry to read this, as it sounds as if Sasha's serious back injury is a recurring situation. Back injuries are serious, and Sasha needs to take extraordinarily good care of herself to heal and not aggravate her back.

Hopefully, this injury will not derail Sasha's competitive season, as it did in 2001.
Remember that she missed the pre-OIympic year (as next year will be), and she arrived at Salt Lake City with precious little competitive experience under her belt. Obviously, Sasha has racked up an impressive set of competitive credentials in the past three years.

Good luck, Sasha. Get well soon!

[lavender]

Cup of China November 11

Three weeks later and back is healed:
Marschalls - December 3

I do believe Sasha's back has been bothering her, but I believe dropping out of CoC was to give her some time to skate a decent program at Marshalls which has more top tier skaters entered. It's strategy and why not?

Joe.

Well she might pull out of Marshalls if she's still having a problem. I think she's learn from last year. If she's not feeling well/injured even Marshalls wouldn't be a good idea.

[Fossi]

[QUOTE=euterpe]Sasha skated poorly (for her) at Campbell's, and it seems her jumps had taken a holiday. Shortly after that, she announced that she had a back injury and would be unable to practice her triples.
QUOTE]

I am wondering why everyone thought Sasha skated so "badly" at Campbells. Was this skate any different than her skates last year? She has won many competitions landing only 4-5 triples and having mistakes. Maybe we are expecting too much from Ms. Cohen?

[jesslily]

I feel Sasha did not do too worse than her normal performance. The major difference between this Cheesefest preformance and her previous "better" program run-through is her Nutcracker program looked so new to her, and she did not show any feeling and emotion about the music. It looked like Robin and Sasha hadn't spent much time to interprete and run it.

[registered]

[QUOTE=Fossi
I am wondering why everyone thought Sasha skated so "badly" at Campbells. Was this skate any different than her skates last year? She has won many competitions landing only 4-5 triples and having mistakes. Maybe we are expecting too much from Ms. Cohen?[/QUOTE]

I think we are, and it's not realistic. In reality most competitions won with less than 6-7 clean triples, or an absolutely clean performance. In this season, I believe, no lady skater presented absolutely perfect, mistake free LP. SA and SC were won with 4-5 triples (in men and ladies categories), and Shizuka Arakawa just won an NHK with 5 triple jumps.

[sk8ing_lady2001]

That's as awful as the fact I missed out on seeing her at Skate America. I hope Sasha gets well soon!