- Joined
- Aug 25, 2017
For the first time since 2013, the US ladies only have 2 spots for Worlds next year...
Big questions:
1. Is Ashley Wagner retiring? UNSURE -- she's at least sitting out the GP.
2. Is Mirai Nagasu retiring? UNSURE -- she's at least sitting out the GP.
3. What's up with Karen's boots? No news...
4. How is Polina's recovery from injury looking? No news... but she was just in Russia sightseeing where her mother grew up! Haven't heard about training.
5. Does Starr have her Lutz back? Sort of? It was 3Lze< at Asian Open
6. Will there be any coaching changes? Ting Cui has left Vincent, currently coachless / has a coach but hasn't announced who it is? Karen Chen might be with Alex...
New questions:
1. How will Gracie look?
2. How will Ting and Karen look with new coaches?
3. Are there any dark horses?
GP assignments:
Bradie Tennell: Skate America, Internationaux de France
Mariah Bell: NHK Trophy, Skate Canada
Karen Chen: Grand Prix Finland, Rostelecom Cup
Courtney Hicks: NHK Trophy
Angela Wang: UDPATED: Grand Prix Finland, NHK Trophy
Gracie Gold: Rostelecom Cup
Starr Andrews: Skate America, UPDATED: Skate America
Megan Wessenberg: UDPATED: Skate America
JGP Assignments and Results:
Week 1: Bratislava: Pooja Kalyan (8, 160.60)
Week 2: Linz: Ting Cui (5, 156.04)
Week 3: Kaunas: Audrey Shin (11, 134.19)
Week 4: Richmond: UPDATED: Gabriella Izzo (6, 159.86)
Week 5: Ostrava: Ting Cui (7, 172.74)
Week 6: Ljubljana: UPDATED: Gabriella Izzo (9, 148.89)
Week 7: Yerevan: UPDATED: Hanna Harrell (7, 157.08)
Main Contenders:
1. Bradie Tennell: Bradie's the US national champion who put out consistent performances this year to finish 3rd at a GP (with over 200 points) 1st at Nationals, 9th at the Olympics, and 6th at Worlds. Quite consistent with good jumps, but many point out her need for better packaging. How will she be packaged this year? And how will her season go? NEW WITH HER: 3Lz-3Lo combination
2. Mirai Nagasu: If she doesn't retire, Mirai with a more consistent 3A could do well, if she works on getting her URs under control. They were a lot better this year, but once you have that reputation, it's really hard to get questionable ones called and even fully-rotated ones are often called.
3. Karen Chen: Karen has all of it, except for the jumps. Her jumps are huge but her delayed rotation is a problem and she gets a lot of UR calls, even at home. If she can get that fixed, she'll be good, but first she needs to sort out her boot issues.
4. Mariah Bell: Mariah finished 12th at Worlds, just as she did last year, but with 13 less points than last year. She's a well-rounded skater but quite inconsistent, and with only two spots, I think it's doubtful she'll end up at Worlds again unless both Nagasu and Wagner retire. However, if Wagner and Rippon retire, she could become Raf's number two behind Nathan Chen, and that could help her a lot.
Other contenders:
1. Ashley Wagner: If she doesn't retire, Ashley needs to fix her jumps. Chronically URed, her jumps also don't have the quality that gets great GOE. Competing internationally only once this season, she earned a 183, which might have been enough for a GP podium in the weakest field last season but won't cut it for this. She's guaranteed a GP spot by being 15th on the WS list, but that was with this season's WS calculations. Once they switch, she might move out of the top 24 considering that her best season, 2015-2016, won't count for anything, and her worst season, 2017-2018, counts for 100%. Her lower domestic PCS points to the USFSA being kind of tired with her, and her PCS was always her moneymaker once others caught up with the tech.
2. Starr Andrews: Starr's a good skater with a competitive mindset, but she's coming back from injury and doesn't have her Lutz back yet. Without it, she can't really be competitive among the top ladies, but she's a good middle-ranked skater currently, placing 6th at 4CC in 2018 and at Nationals in 2018. I see a lot of room for her to move up. NEW FOR HER: a sort-of lutz and a good short at Asian Open, but a disastrous free. Still going for the 3A though.
3. Ting Cui: We don't know if Ting's moving up yet, so that's why she's here. If she does, I can see her being a top challenger for the second spot at Worlds. Her junior worlds score, even with her fluke fall in the free, was only 3pts less than what Wagner as a seasoned veteran, got at a senior competition. We don't know how she'll deal with the media pressure, but she seems to be a sensible girl, and I see a lot of promise in her.
Juniors:
1. Emmy Ma: Emmy needs to move up, but it's hard when she still doesn't have all her triples (missing the 3T) Everything else is divine, but it's hard to be competitive without all the triples or a 3-3. Plus, the jumps she does have are often URed. I don't see much of a future for her without the key jumps, especially considering she placed 19th at JWC.
2. Pooja Kalyan: I think Pooja's often underappreciated. She won the silver medal at the junior nationals behind Alysa Liu, but wasn't sent to JWC because she didn't have the minimums at the time. She later earned them at the Bavarian Open. Her goal should be to make it to the JGP and to skate respectably there, which she's definitely capable of.
3. Hanna Harrell: Hanna didn't have the best nationals, and so wasn't sent to JWC, but she's one of the most talented juniors we have, as she's got a 3-3 and skates with several rippon-ed jumps. She needs a better competitive mindset, but she's got all of the goods to be successful, especially if Ting moves up. NEW WITH HER: She's posted some 3-3-3-3 combos
Novices:
1. Alysa Liu: This girl has a bright future! She's not eligible for the JGP until 2019-2020 but has already won junior nationals, and there's a video of her working on a 3A. She's got an almost-fully backloaded free and definitely has the technical goods to compete with the Japanese and Russian girls. Next season, she could technically compete as a senior at Nationals but I don't think she will considering she'll be just 13 then. Still, she's one of our top talents, and we need to nurture it, not squander it the way we did with others... NEW WITH HER: Youngest lady to land the 3A in international competition! And I've heard she's been working on the 4Lz
Anyone I missed? thoughts for next season?
Big questions:
1. Is Ashley Wagner retiring? UNSURE -- she's at least sitting out the GP.
2. Is Mirai Nagasu retiring? UNSURE -- she's at least sitting out the GP.
3. What's up with Karen's boots? No news...
4. How is Polina's recovery from injury looking? No news... but she was just in Russia sightseeing where her mother grew up! Haven't heard about training.
5. Does Starr have her Lutz back? Sort of? It was 3Lze< at Asian Open
6. Will there be any coaching changes? Ting Cui has left Vincent, currently coachless / has a coach but hasn't announced who it is? Karen Chen might be with Alex...
New questions:
1. How will Gracie look?
2. How will Ting and Karen look with new coaches?
3. Are there any dark horses?
GP assignments:
Bradie Tennell: Skate America, Internationaux de France
Mariah Bell: NHK Trophy, Skate Canada
Karen Chen: Grand Prix Finland, Rostelecom Cup
Courtney Hicks: NHK Trophy
Angela Wang: UDPATED: Grand Prix Finland, NHK Trophy
Gracie Gold: Rostelecom Cup
Starr Andrews: Skate America, UPDATED: Skate America
Megan Wessenberg: UDPATED: Skate America
JGP Assignments and Results:
Week 1: Bratislava: Pooja Kalyan (8, 160.60)
Week 2: Linz: Ting Cui (5, 156.04)
Week 3: Kaunas: Audrey Shin (11, 134.19)
Week 4: Richmond: UPDATED: Gabriella Izzo (6, 159.86)
Week 5: Ostrava: Ting Cui (7, 172.74)
Week 6: Ljubljana: UPDATED: Gabriella Izzo (9, 148.89)
Week 7: Yerevan: UPDATED: Hanna Harrell (7, 157.08)
Main Contenders:
1. Bradie Tennell: Bradie's the US national champion who put out consistent performances this year to finish 3rd at a GP (with over 200 points) 1st at Nationals, 9th at the Olympics, and 6th at Worlds. Quite consistent with good jumps, but many point out her need for better packaging. How will she be packaged this year? And how will her season go? NEW WITH HER: 3Lz-3Lo combination
2. Mirai Nagasu: If she doesn't retire, Mirai with a more consistent 3A could do well, if she works on getting her URs under control. They were a lot better this year, but once you have that reputation, it's really hard to get questionable ones called and even fully-rotated ones are often called.
3. Karen Chen: Karen has all of it, except for the jumps. Her jumps are huge but her delayed rotation is a problem and she gets a lot of UR calls, even at home. If she can get that fixed, she'll be good, but first she needs to sort out her boot issues.
4. Mariah Bell: Mariah finished 12th at Worlds, just as she did last year, but with 13 less points than last year. She's a well-rounded skater but quite inconsistent, and with only two spots, I think it's doubtful she'll end up at Worlds again unless both Nagasu and Wagner retire. However, if Wagner and Rippon retire, she could become Raf's number two behind Nathan Chen, and that could help her a lot.
Other contenders:
1. Ashley Wagner: If she doesn't retire, Ashley needs to fix her jumps. Chronically URed, her jumps also don't have the quality that gets great GOE. Competing internationally only once this season, she earned a 183, which might have been enough for a GP podium in the weakest field last season but won't cut it for this. She's guaranteed a GP spot by being 15th on the WS list, but that was with this season's WS calculations. Once they switch, she might move out of the top 24 considering that her best season, 2015-2016, won't count for anything, and her worst season, 2017-2018, counts for 100%. Her lower domestic PCS points to the USFSA being kind of tired with her, and her PCS was always her moneymaker once others caught up with the tech.
2. Starr Andrews: Starr's a good skater with a competitive mindset, but she's coming back from injury and doesn't have her Lutz back yet. Without it, she can't really be competitive among the top ladies, but she's a good middle-ranked skater currently, placing 6th at 4CC in 2018 and at Nationals in 2018. I see a lot of room for her to move up. NEW FOR HER: a sort-of lutz and a good short at Asian Open, but a disastrous free. Still going for the 3A though.
3. Ting Cui: We don't know if Ting's moving up yet, so that's why she's here. If she does, I can see her being a top challenger for the second spot at Worlds. Her junior worlds score, even with her fluke fall in the free, was only 3pts less than what Wagner as a seasoned veteran, got at a senior competition. We don't know how she'll deal with the media pressure, but she seems to be a sensible girl, and I see a lot of promise in her.
Juniors:
1. Emmy Ma: Emmy needs to move up, but it's hard when she still doesn't have all her triples (missing the 3T) Everything else is divine, but it's hard to be competitive without all the triples or a 3-3. Plus, the jumps she does have are often URed. I don't see much of a future for her without the key jumps, especially considering she placed 19th at JWC.
2. Pooja Kalyan: I think Pooja's often underappreciated. She won the silver medal at the junior nationals behind Alysa Liu, but wasn't sent to JWC because she didn't have the minimums at the time. She later earned them at the Bavarian Open. Her goal should be to make it to the JGP and to skate respectably there, which she's definitely capable of.
3. Hanna Harrell: Hanna didn't have the best nationals, and so wasn't sent to JWC, but she's one of the most talented juniors we have, as she's got a 3-3 and skates with several rippon-ed jumps. She needs a better competitive mindset, but she's got all of the goods to be successful, especially if Ting moves up. NEW WITH HER: She's posted some 3-3-3-3 combos
Novices:
1. Alysa Liu: This girl has a bright future! She's not eligible for the JGP until 2019-2020 but has already won junior nationals, and there's a video of her working on a 3A. She's got an almost-fully backloaded free and definitely has the technical goods to compete with the Japanese and Russian girls. Next season, she could technically compete as a senior at Nationals but I don't think she will considering she'll be just 13 then. Still, she's one of our top talents, and we need to nurture it, not squander it the way we did with others... NEW WITH HER: Youngest lady to land the 3A in international competition! And I've heard she's been working on the 4Lz
Anyone I missed? thoughts for next season?