- Joined
- Nov 12, 2009
Well you're absolutely right. But keep in mind I said IMAGINE if she got consistent. Not that she HAS gotten consistent- hardly. I'm still waiting for Nationals...where I think she still has a high chance of bombing/not doing her best.
If she got consistent that would be awesome. But I do think she has a limited time frame to do that, because I feel after next season the USFSA will probably be focusing their attention on the next generation of skaters expected to compete in Sochi and beyond. That's not to say Alissa won't compete in Sochi, but we just have a lot of young girls who are very promising like Gao, Zawadzki, Siraj, Lam, etc and then Mirai too, and if they start to gain recognition on the senior level then I think they will overtake Alissa as the focus of US figure skating. Also the fact that some of these girls like Gao and Zawadzki are very strong in the jumping department will probably help them, because honestly I don't see Alissa getting a consistent 3-3 at this point and it's likely she will always be at the mercy of the technical panel regarding URs, and with all these strong young skaters coming out of Russia and Japan, I do think 3-3s and big jumps will be a factor in Sochi, and Alissa doesn't have either. The other thing is I don't know how much longer Alissa's body can take all the skating, I mean she's been skating for over 20 years now and as we all know it can take quite a toll on the body, especially as the athletes get older.
So all in all, I think Alissa's dream season is coming at a good time, she probably doesn't need to be brilliant at nats to make the team, but she needs to be solid. This season and the next season are her best chances to win international medals and make the World team, because after that Sotnikova and Tutamysheva (and the rest of the Russian wonderbabies) will be senior ISU championship eligible, Gao and Zawadzki will hopefully be more seasoned competitors, Mirai will be the veteran, Kanko, Haruka, and Risa will probably replace Mao, Miki and Akiko - all of which who might be retired by then - as Japan's top 3 and so the new generation will likely be in place a 3-3s and big jumps will be a must.