Welcome to the 5th Edition of the "State of the American/US Ladies Thread".
After 10 years of mediocrity and near-misses, a US lady is once again on the World Podium. Going into the 2016-17 Season, I think the big question on everybody's mind is going to be: Are the US ladies back? Or...is this just temporary relief for what is going to be the new norm - the US only challenging every once in a while with Russia and Japan dominating? Off we go to next season...
ASHLEY WAGNER will be the reigning World Silver Medalist(!) and will have a lot to live up to. Her biggest assets will be her confidence and her insatiable drive to outdo herself; her biggest challenges will be consistency in the short program and possibly health/injury issues at 25. It's once again easy to say she's peaked and she will never stand on a major podium again, but if she can get a killer short program and find some consistency, she'll continue to be in the mix - somewhere.
GRACIE GOLD is the reigning US Champion and is coming off a decent finish to her 2015-16 season after disappointment in Boston. Her biggest assets are her jumps and scoring potential; her biggest challenge is mental toughness/lack thereof. The question is whether this setback makes her "mad" enough to come back with a vengeance next season and contend for the World title...because you know she can if she puts her mind to it...
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As for the others, it's more like "Can anyone come up and challenge these two?" Well, let's see...
MIRAI NAGASU will be coming off a Four Continents silver and a 10th place finish at a surprise trip to the World Championships. Where does she go from here? She may be in the best position of the "other" US women in that she's riding an upward momentum wave. The question then becomes what she wants out of the remainder of her career...she finally made it back to Worlds - albeit not in the fashion that she may have hoped or planned - so that's checked off...Nationals top 3 again? A 2nd National title? Top 5 at Worlds? Another Olympics? What's realistic for her?
POLINA EDMUNDS was literally 4 minutes away from a major upset and a surprise US Championship when Gracie Gold, last skater of the night, laid the FS performance of her life to overcome the SP deficit and snatch the title away. Edmunds literally could not have done more to make her case - she was absolutely clean. As she was forced out of Worlds with an injury, her season ended prematurely - and with college on the horizon for her, the question for her is, what are her goals in skating? If she wants a National Title or Top 5 at Worlds without relying on others' mistakes, the reality is she's going to need to push herself more, outside of her comfort zone...and undergo somewhat of a transformation ala Wagner in 2012...and that's not going to be easy. It may even mean a coaching and/or scenery change. But...if she has her eye elsewhere and is looking to move on (from skating), she's had a fine career...more than fine actually, she was an Olympian...and while she may stick around for another year or two, I wouldn't expect anything crazy to happen.
COURTNEY HICKS upstaged our eventual world medalist at NHK last year, only to flame out (once again!) at Nationals...that's a major problem for her, because if she cannot get over that hurdle, she will never get sent to a major international competition.
KAREN CHEN showed promise in 2015, but unfortunately had somewhat of a "sophomore slump" as they call it and was mostly unimpressive for much of last season.
THE OTHERS: Anyone else going to have a "big break", or anyone coming up the ranks that might be good to keep an eye on?
After 10 years of mediocrity and near-misses, a US lady is once again on the World Podium. Going into the 2016-17 Season, I think the big question on everybody's mind is going to be: Are the US ladies back? Or...is this just temporary relief for what is going to be the new norm - the US only challenging every once in a while with Russia and Japan dominating? Off we go to next season...
ASHLEY WAGNER will be the reigning World Silver Medalist(!) and will have a lot to live up to. Her biggest assets will be her confidence and her insatiable drive to outdo herself; her biggest challenges will be consistency in the short program and possibly health/injury issues at 25. It's once again easy to say she's peaked and she will never stand on a major podium again, but if she can get a killer short program and find some consistency, she'll continue to be in the mix - somewhere.
GRACIE GOLD is the reigning US Champion and is coming off a decent finish to her 2015-16 season after disappointment in Boston. Her biggest assets are her jumps and scoring potential; her biggest challenge is mental toughness/lack thereof. The question is whether this setback makes her "mad" enough to come back with a vengeance next season and contend for the World title...because you know she can if she puts her mind to it...
_____________
As for the others, it's more like "Can anyone come up and challenge these two?" Well, let's see...
MIRAI NAGASU will be coming off a Four Continents silver and a 10th place finish at a surprise trip to the World Championships. Where does she go from here? She may be in the best position of the "other" US women in that she's riding an upward momentum wave. The question then becomes what she wants out of the remainder of her career...she finally made it back to Worlds - albeit not in the fashion that she may have hoped or planned - so that's checked off...Nationals top 3 again? A 2nd National title? Top 5 at Worlds? Another Olympics? What's realistic for her?
POLINA EDMUNDS was literally 4 minutes away from a major upset and a surprise US Championship when Gracie Gold, last skater of the night, laid the FS performance of her life to overcome the SP deficit and snatch the title away. Edmunds literally could not have done more to make her case - she was absolutely clean. As she was forced out of Worlds with an injury, her season ended prematurely - and with college on the horizon for her, the question for her is, what are her goals in skating? If she wants a National Title or Top 5 at Worlds without relying on others' mistakes, the reality is she's going to need to push herself more, outside of her comfort zone...and undergo somewhat of a transformation ala Wagner in 2012...and that's not going to be easy. It may even mean a coaching and/or scenery change. But...if she has her eye elsewhere and is looking to move on (from skating), she's had a fine career...more than fine actually, she was an Olympian...and while she may stick around for another year or two, I wouldn't expect anything crazy to happen.
COURTNEY HICKS upstaged our eventual world medalist at NHK last year, only to flame out (once again!) at Nationals...that's a major problem for her, because if she cannot get over that hurdle, she will never get sent to a major international competition.
KAREN CHEN showed promise in 2015, but unfortunately had somewhat of a "sophomore slump" as they call it and was mostly unimpressive for much of last season.
THE OTHERS: Anyone else going to have a "big break", or anyone coming up the ranks that might be good to keep an eye on?
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