2015 JGP Colorado Springs Mens FS Sep 4

[A.H.Black]

I think Nathan is aiming for Jr. Worlds. Plans could change after Nationals, but that will depend on what happens at Nationals. It will be fine either way.

Icenetwork article http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2015/09/03/147505254

It's about time," Chen chuckled. "I was actually able to train normally leading up to this competition, which is what I was used to before my injuries, so it feels good to be back.

 

[aromaticchicken]

I think Nathan is aiming for Jr. Worlds. Plans could change after Nationals, but that will depend on what happens at Nationals. It will be fine either way.

Icenetwork article http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2015/09/03/147505254

So, having seen what we've seen so far (here and at Glacier Falls), would you peg Nathan as the favorite for the Junior World title? Or do you think he might medal in seniors, in which case they'd send him to senior worlds, a la Polina in the Olympic season?

I think his team is gunning for him to be sent to both events. He could easily do so, a la Nam Nguyen in 2014.

 

[Mrs. P]

Usfsa may want to send Nathan to junior worlds to secure the max jr. Worlds and JGP spots. However if the remaining junior men can hold their own (which looks like could be the case this year) then they will send him to Sr. Worlds if he gets top 3.

I don't see him going to both. The only time I think that happened was in the late 1990s when Sarah Hughes qualified for Sr. worlds due to medaling at Jr. Worlds. But precedents can always be broken I suppose.

Back to the comp: I was interested to hear that Nathan had been revamping the way he trains even watching how athletes in other sports train. I'm sure all the injuries in the last 3 years were a huge wake up call.

Eta: also realize US has the most medals for the JGP men at 3 (for 3 and one for each color too!). And we have had a non traditional fed medalist (Argentina, Lativia and Israel) at each JGP so far. Canada and Russia have one gold medal each and Japan has one with Sota's bronze. Wow what a great variety of countries represented!

 

[Layback11]

Usfsa may want to send Nathan to junior worlds to secure the max jr. Worlds and JGP spots. However if the remaining junior men can hold their own (which looks like could be the case this year) then they will send him to Sr. Worlds if he gets top 3.

I don't see him going to both. The only time I think that happened was in the late 1990s when Sarah Hughes qualified for Sr. worlds due to medaling at Jr. Worlds. But precedents can always be broken I suppose.

Back to the comp: I was interested to hear that Nathan had been revamping the way he trains even watching how athletes in other sports train. I'm sure all the injuries in the last 3 years were a huge wake up call.

Well, men's is the only discipline where an American has medaled at all three events so far, so getting three spots should not be a problem. But there's a chance they might want him to win the world junior title and send him for that reason...after all, a JWC makes your federation look better than a 10th at senior worlds does (IMHO).

Who knows?

 

[[email protected]]

Well, I wasn't disappointed. Relieved actually. Considering he's been popping his 3A lately and only recently got his 4T, I'd say he did a pretty good job. Proud of him for attacking those jumps rather than bailing out.

Congratulations to Nathan for having two amazing, clean skates.
And great FS by Daniel. He's always exciting to watch.

Well, I would not be disappointed either unless there was the article with his title ambitions. Just very far from it yet.

 

[silverlake22]

Nathan was in the league of his own. And Sota was a dissapointment. One thing though. Slow-mo showed a good deal of prerotation in Nathan's 3A. Judges neglected that just leaving him with 0 GOE. In the future that may not work out so that he should focus on that.

I was a bit underwhelmed by Sota too, but at least he hit that gorgeous 4t in his FS! He looks very tall and skinny ATM, I'm thinking he had a growthspurt over the off season and his strength still has to catch up to his height. That coupled with the altitude may be the reason he was a bit lackluster here. I'm happy he medaled though and still think he has so much talent. He's young so time is on his side. Hopefully he can place 1st or 2nd at his next event and make the JGPF.

 

[Jammers]

Scary thing about Nathan is he can improve on a lot of things over the next couple years such as his spins and his performance quality. How long did it take him to get the quad? Seems like it's not a big deal for him and makes him one of the few US Men Junior or Senior to have a stable one.

 

[el henry]

I was very impressed by Nathan. His jumps are great, but what struck me most of all was his confidence and determination to win. It was as if he were saying , yes, I'm finally free of the injuries that have been hampering me, and I'm going to fly! And kudos to him for holding it together skating last, with the pressure of being the front runner. Great skate, and I liked this choice of music for him.

Gosh almighty, can this kid skate! But do you really think this is a good piece of music for him? I really tried to be fair to his obvious talent, and maybe I just love the Organ Concerto ETA Symphony duh! too much, but I still don't see him performing to this magnificent music; I actually think it is too "big" for him. And he is such a talent, once he has some, any, expressiveness to the LP, he will be so worth watching

 

[Tavi...]

Gosh almighty, can this kid skate! But do you really think this is a good piece of music for him? I really tried to be fair to his obvious talent, and maybe I just love the Organ Concerto too much, but I still don't see him performing to this magnificent music; I actually think it is too "big" for him. And he is such a talent, once he has some, any, expressiveness to the LP, he will be so worth watching

Hmm, well I was going to go back and watch it again to see exactly what made me say that but the clip is not in the video thread yet. Just going by what I remember, I thought the music was quite intense in places and his intense determination and will to win worked with that. Does that make sense? But beyond that, I agree with you - at this point I don't find him particularly musically expressive, but he is only 16.

This should be an interesting season. I don't know quite how to put this and it's kinda OT for this thread, but I find it striking that Nathan has this new confidence and Ashley and Adam are sporting new, very strong & individual looks and will apparently be on the cover of skating magaxine - but we haven't yet seen them skate. I'm curious to see what happens with all three of them!

 

[yyyskate]

^^ Nathan's FS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjBadThflQc

 

[Ice Dance]

I think U.S. Nationals will be a very tough battle. All around. But if Nathan finishes top three (big IF), I think we send him to senior worlds. If he finishes top two, I think there's no way we leave him off the senior team. (This isn't Japan. We don't have three senior World medalists in the U.S. national field). It's not every year you get a chance to skate Worlds at home. That MJ short could sell very well in Boston. If it's an investment for six years out, I'm great with that. I find it ironic that after all the discussion about Nathan needing to take his time coming back from injury, people are now advocating he skate both Junior & Senior Worlds. (Watch him wind up with the longest season of any of the guys in the U.S. field). If he does get picked for senior worlds, I would hope at the very least he would get a shot to debut beforehand at 4CC's. Not that the men's field at 4CC's is anything less than spectacular.

And I'm loving how diverse the international men's field is becoming.

 

[Winnie_20]

Just finished watching the last group of skaters from the (not-live-anymore) stream. Wow. I was rooting for Sota, but Nathan Chen's skate just blew me away. Hope he can keep this up, he'll be a force to be reckoned with in seniors.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Wow Nathan was very impressive! If he skates like that at Nationals I can't imagine him not being on the Senior world team. His score would be around 255 with nationals inflation and extra senior elements.

 

[Jammers]

Nathan's quad triple is insane just how quickly he rotates it. Does any other US man do a quad triple consistently like him? He definitely has also improved his speed and power too.

 

[chuckm]

Believe it or not, last year 255 wouldn't have put him on the National team. Farris was 3rd with 267.98.

None of the 3 guys who made the National team landed clean quads in their programs. But Brown, who has never landed a rotated quad in competition, and never two rotated 3as in a FS, did manage to finish 4th at Worlds, so he is basically a shoo-in to make the team again on PCS alone. Farris seems to be chronically injured (he is again, at the present time, although not seriously) so he does have to deliver at Nationals to make the team. Rippon is mercurial---he has good years and bad years; last year was a good one, but he is notoriously unpredictable. His 8th place at 2015 Worlds helped the US hold onto the 3 spots, so he is in good standing with USFS for now---but he has to deliver at Nationals. If both Farris and Rippon are fairly good at Nationals, they will tend to be held up via PCS scores, so they are the ones Nathan has to beat. He not only has to beat them technically, but he has to perform without looking or feeling self-conscious. He has to convince USFS that he is not just a jumping bean, but an all-around skater.

 

[Tavi...]

You're right about Jason and the quad, but for the record, he landed two fully rotated 3As in his free skate at World Team Trophy, both with plus GOE.

 

[Mrs. P]

He also landed two 3As at junior worlds FS in 2013
And during Rostelecom (albeit with -GOE on the second).

All that said, I don't think Nathan is just a jumping bean. He can stand to be more expressive and perform more but he checks the boxes for good pcs-- speed, ice coverage, transitions. If he skates like that at nationals he'll be in the top 3 no doubt.

 

[Tavi...]

I agree, Mrs. P - Nathan is a very talented skater.

 

[OS]

^^ Nathan's FS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjBadThflQc

Wow I vastly prefer this to anything Jason Brown has produced except 'may be' River Dance. It is probably one of the best Junior men's performance I have seen since watching Hanyu years ago. Why can't Han Yan get a decent classical program like this? It has the hall mark of 'I am gunning for the Olympic GOLD in a few years time' written all over it.

It will be a shame if his PCS get repressed at US nationals because of his apparent lack of cheap schtick schlock due to some crap reason like apparent lack emotion due to 'Asianess' lol...

He has huge potential, he already improved massively from what I remember. I was never a fan, but I may just be in the future if he keep doing good work like this, like how I felt about Patrick Chan. The MJ SP makes a nice combo with this one I thought.

 

[el henry]

Wow I vastly prefer this to anything Jason Brown has produced except 'may be' River Dance. It is probably one of the best Junior men's performance I have seen since watching Hanyu years ago. Why can't Han Yan get a decent classical program like this? It has the hall mark of 'I am gunning for the Olympic GOLD in a few years time' written all over it.

It will be a shame if his PCS get repressed at US nationals because of his apparent lack of cheap schtick schlock due to some crap reason like apparent lack emotion due to 'Asianess' lol...

He has huge potential, he already improved massively from what I remember. I was never a fan, but I may just be in the future if he keep doing good work like this, like how I felt about Patrick Chan. The MJ SP makes a nice combo with this one I thought.

Why are you bringing up "Asianess" as a reason that Nathan's scores would be suppressed? Needless to say, many skaters of Asian descent have enormously impressive interpretation skills, and PC scores to match. I have tried yet a third time to watch Nathan's LP. And the SP. Rarely with any skater have I gotten so much the feeling: it's 2:45, time to lift my arm, cock my head to the side, oh, it's 3:14, time to gesture to the left, and look to the right for 15 seconds (and I felt it even more in the MJ program. Does he even know what moves of MJ's he is using or why?)
ETA: times and moves are made up as examples, of course
I feel really bad talking about a 16 year old kid this way; he has time, and I would think the dedication and wherewithal to fix this and have his interpretation match his skating. Right now, I would just as soon watch James Min of Australia, a junior with half the tech but twice the interpretative skills. And of course I prefer Jason. Or Adam. Or Josh. When Nathan has their interpretation, and the tech, he'll be a world beater. But at least for me, not yet.