Celebrate! Wagner's Silver Ends Drought

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I'm incredibly proud of Ashley. Everyone always counts her out and she fights for the podium and improvement. She's gotten GPF medals, GP wins and people still criticize her. Well, now she has that World medal that her haters always bash her for lacking. Way to go Ashley!

 

[Trewyn]

I might be late to the celebration thread, but I've celebrated A LOT already! Wow, Ashley! I think of myself of probably one of her first international fans, having been a huge fan ever since 2007 TEB.
I always believed a Worlds medal was her future but it wasn't always easy to convince anyone else. I've loved her Tango Jalousie, with that gutsy 3lutz-3loop. I've seen her grow as a skater under Priscilla Hill with more 'mature packaging' and COP-friendly programs. I was devestated for her in 2010 but instantly knew she was going to keep going.
I was thrilled to see her go to John Nicks and emerge as a confident performer with new energy to also improve the technical side of her skating. 2012 Nationals as 'Black Swan' was an amazing moment I will remember forever and I still feel she should've medaled in Nice.
Her move to Aratunyan turned out to be great for her as well - her inner strength to keep working to improve, learn, develop as a skater was something he seemed to help bring out.
I'm so beyond happy that Boston Worlds was another one of her incredible moments. And it lead to something really special. So deserved. Huuge congrats, Ashley! (And please keep going, I believe in many more beautiful 'moments' to come!)

 

[skylark]

Oh, I am! I still watch her free program at least twice a day.

(for real, not even kidding, I'm obsessed)

I certainly am.:hap57: :hap93: I just finished watching Ashley's skate, with NBC, BESP and CBC. Love Kurt's commentary. He and Ashley are such good friends and work together with SOI Canada. You could tell that this was a really really special and believed-in moment for him, too.

Ashley's charisma and passion to skate are unbelievable, second to none!

:luv17: :luv17:

 

[skylark]

Are they supposed to pretend they are not close friends and sit far from one another on the couch, not saying anything to each other or to the other skater due to the language barrier, basically pretending their relationship is nonexistent

I don't think I suggested that, but I'm content to let it go. It isn't the most important thing that happened.

Sharing Ashley's happiness is much better!

One of the great things, to me, is that she was so thrilled with her own performances, both SP and FS, and overcome with emotion long before the scores came up. Such a triumph for Ashley!

 

[skylark]

I might be late to the celebration thread, but I've celebrated A LOT already! Wow, Ashley! I think of myself of probably one of her first international fans, having been a huge fan ever since 2007 TEB.
I always believed a Worlds medal was her future but it wasn't always easy to convince anyone else. I've loved her Tango Jalousie, with that gutsy 3lutz-3loop. I've seen her grow as a skater under Priscilla Hill with more 'mature packaging' and COP-friendly programs. I was devestated for her in 2010 but instantly knew she was going to keep going.
I was thrilled to see her go to John Nicks and emerge as a confident performer with new energy to also improve the technical side of her skating. 2012 Nationals as 'Black Swan' was an amazing moment I will remember forever and I still feel she should've medaled in Nice.
Her move to Aratunyan turned out to be great for her as well - her inner strength to keep working to improve, learn, develop as a skater was something he seemed to help bring out.
I'm so beyond happy that Boston Worlds was another one of her incredible moments. And it lead to something really special. So deserved. Huuge congrats, Ashley! (And please keep going, I believe in many more beautiful 'moments' to come!)

Yes, I'm looking forward to them.

I love your post. I'm going to have to go back and look for that 2007 TEB performance. Were you there? The French are such appreciative audiences for skaters who love to perform and entertain, and who display a certain level of artistry. And that, I believe, was Ashley's first year as a senior. It must hold lovely memories for her, too.

Welcome to the celebration thread! Post long, post often. (I think that's how it goes.)

 

[KwanIsALegend]

Oh, I am! I still watch her free program at least twice a day.

(for real, not even kidding, I'm obsessed)

I watch it everyday too. You cannot help but be so happy for her. When she landed her lutz it was explosion time.
The crowd was so loud and she was so happy crying tears of joy. Wonderful skate for Ashley, she is becoming a stronger competitor with each competition.
BRAVO!!!

 

[skylark]

This is such a treat, I want to share it with everyone who may not have seen it yet.

Kurt Browning is asked, at the end, when the highlights come on: "Take us through the program." Guess what, he doesn't step-by-step analyze the jumps. Instead, he ..... well, you'll see, and hear. It's marvelous.:luv17:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlreW_RerW4&nohtml5=False#t=5.305532

 

[R.D.]

Crazy thing is, the mistakes didn't even matter in the final placement. Even if she went completely clean, she wasn't going to win anyway...no way was she going to catch Medvedeva. Probably would have been ~148 tops (adding the points she lost on TES).

Gold, OTOH, could have also gotten ~148 if she was clean, but that would have been enough to hold on for the win due to her SP lead. If she either didn't fall on the combo or double the lutz, she could gotten silver instead.

___

On YT, there's a fancam of Wagner's FS skate taken by someone who was sitting up in the nosebleed seats in the balcony - amazing thing is that's the video that reminds me most of the electricity in the live arena. More so than any of the TV broadcasts. Even up in the NBs, the energy is palpable.

 

[SarahSynchro]

This is such a treat, I want to share it with everyone who may not have seen it yet.

Kurt Browning is asked, at the end, when the highlights come on: "Take us through the program." Guess what, he doesn't step-by-step analyze the jumps. Instead, he ..... well, you'll see, and hear. It's marvelous.:luv17:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlreW_RerW4&nohtml5=False#t=5.305532

This is the first time I was able to watch a video of the CBC stream. Awww, Kurt is so sweet! You can tell he cares for Ashley quite a lot.

 

[Alex D]

Absolutely. :agree:

Now that you say this, I wonder if this ability to be spontaneous in answering questions isn't related to how she naturally relates to people in the audience and reaches out to them. Like Javier Fernandez, who came up with one of my favorite quotes of the WC. He said, "I think people enjoyed it" (his skate), "and to me that's the most important thing."

I think that there are people among us, who have a very unique touch in what they do. I guess most of us met someone in their life, who no matter what he or she did, or said, it always got to our hearts and I suppose Miss Wagner has that ability to just connect with people.

Sasha Cohen was like that as well, I could watch her do spirals, spins and stuff all day and when she explained elements, it was just so

 

[charmblade]

On YT, there's a fancam of Wagner's FS skate taken by someone who was sitting up in the nosebleed seats in the balcony - amazing thing is that's the video that reminds me most of the electricity in the live arena. More so than any of the TV broadcasts. Even up in the NBs, the energy is palpable.

I was sitting up in the nosebleeds at Worlds, and this is absolutely true. Everyone up there was going crazy for Ashley. Actually, funny story, I happened to run into Ashley the day before the LP and I congratulated her on a great short program and told her that her performance did a great job of reaching up to the balcony seats (which was completely true, and let's just say I wouldn't say that about all the skaters...). She was very sweet and appreciative of that.

 

[temadd]

Crazy thing is, the mistakes didn't even matter in the final placement. Even if she went completely clean, she wasn't going to win anyway...no way was she going to catch Medvedeva. Probably would have been ~148 tops (adding the points she lost on TES).

Gold, OTOH, could have also gotten ~148 if she was clean, but that would have been enough to hold on for the win due to her SP lead. If she either didn't fall on the combo or double the lutz, she could gotten silver instead.

___

On YT, there's a fancam of Wagner's FS skate taken by someone who was sitting up in the nosebleed seats in the balcony - amazing thing is that's the video that reminds me most of the electricity in the live arena. More so than any of the TV broadcasts. Even up in the NBs, the energy is palpable.

Can you post the link? Would love to see it.

 

[Elaine]

Can you post the link? Would love to see it.

Here it is. https://youtu.be/xlu_6dxUr-I Love it :agree:

I also like this from BBC(link). I think in this BBC version you can hear the real sound from the arena, at least better than in any other clips with commentary.

Ashley

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Here it is. https://youtu.be/xlu_6dxUr-I Love it :agree:

I also like this from BBC(link). I think in this BBC version you can hear the real sound from the arena, at least better than in any other clips with commentary.

Ashley

Why are the BBC commentators saying "if this is going to be her last season..."?

 

[tulosai]

Why are the BBC commentators saying "if this is going to be her last season..."?

At one point I think she did hint she might retire after this Worlds... I do remember something about this and it seems reading the threads others do too, though it doesn't come up much and isn't dwelled on when it does. However I imagine that thought is now firmly out of her head

 

[R.D.]

Actually this would be a great time to retire...no better way than to go out than on a high, right?

I don't know what her plans are though.

 

[tulosai]

Actually this would be a great time to retire...no better way than to go out than on a high, right?

I don't know what her plans are though.

While I do agree from a certain perspective, I find it hard to imagine that someone with Ashley's obvious competitive drive, after finally winning a medal at Worlds, would throw in the towel without trying for the 2018 Olympics. She probably feels (and rightly so, at least to some degree) if here, why not there?

 

[skylark]

I was sitting up in the nosebleeds at Worlds, and this is absolutely true. Everyone up there was going crazy for Ashley. Actually, funny story, I happened to run into Ashley the day before the LP and I congratulated her on a great short program and told her that her performance did a great job of reaching up to the balcony seats (which was completely true, and let's just say I wouldn't say that about all the skaters...). She was very sweet and appreciative of that.

You gave her a great compliment, Charmblade. Ashley has said on more than one occasion that one reason she can finish a program with equal passion and a great performance level, even when she's missed or UR a jump, is because she has a powerful desire to give something to the people in the audience who have come to see her skate.

I had a similar experience in a nose bleed seat to see SOI back in 1997. Scott Hamilton skated onto the ice; he looked as big as a grasshopper, but I could FEEL his desire to make every single person in the audience happy. It was awesome. And Ashley wasn't even on my radar until I saw her in person at SA 2013. It was her presence on the ice that made me a fan. (Also, I liked that during practice she wore a pink warm-up jacket that any fan could buy in a USFS kiosk.)

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Actually this would be a great time to retire...no better way than to go out than on a high, right?

I don't know what her plans are though.

I think she will stick with it until 2018, which is why I was surprised by the BBC commentator's comment. By then she could retire with 2 Olympic (team) medals.

 

[skylark]

Crazy thing is, the mistakes didn't even matter in the final placement. Even if she went completely clean, she wasn't going to win anyway...no way was she going to catch Medvedeva.

We have very schizo and unpredictable NBC at the farm, and no IN coverage for those two hours, so I went to a friend's house to watch.

He watched with me, he's one of those general audience/casual fans. As Ashley began her skate and Tara and Johnny talked about the scores, my friend said, "they've already made it so she can't win, against the other girl."

I'm no conspiracy theorist, and I'M THRILLED with Ashley's silver medal, but it struck me that a general audience member would say that. He didn't even know who the skaters were. But he knew that he preferred a skater with a higher level of artistry, and in the end he thought Ashley should have won. I feel that's indicative of what Sandra Bezic said in her TSL interview, when pressed: "I think skating threw the baby out with the bath water," as far as general audiences are concerned. She also said, thank goodness we still have our serious fans. (I'm paraphrasing.)

I really don't care, in this instance. I'm just so happy :hap93: that Ashley won her World Silver Medal. So well deserved. I get frustrated with Tara's commentary, but her comment at the end was great: "She didn't skate scared" and some more positive words.

topic:I briefly considered going to a local sports bar (it's a small town, but we have one or two) and ask if they'd turn ONE tv to figure skating; but a friend said there was hockey on. I decided I didn't want to start a riot.